BACK IN LATE spring, when the InterContinental Hotel on Monument Circle had been open just shy of three months, anyone hoping to spot a few celebrities downtown needed only snag a table at the lobby restaurant, Serliana. That’s because, while it would take some time for the dining and drink options to catch on among locals, visiting VIPs were booking up the boutique hotel’s 170 rooms from day one. Was that an IndyCar driver dashing to catch an elevator? A Knicks player getting a massage in a room adjacent to the bar? Just which future MVP or Oscar nominee in town for the game would stroll by that day? Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? Timothée Chalamet?
Even if no stars crossed your path, you might have felt like a superstar yourself while sipping a frothy, bracing New York Sour at one of the low-slung seats overlooking Market Street. With soaring views of the Soldiers & Sailors Monument, you could drink in the cool marble environs, curvaceous pillars, and muted metallic palette of the hotel group’s brand. Though rattan and brass accents may have reminded you more of hotels from the heyday of ’80s design, you could see how it all fit with the vibe and playful pop art for which the hotel’s owner, Indy Eleven founder and Keystone Group CEO Ersal Ozdemir, along with wife Izabela, spared no expense.
You also got a taste of the first food Indy culinary luminary Craig Baker had cooked in a restaurant kitchen in nearly a decade. Baker, who relocated from Portland in 2006 and quickly proved he had the chops at The Local Eatery & Pub and downtown’s Plow & Anchor, recently applied his skills outside of restaurants, working as concept consultant at the food hall and restaurant incubator AMP, among other gigs. But when he saw the cadre of kitchen talent being courted for the InterContinental, he couldn’t turn down the chance to return to the line. His all-star cast of colleagues includes Ian Stricklin from Easy Rider and The Northside Social; Hedge Row and Rook veteran Martin Burns; Travis Hitch, recently of Kan-Kan Brasserie; pastry chef Ben Hardy; and former Beholder grill cook Michael Burgin. Just as exciting for Baker is the crew of recent grads from the Area 31 Career Center Culinary Arts program he’s helped hire and train. “I’m surrounded by people who care and are truly passionate about food,” Baker says.
In the early months, diners may have sensed that passion was directed more toward private meals for big-name guests than toward Serliana’s public-facing menu. Steaks, salads, and starters were all competent but too scripted by a corporate chef, with little you couldn’t get elsewhere. Where was Baker’s commitment to homegrown flavors and affection for vintage menus reimagined?
In September, he went live with a new all-day, French-inspired menu that out-of-towners and native gastronomes alike should take note of. Homey sorghum provides a subtly sweet glaze to the generous pork chop on a nighttime menu that stands up to nearby steak joints. But it’s his Escoffier-worthy Continental dishes that take top billing. Cassoulet with meltingly creamy white beans, rich bits of sausage and bacon, Indiana duck, and buttery breadcrumbs is comfort personified. Beef bourguignon utilizes deeply flavorful beef cheeks in a reduced demi-glace with mushrooms and flash-poached carrots and celeriac that retain all the freshness of the garden. A swath of Boursin-enriched pommes puree somehow avoids gilding the lily. “It was inspired by a meal at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon,” Baker says. But the skill is all his kitchen’s. A seemingly simple salmon filet has an enviably light golden crust with bright pops of caviar above risotto with a welcome chew. Could his grilled broccolini use some embellishment or a smashed sweet potato get tidier plating? It’s all part of the evolution of a lobby restaurant that didn’t even have tables for eating full-sized entrees when it opened.
Given the miles Baker has logged to showcase his prowess, we’re lucky to have him back at the city’s center—at a hotel worthy of the larger world’s eye—still learning and still injecting passion into our food scene.
17 W. Market St.
463-303-0380
Hours
Mon–Sun
6:30 a.m.–10 p.m.
VIBE
French-inspired chophouse
TASTING NOTES
Continental standards with modern, local upgrades, such as an Indiana ribeye French dip, brunch biscuits and gravy, and a sorghum-glazed pork chop
NEIGHBORHOOD
Monument Circle
MUST-ORDER
Lush smoked salmon carpaccio with roasted beets; beef tenderloin tartare with truffle aioli; beef bourguignon made with tender beef cheeks, mushrooms, crisp blanched carrots and celery root, and Boursin-enriched pommes puree; beignets with an inventive burnt apple cider caramel
