Food & Drink in Indiana

While technically and metaphorically a chain restaurant, Houlihan's bedazzles its chain with glitter and winsome intrigue, boldly preparing every last bite of its savory fare by hand. Hosts of diverse ingredients culminate inside one open kitchen where professional food handlers slice, sauté, marinate, and arrange food to its tasty and aesthetic best, allowing each meal to display its individuality before being broken down into individual nutrients for absorption in the body. Casual dining is elevated by meticulously designed restaurants that pepper a patron's experience with a playlist of hand-picked tunes and customer-designed coasters that give a voice to condensation-catchers.

The three sisters who own Las Tres Hermanas were born in Michoacan, Mexico. So you'll have to take their word for it when they say their burritos, tacos, and quesadillas are cooked the same way they're cooked in their hometown. In addition to these Mexican favorites, they serve up American eats such BLTs and jalapeno burgers with mozzarella cheese and sauteed onions. You can catch one of their meals for breakfast, lunch, lunch #2, or dinner.

To give customers the chance to appreciate this Mediterranean elixir's depths and subtleties, The Olive Mill stocks extra virgin, unfiltered oils from Greece, Italy, and Spain—from olive varieties such as Picual, Kalamata, and Leccino—alongside flavored oils such as bacon or blood orange. It not only adds a richness to bread and gives pasta a kick, olive oil is also nutritious. But the Mill doesn't just limit itself to the oil. It also sells olive-based bath products, stuffed olives, and tapenades. And to round out a full Mediterranean palate, the shop pairs gourmet balsamic vinegars with sea salts, herbs and seasonings.

The Accent Shop Inc. earned a nomination for the 2010 Metromix Best of Indianapolis: Home Accessories award. Indianapolis Monthly featured The Accent Shop in 2008.

Under the shadow of the Grabill water tower, Grabill Country Sales fills its shelves with a wide selection of groceries. Beside racks of spices and dry goods, flaky baked goods tempt sweet teeth with fresh apple and cherry pies or donuts made onsite. Their deli section is populated with turkey breast and sliced cheeses alongside carry-out side dishes, fish, ribs, and chicken cooked rotisserie-style so that it can be eaten from any angle.

Sensu melds a full-service, Asian fusion menu with a cutting-edge nightclub environment that saturates the stomachs of social animals and epicureans alike. Shared plates, such as roasted shishito peppers slathered in yuzo ($8), encourage groups to work together to achieve a common platter-cleaning goal. The baked-snow-crab hand roll sports a debonair Dynamite sauce ($11), and the crab-shitake-topped filet mignon accessorizes itself with wasabi mashed potatoes and hoisin jus ($44). Like a seasoned ghost hunter, Sensu yields a bevy of spirits, as well as a large selection of wine. The Secret Garden cocktail layers its citron Gray Goose base with strata of Midori and Hpnotiq ($10), and shots such as Pineapple Upside Down Cake and Salty Pretzel ($7/shot) live up to their namesake through crafty composition and committed method acting.