During one of their Saturday-morning bike rides to area farmers markets, Jennifer Hayes and Chris Zinn got the idea for Your Local Deli and Market in Irvington. The concept behind the couple’s 2,600-square-foot venture? “To bring all of Indiana’s favorite things to one place and let the customers take it from there,” says Hayes. The market’s inventory includes house-pickled veggies and Dickinson Kitchenware, a line of cutting boards, knives, and spatulas made with Indiana wood. The idea proved a natural fit for Hayes, a Chicago native who has lived in Indiana for 20 years, working solely in the service industry at places like Rock Bottom Brewery, McCormick & Schmick’s, and most recently behind the bar at Palomino. Indiana-born Zinn, a former Alaskan fishing guide, has also worked his fair share in restaurants around town.
For their first joint venture, they picked a spot on East Washington Street (in a former big-windowed scooter showroom). The focal point of the deli is a floor-to-ceiling chalkboard mural of an Irvington street scene and a chalkboard menu drawn by Sun King Brewery’s in-house artist, Shane Brown. It lists a few premade sandwiches, like the Premium (turkey, bacon, alfalfa sprouts, and an apricot spread), the Ham and Swiss slathered in housemade mustard, and black-truffle bologna on fresh-baked bread. Pair one with a side of German potato salad or mixed greens dressed with housemade vinaigrette. Meats come from Smoking Goose—turkey, prosciutto, capocollo, and bacon layered between breads from Scholars Inn Bakehouse of Bloomington and Indy’s Cornerstone Bread Company. “We want people to indulge,” Hayes says. 5543 E. Washington St., 317-653-1812
Photo by Tony Valainis
This article appeared in the June 2014 issue.
