Billing itself as the city’s first full-service espresso bar on wheels, Indy Coffee Van has joined the crowded food truck scene. The checkered orange box truck was spotted yesterday morning on the Circle. Behind the wheel is Wes Kerlin, a former US Air Force special agent. His affinity for coffee runs deep in his family and is what drives him each day. “My pare
From J. B. Andrews, bar manager at Bluebeard
1 1/2 oz. chai infused spiced rum (instructions below)
1 oz. Amaretto
1 oz. orgeat (Wilks and Wilson or Fee Brothers)
1/2 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 oz. Averna amaro
Combine all ingredients, except for the Averna, in cocktail shaker. Shake for 10 to 12 seconds. Strain over ice into a high ball or tiki glass. Carefully float the Averna on the top of the drink.
Chai-infused Spiced Rum:
375 ml Crusoe or other spiced rum
2 bags Hubbard and Cravens or other chai tea
Place the tea bags in the bottom of a French press. Pour rum over the top. Let steep for 15 minutes. Press the tea bags to ring out the rum absorbed by the tea. Pour through a fine-mesh strainer or cheese cloth to strain out tea particles.
Five weeks ago, we shared a preview of the reopening of Indy’s cherished Aristocrat Pub & Restaurant (5212 N. College Ave., 317-283-7388). Just like we remember it, the center cut fried pork tenderloin still takes up the entire plate. And the peppery potato chips still make us long for another pint of brew.
Ed Rudisell doesn’t fit the typical multi-restaurant-mogul mold. He’s not the clean-cut suit who rolls up in a Lexus and barks about food costs and mission statements. In fact, this laid-back and tatted entrepreneur (who drives a Buick) landed in the industry by accident, after getting laid off from a bank job. “When I was 24, I started working for Buffalo Wild Wings. I just needed to pay my rent,” says Rudisell, now 36 and co-owner of two successful local restaurants, Black Market and Siam Square.
For local fans of Top Chef, watching episodes can inspire bouts of metropolitan envy. Where, people might wonder, do our own hot culinary upstarts—our Harolds and Hungs—conspire to plate their next great dish? How far would we have to drive to taste them?
Serpentine lines waylaid our early attempts to hit downtown’s new Punch Burger (137 E. Ohio St., 317-426-5280) for lunch. In the weeks immediately following the burger joint’s early October opening, we would poke our heads inside the glass door, survey the scores of business-attired patrons queued up at the counter (with the line snaking down the center of the bustling dining room), and quickly go to Plan B. Holy cheese paper, it’s just burgers. So we thought.
The Perfect Protein Salad from Duos food truck. Crispy/chewy (chewspy?) fried Pretzel Dunkers at Fox and Hound (4901 E. 82nd St., 317-913-1264; 14490 Lowes Way, Carmel, 317-844-0075), served frites-style in a paper-lined basket with creamy queso for dipping. (Tip: Ask for mustard as well.) The adorable Cheesecake in a Jar at
A new lounge aimed at young professionals opened its doors last weekend. Lounge 54, located inside Brewstone Beer Company (3720 E. 82nd St., 317-577-7800), aims to fill a void within Indianapolis nightlife scene by attracting career-minded individuals and local celebrities. Ben Priest, general manager of Brewstone, got in touch with long-time friend John Ban to create an intimate place for young professionals to unwind.
If you’ve been following the saga of all the startups trying to make a go of it on the ground floor of the recently renovated Ambassador building downtown, you may have been surprised to see an “Open” sign lit in the front window for the last few weeks. In the very beginning, after Yats owner Joe Vuskovich “stepped away” from the original Bar Yats concept just as the place was opening in September of 2010, the bar morphed into The Bar at the Ambassador with real promise serving authentic Cajun dishes and top-notch cocktails, including excellent Sazeracs and Vieux Carres. But slow, understaffed service and a dwindling crowd caused the place to change concepts, then close, until it reopened briefly in January of this year as Azul, with a curious menu of Mexican-inspired dishes though minimal decor changes. The doors darkened just a few weeks later, with little hope of a bar or eatery coming back to this seemingly prime downtown location just north of Central Library, amid a host of downtown apartment complexes.
But in mid-August, the place opened again as The Diplomat at the Ambassador (43 E. 9th St., 317-602-4433), the name clearly hoping to restore some of the style and elegance that the historic space promises. With a streamlined menu that features everything from crab cakes and fish tacos to affordable stick-to-your ribs dinners such as pot roast ($12) and duck with a Port and berry reduction ($14), the place has promise to do what its forebears didn’t: provide straightforward bar eats and solid drinks to a downtown block with somewhat of a dearth of dining choices.
Mass Ave video-and-vodka bar, Tini (717 Massachussetts Ave., 317-384-1313), has joined forces with fellow Mass Ave resident Hoaglin to Go Cafe for a new fall lineup of small plates called “Tini bites.” Tini’s previous working relationship with Dented Ladle Dining ended amicably, with the previous fare a bit more intricate to make than Tini owner Brad Kime envisioned for his bar, which remains primarily a sleek, upscale spot given to showing a Prince music video while muddling the blueberries at the bottom of a hit drink, the Purple Raintini.
Alex and Sonja Overhiser are 30-year-old professionals in Indy, a graphic designer and a technical writer/partner, respectively, at the same small company. They are also voracious food bloggers, and now authors by way of their new culinary tome, Green Mango Cafe & Bakery: Cooking for a Better Tomorrow, available online (sans shipping charge) and, soon, at a couple of farmers market signings (see dates below). This husband-and-wife team was inspired by a week-long trip to a just-opened cafe in Cambodia in March 2012 to write their book. All proceeds go to the Center for Global Impact (CGI), headquartered in Greenwood. They gave us peek inside their recipe files.
Just when you thought the curb outside your office building couldn’t get more crowded with food trucks, along comes “Big” Ron Jones, formerly a bar manager at Dawson’s on Main in Speedway, offering up Big Ron’s Curbside Bistro. For the last two week, the mobile food purveyor has been offering up unique takes on hearty sandwiches, loaded hot dogs, soups, and salads, as well as tasty gumbo and cornbread. Jones’s pulled pork sandwich definitely made for a “big” weekday lunch: thick shreds of pork shoulder slow-cooked with Sriracha piled on thick-cut wheat bread with garlic butter and plenty of Carolina-style tangy-sweet coleslaw.
