Yats

The quintessential classics that should be required eating for all Hoosiers. This is your eat sheet: A rollout of Indy’s 25 essential dishes, ranked.

Five tips for avoiding Indy’s money pits.

Where to find beads, po’ boys, King Cake, and everything else you need to laissez les bon temps rouler.

The five dishes you must try this week, including Delicia’s take on the Peruvian chicken-and-rice dish aji de gallina.

Yats, The Libertine, St. Elmo Steak House, Harry & Izzy’s, Petite Chou, and Maxine’s Chicken & Waffles are all making names for themselves.

Including this glossy dark chocolate bar flavored with warm pumpkin spice and textured with the tiniest nibs of almond, one of two just-released seasonal flavors from Endangered Species Chocolates.

She says that a deal to return to Chicago is in early talks with two franchisees and involves 12 locations. New stores are soon coming to Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Nashville, Tenn.; and a few Indiana cities. Yet another store opened at September’s end in Hamilton Town Center.

For dessert at The Legend, order two warmed cookies and pop for a scoop of ice cream (cross your fingers it’s Graham Central Station, as sweet and cinnamony as a Yankee Candle).

Yats lovers, rejoice: The Cajun/Creole mini-chain has opened its fifth location, up north at 12545 Old Meridian Street in Carmel. The new place offers the same etouffee goodness that gave Joe Vuskovich’s delightful 10-year-old eatery a cult-like following. The 1,400-square-foot location, while in a fancier part of town, will still allow customers to order New Orleans cooking from a chalkboard menu and savor the delicious bread slathered in melted butter. Even though the food will be the same, Vuskovich says they are experimenting with some new items to serve at all five locations. “We’re trying to rebrand ourselves as more New Orleans inspired,” he says, “instead of just Cajun or Creole.”

We’ve collected links to several recent local and national stories about dining in Indianapolis during the Super Bowl. Here, a few of our favorites.