Dare I say Indy,LOL ???
Our house is for sale and we are scouring the online websites for houses in the Inianapolis area. Haven%26#39;t decided on the exact location that we want to be in yet, but are looking at Avon,Brownsburg,Fishers and Carmel mainly. Would love to hear any advice from anyone about great places to shop and eat. I especially would love to get some advice about specialty type places as I already know all the chain stores and restaurants.
Hubby is already working there and would love to hear any recommendations for good restaurants as he is eating out every day of the week. One question we have and this is especially for people who have actually been to Italy--are there any really,really good Italian dining experiences in or around Indy? I am seriously not talking about chain restaurants that specialize in American-Italian food !!!
I%26#39;m sure that I will have lots of questions as the time for the move approaches and I would really appreciate any help from the local experts! We are actually from Anderson but have been away from home for many,many years so we are no longer that familiar with Indy.
Thanks in advance for any advice!!!!!
Yeah !! Moving to Indianapolis!Hi Witty,
It depends on what region of Italy you are speaking of, but even then, it is difficult to find truly authentic dishes in Indy. I would suggest Amalfi at 86th and Ditch Rd on the West side. It is a little difficult to find, but it has a charming atmosphere and they play your traditional Italian opera music. Bella Vita is on the North Side on Geist Reservoir. It has lovely views and fairly good Italian food, but it is americanized. I have yet to find an Italian restaurant that blows me away, but I%26#39;ll keep trying...or travelling back to Italy.
Best of luck. If your husband learns of any other great Italian restaurant%26#39;s, let us know!
As far as shopping, there are some very nice shops in the Geist area. Check out the website atgeist.com They do reviews of the local boutiques. There are also some cute shops in Broad Ripple. Happy Hunting.
Yeah !! Moving to Indianapolis!I love Iaria%26#39;s on S. College Ave, near downtown for Italian food and a wonderful retro feel.
Thanks to both of you for the advice--and the website ! When I say Italian food I am referring to any regional food of Italy ! I am not picky as long as it is really not American Italian!! No garlic mashed potatoes and no pasta swimming in a sea of red sauce. Nice wine. :)
I have actually seen Illaria%26#39;s mentioned on here--will give it a try. I saw online that there was supposed to be a good Italian restaurant in Zionsville and that the pastry chef,I believe, was supposed to be from Rome. I can%26#39;t recall the name right now but does anyone know of the one I am referring to?
Hubby is looking for any kind of food right now as long as the restaurant is good ! he is a big eater but doesn%26#39;t want to spend megabucks for every meal. So far he has been resigned to eating at chain restaurants like Outback and Montana Buffalo Grill(?)--that sort of thing which is good for a while but soon starts to get old!
Also wondering if anyone can recommend any good places to shop for meat when we move there(butchers,delis,etc.)Anywhere in or in the surrounding areas of Indy !
On another note--if you could live in or around Indianapolis, where would you choose to live? And why? No country life for me anymore, thank you !!! I need people and activity,not cows and pigs!!!
Google Massachussetts Avenue, Indianapolis for some good restaurant/shop information. Asiago is a very good restaurant your husband might want to try. There%26#39;s also Amici%26#39;s at 601 E New York Street and Mama Carolla%26#39;s at 1031 E 54th Street.
Browsburg might be a little too far away from most of the shopping, events and dining for you and your family, perhaps Avon as well. As someone who spent her entire adult life in the Indianapolis area that just moved to England in 2007, I%26#39;m very familiar with the Indianapolis area. I%26#39;d say NE Indianapolis and specifically Lawrence Township, Fishers, Carmel and Zionsville for places to live. However, Zionsville might have too much of a rural feel for you, still worth checking out! Great shops and restaurants in Zionsville and not chains!
Which side of town is your husband staying? That would help with giving local favorites. And wherever he is, he needs to try Yats (Fishers 96th St, north College Ave, %26amp; Mass. Ave). Great N%26#39;orleans food with great prices.
Welcome Witty, my passionate Italian traveling friend!
As it happens, we%26#39;re getting ready to move to Seattle ...
But as a 50 year resident of Indy, I%26#39;m happy to give you my advice:
Area of City -
I%26#39;m a Carmel/Fishers/Zionsville (north side) proponent. The significant majority of excellent restaurants are either downtown (another option) or on the north side. While the expanding west side can be attractive too with an increasing diversity of housing options, and the south side has strong proponents, the suburban north side has superior entertainment, dining, and shopping options.
Restaurants an Italian traveler would likely appreciate:
Ambrosia (Broad Ripple - north side) - relatively newly renovated, long-time family owned business. Get there on a slow night and you may have one of the family members wait your table. Fairly expensive ($40 to $60 or more per person, if you get wine - who doesn%26#39;t, eh?).
Amalfi%26#39;s (86th %26amp; Ditch - north side) - as mentioned above - family owned affair. A toss-up IMO with Ambrosia as best Italian dining in the Indy area. One advantage, will catch Peyton Manning in there frequently (he%26#39;s a regular).
Matteo%26#39;s (Noblesville, on the town square - FAR north side) - our favorite ';go to'; restaurant. A bit more moderately priced, and with a bit more personality than the two prior restaurants. A developing following among central Indiana diners. Owned by a member of the family that owns Amalfi%26#39;s. Another fine Italian dining destination.
il Villagio (Zionsville) - we%26#39;ve had hit and miss experiences here, with the hits being spectacularly great dishes and the misses being good, but falling short of the quality of the prior three restaurant%26#39;s dishes. Also owned by a native Italian.
The above four have many staff who either have lived in Italy or traveled there, and will engage you in fun discussions about the differences between Italian cooking in Italy and America (principally, access to fresh ingredients and access to the beef of the Chianina breed of beef cattle). My wife and I unhesitatingly recommend the first three, and recommend the fourth due to the quality of the ';spectacular hits'; (but be braced for the less-than-spectacular misses).
Agio (downtown - Mass. Avenue) - long-time Italian favorite among downtowners. Moderately expensive to expensive. Similar in quality to the above four - but we%26#39;ve had a few more misses here, particularly lately. Not BAD meals, just not meals worth the drive.
Iaria%26#39;s and the Milano Inn are old staples in downtown (very near southeast side) Indy. IMO, they offer good food and we typically enjoy eating there. Iaria%26#39;s is more a spaghetti type place, and the Milano Inn suffers a bit from a VERY worn and dated interior and long-term and not very passionate ownership. Good moderately priced options (Iaria%26#39;s in particular).
Then there are a bunch of americanized options - some good, some not-so-good. Buca di Beppo, Mama Carollas, Amici%26#39;s, Salvatore%26#39;s (across the street from Amalfi%26#39;s) and many more.
And to your last question, I%26#39;d choose to live either in Carmel or downtown Indy. We%26#39;ve come to appreciate downtown Louisville from our visits to our daughter. While Indianapolis doesn%26#39;t have the derby and all the events surrounding it, nor does it have the river life, it is a beautifully growing, increasingly cosmopolitan community. It is a VERY well governed city, with a thriving convention business, a great sports scene (you HAVE to take in a Butler home basketball game in Hinkle Fieldhouse, a dip into the soul of all true Hoosiers), and a good arts scene.
And, if you need to get a REALLY big city experience (arts, tremendously diverse dining, shopping, etc.) - Chicago is two hours closer to you than it was in Louisville ...
Thanks again to all !
Shutterbug~ Hubby is working in the 4600 block of W.86th Street. He is staying with his sister in Anderson so he travels northeast. Traffic can be horrendous, as you all know, when he gets off work so most of the time he tries to find a restaurant near his place of work and by the time that he finishes dinner, the traffic has lightened up considerably. I%26#39;m not sure if he wants to make the trek to the downtown area after work, but he is open to all suggestions ! Honestly, we are ';eat at home'; people most of the time and he is getting sick of restaurant food! What can I say (?), I am a great cook, LOL ! I have spoiled the man!
He is open to any suggestions~~doesn%26#39;t have to be Italian, although we do love Italian food.
Dave~~~ hellooooo my friend!!!! I am moving to Indy just to be able to visit you and you are moving to Seattle ??? LOL, I%26#39;m really a nice lady!!! Wow--Seattle ! My son has been there and fell in love with it. It is one of the few places in this country that I haven%26#39;t seen but would like to someday. I do hope that all goes well for you and that you enjoy living there. Hey~~~does that mean that your house is for sale????
Thanks for all the ';Italian'; restaurants ! We will definitely give them a try. I know it is impossible to replicate our Italian dining experiences but it would be nice to find something that is at least edible and passable Italian.
Also thanks for your advice about which area to live in. I had started really targeting the Avon market, and we really did like the long strip of retail and restaurants going into Avon. However, firstly, I don%26#39;t like their property taxes which are double what I am paying now(or more), and secondly some of the housing does seem like it is in a rather rural setting. I have ';existed'; in this area for four years and I am hungry for something different. Throw me smack dab in the middle of NYC right now and I would be very happy !! Five minutes to a grocery store or restaurant, or better yet to be able to actually walk somewhere would be pure heaven !!
We have been looking in Carmel, but I haven%26#39;t found anything yet that has caught my eye. I have actually found much more in Fishers. ';In'; Indy, I don%26#39;t know where to start looking?? I see houses but don%26#39;t know if they are in a safe place?
I think it was in Carmel that I saw a place called ';O%26#39;Malleys';, a meat market/grocery store? Is that a good place to shop?
OK, I did fall in love with what I saw in Carmel!! That art district looks wonderful as does that new outdoor-type mall ';something Trace'; I think?
Thanks again and I will keep asking questions as I think of them !
Other restaurants that aren%26#39;t nationwide chains? Pizza places, hamburger joints,home-cooking,buffet type places???
And Yats sounds very interesting ! We did live on the gulf side of Texas for eight years and were able to get a great mixture of Texas/Louisiana style cooking !!
Amalfi%26#39;s is on 86th St., about 2 - 3 miles from where your husband works (I presume he%26#39;s working near Park 100, just west of Michigan Road on 86th St.). The town of Zionsville is very close to that area, and has some nice restaurants: Brix %26amp; il Villagio come to mind.
Our favorite restaurant (Gabby %26amp; I argue about this) is Peterson%26#39;s, just west of the 96th St %26amp; I-69 interchange. It%26#39;s locally owned, has great service, great mixed drinks, and is IMO the most simply elegant of the restaurants in Indy. It%26#39;s where we go on special occasions (or one of the above Italian restaurants).
We live in the Village of West Clay. You%26#39;re welcome to buy our home ... although you sound as though you%26#39;re more primed for a downtown Zionsville or Carmel type location.
O%26#39;Malia%26#39;s grocery is a good place to shop. They were purchased by Marsh Supermarkets last year, and have gradually been assuming less and less of the unique, almost boutique market kind of store atmosphere/service. But we buy our meat there - still have a very nice selection of good meat. Otherwise, we prefer to shop at the Fresh Market or directly at a Marsh Supermarket.
Amalfi%26#39;s is a good suggestion %26amp; there is a cluster of locally owned places at 86th %26amp; Ditch. He could drive across 86th, eat %26amp; let the interstate clear out before heading to Anderson. Here%26#39;s some I like: Sawadzee (spelling?)Thai food, Ocean World sushi %26amp; Japanese, Smee%26#39;s Place pub food, Puccini%26#39;s (I think it%26#39;s locally owned) pizza %26amp; Americanized Italian, %26amp; there%26#39;s a really good seafood place, Kona Jack%26#39;s at 96th %26amp; Meridian.
The Marsh in Carmel at 146th %26amp; SR 31 just had a grand re-opening %26amp; from what I could see everything is top notch, especially produce %26amp; meat.
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