Tabla de contenidos para January 2021 en Indianapolis Monthly

When I first joined the magazine almost 13 years ago, we ran an ill-advised, self-mocking cover story on chain restaurants, ranking things like starchy fries and dreary appetizers from the deep-fried, culturally appropriated section of laminated menus. It might have worked if it hadn’t been so on the nose. That’s not to say creative types weren’t doing cool things then. They were. But this was back in the days before shopping and eating and drinking local was a badge of civic pride embraced by the community at large. And in that pre–Sun King era, there just wasn’t the density of great homecooked businesses—especially in the hospitality sector—that we have recently enjoyed. One sign that better things were on the way was the mushrooming of independent coffee shops and roasters who,…

THE THREAD Lil Boat Boutique is making waves with local illustrator Whitney Bennett’s whimsical designs, and her ship may have come in with a hit series of state-flower enamel pins. The Indiana Peony pin ($12) is gold-plated with a navy backdrop, pink blossoms, and verdant leaves. The back is double-posted with pink rubber backings, so the 19th state will stay securely festooned to your lapel. You’ll also find stickers, magnets, and postcards with the floral Hoosier-state design. lilboatboutique.com —DYLAN LEE HODGES…

For Laura Lachowecki, at-home quarantine baking has been anything but amateur hour. The former pastry chef at The Gallery Pastry Shop has participated in competitions as far afield as Rimini, Italy, where she placed second in the 2018 Sigep Pastry Queen contest. When COVID hit, she started offering her decorated sugar cookies, intricate petit fours, and French macarons at pop-up bake sales and through her Instagram-based Filigree Bakery. If you’re lucky, you will get your hands on some of these beautifully embellished macarons. “I can write in buttercream and chocolate better than with a pen,” she says. @filigree.bakery Restaurant vet Dyke Michaels serves up home-cooked, cocktail-fueled humor on his Harder Brunch podcast, p. 35.…

BROAD RIPPLE BREWPUB Pancake-flat, slightly crunchy, and sprawling well outside a buttery brioche bun, the mock “chicken” tenderloin at Indy’s oldest craft brewery known for its funkier, healthier fare comes with a side of surprisingly rich vegan mayo. 842 E. 65th St., 317-253-2739, broadripplebrewpub.com THREE CARROTS Housemade seitan replaces the pork in the Buffalo Sheltonator, a decidedly unorthodox take on the original that this Fountain Square vegetarian go-to loads up with not-too-searing Buffalo wing sauce, cheese sauce, crispy fries, pickles, and a schmear of aioli. 920 Virginia Ave., 463-221-3669, threecarrotsfountainsquare.com UPLAND BREWING CO. A thick-cut slab of slightly smoky seitan sits tidily on the vegan variation at this Bloomington-based brewery. The addition of chow chow, a pickled-cabbage relish, gives this version an intriguing sweetness and tang. 1201 Prospect St., 317-672-3671;…

Check out SPOKE & STEELE’s full description on page 113.…

IT’S 10 A.M. in California, and sunshine is streaming into Steve Simon’s San Francisco office. Framed rock posters lean against the wall, waiting to be hung. There’s the Grateful Dead; Sly and the Family Stone; Radiohead; that famous one by Milton Glaser in which Bob Dylan’s hair is a psychedelic rainbow. Simon, who gets up an hour or two before his family to meditate (he and his wife have four young kids), is already well into his work day. At 54, the private equity firm owner percolates with affable, boyish energy. “I have ADHD,” he says, presumably as an apology for his conversational style, which tends to drift from the topic at hand. Today, that topic is the Indiana Pacers, which Steve’s father and uncle, Herb and Mel Simon, bought…

CERTAIN FEELINGS COFFEE CO. THE PROVIDER The Provider and Coat Check family will open a counter and roastery this month at Bottleworks, inside the Garage food hall. BLUE COLLAR COFFEE CO. This noted Wisconsin cafe was slated to open its first Indiana location last month inside the Bottleworks Hotel. Coffee junkies will belly up for Ruby coffee, a smallbatch brand that Food & Wine called the best in the state. RIVET COFFEE BAR & ROASTERY The roaster plans to open its first branded cafe in Westfield early this year. TINKER COFFEE CO. The local roaster is expanding into the cafe side, first with a counter at the Indianapolis International Airport and then a standalone cafe at 16 Tech as early as spring. PROMISE COFFEE & BAZAAR The Pendleton roaster is…

317-993-3443, indiecoffeeroasters.com SIGNATURE ROAST: This season, it’s the just-released Cadefihuila from Colombia, with notes of marzipan, pineapple, and coconut SUBSCRIPTION: $16 for two bags per month Named and branded aft er the owners’ dachshund, Indie, ICR made its first batch of coffee in a Whirlypop popcorn machine in 2013. Aft er a few years of selling at farmers markets, founders Jenny and Alec Tod partnered up with Diane and Kevin McAndrews and opened a retail space in 2018—a cheery, always-full house on Carmel’s Main Street where some of the best-trained baristas in the area make espresso drinks, pour-overs, nitro cold-brew, and creative chais. The small-batch roastery sets itself apart by carrying only seasonal and single-origin roasts, allowing them to highlight flavor notes and focus on the lifespan of a coffee.…

COLD BREW BLACK at Julian Coffee Roasters, $14/four Julian (Zionsville) ONLINE juliancoffee.com A traditional cold brew—smooth, rich, full-bodied, and chocolatey— doesn’t get any better than Indy’s OG. When it’s canned, cold brew tastes unique. This one has notes of citrus and mixed berries. 10830 Bennett Pkwy., Zionsville NITRO COLD BREW at Indie Coffee Roasters, $4 Indie Coffee (Carmel) Nitrogen gas and the right type of stout faucet add micro-bubbles that create a smoother drink with a thick, creamy head. ICR’s version is well-regarded around town. Some offices order it by the keg. You’ll think it came from a coffee flavored mountain stream. 220 E. Main St., Carmel SNAPCHILLED COFFEE at Tinker Coffee Company, $5 Tinker (Indy) ONLINE tinkercoffee.com Leave it to Tinker to introduce an innovative product to the Indy market.…

LOVEGOOD JOE Garden Table, Mass Ave and Broad Ripple THE BEAN: Tinker Coffee Co. nitro cold brew THE BOOZE: New Amsterdam vodka, Baileys Almande almond-milk liqueur THE BAR: Oat milk and coconut-pecan “simple” (the “syrup” part is discreetly left off the menu) make this a drink that somehow seems as fresh and all-natural as the rest of the fare at these sunny, health-conscious cafes. BELGIAN COFFEE Taxman Brewing Co., City Way, Fortville, and Bargersville THE BEAN: Tinker Coffee Co. Conduit THE BOOZE: Irish cream, Frangelico hazelnut liqueur, espresso liqueur THE BAR: At seven bucks, this threeliquor concoction costs less than certain fancy Starbucks orders. ESPRESSO MARTINI 1933 Lounge, downtown and The Yard at Fishers THE BEAN: Lavazza espresso THE BOOZE: Stoli vanilla vodka, Nocello walnut-and-hazelnut liqueur THE BAR: Amid the…

David Morse is, improbably, no java junkie. “I’ve been working with coffee addicts for probably 12 years who tried to push it on me,” Morse says. “And eventually, I just fell in love with all of the mechanisms and engineering behind a shot of espresso.” Plus, adding milk and sugar resulted in something Morse actually liked: a latte. Thus converted by his coworkers at Zipp, a bicycle component manufacturer, he decided to embark on an at-home engineering project: making an old-fashioned espresso machine. The lever device is more labor-intensive than what you see behind the counter at Starbucks, letting the user manually control how the espresso brews from start to finish. Aft er procuring a combination of old parts (the vintage group head and boiler) and new (the touchscreen), Morse…

NITRO ICED TEA at GoldLeaf Savory & Sweet, $2.25 Basic black tea gets mellowed by an infusion of nitrogen, making this the smoothest, creamiest chilled tea you’ll drink in any season, no sugar or ice required. 1901 E. 46th St. CHAI LATTE at Foundation Coffee Company, $4.15 Executive chef Twinkle Van-Winkle roasts a mélange of spices, especially aromatic black cardamom, for the deeply flavorful chai syrup she cooks down for most of a day, which sets this sweet and balanced tea latte apart. 4565 Marcy Ln. INDY FOG at Lincoln Lane Coffee Co., $3.25 Lavender syrup lends a welcome floral undertone to the light and frothy fog, made with local Nelson’s Tea. 516 Lincoln St. CHAI LATTE at Calvin Fletcher’s Coffee Company, $4.75 Customers can choose from either smooth Big…

As Bottleworks debuts this month in the old Coca-Cola building (p. 11), we asked our staffers what crumbling local landmark they would like to see resurrected. “I’d still love to see the GM Stamping Plant transformed into a gateway to the west side of the city. I envision a nature walk and pedestrian bridge connecting it to the river, and various residential options grouped around a small hub of retail and culture.”—TODD URBAN, DESIGN DIRECTOR “The old airport. Make it a combination art park and recreation area where you can rent a bike, roller skates, or a scooter and cruise around to check out the installations.”—MEGAN FERNANDEZ, DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL OPERATIONS “The Ritz Theatre at 34th and Illinois. Few exteriors are so ornate, and the neighborhood could use the help.”—DANIEL…

AFTER OPERATING out of a two-car garage in their backyard, carpenter Ross Tuggle and his wife, Brooke, opened their doors to a store in November in Fountain Square. A buzzy First Friday crowd found a soaring space with great antique details, like copper-plated ceilings (painted white to lighten things up). Both Tuggles make and sell items here; there’s Ross’s geometric wood art, which he crafts mostly from salvaged planks he finds around town, while Brooke’s handmade polymer-clay earrings dangle from jewelry stands. But the couple’s goal is to be a place where other lesser-known local makers can also grow their businesses. On the back wall, black shelves pull together a variety of Indiana T-shirts and eco-conscious travel mugs. Nearby glass shelves hold other great last-minute gift ideas, like cute leather…

THE TURF South side STROLL Add “esplanade” to your vocabulary, as in “a garden-like median forms an esplanade running the length of New Jersey Street.” It passes in front of the Bates-Hendricks House (1), built in the mid-1800s and still one of Indy’s oldest residences. James O. Woodruff, who designed Woodruff Place, also designed this stretch. 1526 S. New Jersey St., bateshendricks.org EAT The tacos at Tex-Mex (2) are a gift to humanity. Sure, the portions are small. And, yeah, the place is inside a grocery store att ached to a gas station. But the food is unpretentious, delicious, and cheap—we’re talking two clams per taco. Pay on the grocery side first, then take your order to the counter. It’s carryout only, which isn’t a knock these days. 1104 S.…

Revisit “SANGRITA SALOON grown up” is how co-owner Tarek Mercho describes the cozy Broad Ripple cocktail bar’s new Fishers location, Sangrita Grill & Cantina. He’s not kidding. While the original spot consists of 1,200 square feet of dark interiors on a low-key side street, the new one at The Yard at Fishers District is a two-story feast for the eyes, with over 5,000 square feet inside (plus another 1,200 on the patio), 22-foot ceilings, and two big walls of windows. Mercho and his team designed the new concept as a more family-centric experience, expanding the original menu to include options like fajitas, and Mercho’s favorite new addition—nachos. “We hate it when nachos have a boatload of chips, but 80 percent of them don’t have toppings or are soggy at the…

WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT FOR PEOPLE TO DONATE RIGHT NOW, EVEN WHEN THEY MAY ALSO BE STRUGGLING? We tend to think of giving as benefiting others, but the research we’ve done shows that people who are more charitable also feel more satisfied with their own lives. Philanthropy is a way of reclaiming agency amid a crisis. WHAT HAS GIVING BEEN LIKE DURING THE PANDEMIC? Nationally, we’ve seen some extraordinary acts of generosity. Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, gave away a billion dollars to fight COVID-19—a quarter of his net worth—this spring. And we’ve seen so many people step up on a local level, too. On the Nextdoor app, people in my neighborhood have been picking up groceries for seniors and offering rides to hospitals. At IUPUI, students have been helping…

317-874-7374, bluemindroasting.com SIGNATURE BLEND: Ethiopian Limu Tega & Tula washed Ask anyone in the coffee business here who’s roasting the best beans, and Blue Mind gets a name-check—quite an achievement for a coffee roasted in a Broad Ripple backyard since 2014. It works because owners Sarah and Andy Hassler don’t want to become a massive enterprise. Blue Mind doesn’t have more than five roasts available at a time, and this allows them to dial into each one and ensure customers are getting the bean at its absolute best. Blue Mind chooses coffee shops and owners to partner with based on genuine connection, because they believe in making good coffee for good people, a mantra you can buy on a T-shirt on their website. What’s something you like that might surprise…

317-251-5161 (49th & Penn), 317-803-4155 (Broad Ripple), hubbardandcravens.com SIGNATURE ROAST: SoBro Organic, a medium-roast blend with a lot of body and a semi-sweet finish In the coffee Dark Ages before Starbucks brought some enlightenment to the masses, Hubbard & Cravens was already introducing Indy residents to the pleasures of specialty-grade, single-origin Sumatrans and Colombians. Marcie and Rick Hubbard, who, along with Jerry Cravens, own the business, have been traveling the world for several decades, making connections with farmers and tasting roasted samples to build a brand that produces about 4 million pounds of coffee a year, most of it for private labels and big clients like the Bank of Scotland in New York. Now they have Andrieu Doyle on staff to handle sourcing, drawing on his experience as an importer…

“I’LL HAVE A GUATEMALAN POUR-OVER.” COURTNEY THOMPSON knows that walking into a specialty coffee shop can be intimidating. The 26-year-old partner and head roaster at Certain Feelings, a roastery and cafe soon to open in the Garage Food Hall at Bottleworks, has seen it too many times to count: customers overwhelmed by a seemingly endless, globe-spanning selection of lattes, Americanos, cortados, Hondurans, and Ethiopian pour-overs. Her advice? “Just go into the local coffee shop and talk with a barista,” Thompson says. “You shouldn’t ever feel afraid to do that. I start by asking people what they typically enjoy, or even where they usually go, and that’s a pretty good place to start. Even if it’s not the exact thing that you’re familiar with, we can usually find something that’s at…

317-719-8869, circadiancoffee.com Signature blend: Meridian, a medium roast with low acidity, earthy and caramel notes, and a sweet finish Co-owners Kelsey Speigner and Adam Datema met as fellow baristas in Boston, and the pair noticed that East Coast coffee was more focused on being first than being the best. With a desire to flip that narrative and make coffee simple and practical, the two moved back to Datema’s home state and started Circadian in 2016 as the city’s (most likely) first Black-owned roastery. Their goals are simple: make functional coffee for everyday people and source from smaller, lesserknown farms. “I love transparency in the coffee world, but most people just want to drink good coffee, and they drink it as a function, not as an aesthetic,” Speigner says. That’s why…

PINEAPPLE UBE LATTE at Commissary Barber & Barista, $5.50 Tinker Coffee (Indy) ORDER commissaryindy.square.site Over the summer, local lifestyle influencer Mike G put his stamp on a wild yam drink at Commissary. A similar double-espresso take lives on with pineapple and coconut-cream syrups and that purple ube tint. 304 E. New York St. CALVIN PEPPER CAPPUCCINO at Calvin Fletcher’s Coffee Co., $4 Calvin Fletcher (Indy) ORDER cfcoffeeonline.com This iconic drink might jolt you with the amount of black pepper, mellowed out—some—with honey. 647 Virginia Ave. WHITE ZOMBIE at Monon Coffee Co., $3.50 Whether white coffee really has more caffeine than espresso or not, morning zombies have been waking up with this Broad Ripple favorite for years. The effect might be strong, but the coffee taste isn’t. Expect complex, filling, and…

317-247-4208, juliancoffee.com SIGNATURE ROAST: Jamaica Me Crazy, an Arabica flavored with Kahlua, caramel, and vanilla SUBSCRIPTION: $30 for two bags per month Ken Julian doesn’t get as much attention for his company’s good deeds—donating to Indy homeless shelters, funding sport courts in Zimbabwe—as he does for his cold brew, but that’s what happens when you’re voted America’s best. Julian earned the award at the 2019 Coffee Fest for his concentrated, super-clean, on-the-strongside coffee that’s now coming out of the Zionsville roastery at the rate of about 10 gallons per hour, thanks to a new machine called a Brew Bomb. The buzzy product joins Julian’s big lineup of single-origin roasts and flavored coffees with Costco-friendly names, like Jingle Bell Java. You can find Julian coffee at the megastore and by the…

A TOUR OF THE CITY'S BEST DINING DOWNTOWN INCLUDES Fletcher Place, Fountain Square, Mass Ave, Mile Square Amberson Coffee & Grocer COFFEEHOUSE The cinderblock shell of a former service station houses this neighborhood coffee spot with grocery cases, outdoor seating under the awning, and a drive-up window. In addition to expertly poured vanilla-date lattes and a signature Summer Dandy with Onyx Coffee Ecuadorian espresso, plum reduction, and oat cream sweetened with maple syrup, the shop offers a small daily selection of baked goods, like a tasty “bisquet” grilled up with fig jam and butter, and a scone enriched with Asian pears and maple. Heartier fare comes in the form of an avocado toast topped with goat cheese crumbles or an equally fine toast with ricotta and poached nectarines. And while the…

Susan Salaz After watching the film Argo recently, freelance writer Susan Salaz felt compelled to reacquaint herself with the details of the Iran Hostage Crisis—especially the fate of Hoosier hostage Rick Kupke (p. 16). “Rick talked about being confined indoors while in captivity and how much he missed seeing the sky,” Salaz says. “That’s relatable right now, and his resilience is a message for all of us, even 40 years later.” Scott Soltys-Curry By day, freelance writer Scott Soltys-Curry is a product designer for a startup in Zionsville. By night, he runs the Indianapolis Coffee Guide, an Instagram page (@indianapoliscoffee), website (indianapoliscoffeeguide.com), and mobile app. So he was a natural collaborator for this month’s cover feature (p. 64). “My goal has always been to get everyone to love local coffee…

In a normal year, 90,000 people seek out a joyride on this track near Fort Wayne. Go early. You drove too far to take just one ride. So, hopefully, you came in a truck. The sled can weigh up to 45 pounds, and you carry it a quarter-mile from the end back to the start. Between longer lines and a run that can hit 42 miles per hour, it gets chilly. Layer, and bring a thermos and snacks to warm up your wait. Looking for an exhilarating whoosh? The front feels the speediest and rides the smoothest. The more, the merrier—heavy toboggans move faster. Shop purchases benefit the park. Splurge a little on a hat or reusable mask. Not only are masks required, so are gloves. Don’t be afraid—no one…

A swan can symbolize many things—like grace in ancient Greece, when it was considered sacred to Aphrodite, or loyalty in the United Kingdom, where killing one is a crime. Here in Indy, it brands The Cake Bake Shop, where you’ll find this Swan Cake Topper. The regal bird, gleaming with a necklace of faux silver and gold encrusted with rhinestones, is poised upon an intricate pedestal perfect for setting atop one of owner Gwendolyn Rogers’s highly sought-after creations. Designed by Rogers herself, each 5.75-inch topper is brought to life by the hands of a sculptor she found at a Christmas market in Germany. It brings instant glamour to any gateau it sits on, whether from Gwendolyn Rogers or Betty Crocker. $45. The Cake Bake Shop, 317-257-2253, thecakebakeshop.com Locally crafted jewelry,…

HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN FASHION? In 1966, after college in Chicago, I was modeling for newspapers when I was asked to do a film with Paul Young, the mastermind behind Paraphernalia, a boutique in New York City. I then signed with Ford Models, where my booker was iconic Vogue model Sunny Harnett. WHAT WAS ONE OF THE FIRST JOBS HARNETT SENT YOU ON? A “go see” for fashion designer Mary Quant, who sent me to Paris for a week and then on to London, modeling her collections. I stayed there for 14 years, working and traveling. SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE LOCAL DESIGNERS? Nikki Blaine, Catherine Fritsch, and Beth Bennett. YOUR GO-TO PIECES? My staples have always been turtlenecks, trousers, and boots. At one time, I had every color…

New in Town Having some great ribeyes or chicken thighs on hand is the home cook’s fastest route to dinner. Amanda DeVary and George Turkette of Turchetti’s Meat Market sped up the process even more when they launched Turchetti’s Supply & Protein Service, featuring monthly boxes of pastured, organic-fed beef, pork, and chicken. A selection of five boxes allows subscribers to fill their freezers with beef, poultry, and premier offerings like Angus Denver steaks, Berkshire heirloom pork chops, and filet mignon, all sourced from Fort Wayne’s Wood Farms and Becker Farms in nearby Mooreland. The shop’s pandemic-related shift to carryout grocery service and delivery inspired the new angle. “We get our toothbrushes delivered every month, and meat clubs have been hot for several years now,” DeVary says. Now, the meat…

ON A QUIET afternoon in late fall, with a perfect neo-soul playlist vibing beneath the cozy bar sounds, 18th Street Brewery felt like a sweet throwback to a time when such under-the-radar haunts were our warm, safe refuge. It was a good spot to process some nostalgic funk—properly tiny, for starters, with two wooden church pews providing some window seating in a room just deep enough to also fit a row of two-tops and the actual bar. White and gray mosaic tile pieces spell out “18th Street” over the tap handles. Even with its black upholstered barstools shoved off to the side in a pile (a safety precaution that kicked in about five weeks after it opened in February 2020 on Indy’s east side), the business still wears the comfortable…

THIS PAST SUMMER, some friends of mine sold their house, bought an RV, and hit the road. As I write this, on a cold and cloudy Indiana day, they’re camping in New Mexico, where it is 80 degrees and sunny. I’m following their exploits on Facebook and hating them more each day. Worse, they are my age and now retired, something I won’t be able to do for another five years, since I made the brilliant decision to pick the one pastoral job in America, Quaker ministry, that doesn’t come with a pension. A home on wheels is a distinctly American invention. When Europeans were building stone houses to last for centuries, Americans were loading their earthly possessions into wagons and heading west. It’s hard to imagine Indiana was once…

Soltys-Curry: I know COVID-19 has had a lot of negative impacts, but as a consumer, it has been interesting to see the good things born out of everyone’s creativity, like new products. Davis: We started bottling cold brew because we couldn’t serve early on during the farmers’ market season. So, we bottled it for people to take home. That was very popular. I know Calvin Fletcher’s did that, too. Litsey: Yeah, we followed your lead on that. Hall: The shift from cafe to home coffee has created a lot of opportunities. So, like Zoom calls with groups of people, ways to brew coffee better at home Cano: The environment we’re in is pushing us all to adapt and survive. There’s no one person who’s doing things right. It’s always learning…

317-438-5728 tinkercoffee.com SIGNATURE BLEND: Conduit, a Golden Bean award-winner described as rich and sweet SUBSCRIPTION: $30 for two bags per month Tinker came to rule Indy’s modern caffeine kingdom by becoming ninja roasters. But for all their technical skills, founders Steve Hall and Jeff Johnson are most proud of their improvement in sourcing. “Out-of-this-world good,” Hall says of their team, which outdid itself last summer by finding a microlot from Ethiopia’s Shantawene village. A partner agency there was able to separate out a certain “lot” of beans so they didn’t get mixed in with others at the processing facility—the most singular that a single-origin bean can get. Tinker so loved the pure taste (“a walk through a meticulously kept flower garden”) with notes of peach tea, white honey, and pineapple,…

YOU DON'T HAVE MIKE PENCE TO KICK AROUND ANYMORE At some point on or before January 20, Inauguration Day, moving trucks will roll up outside Number One Observatory Circle, a 9,150-square-foot Queen Anne–style house in Northwest Washington, D.C., where Pence and his wife, Karen, have lived the last four years. Movers will pack up all their earthly belongings. Then the trucks will likely head west back to Indiana, where political allies say Pence will regroup and plot out his next four years in a territory not all that unfamiliar to him: the political wilderness. “He’s always said Indiana’s home, right?” says David McIntosh, the president of The Club For Growth, a former Indiana congressman, and one of Pence’s closest friends and political confidants. “Grew up in Columbus. That was his…

VINTAGE: 1980s Resides in Carmel’s Museum of Miniature Houses IF YOU THINK your home office has started to feel small in recent months, have a close look at this one. Made by an artisan named Mark Stacer, the miniature room includes details such as a hand-painted globe and toothpicksized pencils. Even by the standards of the objects at the Museum of Miniature Houses in Carmel, the den inside an old computer monitor is odd. Not much is known about the creator’s career in the 1970s, when a resurgence of interest in the ancient art form led to the founding of the National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts, just down the street from the museum. What is known is that Stacer was good at his craft. “He’s not one of the famous…