The Goat is out of the penalty box. After a couple years on the region’s scofflaw list, Carmel tavern The Goat (220 Second St. SW, 317-843-4628) is now allowed to operate under the same rules as its fellow bars and restaurants. The news came at an August 5 Carmel City County meeting, Current reports, as part of a greater discussion around loosening the area’s open container laws. The restaurant was previously required to close outdoor service at 7 p.m. due to pandemic-era noise complaints, but now it’s free to serve all patrons until midnight on weekdays and 1 a.m. on weekends.
Broad Ripple bar owners are engaged in a full-court press (tour). Every news outlet in Indy has seemed to pen an item about the struggles the neighborhood’s publicans are facing, from the Star, to the IBJ, to local broadcast. The message is consistent throughout: Bar owners say the combination of nearby street construction and a spate of shootings means the businesses have not seen the post-pandemic bounce back other spots have, so they’re seeking solutions. (One proposal to increase safety and draw patrons, the creation of a gun-free zone, was removed from the table last year due to insurance concerns, which might be as apt an application of “catch-22” as I’ve ever seen.)
Parkside Public House just made its debut. The Garfield Park restaurant at 2608 Shelby St. launched with James Beard–recognized chef Abbi Merriss in the kitchen, which is big news right there—it was just a few months ago that she stepped away from Bluebeard after building it into a nationally recognized restaurant. The menu, for now, is a tightly edited list of cool Midwesterner classics (a sharp tenderloin dish, a peach-y green salad). Service kicked off on Wednesday, with a weekday opening time of 5 p.m. and a 10 a.m. opener on weekends.
An Indy location of chain Buca di Beppo has shuttered. The national Italian chain filed for bankruptcy protection this week, saying in a filing that “limited customer demand” that began in 2020 continued, with year-over-year losses for the company. It’s now $10 million in debt, $1.36 million of which is unredeemed gift cards. People, if you like BdB, use those now—but don’t try to use them at the 6045 E. 86th St. location, as that one went dark in recent days as the company cuts costs. Greenwood’s 659 U.S. 31 N outpost (317-884-2822) and the one downtown at 35 N. Illinois St. (317-632-2822) remain.
Downtown Indy has a new steakhouse. Del Frisco’s, a national restaurant chain that, since 2019, has been owned by a gigantic private equity firm, opened a location of their Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse brand at 14 W. Maryland St. last weekend, the Star reports. There’s a 700-bottle wine list and a steak roster to rival St. Elmo’s (in name only, I’m sure! Don’t @ me!). There’s also a stringent and somewhat arbitrary dress code that would ban many of America’s brightest billionaires from entry. One certainly wonders what that’s intended to accomplish.
The Athenaeum just got a bit boozier. As you, of course, know, Coat Check Coffee, the groundbreaking third wave coffee shop at 401 E. Michigan St., changed hands earlier this year when Small Victories contracted its operations. Now under the management of the Athenaeum Foundation, it’s been ramping up its food offerings, beefing up its baking, and, last weekend, it launched a cocktail program with four sweet drinks. The concoctions will be available from 11 a.m. to close daily, and we’re told that no-ABV tweaks to the drinks are also available.
