Ian Rossman

You want to root for a place this genuine and charming, with its patio lit by string lights and framed in 300-gallon stock tanks full of flowers—and its sweet plaid-shirted servers as chatty as old high school buddies you might run into at Target.

This place has enough rustic-modern style (and Smoking Goose meats) to woo committed carnivores, and plenty of finesse in the kitchen to make them crave clean living.

The Garden Table in Broad Ripple nears an opening date, and Quills Coffee plans to open its first Indianapolis location this fall.