Bluebeard

In the early 2010s, there wasn’t 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 space—a 1924 factory warehouse in an historic Italian neighborhood in Downtown Indianapolis—and with the help of his nephew, Charlie McIntosh, started production in Amelia’s Bakery.

The space Amelia’s occupied was big—big 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 Amelia’s 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