OT: Visiting Indianapolis- could use some help
After a great weekend of Michigan sports, my wife and I thought we'd celebrate by trying a new town: Indianapolis. We'll more than likely go for a couple of nights (probably a Thursday and Friday night). Would like to stay downtown and walk to dinner/bars, etc. A few particulars:
1. We will be dressing fairly casual
2. We are in our late 40's
3. Activities? Dinner? Bars? Hotels? Someone told me we should go to the zoo. Anyone been there?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and Go Blue!
I used to frequent Indy (short drive from Chicago), I’ll let the Indy natives in the board give you some tips, but if you have the means, St Elmo’s is worth the visit for dinner.
I agree that St. Elmo's is worth the trip. Excellent steaks.
St Elmos is good, but I actually prefer Harry and Izzy's, they share the same kitchen as St Elmos. Get a sugar cream pie for dessert.
What made you think of visiting Indianapolis?
Never been there and have visited Chicago many times. Would like to try something new that is drivable. We live near Grand Rapids, so Indy is not too far by car.
Go for the gold, OP. If you leave now, you can make San Antonio by Thursday.
March 21st, 2022 at 10:36 AM ^
As someone who made the drive from College Station to Michigan twice a year for four years, I'd recommend flying.
It's about 4-5 hours one-way from GR if you're traveling by car. I've been there a handful of times, not sure it's that great of a place to justify that much time unless the drive itself is scenic. But that's just me.
March 21st, 2022 at 11:29 AM ^
The drive is not scenic unless you're a big fan of corn fields.
March 21st, 2022 at 11:44 AM ^
It might not be Montana, but the sky does get big and pretty in the summer driving down a state highway surrounded by corn.
Not so great now out my kitchen window with an empty field and a hog barn in the distance.
The Bottleworks hotel is a newly created place with a neat history. It is a former Coca-Cola Bottling Company - definitely and interesting/chic hotel with character. It is right by one of the main drag areas for dining in entertainment downtown called Massachusetts Avenue (Mass Ave). You can walk to several interesting restaurants and bars if you stay there. Mesh on Mass is one of the more popular restaurants there. St. Elmo’s steakhouse downtown has national acclaim, and they have a shrimp cocktail that is raved about by athletes and celebrities all of the time. It is worth trying. It is less than 2 miles from the Bottleworks hotel
The zoo is good, not massive, but nice and well-maintained with some good exhibits. If you are thinking St. Louis or San Diego size, you might be disappointed, but if you are not a frequenter of zoos, I think you will enjoy it.
This is just my brief two cents, I am sure you will get some other good pointers here shortly. I hope you have a great time in Indy. It has been kind to our Wolverines recently with some massive wins - Perhaps none bigger than the decimation that we gave to Iowa in the Big Ten championship!
Agree with this.
Several more things: We lived there for 15 years and loved walking the downtown area. The canal, the zoo, the NCAA headquarters, the mall-am assuming it remains operational and Mass Ave...and on and on-it is just a fun, interesting and walkable downtown. Indianapolis also has one of the best children museums-in the world I would say, the art museum is very nice along with the lovely grounds. Butler has a wonderful campus, the Illinois Street Food Emporium is one of the best breakfast places anywhere (a Denver omelette, coffee and an apple fritter!) and the the Broad Ripple area is very cool to peruse-rent a bike and ride the White River walking/biking path...or just walk it. Go play a round at the Fort Ben or one of the many other nice courses. Oh-Indianapolis has a wonderful Symphony Orchestra-downtown on Hilbert Circle.
NCAA headquarters is just a facade. :)
March 21st, 2022 at 11:07 AM ^
IndyPete,
When are they going to finish the construction on 65 in the downtown area? I usually go straight through downtown (70 to 65, then to 465 and 69) on my way back to Michigan, but the construction has really cramped my style. I hate taking the loop around the south for some reason.
March 21st, 2022 at 12:25 PM ^
Apologies lsu - as I do not know the answer to your question. It looks like there is still quite a bit of work to do
Should be open November of this year. Total project was scheduled to take 18 months I would recommend taking i-70 to 465 north just past the Airport around to i-69 north. that south loop is awful! State road 37 and I -65 south are both major headaches.
March 21st, 2022 at 11:22 PM ^
Thanks. I’ll make sure to give that a try next time.
March 21st, 2022 at 11:49 AM ^
FYI, the Circle Center mall will be closing soon. Sounds like it is going to be turned into office space.
This is all I know about Indianapolis
"I'll puke if that jukebox plays John Cougar one more time."
March 21st, 2022 at 11:53 AM ^
Very disappointed in that video, the bottle rockets never exploded into a full-blown fireworks disaster.
On Fridays from 11-2 Indys best food trucks line up on Georgia St. We enjoy it when the weather is nice.
the NCAA hall of champions
Slippery Noddle is a nice blues bar
St Elmo's
If any interest in racing, the Indianapolis motor speedway + main street in Speedway ( short drive from downtown) has a few places to eat.
The soldiers and sailors monument. an Indianapolis staple. It stands over 280' tall and you can go up the stairs or take an elevator to the top
The JW Marriott would be me pick for hotels. 1/2 mile from St Elmo's. less than a mile to the zoo and the NCAA and Indiana state museum etc.
Enjoy
March 21st, 2022 at 10:08 AM ^
We went to the Indiana State Museum before the game on Saturday. It was pretty nice. We had our kids so we couldn’t read through it all, but there was a solid couple hours to go through. Probably more.
March 21st, 2022 at 11:32 AM ^
The Children's Museum is pretty cool if you have kids with you. The (fairly new) outside sports zone is a big hit with my 6 year old.
We debated going on our way out of town, but we decided to swim at the hotel pool and go home after a late breakfast. My wife has been trying to get us there pretty much since we moved to Louisville.
we had a nice breakfast at first watch during the B1G women's tournament, will go there again next year.
Also - depending on how super-nerdy you and the wife are, GenCon is the biggest gaming convention in the country and has been in Indianapolis the first week of August for the past two decades. If that's something you're into, you should see one at least once in your life.
On the flip side, if that's not something you're into, then go literally any other weekend. Indianapolis loves hosting conventions and GenCon is one of the biggies - it takes over not just the convention center but 1/2 the hotels within a block radius as well as part of Lucas Oil Stadium and it'll be great for people-watching but kinda terrible for getting seats at any bar or restaurant..
Stop in Fairmount on the way down and visit James Dean’s grave site and Gallery.
March 21st, 2022 at 10:12 AM ^
When we moved to Atlanta, we left Chicago on April 12th for our drive south. The trees weren't budding yet as it was too cold.
Indianapolis was pretty cool because on the north side you would see the trees starting to bud. By the time we got to the south side, the leaves were starting to pop out.
North of Nashville, we started to see the purple dogwood flowers. By the time we got over the hills into Chattanooga, the trees were full of leaves. It was so cool to see the progressive change over two days and three plant related temperature zones.
Anyway... enjoy Indy, but don't count on much vegetation!
March 21st, 2022 at 10:27 AM ^
Harry & Izzie’s is downtown and close to the Circle Centre Mall. It is owned and operated by the same people that run St. Elmo’s Steakhouse. The steaks are worth a trip to either restaurant, but the vibe at Harry & Izzie’s is more low key and less likely to turn up their nose at casual attire.
Circle Centre Mall has a movie theatre and is close to tons of bars and such as well. It’s not far from the nba arena and is walking distance to Lucas Oil and the Convention Center if there’s anything going on there that you’re looking to be a part of.
The Bates-Hendricks neighborhood on the southeast side of town is up and coming as well and has plenty of little local dives if you’re up for exploring a little further afield.
I’ll also add, don’t be afraid to try Airbnb for an inexpensive alternative to a hotel. I’ve stayed at three different ones in or near downtown that all have plenty of character and allow you to experience the city in a way that feels more intimate than a hotel does sometimes.
March 21st, 2022 at 10:32 AM ^
Any Nashville recommendations?
Didn't want to start my own thread but I'll be heading there for my first visit for a conference at the end of this month. Staying at the Gaylord Opryland. My only plan so far is to go to McKay's bookstore. Any recommendations for 'must see' areas or food would be awesome.
March 21st, 2022 at 11:15 AM ^
Opryland means you're on a peninusla you're going to be spending about $20 an uber (if you're lucky, non-peak times) going to and from locations that you want to be. Gaylord basically wants you to be out at their facility buying their expensive drinks, eating at their bad restaurants... but hey, the atrium is nice for about 10 minutes! Their motto should be if you love giant Vegas Casinos with none of the gambling, Opryland is for you! :) But seriously, don't plan to spend much time at Opryland. If you are stuck out there, Scoreboard is a decent sports dive bar (only for emergencies).
Music fan?
Check out the Ryman. It is the single best venue for music that exists. It's the original Opry, the mother church of country music, but truly if there's even anyone you somewhat like, and they're playing the Ryman, go.
If you want to do Bluebird, be sure to buy the ticket before you come. Common mistake to try and show up. They'll do willc all but it's hard. And if you don't get in, you're just standing in a stripmall parking lot, there's not much else to do there but see where I get my shirts dry cleaned. If you're not familiar, Bluebird is where some big acts got their start. Before Taylor was Taylor she played Bluebird, etc.
Broadway
It's country fried Epcot. Like Bourbon Street in New Orleans, or Beale Street in Memphis, or 5th in Austin, etc etc. I'm not a local who tries to steer people clear of this place. Do it. That said, It's one of those heavily tourist type drinking locales that should be done at least once, or for others should be done the whole weekend. It just depends on what you want to do and how you want to live that life. 26 honkytonks (a bar with live music). Options for everyone. The 'party' is scalable. So you could bring the fam down at noon (I wouldnt) to see all the stuff. And then the later into the night you get, the more "party" it becomes. Most of the 'big' ones now are licensed to country stars like Luke Bryan's "Lukes" or Florida Georgia Line's FGL House - hence the Epcot comparison. A few of the 'originals' still stand, Tootsies, Roberts, The Stage. Last call is at 3AM.
Midtown is a smaller version of Broadway, Winners, Losers, Rebar, Doghouse, Tin Roof on Demonbreun, etc. a little more "collegey" just due to its proximity to Vanderbilt.
Neighborhoods
12South is a decent walkaround neighborhood. Restaurants, coffee, bars, shopping. You can be outdoors. Nice to walk off a night on Broadway. It's become super popular in the past 3/4 years. It used to be just a nice little street/neighborhood area where my wife would get her coffee.
The Gulch is kind of a high-end nightlife area. You've got LA Jackson the Rooftop bar on top of the Thompson Hotel. Or a 30 minute line to take a picture in front of the wings mural (sadly not a mural dedicated to Paul McCartney's band).
East Nashville has some dive bars and live music venues that are good. I ate at Joyland, Sean Brock's burger joint on Saturday in East.
Food
It's a great food town. Just depends on what you want to eat. Highlights of things to try: Hattie B's is my favorite Hot Chicken. If you want to do Biscuit Love, do the one in Hillsboro Village (Vandy) not the one in the Gulch with the 2 hour wait.
For BBQ, Martins, Edleys or Peg Leg Porker (Or Bringles BBQ Oasis, its new and weekends only).
Sean Brock is arguably the best chef in the country. He has 3 restaurants here now.
I mean that's some highlights. Lmk if you have specific questions or want to do specific things.
March 21st, 2022 at 11:43 AM ^
I was unimpressed with Nashville, but I’m old. That being said, we had a great meal at Yolan in the Joseph Hotel.
Thanks, JMo, for all the information. Unfortunately I didn't have a choice of hotels but what you described about Opryland was exactly what I thought (and feared).
I'm not much of a country music fan or a bar-crawler anymore, I've done Bourbon Street enough times.
Basically, I like to find a good neighborhood where I can walk, pop in and out of bookshops, grab a cup of coffee, sit down for a bite to eat, get an early evening drink, etc. 12South looks like something along those lines and East Nashville looks cool from what I've seen online. Is there much to do around Vanderbilt? Any other neighborhoods that fit this?
BBQ will be a must, and I'll check out some of the places you list. Also a big fan of trying out different ethnic foods.
March 21st, 2022 at 10:34 PM ^
Ok this starts to hone me into a little bit more then.
First, you still need to swing by Broadway, just to see it. The new AA museum at 5th and Broad, where there's a big new commissary is across from the Ryman which has a decent tour. The spectacle of it all is worth seeing. It really would be like visiting NOLA and not going to the quarter. You don't have to build your trip around it, although certainly many do. You also don't need to like Country Music, it's just ambient music to a party more than anything. Also more bachelorettes than any city other than Vegas now is also a sight to behold. So a flock of 10 pink hatted girls stumbling around town or riding a pedal tavern screaming Shania Twain shouldn't be missed.
So, McKays... Nashville isn't a big city, but basically from Opryland to McKays is maybe as geographically far as you can go within Davidson County. lol McKays is fun. Near McKays in West Nashville on Charlotte Pike are a couple truly authentic dive "ethnic" restaurants I like. Kien Giang has my favorite Pho, and is an excellent authentic Vietnamese restaurant, but it is um... a dive, lets say. But amazing food. Also in the same area and along the same lines, Korea House. It's strip mall Korean. But it's some of my favorite Bulgogi in the city, which is to say it's really the only good Bulgogi in the city. These aren't Insta-cute locales. But if you like the idea of discovering hidden gems, they work for the authentic ethnic, and they're near McKays which isn't near a whole lot.
On your way back toward town kinda in West Nashville still is Elder's Bookstore. That's one of the other notable book stores in town. Then lastly, Parnassus Books, it's probably the most notable bookstore. That one is in Green Hills. This is my neighborhood. None of these bookstores are very walkable neighborhoods.
Walkable areas for you should be places like 12 South, Hillsboro Village (which is the Vanderbilt town area), and then East Nashville (start and 5 Points and walk from there). East may have a bookstore in 5 Points. It wouldn't surprise me. It's a very local driven area "hipstery" if you will. Germantown has a nice little walkable area near some quality fine dining like 5th and Taylor, City House, Butchertown Hall, Henrietta Red.
Local Coffee: Coffee in 12 South is Frothy Monkey. Coffee in East is Bongo Java. Coffee in Hillsboro Village is Fido. Coffee in Germantown is Barista Parlor but I hate that place (too pretentious).
If you like walking through parks... Centennial Park has the Parthenon, that's on West End, so the other side of Vanderbilt. Bicentennial Mall is near Germantown, that is also next to the Farmers Market. Sevier Park is a tiny little park at the end of 12 South. Start at the opposite end, walk to the park, turn around and go back. It's a couple mile walk.
Other Random Restaurant Recos: Biscuit Love in Hillsboro Village, Edleys BBQ on 12 South, Hattie B's Hot Chicken (many locations avoid midtown), Monell's in Germantown it's a family-style grandma's southern food, Lockeland Table then Urban Cowboy Public House in East Nashville modern southern and a great bar next door to each other, Chaatable - Maneet Chauhans indian street food restaurant, The Continental downtown Sean Brock restaurant, 5 Points Pizza late night slice.
March 21st, 2022 at 11:34 PM ^
That’s awesome! Thanks for taking the time to write all this. Looks like there are lots of great places to check out.
And Bulgogi after book hunting will be perfect. Will they give me a discount if I say JMo sent me? 😊
Thanks again!
Yeah, that's the thing, I feel bad for powhound. There's a million options for a million people, you just have to find the thing you're into. Chances are he just got stuck doing the most common shit on Broadway, which most people love, and honestly, had it been like this in my 20s I'd probably be dead. If it's bookstores, coffee, great food and walking around, we've got that. If it's blind running drunk, and forgetting your name, her name, rooftop bars and bachelorettes, that's here in spades.
Live music is probably one of the best parts of the city (Music City obv), and not just country music. When you get here, pick up a free Nashville Scene. Flip to the music section and see if there's anything playing that interests you. There's tons of great venues of all shapes and sizes.
Ultimately, there's a reason why it's a Top 10 fastest growing city in the country. And you'll see the physical remnants of it literally everywhere. Construction/buildings/cranes as far as the eye can see.
Last tips, if you don't have a rental, then download Uber, Lyft, AND Earth Rides onto your phone. If you're out at the wrong time during the wrong surge, you'll consider buying a new home versus paying the Uber to get back to Opry. Earth Rides is all Teslas btw, and not too much more than a regular Uber. It's good to have options.
And if you end up with any other questions, feel free to hmu. Obv. I've got a pretty good handle on this town.
March 21st, 2022 at 11:41 AM ^
Indianapolis is in Indiana. I’d go elsewhere
March 21st, 2022 at 11:42 AM ^
The rest of Indiana is pretty mundane, but Indianapolis is a pretty cool little "big" city given its location.
March 21st, 2022 at 12:22 PM ^
Maxine’s Chicken & Waffles. They’re only open until 4 each day. Chicken is great; I’m a fan of their blackened fish sandwiches and fried green tomatoes, too. Old location was a dive; haven’t been to the current location yet.
March 21st, 2022 at 12:26 PM ^
Absolutely. Haven't been downtown much since COVID, but Maxine's is awesome.
March 21st, 2022 at 12:24 PM ^
For breakfast/brunch: Milktooth and Cafe Patchou
For bars: I suggest hitting up Mass Ave. If you are into beer, there are a ton of breweries around downtown. Doing a tasting around town would be a good night. Slippery Noodle Inn is a good time, too. Avoid the bars on Meridian just south of Georgia. The Fountain Sq area also has some nicer, up and coming places and is close to downtown.
Dinner: My two favorite places in the downtown core are Weber Grill and Harry & Izzy's. If you like German food, go to the Rathskeller. Otherwise, stick to Mass Ave.
Hotels: Conrad, Alexander, Bottleworks, Le Merdian, Hyatt, and the Hilton are all nice. (The Marriott complex is off in no-mans land and I'd avoid it unless you are going to a convention).
To do: War Memorial is worth a stop. The art museum (Newfields) and their grounds are nice. Depending on the rotating exhibits, the state museum can be good. For shopping, your best bet is the fashion mall on the northside. A day trip to Bloomington (IU campus). If you are into modern architecture, Columbus IN has one of the best collections of buildings around.
For a pit stop, go to Golfo Di Napoli Dairy Caffè in Warren (right off the 69; just south of Ft Wayne). It is an authentic Italian dairy with paninis and pizza.
March 21st, 2022 at 12:37 PM ^
For beer, my favorite is Sun King (Cream Ale and Wee Mac are my go-tos). There is a location downtown as well as one on the north side of the city.
My fiancée is from Indy. Best restaurants by style.
Steakhouse: Harry & Izzy’s
Homestyle: The Eagle
Mexican: Nada
Burger Joint: Bru Burger
All are excellent, but my personal favorite is the Eagle. Fried Chicken sandwich and Mac n cheese that are out of this world.