Best New Restaurants 2015

Latin-food fans can linger over the eye-popping appetizer platter of salami and Longaniza sausage served on a mound of fried chicken bites, plantains, shrimp, and mozzarella sticks at Tropicalisimo.

These supper clubs showcase the talents of Indy’s most adventurous chefs.

Jonathan Brooks lavishes the bed-head crowd with creative takes on the morning meal at Milktooth.

At Spoke & Steele, Chef Tyson Peterson puts his focus on “authentic food and drink sourced and influenced from the best of Indiana’s craft vendors and purveyors.”

The Michelin-starred duo of Mark Heinrichs and Danny Salgado put their fearless spin on culinary-school classics at Revery.

Somehow Nelson’s unexpected fusion of high and low culture seems as natural as a dollop of sticky-sweet rib jam on a scoop of mac ’n’ cheese.

If you’re coming for dinner, don’t even think about passing up the opportunity to partake in the pickle-brined fried chicken.

Tinker Street’s mere 36 main dining-room seats almost guarantee that you will share elbow space with a stranger.

During Sunday brunch, gospel music hums in the background as dolled-up church ladies flock to the buffet for cream cheese–stuffed French toast and another piece of fried chicken.

The restaurant’s window-fringed dining room highlights slate-black tables, bench seating, wooden stools, and blown-up portraits of colorful dishes infused with produce from the onsite gardens.

Jenkins found a neighborhood niche by turning the back half of the restaurant into a grownups-only hangout with bartenders swinging bottles of Sparkle Donkey reposado over salt-rimmed Mason jars.

Ezra’s serves a dairy-free, processed sugar–free, GMO-free, gluten-free, organic, local, raw, “beegan” menu.

Nibbles like chimichurri sliders, chicken mole tamales, and fully loaded steak-and-egg chilaquiles bring to mind the freshest portable fare from a south-of-the-border street vendor.

An uncompromisingly seasonal menu with maritime influences and international accents, from South America to the Mediterranean.

Union 50 has become the coolest place to eat (and be seen eating) in town.