John Adams

Local chef John Adams makes a career shift, and Wabash Brewing opens on the northwest side.

You’ve probably seen the Portlandia “Is the chicken local?” scene by now. It’s the one where a bistro-aproned restaurant server tells her customers that “The chicken is a heritage breed, woodland-raised chicken that’s been fed a diet of sheep’s milk, soy, and hazelnuts … His name was Collin. Here are his papers.” Snarky people like […]

After stints at Louisville’s Milkwood and Proof on Main, former Bluebeard chef John Adams is back cooking for the hometown crowd.

The revolving menu of complex dishes, such as the thin slivers of lamb tongue fanned out amid dollops of tart ricotta tzatziki, remains the city’s most inspired source for quirky gourmet.

An approachable but definitely high-aiming lunch menu currently features several playful starters and a short list of “mains,” including a burger seared on a plancha grill and a grilled cheese with three types of fromage and a mushroom jam.

The restaurant will showcase an extensive raw bar, along with a menu heavy on seafood and local produce, with selected meat dishes, beers, and wines. It will also be open for lunch, offering sandwiches, appetizers, and elegant small plates.

That third course and others over the course of the night, as well as the prior tasting time, saw delectable plates of food paired with choice wines, beers, and cocktails.

From The Libertine to Recess and Oakleys to Bluebeard, Korean to Latin and sushi to steak, our critics chose the cream of Indy’s dining crop,. Who’s at the head of the table? Read on to find out.

Seven of Indiana’s top culinary dogs are strutting their stuff as 2013 James Beard Foundation nominees, selected from more than 44,000 online entries in 20 categories. Last week, the foundation unveiled its “long list” (421) of the year’s semifinalists—which will be cut down to the final list of nominees on March 18 during a press brunch in Charleston, SC. (NOTE: nominations will also be announced live via the Foundation’s Twitter feed.)

If there were a playbook for new restaurants, mapping out everything hot and covetable right now in the ever-changing game of dining out, Fletcher Place newcomer Bluebeard would already have it memorized.

The cool, refreshing prawn salad called goi tom thit at Sizzling Wok Thien Huong (7280 Michigan Rd., 317-298-9001), in which shrimp and slivered veggies wilted in a sweet marinade are topped with crushed peanuts and rice crackers for scooping. Fountain Square new arrival Bluebeard’s (653 Virginia Ave., 317-686-1580) Sanctuary cocktail, a pretty-in-pink s

Since January, Indianapolis Monthly has been following the progress of Bluebeard (653 Virginia Ave.). So this past Friday, our forks were at the ready for the restaurant’s soft opening. Fans of Abbi Merriss Adams and John Adams were happy to see the pair back in the kitchen (right behind the bar), plating everything from white-bean salad with chorizo, zucchini, and radicchio fleur to a sharable whole snapper with house giardiniera.

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. […]