For the second year, USA TODAY Network journalists from across the country have collaborated to create a Restaurants of the Year list rich in local flavor.
Bodhi, a 21+ Thai bistro and cocktail bar on Mass Ave’s north end, represents Indianapolis on the list, but it’s far from the only Indy-area eatery worth recognition. Presented in alphabetical order, here are 10 spots that just missed the cut.
9th Street Bistro
56 S. Ninth St., Noblesville, 317-774-5065, 9thstbistro.com
Chef-owner Samir Mohammad’s world travels and decades of restaurant experience coalesce at 9th Street Bistro, a fine-dining spot whose dishes skew just a few degrees from what you expect. Between duck pozole, Moroccan-spiced lamb meatballs and shrimp beignets, 9th Street Bistro’s slim seasonal menu packs an impressively disproportionate amount of global flavor.
Book your reservation now on OpenTable
Bluebeard
653 Virginia Ave., 317-686-1580, bluebeardindy.com
A year into executive chef Alan Sternberg’s tenure, Bluebeard in Fletcher Place remains one of Indy’s premier dining destinations. The menu is adventurous but not eye-rollingly haute, with core ingredients like produce and pasta taking center stage. A woodwork interior and crowded tables make for a bustling public house atmosphere, where two 20-somethings can go for an intimate date night, only to spend half the evening chatting with the 67-year-old woman at the table next to them about her retirement aspirations — to the slight mortification of her daughter dining with her — and still have a lovely time.
Borage
1609 N. Lynhurst Drive, 317-734-3958, borageeats.com
Borage cafe, bakery, and market (1609 Lyndhurst Dr.,) on Thursday, June 6, 2024, in Speedway Ind.
One of 2024’s most anticipated new restaurants, this Speedway café and bakery quickly established itself as a memorable name in Indy’s dining scene. Chef-owners Josh Kline and Zoë Taylor offer a twist on classic Americana diner and pastry case fare, with bitey vegetables, spiced jams and funky cheeses showing up where you hardly expect but greatly appreciate them.
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Read more: After 2-year delay, former Milktooth chefs open new café and bakery in Speedway
Delicia
5215 N. College Ave., 317-925-0677, deliciaindy.com
Latin cuisine gets fine-dining treatment at this longtime SoBro eatery, with dishes like duck enchiladas, birria short ribs and elote scallops. If you’ve never encountered Central and South American fare outside of casual restaurants and street vendors — by all means perfectly delicious ways to experience those foods — Delicia offers a new and exciting upscale twist.
Gather 22
22 E. 22nd St., 317-258-2222, gather22.com
Gather22 restaurant on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Indianapolis.
A restaurant isn’t just food, but a place to eat it, and there are few cooler places to enjoy a meal than Gather 22 in the Near Northside. Quirky yet carefully chosen décor fills the dining room, veranda and — when the weather allows — the patio, where guests enjoy everything from morning coffee to West Coast-inspired small plates and inventive cocktails. Gather regularly reinvents itself: Ventures thus far include a backyard bee farm, Sunday morning yoga classes and a Yuletide-themed tiki bar. Throughout, the restaurant maintains a consistent, fun-loving atmosphere where people simply want to hang out.
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Read more: Globally inspired but Indy at its heart, Gather 22 serves food morning and night
Julieta Taco Shop
1060 N. Capitol Ave., Suite 1-103, instagram.com/julieta_tacoshop
Julieta may not boast some of the draws you’ll find at the other restaurants on this list — tables, for instance — but one thing it doesn’t lack is excellent food. At this counter-service taco shop in the Stutz Building, chef-owners Esteban Rosas and Gabriel Sanudo (formerly of Milktooth) celebrate Mexican culinary tradition while throwing a few convention-defying curveballs. Julieta’s overstuffed tacos range from al pastor to broccolini, but don’t overlook daily specials like pozole, enchiladas, even eggplant milanesa and chicken wings. Wander in, seek out something you’ve never tried and don’t skimp on the salsa.
Read more: Eat traditional Mexican street food — and watch them make it — at Julieta
Mama Carolla’s
1031 E. 54th St., 317-259-9412, mamacarollas.com
Everyone’s platonic ideal of an Italian restaurant is a little different, but it takes a true cynic to not be charmed by Mama Carolla’s in SoBro. Red tablecloths, excited chatter and innumerable bottles of wine flood the cozy dining rooms of an old Tuscan-style house that became Mama’s in 1997. The menu is roughly exactly what you’d expect, a blend of regional Italian specialties with enough butter and red sauce to make even the tidiest eater nervous.
Savor
211 W. Main St., Carmel, 317-564-4126, savorcarmel.com
Savor owner and chef Henri Najem cooks steaks over oak logs on a grill of his own design at Savor. The dinner-only Italian restaurant specializing in food cooked on wood-fired grills openes Jan. 14, 2020, at 211 W. Main St., Carmel.
Owner Henri Najem’s approach to food could be described as obsessive — he designed his own grill for his Flamme Burger restaurant — and that attention to detail is apparent at Savor in Carmel. A menu heavy on pasta, fish, veggies and olives marries the Mediterranean cuisine Najem grew up with at home and the Italian fare he learned to make at his family’s restaurant as a teenager. Savor’s many fans include Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton, but don’t worry: The price point is low enough to accommodate those of us who don’t quite make $42 million per year.
Tinker Street
402 E. 16th St., 317-925-5000, tinkerstreetrestaurant.com
Named Indianapolis’ best restaurant by USA TODAY last year, this Near Northside eatery embodies the decadent, vibrantly colored visions that spring to mind when you think of the words “fancy dinner.” Simple ingredients like pork, squash and mushrooms get an upscale assist from inventive sauces and seasonings in a charming atmosphere where it feels like there’s no problem that a little more champagne can’t remedy.
More on last year’s winner: Everything to try at Tinker Street
Union 50
620 N. East St., 317-610-0234, union-50.com
You’ll find all your usual fine dining suspects on Union 50’s menu — raw meat, other meats turned into jam, a lot of purees — but just as many familiar favorites like prime ribeye and chicken wings. A spacious dining room occupies a former downtown union hall where guests can hold quiet conversations or laugh a little too loudly at one another’s jokes without worry.
Book your reservation now on OpenTable
Contact dining reporter Bradley Hohulin at bhohulin@indystar.com. You can follow him on Twitter/X @BradleyHohulin.
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See the entire list of USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year 2025 here:
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 10 Indy-area restaurants we wish made USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year
