The Feed: Kimbal Musk's Next Door Cafe, The Gallery Pastry Shop's Cheese-A-Rama, And More
- The Gallery Pastry Shop (1101 E. 54th St., 317-820-5526) is teaming up with Indy Gourmet Club and Piazza Produce to present Cheese Wars on April 2. Local chefs will compete with cheese-centric dishes, wooing the crowd in pursuit of the judge’s and people’s choice awards. Tickets are $35 for entry and samples, with options for bottomless mimosas (add $25) and PBR ($15).
- Northside breakfast-and-lunch spot Tulip Noir is permanently closed. The restaurant, along with its sister juice bar, Le Nectar, shut down temporarily in December for renovations, and owner Dina McIntyre announced today that she won’t reopen. McIntyre cited her desire to travel and spend more time with her family as reasons for the closure. Tulip Noir opened for business in 2008.
- Billionaire entrepreneur Kimbal Musk is expanding his food footprint in Indianapolis. In addition to the learning gardens installed in Marion County schools through The Kitchen Community and the forthcoming Hedge Row American Bistro (342 Massachusetts Ave.), Musk is in negotiations for the former Double 8 Foods property at 46th Street and College Avenue. According to the The Indianapolis Star, Musk plans to open a the sixth location of his Next Door Cafe in the space, serving affordable, farm-to-table dishes.
- Devour Bloomington starts today. Fifteen restaurants are offering three-course, value-priced menus until April 2.
- Fourth-generation winemaker Dante Mondavi will be the featured guest speaker at the 18th-anniversary celebration for Peterson’s (7690 E. 96th St., 317-598-8863) on March 30. Tickets are $125 and include Chef Dave Foegley’s specially designed five-course dinner with wine pairings. Here’s the menu.
- Yelp released its 2017 list of the Top 50 Places to Eat in Indiana. The list is based on reviews written by Hoosiers, and rankings are calculated using a combination of review trends of the last year with overall restaurant ratings in the state.
- We admit to a love/hate relationship with the James Beard Awards. We love it when the esteemed culinary organization recognizes Indy chefs and restaurateurs in the semi-finalist round, and hate it when they invariably send all the love to Chicago in the finalist round. In February, Jonathan Brooks (Milktooth), Abbi Merriss (Bluebeard), and Aaron Butts and Sean Richardson (The Golden) all got nods in the Best Chef/Great Lakes category, which includes Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. Martha Hoover (Patachou Inc.) also made the semi-finalist list for Best Restaurateurs in the country. Yet when the finalists were announced last week, nobody from Indiana made the cut. Chicago chefs had an exclusive hold on the Best Chef/Great Lakes list, and the Best Restaurateur nods were limited to people in Chicago, New Orleans, Boston, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. The winners will be announced on May 1 in Chicago (again with the Windy City!). You’ll find us drowning our sorrows in Milktooth’s Notorious F.I.G., an Indiana exclusive.
