Dining Articles

Art Bouvier grew up in New Orleans, where almost everyone he knew owned a restaurant, and he was pretty sure that wasn’t the life he wanted. He even moved north, seeking a corporate career that would keep him safely out of the hospitality business. But eventually the cubicle lifestyle wore him down. Good for us. In 2007, Bouvier left his seven-year IT career at Eli Lilly to open his authentically Cajun Papa Roux on the east side. “At the time, everyone thought I was nuts,” says Bouvier. “Now I don’t look so nuts.”

Somewhere between a patio barbecue and a walk-up Dairy Queen, the adorably quirky digs of the original Boogie Burger won us over from the start. Tucked inside a broom closet next to what is now Ripple Inn, this lovably shabby burger joint gave off an undiscovered vibe, even four years after it opened and lines were curling out the doors on summer evenings. We were always surprised that a place this humble could put out such scrumptious fare: two-handed, well-seasoned burgers with unexpected toppers like grilled pastrami, peanut butter, and fried eggs. On the side, deeply golden fries were flecked with fresh garlic and parsley.

When Chris Eley opened his sexy delicatessen, Goose the Market, four years ago, cocktail-party snacks in Indianapolis saw a dramatic improvement. This summer, Eley brings us Smoking Goose (a.k.a. Dorman Street Meatery), an artisan production facility that will supply grocery stores and restaurants around the Midwest with the Goose’s Old World–style victuals—starting with “about 42 different items,” Eley says.

Meridian Restaurant & Bar (5694 N. Meridian St., 466-1111)

An ice-cream sandwich on a bar menu? Why not, when there’s a good hit of bourbon in the housemade vanilla ice cream sandwiched between chewy chocolate-chip cookies? The bar menu is only available weekdays from 4

There is a lot of nowhere in indiana. I know this. I’ve seen it, grown up in it, lived in it. And right now my wife Michelle and I are poised at its edge, in search of the best breaded pork tenderloin sandwich in the state of Indiana.

What makes this Columbus institution really sweet is the counter-side charm of Wilma Hare and her fellow soda jerks, who will pull you an ice cream soda the way it was in 1900 and serve it with a side of sass: “When that ice cream hits the carbonation, it will explode like a volcano. And I will laugh at the look of panic on your face.”

Last year, Ichiban underwent a renovation that doubled the eatery’s size and added a bar and a banquet room that can hold 30 people, and yet the place feels as intimate as it ever did. The menu saw some changes, too, as owner Sammy Li explains. “We have many regulars—really beautiful people. But a lot of them are families, so they don’t order the traditional raw-fish sushi.”

The restaurant has tweaked the menu at all nine of its locations nationwide. Even the mashed potatoes (now silky Yukon Golds flavored with truffle oil) and the lobster bisque (assembled tableside for added drama) showed the alterations. The different cuts of steak, formerly just herbed and buttered, now get individual treatments, from a filet served with mushrooms and brandy-mustard sauce to the sirloin, grilled and applewood-smoked, with a mustard garlic aioli. A small note on the menu states that the steaks can instead be ordered with just a rub of rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, and garlic—a simple preparation that remains the best choice.

Taki Sawi smelled smoke early in the morning of October 12. It was a rude awakening made ruder by the fact that he was sleeping in a room across the parking lot from the ovens and burners of his Santorini Greek Kitchen. He rushed to the window to see white, then black, smoke billowing from the building and watched as his aspirations literally went up in flames. Firefighters arrived within moments, soon enough to save the building, but most of the restaurant’s interior was destroyed.