The Local Eatery & Pub

It came as no surprise when Baker announced plans for not one, but two new diverse dining concepts in the next year.

Crunchy, tender deep-fried frog’s legs at The Local Eatery & Pub (14655 N. Gray Rd. Westfield, 

Baker says he and Means hope to open the SoBro spot in nine months, offering breakfast at the coffee shop, lunch, and dinner in the brewery, and an outside music venue for close to 1,000 people.

Seafood manicotti at Augustino’s Italian Restaurant (8028 S. Emerson Ave., 317-865-1099), densely filled tubes of crab and shrimp, tucked under a blanket of molten cheese. Tres Leches cake at Barcelona Tapas (201 N. Delaware St., 317-638-8272), submerged three times &h

The well-behaved kids coloring on butcher paper at the next table didn’t clue us in to the culinary aspirations of chef Craig Baker’s kitchen. Nor did the plasma screens streaming basketball scores—though one TV in the bar was tuned to Rachael Ray perkily whipping up another quick weeknight supper. Mixed messages aside, we’d been tipped off to the ambitions of Baker, who honed his skills in several Portland restaurants before heading up the kitchen at Casler’s in Geist and working the pizza station at Napolese. We hadn’t driven out to Westfield to a restaurant called The Local just to nosh on humdrum pub grub, after all.