Swoon List 2.3.15
Including a luscious pierogi starter from Black Market.
Inspired by the success of upscale watering holes like Ball & Biscuit, Libertine, and Bluebeard, Valerie Vanderpool, chef and co-founder of Zest! Exciting Food Creations (1134 E. 54th St., 317-466-1853) is getting in on the cocktail craze. In April, Vanderpool plans to open Twist Lounge in the former N. Rue spot next door to her SoBro restaurant. The lounge will have a “sparkly, Paris boudoir look,” according to Vanderpool, who plans to apply Zest’s philosophy about food (“make it fresh, use quality ingredients, add a little whimsy”) to drinks such as the Cuzmopolitan and the SoBro Long Island Tea. “It’s going to be a total extension of what we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years,” Vanderpool says.
Since the Super Bowl, you may have noticed that some of the city’s wine-and-beer–only restaurants now stash small selections of brown and white liquor bottles behind their bars. A lucky group of restaurateurs had the chance to upgrade their liquor licenses for a steal, and it is making us rather thirsty.
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
