Farmers market season is officially upon us. Downtown Indy’s Original Farmers’ Market kicked off on Monument Circle on Wednesday (check online for hours), with a number of prepared foods vendors as well as a produce spot, an egg guy, and a mushroom man. Wednesday night, it was the SoBro Market’s annual debut at 4842 N. College Ave., with beer, coffee, prepared foods, and loads of dogs (which are allowed). Details on hours and vendors are on Facebook.
While we’re outside: Fountain Square Theatre’s Rooftop Garden restaurant and bar (1105 Prospect St., 317-686-6010) typically opens for the season toward the end of the month, but a source at the business tells me it’s already quietly opened. Cocktails are fun and summery, food offerings are shareable bar bites, and the view is spectacular.
The long-empty bank at 555 N. Delaware St. (at East North Street) will soon be transformed into a restaurant by the man behind Mass Ave’s FortyFive Degrees. The IBJ reports that Bill Pritt will open Harrison’s Restaurant there in an attempt to bring “good portions and fair prices” to the area. It’s named after Indy-based U.S. president Benjamin Harrison, who—as you might recall from fourth grade Indiana History—was the first to have a White House Christmas tree with electrified lights. Pritt hasn’t said if he plans a nod to that this Christmas, nor has he announced a planned opening date or cuisine style.
Bub’s Burgers, an Indiana-based mini-chain, has shuttered its Westfield location. The company announced via Facebook that the nine-year-old location will reopen in 2025 in a new spot on Park Street, near Grand Junction Plaza.
Commission Row (110 S. Delaware St., 317-550-2500), that swanky lunch-and-dinner spot next to the Pacers’ home court, is launching weekend brunch as of May 4. Executive chef Corey Fuller told me a couple months ago that he’s a breakfast foods super fan, so this was probably meant to be; reservations for the service, which will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., are filling up fast.
As we briefly discussed last week, downtown-area coffee shops Provider (1101 E. 16th St., 317-550-5685) and Coat Check Coffee (401 E. Michigan St., 317-207-2127) changed hands in recent days, so I stopped by both this week to see how things are going under their new management. Provider’s transition to new owners Tinker House Events is seamless from the outside: My favorite baristas were still there, the drinks and food were as good as ever, and its funk and fun remains.
During my visit to Coat Check I ran into Athenaeum Foundation CEO Craig Mince, who was talking to electricians about some tweaks they’re making to build the baking operation back up. “No doughnuts yet,” since that process takes a little more work to nail down (you watched Season 2 of The Bear, you get it), but other sweets are well underway. “We should have a full case of pastries by this weekend,” Mince says.
A final new kid in town is Hey Now Pizza, newly opened at 607 Main St. on Beech Grove’s small-town-movie-set-looking downtown drag. Owner Nick Pastrick created his own sausage recipe expressly to top his pies, which are crisply thin-crusted, an interesting hybrid of New York and tavern styles. There’s a four-pizza list of signature offerings and an almost-overwhelming list of toppings for custom pies; the sandwich list looks solid enough that I’ll be back to try them later. It’s a straightforward and unpretentious place that has some curiously cheffy flourishes, which I dig. Orders are by phone only at 317-789-0059; I took a photo of the menu so you can plan ahead.
