Craig Baker

What do the top chefs in town have that you don’t? These handy tools.

You’ve probably seen the Portlandia “Is the chicken local?” scene by now. It’s the one where a bistro-aproned restaurant server tells her customers that “The chicken is a heritage breed, woodland-raised chicken that’s been fed a diet of sheep’s milk, soy, and hazelnuts … His name was Collin. Here are his papers.” Snarky people like […]

An approachable but definitely high-aiming lunch menu currently features several playful starters and a short list of “mains,” including a burger seared on a plancha grill and a grilled cheese with three types of fromage and a mushroom jam.

First up from Baker’s menu, which rotates biweekly: lamb belly. Second: a grilled walleye fresh out of the water.

See the full tasting-hour and sit-down dinner menus from our April 24 event celebrating many of the city’s top chefs and restaurants.

The restaurant will showcase an extensive raw bar, along with a menu heavy on seafood and local produce, with selected meat dishes, beers, and wines. It will also be open for lunch, offering sandwiches, appetizers, and elegant small plates.

The Local’s Craig Baker deconstructs the Sunday-dinner staple into a cooking-school final exam dish reminiscent of chicken cordon bleu or rolled meats from Eastern Europe.

As we embarked on our own food-driven adventures for the October cover story on Destination Dinner, we couldn’t help asking a couple of pros for their favorite meals worth the drive.

Patachou Inc.’s Martha Hoover on the chili-cheese fries and cheeseburgers at Steak n’ Shake: “After every gala and fundraiser my husband and I attend. You can be guaranteed bad food even at the best cause’s fundraiser.”

That third course and others over the course of the night, as well as the prior tasting time, saw delectable plates of food paired with choice wines, beers, and cocktails.

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.

It came as no surprise when Baker announced plans for not one, but two new diverse dining concepts in the next year.

As we shared back in July, Craig Baker and Derek Means of The Local Eatery & Pub (14655 N. Gray Rd., Westfield, 317-218-3786) plan to open Bent Rail Brewery & Coffee Co. in the SoBro area, taking over the now-shuttered Monon Fitness Center. The 12,000-square-foot space will serve as restaurant and microbrewery. And the owners describe the menu as Tuscan and French peasant-themed with several house-cured meats, rustic dishes, and gourmet pizzas. For early hours, they plan to sell house-roasted coffee and fresh-baked goods.

Baker says he and Means hope to open the SoBro spot in nine months, offering breakfast at the coffee shop, lunch, and dinner in the brewery, and an outside music venue for close to 1,000 people.