Coming Soon: The Owner's Wife

Indianapolis has no shortage of craft brewers, and plenty of local chefs have matched their dishes to the diverse flavors of local beers. But now two of Indy’s titans of food and drink are pairing up to give suds-friendly cuisine its day: Ted Miller, who brought his Belgian-style Tripel de Ripple and fruity sour beers to Broad Ripple’s Brugge Brasserie, and award-winning chef Greg Hardesty, whose celebrated run of openings includes H2O Restaurant & Sushi Bar, Elements, Room Four, and his stylish, multi-course Recess. Their joint venture will be called The Owner’s Wife, a phrase many Brugge customers have used to refer to Miller’s spouse, Shannon Stone. The location will be mere steps from Mass Ave and will allow Miller the space to experiment with a wider array of brews and a brand of house-beer vinegars he will design with Hardesty. As for the food, Hardesty will concoct seasonal, prix fixe menus to pair with the beer, as well as a brief conventional menu of brew-worthy dishes. The partners hope to open by early summer. “I’ll taste the beers with Ted; we’ll discuss the characteristics of each and start to create dishes based on those qualities,” Hardesty says. “I do this with wine now, but rarely do I get to work directly with the winemaker. This should be a very cool process.” 608 N. Park Ave.

Photo by Tony Valainis

This article appeared in the June 2013 issue.