Visiting Indianapolis- need dining suggestions :)

Hail fellow foodies!

I'll be visiting Indianapolis over the weekend and I'm in dire need for dining suggestions around the town I've never been to before. Anyone know of any good eats? Thanks in advance!

You can start by reading about JimInLoganSquare's aborted Indianapolathon.

stevez wrote:You can start by reading about JimInLoganSquare's aborted Indianapolathon.

I need to caveat this by pointing out that a lot of the places mentioned in that thread (at least a lot of the ones I mention) don't carry any personal recommendation -- I just picked places that looked interesting or fun to try.

As always, I would recommend Shapiro's (either location, although the original south of Downtown has more charm).

In law side of the family lives in Indy, and Shapiro's stuff finds its way onto every one of our holiday tables.

There are also about 5 locations of Dick's Bodacious BBQ. It is an okay BBQ place, run by a family transplanted from Texas.

Been to the location in Noblesville, and the pulled pork was pretty good, but the brisket needed work.

Better than Chili's, more like a Famous Daves.

I was in Indianapolis last week for the National Gymnastics competition. Before going, I searched here for dining ideas here and planned for the 20+ of us to have dinner at Rathskeller.

If we didn't have kids along, we might have spent some time in the bar which is loaded with character. Still, we had a great table, great beer and wonderful German food. Most of our group was of German descent, so that added to the fun.

The servings are huge and include sides of your choice (try the red cabbage!), salad or soup and a large basket of soft pretzels served with mustard. We splurged on desserts and sampled just about all of them, the favorite being the sacher torte.

There is also an outdoor beer garden with music. I think some landscaping would improve the ambiance, but none of the partiers seemed bothered by the lack of grass or flowers. I thank the person who first wrote about this place. It provided a wonderful backdrop to our celebration

Another place of interest might be Abraham Benrubi's Brugge. It's probably no Hopleaf, though.

Thought about this reading the Coney Dog thread.

While in Indy, we never pass up a chance to stop at Skyline for 5 way Cincinati Chili and Coney's

They got 3 locations, and we pick up a case of the cans of their chili for here at home at Kroeger or Marsh (although not the same)

Skyline Chili Inc
Address: 6689 E 82nd St, Indianapolis, IN 46250
Phone: (317) 849-2110

Skyline Chili Inc
Address: 3524 W 86th St, Indianapolis, IN 46268
Phone: (317) 872-2266

Skyline Chili Inc
Address: 7757 E Washington St, Indianapolis, IN 46219
Phone: (317) 352-1275

Skyline Chili
Address: 700 S Tillotson Ave, Muncie, IN 47304
Phone: (765) 284-3381

Christopher Gordon wrote:Another place of interest might be Abraham Benrubi's Brugge. It's probably no Hopleaf, though.

I was at Brugge one night last month. Unlike the Hopleaf, it's a brewpub. They've only been open a few months, and I thought their beer quality was quite good, but not quite up to Belgian standards. (That's a pretty high standard.)

The pomme frittes at Brugge were a little oily. I also had crepes with pork, onions, and mustard. And the mussels looked really good.

Overall, I'd rate the Hopleaf a bit higher, but Brugge is worth a visit while in Indy. Plus it's only a couple blocks from Broadripple brewpub.


Tim