Food & Drinks

MacKenzie River Pizza Company (4939 E. 82nd St., 288-0609), had been open for only a couple of weeks when we visited. The Castleton-area casual-dining chain, founded in Montana by a family of former Hoosiers, still has a few kinks to work out: They ran out of thin crust, service was almost comically slow, and the blinds that keep the sun from baking customers on the deck were “broken.” But the go

European markets, bakeries, and restaurants have come and gone in Indy over the years. We’re still mourning the passing of Russia House, with its mushroom soups and tangy cherry dumplings. And Slaviansky Bazaar in Carmel barely got up and running before it closed, taking its Russian beers, stuffed zucchini rolls, and delectable veal roll with it. Now Lou Mladenovic, who has long operated a beloved deli, bakery, and Old World market in Crown Point has opened a second loca

Lisa Snow grew up in an Italian home that loved food, and she has been cooking handed-down recipes all her life. Last September, she decided to try catering, and “it kind of just took off,” she says. Tomorrow, she celebrates the grand opening of her 20-seat Cannoli Queen Cafe (1279 N. Emerson Ave, Greenwood, 882-1908), where she will serve up her best handmade family recipes, including sandwiches, pasta, and de

A mixup on times for food carts lead us down a tasty trail on Friday at Flat12 Bierwerks (414 N. Dorman St.) after we biked to the Holy Cross neighborhood for lunch. We had anticipated the grand opening of Scratch Street Food, promising a burger with bacon marmalade, arugula, and gorgonzola. But we didn’t read their Twitter post that they wouldn’t be at Fla

As if we needed another reason to count down the hours until 5 p.m., Sweet Tooth Bakery (610 Mass. Ave., 317-632-5451) is doing a Cupcake Happy Hour every Thursday from 5 to 6 p.m. Cupcakes go for $1 each, instead of the normal $2.50. Sweet.

Chef Mark Tromble of McCormick and Schmick’s (110 N. Illinois St., 631-9500) rolls out a five-course, beer-paired dinner tonight, featuring the designer brews of Flat 12 Bierwerks co-owner Rob Caputo. The menu includes beer-poached pear salad, top-neck clams stuffed with andouille sausage and cornbread, blackened scallops with cheddar and green-onion grits, and beer-brined roasted pork loin. Rice pudding with beer-braised fruit and whipped cream completes the meal. Flat 12 signature beers are paired with each dish. 6:30 p.m. $45. Call for reservations.

Meridian Restaurant & Bar (5694 N. Meridian St., 466-1111) An ice-cream sandwich on a bar menu? Why not, when there’s a good hit of bourbon in the housemade vanilla ice cream sandwiched between chewy chocolate-chip cookies? The bar menu is only available weekdays from 4

Meatball-and-roasted­–pepper pizza with fresh mozzarella at Thr3e Wise Men Brewery (1021 Broad Ripple Ave., 255-5151). French toast—planks of baguette swimming in a mixed-berry syrup and topped with a berry coulis—on the brunch menu at Mesh on Mass (725 Massachusetts Ave., 955-9600).

The well-behaved kids coloring on butcher paper at the next table didn’t clue us in to the culinary aspirations of chef Craig Baker’s kitchen. Nor did the plasma screens streaming basketball scores—though one TV in the bar was tuned to Rachael Ray perkily whipping up another quick weeknight supper. Mixed messages aside, we’d been tipped off to the ambitions of Baker, who honed his skills in several Portland restaurants before heading up the kitchen at Casler’s in Geist and working the pizza station at Napolese. We hadn’t driven out to Westfield to a restaurant called The Local just to nosh on humdrum pub grub, after all.

If you’ve spent the last decade pining for Atlas Supermarket’s famous Chicken Salad Veronica or Grandma’s potato salad with plenty of crunchy bits of celery and sweet pickles, then you might not know they’ve been lurking in one form or another in Carmel all the while. Now you can buy selected favorites, including hummus and tabouli, on Saturday mornings at the Broad Ripple Farmers Market, as well as at the Fishers and Binford Farmers Markets.