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OPPrairiedaily.com life & arts
the orland park prairie | October 3, 2019 | 21
The name is Indiana, Hamilton (County)
Discovering some
Hoosier hospitality
near northeast
Indianapolis
Heather Warthen
Contributing Editor
get out of town!
From craft brews and
pork tenderloins to barn
weddings and concerts, a
trip to Hoosier country is
one I look forward to each
year.
Just before you enter
into northeast Indianapolis,
you hit Hamilton County
— home of the Tenderloin
Trail, Ruoff Home Mortgage
Music Center and
one of the fastest growing
counties in the country.
Collecting several larger
cities (Carmel, Fishers,
Noblesville and Westfield)
and smaller communities
(Atlanta, Arcadia, Cicero
and Sheridan), the area has
experienced a boom in economic
development over
the past few years.
The largest of those developments
is the 400-acre
Grand Park Sports Campus,
which has 31 multipurpose
fields for soccer,
football, rugby, field hockey
and lacrosse, as well as
26 baseball and softball
diamonds. Additionally the
Grand Park Events Center
has 300,000 square-feet
of indoor turf space, with
three full-sized indoor soccer
fields.
The Indiana Pacers also
have an 88,000-square-foot
facility with eight basketball
courts, including one
that is of NBA-regulation
size. The park is also home
to the Indianapolis Colts
training camp.
The space also offers 10
miles of pedestrian and bicycle
trails.
I visit this area at least
once a year as part of the
Dave Matthews Band’s
two-night tour stop at
Ruoff Home Mortgage
Music Center in Noblesville
(tip: the locals and
longtime concertgoers still
call the venue Deer Creek,
despite the transition to a
corporate-sponsored venue
name), but this year we
found ourselves there twice
within a month.
We stayed in Westfield
during our first weekend
trip and discovered Noble
Roman’s Craft Pizza &
Pub. We decided to try
both their traditional crust
as well as their deep dish
Sicilian crust. Uncle Sal’s
Spicy Salami pie was our
favorite, with a trio of
cheeses, Genoa salami and
crushed red chili pepper
giving it an extra kick. If
you can sit at the bar, do it.
We met friends for lunch
and drinks at the Stacked
Pickle in Westfield. The
nearly 10-year-old Indiana
chain of casual restaurants,
owned and operated by former
Colts football player
Gary Brackett, is a family-friendly
establishment
that offers multiple TVs to
catch the games. Don’t forget
the fried pickles.
A wedding I attended
there took place inside at
the Lindley Farmstead at
Chatham Hills in Westfield,
which was inside a
restored 1830s barn. The
cocktail hour was inside
the barn’s cellar, which
features the original stone
foundation. And the rolling
hills and surrounding farmland
offered a beautiful
backdrop for the wedding.
On our return trip, we
stocked up for our concert
tailgate with a stop in
Sun King Tap Room and
Small-Batch Brewery in
Fishers. My favorite brews
are Pachanga, a Mexicanstyle
lager, and the Sunlight
Cream Ale.
If craft beer isn’t your
thing, they recently opened
Sun King Spirits in Carmel,
which features their
brews and handmade spirits,
including agave, rum
and white whiskey.
The amphitheater in
Noblesville is one of my
favorite places to catch a
show. The venue also offers
rotating food trucks,
including Kona Ice, Broad
Ripple Ice Cream Station
and Droopy’s BBQ.
On our way home, we
opted for a quick stop at Titus
Bakery & Deli location
in Westfield after receiving
several recommendations.
They had some beautifully
decorated sugar cookies
and tasty cake doughnuts,
but the real winner was the
large cinnamon and applefilled
fritter. Just imagine
the best apple pie you’ve
Another Perspective
ever had in pastry form.
Going back to Indy? I said,
no, no, no
OK, if you must go back
to Indianapolis, proper, I
recommend Oakleys Bistro
at the northern end of
the city.
Chef Steven J. Oakley
owns it. And while the
menu changes seasonally,
you can start the meal
with shrimp corndogs. The
piping hot shrimp are encased
in a slightly sweet
batter and fried to perfection.
Oakley made them
on Food Network’s “Beat
Bobby Flay” and secured
a victory against the renowned
chef.
I am a big fan of their
iceberg “wedge” salad,
which offers an upscale
take on a traditional wedge
with fennel, sun-dried
tomatoes and a smoked
We asked readers on social media and our staff about
their favorite places to visit outside of city limits.
They said…
“We like going to Oswego for
shopping and also Keller’s Farmstand
for apple picking.”
—Mary Bliss, in response to The New Lenox
Patriot on Facebook
“Six Flags for me. I grew up in Los
Angeles, and Great America reminds
me of Six Flags Magic Mountain
back home, plus my six year old is
becoming a roller coaster junkie just
like his old man.”
— Larry Gilman Sr., in response to The Mokena
Messenger on Facebook
The Lindley Farmstead at Chatham Hills features
an event space inside a restored barn in Westfield,
Indiana. Photo submitted
ranch dressing, topped
with a handful of crispy
potato chips.
Another not-to-miss
dish is Stanley’s meatloaf,
which is an ode to a recipe
his grandfather, a former
butcher, used. This meatloaf
comes topped with a
chile jam and whipped potato
puree.
While we love the desserts,
too, we have been
known to order another
round of shrimp corndogs
to finish the meal.
Crossing state lines to find fun
Over the river,
through the
bridge, from Ohio
to Kentucky we go
Bill Jones, Managing Editor
Fun fact that should
surprise no one from the
Chicago area: “Suburbs”
of major cities often can
cross state lines. Some
towns in Northwest Indiana
definitely still qualify
around these parts. And
people like to joke that
Milwaukee is just another
suburb of Chicago.
It’s not, but some suburbs
definitely push the
limits of being their own
urban centers. Case in
point: Newport, Kentucky,
which lies just
across the Ohio River
from Cincinnati. And if
you ever find yourself in
southwestern Ohio for,
say, a pro wrestling payper-view,
I recommend
checking it out.
Newport on the Levee
is essentially a mall along
the water that features an
aquarium, restaurants,
activities and events.
And some of the restaurants
around there have
views of the river and
city across from it.
There also is a pedestrian
walkway that goes
2,670 feet across the river
known as the Purple
People Bridge (officially
the Newport Southbank
Bridge, but that’s no fun),
a World Peace Bell and
a pair of historic districts.
But, mostly, you’ll just
be happy you’re not in
Ohio anymore. Or maybe
that’s just me.