Bru Burger Bar

Including a soul-warming Maple-pecan Hot Toddy, made of infused Maker’s Mark, maple syrup, and muddled orange, at Eat + Drink, Taste Cafe & Marketplace’s new conjoined cocktail lounge.

From The Libertine to Recess and Oakleys to Bluebeard, Korean to Latin and sushi to steak, our critics chose the cream of Indy’s dining crop,. Who’s at the head of the table? Read on to find out.

Cerulean’s (339 S. Delaware St., 317-870-1320) pitch-perfect pair of vanilla-bean macarons—one big and one little—on a plate artfully balance with freeze-dried raspberries. Tiny pan-fried bluegill filets atop stone-ground grits at

Crispy flatbreads at Severin Bar (40 W. Jackson Place, 317-396-3623). Roasted peppadew peppers and whipped goat cheese at Bru Burger Bar (410 Massachusetts Ave., 317-635-4278), with a slightly sweet balsamic reduction.  The chocolate lava cake from Fleming’s (8487 Union Chapel Rd., 317-466-0175). The rich Belgian cake is extra decadent when dipped in Chantilly cream.

Seventeen outstanding new reasons to love the city, everything from a music-video bar to a trampoline park.

Burger connoisseurs rally behind their favorite patties, perhaps none more beloved than the crispy-edged standards at Workingman’s Friend (234 N. Belmont Ave., 636-2067) > At MacNiven’s Restaurant & Bar (339 Massachusetts Ave., 632-7268, macnivens.com), the Angus Burger spans the entire plate, wide and flat like a Frisbee. Fold it twice, like hamburger origami, to make it fit the bun > Those who like their burgers thick and artfully garnished will find bliss in the dozen-plus one-third–pound varieties at Boogie Burger (1904 Broad Ripple Ave., 255-2450, boogieburger.com) and in the hand-pattied creations at Bub’s Burgers & Ice Cream (210 W. Main St., Carmel, 706-2827, bubsburgersandicecream.com).

Tini’s Raintini is made of Absolut acai berry vodka, violet liqueur, limoncello, lime juice, and muddled blueberries, paired with head-bopping Beyonce vids.