The Feed: Remembering Greg Hardesty, Top Chef’s Fabio Viviani Comes To Town

Indianapolis has lost an architect of the food community. Greg Hardesty succumbed to a brutal battle with leukemia last week, leaving behind a wife and two adult daughters, as well as a huge community of talented chefs who learned under him at various restaurants over the years—from Bluebeard’s Abbi Merriss to Beholder’s Jonathan Brooks. Hardesty’s restaurants became a finishing school of sorts for young cooks trying to level-up their skills. He was a tenderhearted creative mind who was open and vulnerable about the many battles life and the kitchen throws at chefs, and through that vulnerability and candor, prepared chefs to become mentors and teachers in their own kitchens. To those outside the restaurant world, he was a good man, husband, father, and friend, and he will be deeply, incalculably missed as long as plates glide across passes here in the Circle City.

Top Chef Season 5 fan-favorite Fabio Viviani is bringing his branded restaurant, Osteria, to Carmel. Osteria is part of the Giant Eagle family of brands (Market District, GetGo convenience stores, and Giant Eagle grocery stores) and will open next to the Carmel Market District, serving Italian favorites like chicken marsala and caprese salads.

Apocalypse Burger (115 E. 49th St., 317-426-5001) debuted its Swagyu Dogs, which are, as the name implies, 100-percent American wagyu beef, served up in classic American style with ketchup, mustard and relish. The Cancer Szn is what we’re looking forward to, though: fried soft shell crab, creole remoulade, spicy slaw.

Guggman Haus Brewing Co. (1701 Gent Ave., 317-602-6131) opened its newest, enormous, 22,000-square-foot taproom, event space, and future restaurant on the grounds of the original Guggman Haus campus. The new space offers diners of all ages a more flexible opportunity to enjoy food and booze, as The Cabin Kitchen, Guggman’s restaurant project, will open later in the summer under executive chef Bridget Horan. Sitting on the site of the former Boyle Racing Headquarters, the new building features the Boyle Racing Shop, at which visitors will be able to see historic racing memorabilia. The Shop and the restaurant will both have their own grand opening later this summer.

Covington, Kentucky–based Agave & Rye is on its way to City Way, bringing the “modern tequila and bourbon hall” aesthetic to downtown, conveniently across the street from The Alexander hotel. Keep your eyes peeled for this opening, slated for fall of 2021, adding another cocktail option to the downtown scene.