March 2018 First Bite

Revisit: Noah Grant’s

From the day she opened it 10 years ago, Shari Jenkins’s colorfully appointed Noah Grant’s Grill House & Oyster Bar was the hottest table to land in Zionsville. While Jenkins broadened her culinary ambitions with the more casual Salty Cowboy in 2014, regulars who crowded her original chophouse and raw bar still ached for a little more elbow room. They got it last November when Jenkins unveiled a new Noah Grant’s location one block over, in a former antique-toy museum. Plenty of hardwood surfaces make its whitewashed new home just as boisterous as the last, but the move has sharpened the kitchen offerings. Crispy wontons stuffed with beef short ribs and topped with a horseradish crème make for a satisfying starter. A frequent special of grouper, now a menu mainstay, is a stunner, blackened and accompanied by cubes of roasted butternut squash, heady lobster cream sauce, and a toss of sautéed spinach. 91 S. Main St., Zionsville, 317-732-2233

The Feed

HALL PASS Class is in session again at the old Whitestown High School, site of the new Moontown Brewing Company …  SNACK BAR Flavored popcorn maker Just Pop In opens a popcorn cafe and bar in Broad Ripple this spring … BEST CASE, WURST CASE  The owners of Big Lug Canteen purchased the former Bent Rail Brewery in SoBro, with plans to reopen it as a Bavarian-style restaurant and brewery.

Pinch of Wisdom

“If you want your meats to be flavorful and tender, cook them in milk. Using milk as a braising liquid can reduce your cooking time and leave you with a luscious base for a sauce, especially if you braise at a moderate temperature.”

—Cindy Joyner, the former legal assistant and singer-songwriter who bakes up flaky, crispy-edged squares at her Boujie Biscuit in Franklin