Indy dining

Fans of pitch-perfect surf and turf always have the fallback lushness of Peterson’s (7690 E. 96th St., Fishers, 598-8863, petersonsrestaurant.com), especially in its tender osso buco, and row of seared Maine Diver scallops with alternating disks of apple tuille on a bed of risotto > Sporting dark paneling and Germanic robustness, The Rathskeller (401 E. Michigan St., 636-0396, rathskeller.com) pioneered the civilized rustic theme. Oxtail is listed among the soups, and the sides include spaetzle, red cabbage, and warm potato salad.

With exposed-brick walls, raw wood beams suspended above the bar, and bell-shaped lamps that look like they could be lighting a henhouse, Black Market feels like the most stylish barn you’ll ever dine in. But the black-topped bar and skinny-legge

Editor’s Note, June 22, 2012: Sensu announced early this month that it will no longer serve dinner. It will, however, remain an upscale nightclub and special-event venue, with Asian-inspired catering services available.

linger over a beggar’s purse or pecan-crusted chicken salad at Kelties (110 S. Union St., Westfield, 867-3525, kelties.com).

Give your mother the day off this Sunday and treat her to brunch at one of Indy’s restaurants that bridge the breakfast/lunch gap in style.

In our weekly e-newsletter this past Tuesday, we noted that Kelties in Westfield has closed. That is not the case, though the owner intends to close in September if she does not sell the restaurant. This news means that diners who relish high-quality comfort food should make their way post haste to Westfield.

Burger connoisseurs rally behind their favorite patties, perhaps none more beloved than the crispy-edged standards at Workingman’s Friend (234 N. Belmont Ave., 636-2067) > At MacNiven’s Restaurant & Bar (339 Massachusetts Ave., 632-7268, macnivens.com), the Angus Burger spans the entire plate, wide and flat like a Frisbee. Fold it twice, like hamburger origami, to make it fit the bun > Those who like their burgers thick and artfully garnished will find bliss in the dozen-plus one-third–pound varieties at Boogie Burger (1904 Broad Ripple Ave., 255-2450, boogieburger.com) and in the hand-pattied creations at Bub’s Burgers & Ice Cream (210 W. Main St., Carmel, 706-2827, bubsburgersandicecream.com).

The spicing is subtle in some dishes, striking in others, but always precise. Sometimes the combination of ingredients challenges our middle-American notions. When was the last time you had chilled, spiced mashed potatoes molded around chicken salad? But dishes assembled with such care and presented so lovingly can grow on you and become familiar. As Indy’s ethnic food scene expands and (hopefully) fills in all of our international cracks, Mama Irma gives us a place to call home.

Considering the electric lime and Pepto-Bismol pink walls, mounted taxidermy, indoor bocce ball court, and Mister Rogers and Merle Haggard portraits, we have a feeling the owners of at the soon-to-open The Tin Roof (36 S. Pennsylvania St., 317-224-0785) won’t be taking much of anything too seriously.

Newly appointed as the head chef of Meridian Restaurant & Bar (5694 N. Meridian St., 317-466-1111) Layton Roberts brings some lusty, low-country cooking to Meridian-Kessler. (SPOILER ALERT: That means the return of the fried chicken dinner.) The 30-year-old toque, who started his career in Louisville before arriving in Indianapolis five years ago, headed up the kitchen at 14 West and most recently served as chef de cuisine at Mesh on Mass—an impressive resume in its own right. Using a dog-eared Meridian menu heavily annotated with handwritten notes as his show-and-tell, Roberts gives us a preview of what he has planned for one of Indy’s longest-standing eateries.  

Crisp and browned salmon cake at Room Four (4907 N. College Ave., 317-925-7529), topped with a bright Meyer lemon sauce. The Mixiote at El Sol de Tal

My brain is a sieve when it comes to details of meals gone by. Was that black or green cardamom? Chive or cilantro?

Licorice-stick red and jet black are the dominant hues at The Night Porter (921 Broad Ripple Ave., 317-253-5252), a new rock bar/restaurant in the former La Jolla space in Broad Ripple. It is the ideal spot for a beer-guzzling, music-loving crowd. Partner Steve Markoff had a vision to open a laid-back, music-centric place like the spots he frequented in his old Los Angeles neighborhood. As the creative director for Tour Design Creative/Live Nation, he has turned the location into a shrine to his favorite musicians. The walls are adorned with 75 framed concert posters. Beneath the bar, large black-and-white screen-printed murals (created by local artist Aaron Scamihorn) showcase the biggest rock stars from the 1950s to now.

Dan Dunville, the award-winning chef at Meridian Restaurant (5694 N. Meridian St., 317-466-1111), recently left his post after a dispute with owner Rick Lux of LUX Restaurants. After Dunville’s departure, Lux announced to the staff that sous chef Edsel Chad Secrest (who had been with Meridian since the restaurant’s opening) would be the new executive chef. After this staff announcement, and unbeknownst to Edsel, Lux interviewed other chefs in the city for the executive chef position. Through a text message, Edsel learned that Lux had hired Layton Roberts of Mesh (725 Massachusetts Ave., 317-955-9600) as the executive chef. When Lux was asked why the sudden change, he said he was concerned Edsel was too close to Dunville. Roberts begins his new post on February 29 and is expected to bring his kitchen crew.

But with all the possible variations, surely there’s room for one more. Last week, Kentucky-based BoomBozz Restaurants opened BoomBozz Taphouse (2430 E. 146th St., Carmel, 317-843-2666) in the former BD’s Mongolian Barbeque space. The brick-and-stone accented restaurant is fitted with around 25 taps, serving up a well-edited selection of imported craft brews, including custom brews made by Flat12 Bierwerks.