Editor’s Note: Map Quest

As summer is now upon us, Indianapolis Monthly’s editor-in-chief shares global dishes from Indy-area restaurants to try.
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I AM long overdue for a vacation. Not the kind where I take a week off to work on house projects or the kind where I say I’m taking a day of PTO and then spend it trying to catch up on emails. I’m talking about a real vacation that calls for flight tickets, hotel reservations, and a rental car. I long to go someplace with a totally different landscape where I can drive on mountain roads, hike through a rainforest, or dip my toes in the ocean. As much as travel satisfies the need for a change of scenery, it also provides a peek into other cultures and a taste of regional flavors throughout the country—and the world. The journey is as much about the food as it is the sightseeing. Although I’m sitting on a stash of Southwest points that keeps growing with every major purchase (like a new air conditioner this summer), they are not redeemable for airfare to Korea, Germany, Argentina, Turkey, or Senegal. But this issue’s cover feature transports us to all of those places, as well as other far-flung corners of the world, one bite at a time. Dining writers Eve Batey, Terry Kirts, and Amy Lynch have curated a menu of delicious global dishes from Indy-area restaurants, pointing readers toward French galettes in Greenwood, Thai satay on Mass Ave, African oxtail on the northwest side, and Indian fish curry in SoBro. Experiencing the diverse tastes the city offers can be as easy as driving a few miles—no passport or TSA check required.

If the cure for wanderlust isn’t as simple as traveling across town for dinner, an architecture tour of Columbus or a day trip to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center might serve as an in-state stopgap while I continue to count the days until my next journey afar.

Andrea Ratcliff

Editor-in-Chief