Bluebeard

In the early 2010s, there wasnt a bakery in Indianapolis that made hearth-baked, European -style bread. Lifelong Indianapolis advocate Tom Battista set out to change that. He found the ideal spacea 1924 factory warehouse in an historic Italian neighborhood in Downtown Indianapolisand with the help of his nephew, Charlie McIntosh, started production in Amelias Bakery. The space Amelias occupied was bigbig enough, in fact, to house more than just a bakery. So Tom brought in his son, Edward Battista, and Chef Abbi Merriss, and together they dreamed up a restaurant that would take the same artisanal approach to food that Amelias did to bread. They called it Bluebeard, after a book by Indianapolis native Kurt Vonnegut. Bluebeard opened in 2012. In its first year, it became a James Beard Award semi-finalist for Best New Restaurant in America. Under the steady hand of Chef Abbi Merriss (who has earned multiple Beard nominations herself) it has continued to earn accolades and an audience ...