Tony Valainis
Former Rook chef Carlos Salazar announced last week that he is returning to the downtown restaurant scene, opening Lil Dumplings Noodle Bar at The Garage Food Hall.
Provider (1101 E. 16th St., 317-550-5008) has done a lot of work to split the difference between serving their great coffee and pastries and serving the patrons that rely on it as a remote workplace. During the pandemic, they worked with the Tinker House event space to provide socially distanced workspace upstairs from the cafe. Now it’s time to return to something a little more normal, so Provider is ending their curbside service and welcoming guests back to the cafe to sit and do some work.
Day & Night, the cute little cereal bar in Greenwood Park Mall has officially called it quits. After a little over four months in business, COVID has officially claimed the business before it really got off the ground. Cereal bars have been popular in other cities, and Day & Night was serving everything from cereal shakes to build-your-own bowls, banking on the nostalgia trend to get them over the pandemic hump, but they may have been doomed by their mall location.
Sam’s Square Pie has settled into a former Pasquale’s location near Garfield Park after the building sat unoccupied for many years. There was even a petrified pizza, toppings and all, still on the counter. SSP owner Jeff Miner tested his slow-risen, Detroit-style pizza concept out at the former Liter House location with the blessing of owner Eddie Sahm. They’ve just begun the process of cleaning out the place, so stay tuned to Sam’s social media to keep up with the opening date.
Foundation Coffee (4565 Marcy Ln., 317-932-3737), another one of the charitable arms of the Patachou Foundation, rolled out their Pride Month drink, the Spill the Tea latte. It’s a raspberry infused chai latte, served up on ice with whip and sprinkles (of course). It’s available for the entire month of June and the proceeds, as with all Patachou Foundation restaurants, go to food security programs for underserved Indy kids.