These are the biggest Indianapolis restaurant stories of 2018
Long gone are the days when Indy's big headline was 'the McRib is back.'
Liz BiroRemember when the biggest restaurant story in Indianapolis was "the McRib is back" at McDonald's.
That's almost a "who cares" headline now. So many interesting restaurant openings the past few years mean stories that are meatier than a processed pork sandwich.
In 2017, everyone was talking about Indianapolis restaurant closings. We lost a bunch. This year it was shocking closings, sensational openings and major drama that made our mouths drop.
Most controversial restaurant closes
East-side Cajun restaurant Papa Roux was known as much for owner Art Bouvier's opinions as it was for po’ boys. Bouvier unleashed again when he announced the restaurant’s last day in October. “Increased taxes and fees just to operate,” Bouvier lamented in a 1,400-word statement explaining why Papa Roux’s was finished. “It certainly feels like the town is suddenly hostile to small business in every possible way.”
Since opening Papa Roux in 2007, Bouvier had drawn cheers and jeers for his positions, like the time he gave a 25 percent discount to anyone who showed their license to carry a handgun after Papa Roux was robbed.
Full story:Papa Roux says so long.
Scotty's Brewhouse goes bankrupt
Fans claimed that Scotty's Brewhouse was never the same after founder Scott Wise sold the place for reportedly millions of dollars in 2016, although the Indiana native stayed on with Due North Holdings, the Arizona-based company that purchased Scotty's. In December, Scotty's declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, claiming the goal was to close four struggling locations including Scotty's in Carmel and Downtown Indy. In court documents, the company said high rent prices, changing customer demographics and increased competition were to blame for the closings.
Full story:Scotty's Brewhouse will close 3 Indiana locations
Strike shutters Tinker Street
Just 10 dining room staffers shut down this top Indianapolis restaurant for two weeks in March and forced out one of the city's most well-known restaurateurs. Employees walked off the job in late March, claiming a worker was unjustly fired. A few days later, the chef quit, and Herron-Morton Place's Tinker Street, celebrated for exceptional service, seemed doomed.
The sacked employee described a “stressful and intimidating” work environment. She never returned, but most crew members did after chef Braedon Kellner and Tinker Street co-founder Thomas Main bought out Main’s business partner, Peter George. From the early 1980s to the early 1990s, George ran progressive Peter's in Fountain Square. He served Midwest fare made with local ingredients and employed cooks who ended up major Indy chefs, including Smoking Goose Meatery founder Chis Eley.
What happned next:Tinker Street makes big changes after the strike
The next Milktooth
Within a year of Milktooth's 2014 opening, Food & Wine magazine billed Jonathan Brooks one of 10 best new chefs in America. Conde Nast named Milktooth among the world’s top restaurants. Everyone wanted to know what Brooks would do next. As he and his business partner, sommelier Josh Mazanowski, developed Beholder on the Near Eastside, Eater placed the project among the nation’s most anticipated 2017 fall restaurant openings.
Beholder stalled for another year, and Brooks and Mazanowski weren’t revealing much about their plans. “I would describe my cooking for this restaurant as ‘emotional,’” Brooks said. “I want people to just come here and have fun and laugh and talk with their mouths full and spill their drinks.”
Opening night brought the sublime creativity of Brooks' cooking. Grilled cucumber was dressed in cranberry seed oil, champagne vinegar, caviar, clotted cream and burnt cucumber skin ash. Huitlacoche gnocchi with bacon, baby corn and squash blossoms followed weeks later. Admired Indy pastry chef Peter Schmutte created a caviar-crowned white chocolate tart with pine pollen reduction. Less than six months after Beholder’s debut, Food & Wine magazine billed it one of America’s biggest 2018 restaurant openings.
The story of Beholder:Why Jonathan Brooks didn't duplicate Milktooth
Outrage multiplies like rabbits
Food wasn’t the only thing getting attention at Beholder. When Brooks allowed a celebrated California street artist to paint a mural on the restaurant's exterior in mid-October, neighbors were shocked by the depiction of two rabbits fornicating, one of them smoking a cigarette. The painting was Jules Muck’s signature work, but opponents found it distasteful.
When some of them complained on Facebook, Brooks told them “"Everyone can hold & suck… and you're welcome for the rising property values. Bye." Beholder fans rushed to take selfies in front of the polarizing mural. After more hullabaloo, the building’s landlord demanded the rabbits be painted over. Brooks made no apologies. "Very sad to be living in a time and place where a few adults can pretend to be offended by something they just don't like, snowball some fake outrage and be appeased by the powers that be," he wrote on Instagram.
Rascally rabbits:Provocative public art or "tacky" and "offensive"
Tears for John's Famous Stew
The snowy day before Tommy Caito’s Nov. 28 funeral was a good day for stew, and folks filled the southside restaurant where he served it for 43 years. They warmed their bellies and whispered condolences to waitresses who delivered steaming bowl after steaming bowl of beef stew with their usual wit and kindness. Caito, 86, who died Nov. 21, the day before Thanksgiving, would have wanted it that way. “He depended on us girls to run the place,” server Phoebe DeBerry said. Caito’s daughter took over the restaurant and plans to keep it just as it is.
Old Point Tavern's huge makeover
The buzz about Mass Ave. this year was all the "chain" places moving in: World of Beer, Sub Zero, Goodfellas Pizzeria, Burger Fuel, Yats. The harshest blow, as far as critics were concerned, came in January when Old Point Tavern closed to make way for Indianapolis-based Cunningham Restaurant Group’s reincarnation of the 130-year-old bar and its beloved nachos.
New Tavern at the Point opened in May with arguably better nachos (brisket burnt ends and beer cheese) than the bean, chicken and cheese nachos served at Old Point, but loyalists would have none of it. Some of them boycotted the remodeled tavern and criticized it’s way-upgraded food and cocktail menu. The pub thrives despite the backlash.
Peek inside:The 'new' Old Point Tavern on Mass Ave.
Carmel explodes
Charming as it is, downtown Carmel couldn’t be considered a dining destination a year ago. That changed in a big way in 2018. Anthony’s Chophouse introduced 9,000 square feet of sophistication on two floors, including a bar and rare cognac collection from the city’s once famously fancy The Glass Chimney. Ritzy 3UP rooftop lounge followed on the building’s top floor.
In July, Sun King opened a food hall-style distillery and tap room, incorporating Smoking Goose Meatery's Oca food stand serving monster sandwiches featuring Goose's nationally recognized cured meats. Brick-oven pizzas from Pi Indy; Mexican eats from Fountain Square’s popular La Margarita; and creative comfort food by The Den, an off-shoot of Fortville’s noteworthy FoxGardin rounded out the mix.
Just west of downtown, Carmel welcomed Indy’s popular Fat Dan’s Deli and Noblesville’s cherished Rosie’s breakfast/brunch/lunch restaurant. Broad Ripple’s beyond-stunning Cake Bake Shop is under development at Carmel City Center.
Kimbal Musk rides into town
Wearing his trademark cowboy hat, Kimbal Musk, brother of Tesla-famous Elon Musk, sabered a champagne bottle to mark the April opening of Hedge Row on Mass Ave. and the restart of respected Indianapolis chef Brad Gates’ restaurant chef career.
Gates, who was schooled by Jacques Pepin and Alain Sailhac, worked for renowned restaurateurs Danny Meyer and Wolfgang Puck. For the past several years before Hedge Row, Gates had been working at his own catering business. His vibrant, wood-fired dishes at Hedge Row took off, as did Musk’s other 2018 Indy opening.
Musk remodeled the former Double 8 grocery at the southeast corner of College Avenue and 46th Street and in May launched his casual and affordable farm-to-table Next Door Eatery there, helping spark SoBro's rise to dining destination.
Honest food:Liz Biro reviews Hedge Row
Museum or tiki lounge?
Indianapolis restaurateur Ed Rudisell (Black Market, Rook, Siam Square) and his business partner, Chris Coy, didn’t just open a Fountain Square tiki lounge in September. They filled Inferno Room with significant artworks that transport you deep into the forests of Papua New Guinea. The pair obtained more than 500 art pieces from the estate of a man who spent around 15 years, through the late 1970s, with Middle Sepik River region tribes.
“There are no kitschy shops there,” Rudisell said. “There are still tribes that practice cannibalism. There are still head hunters.”
Popcorn finally gets respect
Popcorn is a big deal in Indiana. Orville Redenbacher was born here. Something like a quarter of U.S. popcorn is grown in the state. But a classy restaurant dedicated to popcorn? Indianapolis-based gourmet popcorn company Just Pop In took the leap in September.
Forget red-and-white-striped paper popcorn buckets at the Broad Ripple gem. Just Pop In is far from the “good old hunk of butter and bacon fat” popcorn that owners Mandy Selke and Carly Swift grew up eating. Sit on velvet-cushioned gold bar stools and sip sherry cocktails with ginger curry popcorn or ask for a wine and popcorn pairing. The elegant wrap-around porch, hung with ferns, is the place for bubbles and brunch, maybe a delicate vegetable and avocado salad with popcorn croutons.
Follow IndyStar food writer Liz Biro on Twitter: @lizbiro, Instagram: @lizbiro, and on Facebook. Call her at 317-444-6264.