Destination Dining 2013

Inside, it’s a low-lit den of charmingly old-school Bavarian motifs with dark-paneled walls, dangling antique farm implements, and barstools upholstered in deep ruby and avocado—fancy digs for an 11,000-square-foot converted chicken coop that opened last year on the 141-acre Walhill Farm.

Restaurateur Ian Hall quickly found a following for his fresh take on locally inspired cuisine when he opened this Southern Indiana standout in a strip mall in 2011.

When Bluffton native Tiercell William Schwartz returned to his hometown after a decade-long stint in New York, he longed for a place to get a drink and a big-city meal. So he opened his own restaurant with an urban vibe in 2010.

No more than two dozen seats, some with chunky, custom-made chairs, populate the snug dining room of Casey and Sylvia Petro’s burger joint in the heart of Chesterton.

Farm-to-fork cuisine gets a minimalist treatment at this spare, open restaurant tucked inside the just-added clubhouse at LaPorte’s Legacy Hills Golf Club.

Most Sunday mornings, as coffee brews and the smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls perfumes the air, a line weaves from the tiny vestibule of The Winds Cafe and Bakery out through its front door to the brick-lined walkway and picketed entrance.

Foodies find their happy place in this small-town farm-to-fork spot that came to be when “a shaggy-haired chef from Florida’s Gulf Coast” fell in love with a country girl from Indiana.

Since opening in 2005, clubby Seviche in the high-energy Highlands district has been racking up raves for a menu that fuses Latin flavors and Bluegrass ingredients with mouthwatering results.

Chef-owner Matt Burns got a good lesson in regional sourcing at Westfield’s The Local Eatery & Pub—and helped head up the kitchen at nearby Vera Mae’s Bistro with wife Jessica—before the pair teamed on this ambitious but amiable spot for “French soul food.”

Sarah Wolfe’s menu rolls with the whims of the local produce surrounding her home base of Princeton.

The Joseph Decuis operation began as a way for owners Pete and Alice Eshelman to entertain business clients out of a downtown-Roanoke bank building they had converted into a private dining facility. In 2000, they opened their doors to the public as well.

Tony Yamazaki (endearingly referred to as “Crazy Tony”) runs the show at this college-town sushi house.

Unparalleled for its imaginative and original menu of small plates with a Middle Eastern lean, Abigail Street is one of the busiest places in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, with scores of repeat diners tucked into bench-lined tables and barstools.

Hometown boy Andy Richmer cut his teeth as a chef at the nearby Belterra Casino before venturing into his own restaurant two years ago, situated in a historic home at the western end of Madison’s main drag.

In the midst of Richmond’s emerging historic Depot District, Firehouse BBQ & Blues boasts a smoking backstory.