Dining

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If you’ve ever jostled your way into Giorgio’s Pizza during the lunch rush, confused about where, exactly, to stand in line and whether you are the one currently being barked at to place an order, the first thing on your mind was probably not romance. But after work, as the sun starts to drop low, the popular pizzeria ups the amore factor. Staffers dim the lights that, by day, glare onto the laminated tables and well-trod tile flooring. Track lights illuminate recently installed murals depicting the kind of lush Italian scenery you wish you could jump right into, Mary Poppins–style. It’s around this time that you might suddenly notice the flowers that were always on each table, if only you’d taken time out of your hectic lunch half–hour to stop and smell them (OK, they're plastic, but still). And the ultimate ingredient for dinner, Italian–style—red wine—is just $20 a bottle.

An idea three years in the making, Smoking Goose (407 N. Dorman St.), a wholesale charcuterie from Goose the Market’s Chris Eley, is weeks away from its grand opening. The 12,000-square-foot space in the Holy Cross neighborhood will house sausage-making and curing equipment, and though the majority of the business will be in selling smokehouse and sausage offerings (packaged with the Smoking Goose label) to restaurants and stores around the country, Eley will open the doors to the public on select evenings, a la Friday nights at Sun King Brewery.

Indy has no shortage of brand-new craft beer options, from the near-eastside’s Flat12 Bierwerks (414 N. Dorman St., 635-2337) to the far-westside’s Three Pints Brewpub (5020 Cambridge Way, Plainfield, 839-1000), which is serving beers from around the state while its own production facility is under construction.

A cheese cave is on the list of possible expansions at Traders Point Creamery (9101 Moore Rd., Zionsville, 733-1700), says cheesemaker Lindsay Klaunig. By fall, the creamery should have more concrete excavation plans for the addition, described as a 50-degree room where new products such as bleu cheese and Camembert could age to perfection. In the meantime, Klaunig wants to start aging (for four to eight months) the Fleur de la Terre, raw-milk Gouda, and raw-milk cheddar in the current TPC lineup for deeper, more interesting flavors.

Given the stranglehold sports fans have on this town, as well as a certain big game Indy expects to host next winter, it’s surprising that the two-story brick storefront near the industrial corner of South and Minnesota streets remained untapped as long as it did. Little more than 100 feet from Lucas Oil Stadium, Tavern on South is a spiffy surprise—a sportingly handsome spot where your game-day eats might be drizzled with a shagbark hickory–soy syrup or arrive with a side of pistachio couscous.

As a rule, suburban strip-mall eateries aren't known for being innovators in fashion-forward decor or cutting-edge cuisine. Too often, they’re stop-off points to grab a pint or some stick-to-your-ribs grub when you don’t want to drive into the city. Something about the spacious storefront at 11705 Fox Road, nestled as it is among the tree-lined curves of Geist Reservoir and sporting sky-high ceilings and a rustic stone fireplace in the bar, always seemed to require a more substantial establishment, and while a string of eateries have tried to capitalize on the space’s charm, it wasn’t until I entered Michael’s Southshore, the latest tenant, that I felt a destination restaurant had arrived.

Last year, Ichiban underwent a renovation that doubled the eatery’s size and added a bar and a banquet room that can hold 30 people, and yet the place feels as intimate as it ever did. The menu saw some changes, too, as owner Sammy Li explains. “We have many regulars—really beautiful people. But a lot of them are families, so they don’t order the traditional raw-fish sushi.”

The restaurant has tweaked the menu at all nine of its locations nationwide. Even the mashed potatoes (now silky Yukon Golds flavored with truffle oil) and the lobster bisque (assembled tableside for added drama) showed the alterations. The different cuts of steak, formerly just herbed and buttered, now get individual treatments, from a filet served with mushrooms and brandy-mustard sauce to the sirloin, grilled and applewood-smoked, with a mustard garlic aioli. A small note on the menu states that the steaks can instead be ordered with just a rub of rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, and garlic—a simple preparation that remains the best choice.

If the last millennium’s culinary scene ended with the luscious aged cuts and luxe accoutrements of steakhouses, our current century’s gastronomy has begun a lot closer to home. Indy’s abundance of chophouses is getting brisk competition from a new breed of cozy but no less elegant spots serving up dishes your mother might have made—had your mother, for instance, bathed her roast chicken in champagne and chestnuts.