Tony Valainis
19 N. Indiana St., Greencastle, 765-653-0021
When we praise Bridges on Greencastle’s courthouse square, we aren’t grading on a small-town curve. With its microgreen garden and rooftop patio, the Italian gem would fit right in on Mass Ave. Chef Sal Fernandez, a Culinary Institute of America graduate, presides over a menu of artisan pizzas, housemade pasta, and cuts of meat. Rotating dishes range from a crock of gooey orecchiette-and-cheese to a garlicky tangle of fettuccine blackened with squid ink.
Henry Social Club
423 Washington St., Columbus, 812-799-1371
It opened in 2014, but this fine-dining spot took a star turn in 2017 when Columbus hit the big screen and featured the restaurant as a film site. The dramatic interior with Eames chairs, a curved wood wall, and the original tin ceiling seems right in step with the town’s classy architecture culture. And locally sourced, seasonal dinner menus give chef-owner Gethin Thomas a chance to elevate comfort foods like deviled eggs, bacon-wrapped dates, housemade charcuterie, and butterscotch pudding.
Bar Bosco
800 S. 7th St., Terre Haute, 812-917-3298
A marble-topped bar extends 34 feet inside this posh, historic building, with chairs sitting on an original terrazzo floor. It leads to a smaller bar holding an absinthe fountain and espresso machine. While owners Joe Everhart and Ken Ramsay restore the rest of the 1904 structure into an adjoining restaurant, you can already enjoy Northern Italian classics such as lasagna with béchamel or ravioli cuddling fresh pear and taleggio cheese.
Copper Spoon
301 W. Jefferson Blvd., Fort Wayne, 260-755-1019
If the dining room of this supper club—with its arched alcoves framed in stone and dark-brown leather covering every seating surface—feels a little somber, the kitchen is a bright ray of inspiration. Presided over by chef Aaron Butts, who has several James Beard Award nominations from his years at Joseph Decuis, the menu features both rarefied ingredients, like local shiitake mushrooms and veal sweetbreads, and the noblest red meats.
