The Feed: Broken English Taco Pub, Brickhouse Coffee, And More
» Good news/bad news for two locally-owned restaurants. MOFOCO (Monon Food Company) and Spice Box Indy both closed a location, but, luckily for fans, are not closing down entirely. Monon Food Company announced on social media that it is shuttering the original restaurant in Broad Ripple (6420 Cornell Ave.) to focus on the counter service model launched this year at MOFOCO downtown (72 W. New York St., 317-744-8530). And the owners of Spice Box closed their Fletcher Place sit-down eatery (open since November of 2015), but will continue operations in the original City Market location (222 E. Market St., 317-220-8590).
» Chicago-based Broken English Taco Pub is coming to Indy. The Indianapolis Business Journal reports that the Phil Stefani Signature Restaurants Group will open the casual taqueria and bar in the former home of Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery downtown (141 S. Meridian St.), with a menu heavy on tacos. It will offer brunch, lunch, and dinner service. This will be the fourth location for the restaurant, and the first one outside the city of Chicago.
» Open Bite Night: Ridiculous! is this Saturday (October 7) at Flanner House (2424 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St.). The food festival started last year in the back yard of Ro and Earl Townsend as a fundraiser for their nonprofit #GRoE, Inc. (Gather Resources, Offer to Everyone), and was moved less than a year later to Flanner House to accommodate more than 2,000 people, 40-plus vendors, and live entertainment from local artists. A $3 donation is recommended, with proceeds benefiting Flanner House, The Learning Tree, Voices Corp, Groundwork Indy, Kheprw Institute, and #GRoE, which provides healthy snack bags for food insecure children on the northwest side of Indianapolis.
» Brickhouse Coffee Co. (100 Byrd Way, 317-550-0034) is now open in Greenwood in the old Jonathan Byrd building. The southside cafeteria was redeveloped and relaunched as The Nest (a nod to the Byrd family), a mixed-use business and event center, and Brickhouse is the first tenant. It’s owned and operated by Jared and Lora Stayton, who learned to roast coffee when they were missionaries in Spain.
» The tasting room at 12.05 Distillery (636 Virginia Ave., 317-439-4997), is having its grand opening this Friday, October 6. Owners Brad Colver and Nolan Hudson will celebrate with cocktails and flights using 12.05 spirits. Regular hours for the tasting room are Thursday through Sunday, noon–10 p.m. 12.05 is named after the date Prohibition was repealed in 1933.
» The wait is over. Chicagoland’s legendary Portillo’s is finally open in Fishers (9201 E. 116th St., 317-588-1111). Chicago expat and Portillo’s superfan Alicia Garceau has the 411 on what you should order when you go.
» Happy Birthday, Milktooth (534 Virginia Ave., 317-986-5131)! Chef Jonathan Brooks and Ashley Brooks opened the popular brunch playground three years ago this week, setting off a wave of national attention from food reporters and celebrities, and landing Jonathan on Food & Wine Magazine’s Best New Chefs list in 2015. Here’s to many more years of dutch baby pancakes and Notorious F.I.G. coffee drinks.
» Kimbal Musk, who’s bringing Hedge Row Bistro and Next Door Cafe to Indianapolis soon, was shaking his groove thing with Dancing Ann on Mass Ave. last week. Musk was in town to speak at the TURN Festival, a annual celebration of urban sustainability at the Paramount School of Excellence.
