RECIPE: Good Morels
INGREDIENTS
The name Shapiro’s likely conjures piles of pastrami or peppered beef bookended by slabs of thick-cut rye bread. But the next time you drop in at this landmark centenarian deli, you might want to save room for dessert. Long known for its towering cakes and prize-worthy pies, the bakery at Shapiro’s has been expanding its […]
Within days of the December opening of Simeri’s Italian Restaurant (10410 Olio Rd., Fortville, 317-589-8557), Arec Simeri was packing the house. Using old-school recipes passed down from his great-grandmother and new-school marketing techniques gleaned from the years he spent working for the great-grandfather of social media (at least in this town), Scott Wise of Scotty’s Brewhouse, the 29-year old restaurateur is building on the momentum. No surprise, since his bloodline is rich with oregano. Simeri filled us in on his restaurant’s family tree and the magical powers of pork butt.
The Sedona-red building at the corner of 16th and Alabama streets, a former Herron School of Art and Design classroom, sat empty since the school left its 16th Street campus for IUPUI. Way back then, the low-slung brick building housed the metalworking studio and was known as the Foundry. This Friday, its doors will open again—but the name remains the same, Foundry Provisions (236 E. 16th St., 317-543-7357). Furthering the connection to the place’s past, a student who took classes in the old Foundry, Todd Bracik, is the first featured artist. His scrap-metal collages cover an entire white-brick wall.
Tucked into the quaint but somewhat intermittently desolate heart of old Greenwood on Madison Avenue, the Blind Pig (147 S. Madison Ave., Greenwood, 317-882-7892) draws in a pretty dedicated clientele of regulars for live music and nightly beer quaffing. (And if you can get beyond the now somewhat jarring smell of indoor cigarettes in “smoke-’em-if-you’ve-got-‘em” Johnson County, it’s one of the better places to cheer on IU as it heads into the Sweet 16.)
Chic snacks like oysters, sushi, and cheese and meat boards are served at the bar, along with short-rib paninis, pork arepas, and foie gras profiteroles. And a spirit of historical authenticity guides the cocktails. General manager Michael Gray (formerly of The Libertine) has made sure of that, with a timeline-themed menu based on the year the libation was invented. Feeling Victorian? Order an Absinthe concoction, served with a sugar cube and water. Or go back to the 1980s and slurp on a tart Cosmopolitan. If you were going to dress the part, though, we’d prefer to see petticoats and crinoline, not spandex and Aqua Net hair-poufs. 333 S. Delaware St., 855-200-3002.
Nestled in the former Bazbeaux space downtown, Bakersfield Mass Ave. promises Mexican fare, late-night dining, and a country-rock soundtrack this spring. Expect the Prada-gonia set camped out at the bar picking on pretty little handmade corn-tortilla tacos with achiote-braised pork, pickled red onions, habanero salsa, and cilantro and washing them down with Mason jars filled with fresh-squeezed margaritas. The menu will offer seven different street-style tacos, two tortas, two salads, and a few appetizers and soups. But Bakersfield will be as much a bar as a restaurant: This rustic-style joint will also offer 100 tequila and bourbon choices and vintage cocktails alongside $2 PBRs (served in a glass boot). If the second location of Bakersfield is anything like the original Cincinnati spot, anticipate crowds and long waits. 334 Massachusetts Ave., bakersfieldmassave.com
Nick Davidson is not a robot, but he branded his brewery with one as a mascot. “As a kid, I was obsessed with robots,” he says. “It didn’t have anything to do with The Wizard of Oz.” As his fledgling brewery came to fruition, ideas fermented in Davidson’s mind as to what to label his brews: “’Robot’ didn’t sound very good. Tin Man sounded good, like a retro robot I had as a kid.” His friend Matt Wagner helped him design the logo, and the rest is history. Davidson opened Tin Man Brewing Co. (1430 W. Franklin St., Evansville, 812-618-3227) the day after Thanksgiving—Black Friday 2012—and his robot mascot has been seeing red ever since. Irish red, that is. On the heels of his successful turn at Indy’s Winterfest in late January, we caught up with the entrepreneur who has brought craft beer back to Evansville.
Bakersfield Mass Ave (334 Massachusetts Ave., 317-635-6962, bakersfieldmassave.com) officially opens at 4 p.m. today, and hosted preview parties on Friday and Saturday nights. Housing their taco-tequila-whiskey haven in the former Bazbeaux spot on the business end of Mass Ave, the owners smartly knocked out the walls that separated three rooms on the main floor, implementing steel beams to prop up the room and thus opening the space, letting it breathe. This is a mini-chain with just two stores so far, the first abiding in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine district. The owners were thrilled to be able to do so much to this building, as the original location is more than 200 years old, with updates to the historic building either forbidden or impossible.
Considering its hot SoBro location, inventive Latin-inspired food and drinks, and gorgeous (yet comfortable) interiors, Delicia (5215 N. College Ave., 317-925-0677) will have no problem filling its 125 seats on Friday and Saturday nights. Was this really the former Movie Gallery space we were talking about months ago? We were impressed from the moment we entered: Delicia packs plenty of panache. Sure, it’s on board with the reclaimed-wood trend. But here, the exposed wood beams are mixed in with ambient lighting, a curved partial wooden ceiling, glass arched accents, and white-glazed brick walls. It definitely works.
