IM Editors

Pick up the December issue of Indianapolis Monthly for the complete list of this year’s Best of Indy winners.

Any night of the week, we can find a great Indy restaurant, but when we crave an experience—a special place with an inspired menu and atmosphere to spare—we’re willing to hit the road.

BIG WOODS BREWING CO. You can follow the pointing finger signs around Nashville to this brewpub that taps seven craft beers and a root beer. It is not difficult to find …

Yogi brings so many things—his change of speed, change of direction, his ability to shoot the three, his ability to play in transition, his ability to shoot the pull-up. Now he’s adding the ability to explode around people, and he’ll continue to get better at that.

The menu plays coy at Topo’s 403, Bloomington’s elegant-edgy riff on Mediterranean food. An entree billed as spanakopita rainbow trout arrives not in the expected brick of phyllo but as a piece of iridescent-skinned fish, filleted and stuffed with spinach and cheese. You taste the same strata of crisp, salty flavors—the sweet nuttiness of the fish layered with the savory greens, on a bed of bulgur salad brightened with lemon-caper vinaigrette. But this is the big fat Greek restaurant standard deconstructed. Here, authenticity is overrated.

Polina Osherov, 41, photographer (at far left)

VICKI ST. JAMES, Female Impersonator

Striking similarities and stark differences between these two Indianapolis Colts QBs.

1 >> What draws 2,000 people each weekend to Reynolds Farm Equipment (12501 Reynolds Dr., Fishers, 849-0810), home of the area’s most elaborate holiday lights display? Chugging among the angels, the manger, and the ark are John Deeres, in all their yellow-and-green splendor, their tires festooned with flashing lights that make them appear to spin. […]

Cheap Seats Fancy box seats at the Hilbert Circle Theatre can cost up to $75, and they usually sell out. But during Happy Hour at the Symphony shows (next one: January 19), all seats are general admission, and you can sit there for just $25—if you arrive when the doors open and beeline for a […]

New Boutique Same name, same brands, yet somehow an exciting, fresh vibe—just one more reason to love Uber, an independent decor-and-clothing shop that opened a Carmel location this fall. The polished, gallery-like arrangement of Danish furniture, Jonathan Adler objects, and cool-again leather fanny packs is pioneering the emerging shopping scene at City Center and setting […]

Design Blogger Love a canary-yellow lacquered side table? Then you’ll love Matt Heincker, an up-and-coming interior designer who blogs several times a week on trends like urban craft decor and the modern-classic mix, always with photographic aids. The 29-year-old also has been known to play the role of local shopping scout, alerting readers when he […]

New Spa Book a treatment at the Evan Todd Spa & Salon at the Conrad, and you’re in for a VIP experience, starting with free valet parking. Even those who book just a chair massage at $2 per minute are welcome to stay and pamper themselves for hours. The posh sixth-floor retreat has an indoor […]

Party Brander Beyond lining up the logistics, Kate Berglund of KB Design has made a name for herself by branding social and corporate events with an identity- (even a logo) that carries through from invitations to goodie bags. For one client’s birthday, a girls’ getaway, guests received a beach bag and flip-flops printed with the […]

Bartenders to Watch Mixing a fine pre-Prohibition cocktail takes work, sending the vested bartenders at The Libertine into a dance of controlled fury. Belly up and behold the routine: demolishing ice, scaling the wall of cubbies to reach a bottle of Fernet-Branca, whipping liqueur from jigger to glass, carving a wispy orange rind—all while keeping […]