BEST Restaurants 2020
Black Market
RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR 2020
IT HAPPENED this past summer, seemingly in the blink of an eye. Or maybe you haven’t heard? Your favorite farm-to-table Mass Ave spot is now the ultra-authentic Mass Ave Mexican restaurant you never knew you needed. Ask Esteban Rosas, the 30-year-old chef who ushered in the changes after a trial-run summer menu, why Indy needs another Latin restaurant, and he won’t mince words: “Because we’re doing it right. We’re cooking the food of our mothers, but we logged hours with classic techniques, and now we’re pushing ourselves in a different direction.” That direction means sourcing single-origin dried corn that Rosas and staff transformed into tortillas with the distinct terroir of Oaxaca. It means mole prepared with upwards of 50 ingredients, a three-day process that makes a starter as simple as chicken taquitos sing. In early winter, it meant the return of lunch, where potato flautas with pickled onions and salsa verde are the most delicate thing you’ll eat all week. And while you may miss the hunky burgers and elegant pork chops of the Micah Frank days, come summer when you’re sipping a cerveza under the pergola with a plate of slow-braised lamb-shank barbacoa, you’ll understand why change can be a delicious and satisfying thing. 922 Massachusetts Ave., 317-822-6757, blackmarketindy.net
CHEF OF THE YEAR 2020
Blue beard
TOP TEN
DEAR CHEF ABBI MERRISS,
This probably isn’t your first piece of fan mail.
After all, Condé Nast Traveler, Food & Wine, USA Today, and Playboy have all sung your praises. The James Beard Foundation must have an entire Abbi Merriss file, having placed you among the semifinalists for its Best Chefs in America honor every year since 2016. Next month, we will know if 2020 is finally the year you make the leap from James Beard nominee to James Beard winner. But why stop there? Every one of Bluebeard’s chopped salads—perfect specimens of calibrated flavor—deserves a Nobel Prize. We would induct your Elvis Mini Pie (peanut-butter pastry, banana pudding, bourbon glaze, and bacon sprinkles) into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and that list of cocktails named after Bluebeard’s literary inspiration, Kurt Vonnegut, should get a Pulitzer Prize of its own.
Even The New York Times knows that Bluebeard is “one of the best in town,” and we couldn’t agree more. But lest you mistake us for fair-weather fans who hopped on your bandwagon after the fifth Beard nod, know that we have been Team Abbi since your sous-chef stint at Recess, where you trained under chef Greg Hardesty. Maybe that’s where you became such a team player. To this day, you hesitate to take full credit for Bluebeard’s success, mentioning your staff’s contributions in every acceptance speech. In a world where less-talented chefs act like rock stars, you are a breath of fresh (if faintly garlic-scented) air.
Look, we won’t take up any more of your time. You have a lot on your plate right now, opening your French-inspired Brasserie in the new Kan-Kan Cinema in Windsor Park while keeping your Bluebeard kitchen running as smoothly as ever. We just want to thank you for your food—your osso bucco, butcher shop Bolognese, and Sunday dollar oysters specifically. But you’ve already heard it from us. Every time we roll out a Best Restaurants issue, we have to come up with a new way to tell the world that Abbi Merriss is a quiet genius. This time, we wanted to deliver that message directly to you. Because, in case no one has told you lately, you’re kind of a big deal. 653 Virginia Ave., 317-686-1580, bluebeardindy.com
Festiva
TOP TEN
a fantastic backyard party, with sunny splashes of yellow and blue and a pass-through bar that opens onto an enclosed all-seasons patio, Festiva adds a pop of color and energy to its little patch of East 16th Street. In a space not much bigger than a two-car garage, owner George Muñoz, who got his restaurant start
