Bluebeard

Photo by Tony Valainis

The cocktail menu changes seasonally, so don’t go looking for “the usual.” And the bar offers high-concept snacks ranging from charcuterie to pickles.

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When Bluebeard opened in June, word of its Bohemian cuisine and cocktails spread like a meme. The deconstructed menu changes nightly, but order from each category and you can’t go wrong.

Meaty grilled octopus, moistened with a creamy, garlicky bagna cauda and served with crusty Amelia’s bread for cleaning off the plate juices, at Bluebeard (653 Virginia Ave., 317-686-1580). The beef short ribs at Cerulean (339 S. Delaware St.,

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If there were a playbook for new restaurants, mapping out everything hot and covetable right now in the ever-changing game of dining out, Fletcher Place newcomer Bluebeard would already have it memorized.

1.     Watermelon gazpacho—rich and yet refreshing—at Bluebeard (653 Virginia Ave., 317-686-1580). A fresh fluke-and-corn ceviche tops the bowl.

1.     Two fully saturated and crumble-topped hunks of buttermilk bread pudding at Bluebeard (653 Virginia Ave., 317-686-1580), scattered with ricotta and sweetened with prosecco cherries.

2.     The Polo Loco Real at El Meson (multiple locations)—chicken breast pounded thin, grilled, and topped with liquefied cheese, with mini flour tortillas for taco making and juice sopping.

3.     The Mega-Miller breakfast sandwich from Uptown Cafe (809 Conner St., Noblesville, 317-674-8668): a biscuit sandwich with egg, American cheese, ham, bacon, and hash browns, topped with jalapeno jelly, spinach, and tomatoes.

4.     Cafe Korea’s (7262 Fishers Crossing Dr., Fishers, 317-578-1987) seared pork dumplings. Inside a crispy fried crust, the filling is just hot enough to bring out the pork’s full flavor.

5.     The open-faced braised short rib sandwich at Palomino (49 W. Maryland St., 317-974-0400), in which tender meat holds its own against a starchy double whammy: mashed potatoes and a crusty roll. Beef Manhattan with an attitude.

Since January, Indianapolis Monthly has been following the progress of Bluebeard (653 Virginia Ave.). So this past Friday, our forks were at the ready for the restaurant’s soft opening. Fans of Abbi Merriss Adams and John Adams were happy to see the pair back in the kitchen (right behind the bar), plating everything from white-bean salad with chorizo, zucchini, and radicchio fleur to a sharable whole snapper with house giardiniera.

Editor’s Note: This story on the soon-to-be-opened Bluebeard restaurant appeared in the May 2012 issue. For 10 weeks this winter and spring, we followed father-and-son team Tom and Ed Battista as they faced the joys and tribulations of opening their new restaurant, Bluebeard. It is a venture, however rewarding, not for the faint of heart. […]

In the coming months, Charlie McIntosh will don an apron and assume his head baker role at the soon-to-open Amelia’s, an Italian-style hearth bread bakery in a Fletcher Place mini-restaurant complex at 653 Virginia Avenue.