Burger Chain: Chefs' Favorites
From classic patty-and-bun combos to gussied-up versions, these seven stack up.
From J. B. Andrews, bar manager at Bluebeard
1 1/2 oz. chai infused spiced rum (instructions below)
1 oz. Amaretto
1 oz. orgeat (Wilks and Wilson or Fee Brothers)
1/2 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 oz. Averna amaro
Combine all ingredients, except for the Averna, in cocktail shaker. Shake for 10 to 12 seconds. Strain over ice into a high ball or tiki glass. Carefully float the Averna on the top of the drink.
Chai-infused Spiced Rum:
375 ml Crusoe or other spiced rum
2 bags Hubbard and Cravens or other chai tea
Place the tea bags in the bottom of a French press. Pour rum over the top. Let steep for 15 minutes. Press the tea bags to ring out the rum absorbed by the tea. Pour through a fine-mesh strainer or cheese cloth to strain out tea particles.
Ed Rudisell doesn’t fit the typical multi-restaurant-mogul mold. He’s not the clean-cut suit who rolls up in a Lexus and barks about food costs and mission statements. In fact, this laid-back and tatted entrepreneur (who drives a Buick) landed in the industry by accident, after getting laid off from a bank job. “When I was 24, I started working for Buffalo Wild Wings. I just needed to pay my rent,” says Rudisell, now 36 and co-owner of two successful local restaurants, Black Market and Siam Square.
Those bright–orange banks of jack-be-little pumpkins spotted at farmers markets can be much more than teeny decorations—they make the perfect vessel for nutty, autumnal pumpkin soup. Here, executive chef Edsel C. Secrest from Peterson’s (7690 E. 96th St., Fishers, 317-598-8863) shares a simple at-home recipe that takes advantage of fall’s fleeting flavors.
If the idea of tropical drinks brings to mind kitschy brightly colored liquors poured from spinning slushie machines, take note: Hyper-serious drink fanatics Zach Wilks and Greg Wilson of Wilks & Wilson (212 W. 10th St., 317-294-2890, wilksandwilson.com) have launched a line of syrups that pay these beachfront classics their due. Their six organic infused elixirs can make any home mixologist feel confident enough to jump behind the bar and shake it like Tom Cruise in Cocktail.
Real taco trucks do not have Twitter accounts. They don’t attend food-truck festivals, charge more than $2 per taco, or shadow the 9-to-5 crowd and Broad Ripple partiers. Which is why you didn’t know that Indy has real taco trucks. They’re all on Washington Street, and you have to go to them, each a no-frills wagon parking in the same rutted lot every day, usually from 11 a.m. or noon until around midnight. The menus posted on the side of the truck stick to the street-food standards—tacos, tortas, and quesadillas in variations of asada, pastor, pollo, lengua, cabeza, and chorizo; maybe some nachos and burritos, and the odd loaded fries or beans-and-rice special. The best of the bunch, El Taco Veloz (2475 W. Washington St.), has been around the longest—five years—and makes good on its name (“fast taco”). Go with the pastor, seasoned pork roasted in the truck on a vertical spit (as it should be, but rarely is in Indy) and served with a spicy, smoky salsa made from five chiles—or five something. We could have pressed the owner for clarification, but it’s not that kind of place. It’s the kind of place where you pay $1.65 for each palm-sized, double–corn-tortilla taco and scoot your white plastic plate and Styrofoam cup of crisp cucumber water down to the end of the counter and eat standing up, trying to chat with the husband-and-wife owners in Spanish before finally ordering dos mas. Other taco trucks on Washington: Taqueria Morales (2200 E. Washington St.), tacos $2 each, huge quesadillas $5 each, a little on the greasy side; Taqueria El Bohemio (4002 E. Washington St.), tacos $1.75 each, deadly hot habanero salsa, cheese between the double layer of corn tortillas; and Tacos al Carbon (on East Washington Street about halfway between I-465 and Washington Square Mall), tacos $1.75 each, expansive menu, a rare greaseless chorizo taco. Take cash.
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. […]
Call him a caterer. Call him a chef. Just don’t call Brad Gates a man without big ideas. He may be working in one of his smallest kitchens yet, in a corner of City Market, but Gates is putting his highly refined palate to work on catering, to-go lunches, and one of Indy’s best cheese cases, stocked with up to 40 selections.
