Indice dei contenuti per November 2020 in Indianapolis Monthly

This space is typically dedicated to shining a spotlight on one of the features in the issue. But this time around, I think it’s important to talk about three things that aren’t in these pages: our back-of-the-magazine restaurant guide entries on Rook, Black Market, and Duos. That trio of long-standing restaurants represented the bestknown and most beloved of the dining establishments that closed while we were putt ing together this issue. Sadly, there were others. The reasons are myriad and, at this point, most are well-known or at least fall under the umbrella of the catchall phrase “novel coronavirus.” While it’s fair to say that “pandemic” will be listed as the cause of death for the fallen restaurants, an honest medical examiner would point to another contributing factor that people…

J-L CAUVIN @jlcauvin “It’s one thing to have good impressions, it’s another to have good writing. With him, both are on the same high level.” SARAH COOPER @sarahcpr “She does lip syncing and she’s very good at it. She’s also on the Variety list I was just on.” BLAKE HAMMOND @bigradmachine “He’s always hitting on timely topics with funny, original takes. But he’s not just topical. He’s a great all-around joke writer.”…

THE ALREADY hip ’hood of Irvington got some added cool points last June thanks to the arrival of 1979 Co. Leatherworker Nate Olp opened that shop in the historic eastside area’s oldest standing commercial building, at Audubon and Bonna. Aft er selling handmade leather goods for a couple of years out of his Woodruff Place apartment via Etsy, Olp wanted to give his customers a place to feel and see the functionality of his designs. When you enter the workshop doubling as a showroom, a warm and familiar feeling overcomes you almost as quickly as the rich leather aroma hits your nostrils. An antique circular table riddled with handsewn wallets and keychains sits in the middle of the floor, anchoring the space and guiding shoppers around the merchandise. The back…

THE TURF South side CAFFEINATE In a part of town that used to be a good-coffee desert, The Mocha Nut Coffee Shop (1) now makes pumpkin spice and spiced orange lattes. (You can also order these staple autumnal flavors in muffin form.) If coffee isn’t your thing, try the Ghirardelli hot chocolate or watermelonmint refresher. You can order online for pick-up, or sit and sip inside—the leather chairs are judiciously comfortable. 1625 E. Southport Rd., 317-319-9021, mochanutcoffee.com EAT The food at Burmese Restaurant (2) is just like Grandma used to make—if Grandma was from Myanmar. The extensive menu is approachable—a mix of Chinese, Indian, and Thai—even if it isn’t spelled out in English. Instead, use the pictures to decide and expand your vocab: thoke means “salad,” ngapi means “fish paste,”…

Road Trip DON’T BE FOOLED by its scruffy location behind a downtown Fort Wayne gas station and its questionable name, Junk Ditch Brewing Company. That’s part of the strategy guiding this casualgourmet Fort Wayne restaurant housed in a once-flooded-and-fire-damaged paper warehouse on the shores of Allen County’s meandering Junk Ditch—and run by a pair of alumni of northeast Indiana’s celebrated Joseph Decuis restaurant. “We want to make sure people are underexpecting. And that we are constantly over-delivering,” says co-owner Andrew Smith. Diners are treated to surprisingly elevated dishes like chuck-roast gnocchi with spicy fermented Gojuchang and a slow egg; braised-chicken in red-curry khao soi with rice noodles; and chilled noodles topped with crab, shrimp, and vegetables grown on a dedicated Junk Ditch farm outside Fort Wayne—all of which happen to…

YOU MIGHT remember that sweet old mantra from The Before Time, “Think of your happy place! Go to your happy place!” In the world’s current unhinged state, the sentiment doesn’t work like it used to. In fact, it feels almost cruelly irrelevant as a pandemic rages against the backdrop of a social, political, financial, and environmental meltdown. But if, in the midst of 2020’s hellscape, there is a happy place to be found, it probably looks a lot like downtown’s new Gallery Pastry Bar. The sidewalk-level restaurant across the street from Bankers Life Fieldhouse feels like a tiny urban fairy garden, a refreshing tonic for the eyes in waves of blues and greens with soft, brushed-gold accents. At the back of the room, a live-moss wall creeps around the edges…

WHEN I WAS a kid growing up in Danville, it was my job to adjust the TV antenna to pull in the signal from Indianapolis. My father, stretched out on the couch on Saturday morning, would say, “See if you can’t get that in a litt le better.” I would sort through my large collection of metal appendages—coat hangers, tinfoil, and copper wire—att aching some or all of them to the antennas to dial in Channel 4 and watch Dick the Bruiser batt le Jimmy Valiant. These many decades later, it remains the sole example of my mastery of technology. I was thinking of this recently while participating in a Zoom meeting, aft er delivering a 10-minute oration with my microphone muted. I noticed the puzzled expressions of the meeting…

ASCENSION ST. VINCENT Ascension St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital ASCENSION ST. VINCENT ANDERSON Ascension St. Vincent Anderson Regional Hospital ASCENSION ST. VINCENT CARMEL Ascension St. Vincent Carmel Hospital ASCENSION ST. VINCENT FISHERS Ascension St. Vincent Fishers Hospital ASCENSION ST. VINCENT HEART Ascension St. Vincent Heart Center ASCENSION ST. VINCENT WOMEN’S Ascension St. Vincent Women’s Hospital COMMUNITY Community Health Network COMMUNITY ANDERSON Community Hospital Anderson COMMUNITY EAST Community Hospital East COMMUNITY HEART Community Heart & Vascular Hospital COMMUNITY NORTH Community Hospital North COMMUNITY SOUTH Community Hospital South ESKENAZI Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital FRANCISCAN HEALTH Indianapolis, Carmel, Crawfordsville, and/or Mooresville hospital locations HANCOCK Hancock Regional Hospital HENDRICKS Hendricks Regional Health IU HEALTH METHODIST Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital IU HEALTH NORTH Indiana University Health North Hospital IU HEALTH SAXONY Indiana University Health…

IN MID-MARCH, we began seeing our first cases from the novel coronavirus. It seemed to start somewhat slow. Some of that had to do with restrictions on testing—you had to go through the health department, and patients had to meet certain criteria. But then it seemed to really pick up quickly. I have to be honest: It was a scary time. There was a lot of uncertainty. Because it was a new disease, no one really knew what to expect. With other diseases, we can follow certain labs, and there are telltale signs and symptoms that will predict if a patient is going to get worse. With this, we didn’t have that. Everybody was on edge, but there was also a sense of teamwork. The hospital system did a really…

THE PROCESS FOR a COVID vaccine approval is the same one the FDA goes through for any vaccine, looking at safety and efficacy. The thing that’s a little unique here is the “warp speed” production, where the government has partnered with manufacturers to go ahead and manufacture vaccines in advance, so they’ll have stockpiles ready to go once the FDA approves one. We expect that the first vaccine may be approved and available before the end of the year. I think the target is to have 300 million doses available around January 1 if everything goes perfectly. Hopefully, we’ll be able to start vaccinating targeted individuals like healthcare workers and the most vulnerable populations before then. By the time you reach every last person who is eligible for the vaccine,…

DOWNTOWN INCLUDES Fletcher Place, Fountain Square, Mass Ave, Mile Square Bazbeaux PIZZA As some of Indy’s most celebrated restaurateurs open pie places all over town, we haven’t forgotten where we first found artichoke hearts and goat cheese on our ’za. Bazbeaux has changed little since 1986, when it opened in Broad Ripple, and it hasn’t really needed to. Flat crust baked crunchy. Toppings you won’t find at Domino’s, like pine nuts and prosciutto. And the cheese—mounds of mozzarella blended with provolone and pecorino. 333 Massachusetts Ave., 317-636-7662, bazbeaux.com Beholder CONTEMPORARY A former car-repair shop just outside Woodruff Place sets the stage for daring performance art that has featured pig-skin noodles, and granita-topped uni designed to melt on the tongue, as well as buttermilk fried chicken with wildflower honey. The laborintensive…

“Innocently wondering aloud which football team has won the most Super Bowls. Cue my dad, a lifelong Green Bay Packers fan, and his heated lessons about how nobody counts older NFL titles anymore. ‘They’re still league championships!’”—KELLY KENDALL, MANAGING EDITOR “Commenting on the number of beers I had before dinner is frowned upon.”—DANIEL COMISKEY, DEPUTY EDITOR “Details about medical procedures. But that applies to any meal with my family.”—ALLISON EDWARDS, SPECIAL PROJECTS ART DIRECTOR “Hellmann’s or Miracle Whip?”—JULIA SPALDING, DINING EDITOR…

Spirit & Place Festival THE 25TH-ANNIVERSARY FEST IS A MOSTLY ONLINE, BUT STILL FULL-FLEDGED, AFFAIR. It has 25 virtual and in-person events lined up from November 5 to 15 (the full schedule is on the website). “This could’ve been the year people took off,” says program director Erin Kelley. “But they doubled down.” THE EVENTS WERE PROPOSED IN EARLY MAY. But many presenters adjusted their programming to keep it relevant in light of the Black Lives Matter protests and the pandemic. “You can’t talk about what’s going on in the world today without discussing those two issues,” says Kelley. THIS YEAR’S THEME: “ORIGINS.” On both an individual and national level—and their bearing on people’s understanding of race, class, and gender. THE CENTERPIECE IS A SIMULATED THANKSGIVING DINNER. Initial plans for a…

Do your own thing in a pair of Stacy Adams “Harrison” modified wingtips, a style everyone should have in their rotation (these come in men’s sizes, not that it matters). They’re business casual in nature, and the more broguing, or perforation and pinking to the leather, the less formal they become. These have insoles fully cushioned with memory foam, which is painfully absent in most dress shoes. The “Harrison” boasts a classic spectator cut combining ornate, cognac buffalo leather with medallion toe broguing, all modernized with contrasting beige linen panels. You can wing it from there.…

YOU’RE A MIXED-MEDIA ARTIST. IS THERE A MEDIUM YOU ESPECIALLY LIKE? I use acrylic paint the most because of the drying time and versatility. I can paint on pretty much anything with it—canvases, walls, shoes, even this Coach backpack. WHERE MIGHT WE FIND SOME OF YOUR WORK? Baby’s. I did the colorful resin epoxy bar tops and artwork. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PIECES? Expansive, inclusive, innovative, fallible, and open. HOW DID YOU CROSS OVER INTO THE FASHION WORLD? I went to events and used my outfits as my business cards by dressing as the character I wanted to portray that day, and it blossomed from there. FAVORITE LOCAL EVENTS? F.A.M.E., a fashion, art, and music experience for all kinds of creatives.…

New in Town Hoosier icon Booth Tarkington may have taken the inspiration for his 1919 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, The Magnificent Ambersons, from nearby Woodruff Place. Since late June, however, Indy newcomer Hugo Cano, a native of central Mexico, who grew up in his family’s restaurants and gained years of experience in the food industry in Los Angeles, has been operating his sleek homage to one of Indy’s most celebrated literary families in an old cinderblock gas station in the heart of Fletcher Place. Amberson Coffee & Grocery serves pour-overs and creative lattes brewed from beans sourced from some of the more cutting-edge roasters from around the globe and close to home. To promote recycling, Cano launched a jar-exchange program where most coffee drinks are served in cute, recycled jars. Bring…

Check out HEARTBREAKER’s full description on page 137.…

IT WAS A CRISP Friday morning in September, and for the first time in a long time, Monument Circle hummed with life. Drake’s “In My Feelings” played on the Circle’s speaker system as a Colts pep rally got underway. Cheerleaders clapped blue pom-poms together. Football fans wandered through downtown’s heart. Gone was the human feces that occasionally dotted the streets this past spring and summer. Gone were the homeless, who had been known to accost passersby. Gone was the out-in-the-open drug use that had become common. On this particular morning, a more hopeful scene unfolded. City and civic leaders gathered for a downtown cleanup, wearing matching red #BackDowntownIndy T-shirts, part of a $750,000 initiative. Volunteers mulched the Circle’s planting beds and power-washed the streets in an attempt to att ract…

ADDICTION MEDICIN TIMOTHY KELLY, MD Community Behavioral Professionals, 7250 Clearvista Dr., 317-621-5719 ➙ Community North Special Expertise addiction/substance abuse ADDICTION PSYCHIATRY ROBERT CHAMBERS, MD IU Health Physicians Behavioral Health, IU Health Neuroscience Center, 362 W. 15th St., 317-882-5122 ➙ IU Health University Special Expertise addiction/substance abuse ADOLESCENT MEDICINE LANETTE BROWN-JONES, MD Ascension St. Vincent Hospital Indianapolis Primary Care Clinic, 8414 Naab Rd., 317-338-7510 Peyton Manning, Ascension St. Vincent ERIC MEININGER, MD Riley Physicians Adolescent Medicine, 1801 N. Senate Blvd., 317-274-8812 ➙ Riley Special Expertise urinary incontinence, kidney stones THERESA ROHRKIRCHGRABER, MD The Charis Center for Eating Disorders, 6640 Intech Blvd., 317-251-6121 ➙ IU Health Methodist, Riley Special Expertise preventive medicine, chronic illness MARCIA SHEW, MD Riley Physicians, 410 W. 10th St., 317-274-8812 ➙ Riley, Eskenazi Special Expertise adolescent gynecology, reproductive…

BEFORE THE CORONAVIRUS, we had good flu years and bad flu years. We had Ebola and Zika. But this is a different ballgame. Even in a bad flu season, many doctors were not in the practice of wearing masks when talking to patients. That’s the most obvious change, and it may be permanent. Everyone is wearing a mask because that not only reduces your risk, but it reduces the risk of patients getting exposed by you. If I’m talking to my nurse at the nurse’s station, I’m going to make sure both of us are wearing a mask, and we’re still keeping our distance. Same with the patients. Right now, I sit on one side of the room and the patient sits on the bed. Before the coronavirus, I would…

WERE IT NOT FOR Big Car Collaborative’s track record, their plans for the Garfield Park area might sound a tad grandiose. Maybe even nuts. Until recently, the near-southside neighborhood was known almost as much for its abandoned buildings as the green space for which it is named. Crime rates were high and rents were low. But Jim Walker and his wife Shauta Marsh, cofounders of Big Car, saw potential in the place. And where the leaders of that community arts group see promise, good things usually happen. The two were instrumental in Fountain Square’s renaissance. They planted a hip art gallery in the commercial wasteland of Lafayette Square. A few years ago, they brought a popular outdoor exhibit called Spark: Monument Circle to downtown. And their efforts to transform Garfield…

VINTAGE: 1950s Resides in the Indiana State Museum WHEN J.L. HURST designed the toy gyroscope in Indianapolis in 1917, the scientific plaything must have seemed like a fleeting novelty. More than a century and millions of units sold later, the Hagerstown company that makes it still has the world on a string. For much of the toy’s history, Hurst partnered with a man named John Chandler to manufacture it on College Avenue just north of downtown. In 1982, the family of Ralph Teetor—brilliant and blind inventor of cruise control—purchased the company. Today, that family business, Tedco, sells the gyroscope for about $8 online and in museum gift shops. “We manufacture a scientific instrument at the cost of a toy,” says Teetor’s grandson Ralph Meyer. “Which is why it has been…

Sarah Bahr • Freelance writer Sarah Bahr was delighted to learn that this month’s Spirit & Place Festival is persevering virtually (p. 13). “If ever there were a year for a multicultural, inclusive event, it’s this one,” she says. “It’s easy to get sucked into debates about which issues are most important to discuss. Events like this one remind us they’re all interconnected.” Bahr recently joined The New York Times. Dustin Dopirak • For two years, Dustin Dopirak covered Butler basketball for The Athletic and got to follow coach LaVall Jordan closely. “But after the killing of George Floyd, I saw a side of him I hadn’t before,” Dopirak says. “As I watched Jordan give a civil rights speech outside the Indiana War Memorial, I decided I wanted to interview…

You might have to keep your mask on while smelling scents, the first step to creating your own candle. Test out options at home for the most permeable fabric. That mask will smell terrific later. Growing nose-blind? Sniff your skin to reset your sense of smell. Pick two or three scents. More than that gets muddled. Peppercorn and watermelon works, like a jalapeño margarita. Don’t pair anything with coffee scents that you wouldn’t drink in your coffee. Check the shop’s Instagram for vessel options—but call for availability if you have your heart set on one. Special designs sell out fast. Same-day or next-day pickup (for curing) equals a great lastminute personalized gift. Concrete or stone candleholders convert to succulent pots.…

UNTIL RECENTLY, Roncalli High School grad Brent Terhune was doing fine in the humor biz. The Bob & Tom Show writer toured comedy clubs around the country 40-plus weeks a year, and was making a middle-class living. Then he began filming a series of videos depicting himself as a hardcore Donald Trump supporter offering not-so-deep thoughts on Colin Kaepernick, gun regulation, and other right-wing talking points. The result: a few million online views, a place on Variety’s list of 10 comics to watch, and a career boost that most road comics only dream about. “On social media, I saw video after video of people burning their stuff,” Terhune says of the conservative reaction to Kaepernick’s activism. “There was a guy in Carmel saying, ‘I’ve been a lifelong NFL fan, but…

KRYSTLE FORD has a soft spot for faraway places. She sources cork and specialty fabrics from Africa, Europe, and the United Arab Emirates to make backpacks, bowler-style totes, and purses. As the director of the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra, she’s better known for her musical chops. But Ford has sewn since she was a child. And when she opened an online retail shop called Now Boarding last year, the venture took off. “Between my full-time job and my family, the sewing was just supposed to be a fun hobby,” she says. “Then I started gett ing orders, and now it’s gett ing a litt le out of control.” The name Now Boarding is a nod to Ford’s love of travel. Using materials from around the globe satisfies her wanderlust when she’s…

Between schoolwork and running pop-up events, the young chefs of Our Sons Bakery crank out up to 25 pans of their brownie-sized Ummmy Bars every week, in a rotation of sophisticated flavors like Orange Dream Crème Crunch Cake, Blueberry Compote Crème Swirl with Poppy Seeds, and Browned Butter Triple Chocolate Chip. The bars are crowned with the bakery’s signature baked-on swirl, then individually wrapped for freshness. “They might just seem like these little bars, but boy, those little bars mean a lot of work,” says 15-year-old baker Corey Patton Jr., who was inspired to start the kid-run business after watching Netflix’s Sugar Rush and Zumbo’s Just Desserts with his brother Samuel Turner. “We weren’t serious about it at first, but then we eventually followed through.” With organizing help from an…

THERE’S MOUNTING evidence that cannabidiol (CBD), an ingredient derived from cannabis, might help with everything from chronic pain to anxiety and depression. Problem: It can taste terrible. Enter Rebecca Raffle, a biotech specialist, avid home baker, and founder of Elevate Bakery & Barkery in Irvington and Fountain Square, some of the first CBD bakeries in the country. Raffle spent a year and a half working with local chemists to develop a proprietary blend of tasteless CBD powder that can be incorporated into any recipe. At Elevate, which is both scientific lab and old-school bakery, her team makes CBD chocolate, cookies, gummy bears, brownies, cookie dough, and pet treats, all using the tasteless CBD made with single-origin hemp from her own farm. Raffle became a believer seven years ago when she…

AFTER GEORGE FLOYD WAS KILLED THIS SPRING, YOU MENTIONED IN AN INTERVIEW THAT YOU HAD CONVERSATIONS WITH YOUR FAMILY ABOUT WHETHER YOU SHOULD SAY SOMETHING PUBLICLY. ULTIMATELY, YOU SPOKE ON THE STEPS OF THE INDIANA WAR MEMORIAL, AND HAVE BEEN TWEETING ABOUT RACIAL JUSTICE EVER SINCE. WHAT LED YOU TO SPEAK UP AND GET INVOLVED? Initially, there was so much to process emotionally. Just knowing the history of what Black people have been through in our country, being a Black male, and watching that and dealing with the raw emotions. I was tired of seeing it. But I didn’t want to do something or say something because of other people’s expectations. I didn’t want to put out a statement for the sake of putt ing out a statement. Ultimately, I…

COVID-19 HAS BEEN the scariest threat to our collective health in decades. In times like these, we’re particularly grateful to have experts such as Dr. Ram Yeleti (p. 61) and Dr. Douglas Webb (p. 68) to consult. Indianapolis Monthly’s annual Top Doctors guide takes months to produce, but in the end, it makes finding great specialists like those easy. The whole thing starts with a question that’s about as reliable a measure of quality as it gets: Which doctors do physicians turn to for their own care? Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., a healthcare research and information company, compiled this year’s honorees by asking physicians to recommend someone they would see themselves or suggest to a family member in Central Indiana. More than 900 licensed medical professionals in the area, representing…

AT COMMUNITY HEALTH, we were just starting to test for COVID-19 on March 23. By that evening, coincidentally, I had a scratchy throat. I didn’t have a fever, but I thought, This is unusual for me, so I slept in the guest room and told my wife not to sleep with me that night. I went in to get a test on Monday morning, and I had the result that evening. I was positive. During that first week, my symptoms were fairly mild. I never had fevers. But the second week, I started having a lot more fatigue. I’m very much a type-A, on-the-go person, but that second week, I had to take a lot of naps during the daytime. That probably lasted for another 10 days or so. And…