The Dish

Looking for a 5-star margarita for your Cinco de Mayo sipping this Saturday? We’re not talking newfangled margaritas with fresh-squeezed guava juice or tequila aged for 20 years. We’re talking margaritas as big as your head, served up in giant bowls that could house a whole school of fish, rimmed with salt and big wedges of lime. For a margarita you can spend the whole night drinking—or split with the whole table—try one of these 5 big pours:

1. Mexican food lovers on the Westside know that Wednesday night is margarita pitcher night at Puerto Vallarta Mexican Restaurant and Cantina (5510 Lafayette Rd., 317-280-0676), but you can get one any night, and this one might just contend for the largest in town.

2. Served in a curvy tall glass that probably holds as much as the big glass bowls at other Mexican joints, the margarita at Los Chilaquiles (3712 Lafayette Rd., 317-293-1111) is definitely a looker, with plenty of chunks of lime. Some interesting dishes you don’t always find elsewhere, including great sopas, huevos rancheros, and the name sake chilaquiles, served with plenty of

sour cream and queso fresco.

3. If you operate nearly a dozen (currently 11 and counting) restaurants in a single metro area, you have to be doing something right, and the margarita at El Rodeo is definitely the right size and a perfect quencher when you’re digging into a super spicy plate of shrimp diabla!

4. With several bright and cheery locations sprinkled around Central Indiana, as well as on the west and south sides of Indianapolis, El Meson Mexican Restaurant and Cantina may have one of the largest selections of combo platters in town—and salt-rimmed and frozen margaritas that won’t leave you wanting.

5. If you want some of Indy’s most authentic and beloved Mexican cuisine to go along with your margarita, stop in at El Sol de Tala (2444 E. Washington St., 317-636-1250), where the margaritas are some of the biggest around and almost as good as that guacamole the regulars rave about. Now in its 33rd year in business.

Bonus—Specials:

Get started early on some tasty and plentiful Cinco de Mayo specials at Adobo Grill (110 E. Washington St., 317-822-9990). Shrimp crepes, pan-seared Ahi tuna with a mango salad, and a chocolate sponge cake in the shape of a pyramid stuffed with plum mousse may just prove that May 5 is as much for dining as it is for tying one on.

Cinco de Mayo isn’t just one day at On the Border, which has been unveiling daily drink and dinner specials (including free meals for kids) for the 30 days leading up to the holiday.

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.

If you’re a salmon fan, you’ve probably recently seen the name Skuna Bay Salmon on a number of menus. We’ve seen it at The Oceanaire (30 S. Meridian St., 317-955-2277), The Local Eatery and Pub (14655 N. Gray Rd, Westfield, 317-218-3786), Kona Jack’s (9419 N. Meridian St., 317-843-1609), Harry & Izzy’s (153 S. Illinois St. 317-635-9594), and Goose the Market (2503 N. Delaware St., 317-924-4944).

Pot stickers stuffed with sweet-potato puree, corn, and ginger, and served with a fiery kimchee and sweet miso butter sauce at Mesh (725 Massachusetts Ave., 317-955-9600). It debuted last weekend as a special, but we’re told that a similar dish should stick around for a while. The peppery wild boar with wild mushrooms from

Keystone at the Crossing continues to fill in in the gaps along its new restaurant row. You could chart a course with points of culinary interest along the way: Seasons 52, First Watch, Late Harvest Kitchen, the north-side Harry & Izzy’s outpost, and the recently opened Brewstone Beer Company, in the former Music Mill location. On June 7, diners will have one more place to refuel, post The Container Store. That’s when Ocean Prime, an Ohio-based “modern American supper club,” opens its ninth location at 8555 N. River Road, on the eastern edge of The Fashion Mall.

When asked about the Indiana scene, Gunthorp says Indianapolis is taking the sustainable trend to new levels. “It’s going gangbusters,” he says. Chicago’s Rick Bayless is his biggest customer, but Chris Eley from Smoking Goose is a close second.

Indy’s largest brewer, Sun King, appears to have conquered another frontier. At the taps at Victory Field, you can no longer order a Razz-Wheat or Victory Amber, both produced by Oaken Barrel in Greenwood. In their place is Victory Lager, a site-specific brew from Sun King.

With all of the crowds clogging breakfast and brunch places around town, we were excited that First Watch, the Florida-based “daytime cafe” with nearly 100 outlets in 14 states, had finally touched down across from the Fashion Mall

Truffled bologna from the deli case at Goose the Market (2503 N. Delaware St., 317-924-4944). Peppercorn-studded lunchmeat channels the nutty, musky essence of black truffles. The sweet-tart pickled red onions, sliced thin, flecked with mustard seeds, and offered as a deliciously bracing relish alongside the artichoke dip appetizer at

My fiance loves carbs, especially bread, in all forms. Sides of potatoes are a must when we make beef and noodles. And huge, doughy breadsticks come with every pizza delivery. Unfortunately, I’m no baker. If it’s a recipe that has any combination of yeast and precision, I will somehow find a way to mutilate it. Dough-making evenings usually end with emergency restaurant runs. And wine.

Jack in the Box, the San Diego-based hamburger chain that boasts over 2,200 stores in 20 states, has finally put down roots in the Indianapolis area, with locations in Avon (9769 E. U.S. 36, 317-209-8279) and Greenwood (8950 S. U.S.31, 317-883-3035), as well as a third eatery to open at 2130 N. Post Road on April 16. Hoosiers have already grown accustomed to the chain’s eclectic menu that ranges from hamburgers and chicken sandwiches to tacos and teriyaki bowls. Even the Jumbo Jack and bacon shake have entered our fast-casual lexicon. But what local diners might not know about this recent transplant is that the chain’s antenna ball-headed mascot, Jack, has a distinctive Hoosier connection. In fact, he and Indiana go way back, as witnessed in this Jack in the Box commercial that aired a few years ago:

In honor of National Grilled Cheese Day, we are having tomato-soup dreams about three of our favorites in town: The panini-grilled three-cheese version at Pogue’s Run Grocer (2828 E. 10th St., 317-426-4963); the spectacular Scratch Truck grilled cheese adorned with red-wine–braised short rib, caramelized onions, and arugula; and our own monstrosity, Trisha Lindsley’s Mac Daddy, stuffed with pulled pork and mac ‘n’ cheese, assembled by checklist at The Night Porter (921 Broad Ripple Ave., 317-253-5252).

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.  

Cinnamon oatmeal cookies from Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Company (1021 Broad Ripple Ave., 317-255-5151). The four warm cookies, made with spent grains from the brewery, are perfect for those who enjoy a less sweet treat. The Big Nasty from McAlister’s Deli. Over a third of a pound of tender, Black Angus roast beef served open-face on a toasted baguette with black peppered-gravy and cheddar-jack cheese.

Twelve days ago, we caught wind that Broad Ripple’s Midtown Grill had abruptly shuttered. We thought the space was a goner—as we’ve seen it experience several revamps since 1995. We did a little digging and found out that the 26-year-old Midtown Grill will reopen this Thursday as Mediterra (815 E. Westfield Blvd, 317-253-1141).