Restaurants in Warsaw

Since 1972, the kitchen at The Blue Lantern has filled plates with an array of steak, seafood, and comfort-food dishes. The chefs batter or pan-fry lake perch, mix lobster meat into a five-cheese macaroni, and expertly sear 8-ounce Lamplighter steaks that were traditionally used to illuminate alleys in Charles Dickens novels. As a nod to Notre Dame, whose campus is only 10 minutes away, The Blue Lantern's lounge screens sporting events while surrounding alumni, fans, and students with memorabilia and drawings of the school's best coaches and players. The main dining room is decorated with images of Mishawaka and the New York City skyline around intimate table settings. Electric blue light bathes up to 48 attendees during private soirees in the Blue Neon Room, which includes its own bar, wide-screen television, and outdoor balcony.

The eatery’s yellow walls are speckled with round mirrors in assorted sizes, each reflecting classic Thai dishes such as massaman curry with peanuts, potatoes, onions, and chicken. To view the entire menu, including many vegetarian options and some dishes listed in invisible ink, click here.

In 1939, Everett Cook purchased what would become the Cook family farm and was told it was the worst investment he had ever made. But in the spirit of tenacious American homesteaders, three generations of Cooks turned that bad investment into a thriving bison ranch. After years of research, Peter Cook—Everett’s grandson—became a member of the National Bison Association, and ordered the ranch's first 30 bison in 1998. The hulking, majestic curiosities began drawing in groups from area schools, cross-country motor-coach tours, and time-traveling harmonica players to the 83-acre farm in northern Indiana's Amish country.

During the ranch’s signature one-hour tour, guests board a wagon and venture out to interact with and feed the animals as guides regale them with facts about North American bison. After the tour, groups can also sit down for a meal of bison burgers or bison brats. The animals receive no growth hormones or stimulants and graze on the ranch's own hay and grain, which produces tender and healthy meat, unlike animals fed with growth hormones, which produces meat that won’t stop quoting Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. Bison burgers, brats, and steaks are available for purchase online or inside the ranch's gift shop. In addition to the tours, the ranch also allows guests to hunt their own game during guided hunts, taking home bison, deer, and wild turkey.

A brightly colored storefront beckons diners in to Falafel Express, where tables crowd with plates of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes. Grills sizzle beneath the chicken, beef, and vegetables for sandwiches and platters, which pair with garlic-kissed swirls of hummus or salads customized according to diners’ tastes or tendencies to have nightmares about carrots. A variety of vegetarian dishes eschews meats in favor of falafel and lentils, and flaky Mediterranean pastries brim with ground nuts and brass-hued honey.

In order to permeate T8STE Tizzzzz’s congenial atmosphere with a perfume of sweetness and smoke, cooks slowly tenderize meats over hickory and oak before dousing them in housemade sauce. The eatery's soul food is among the best local eats, according to the Journal Gazette in 2011, and for a profile in the same publication, critic Ryan DuVall heaped praise on the restaurant’s burnt brisket ends, which spend 20 hours in a smoker.

The menu has a distinct Kansas City character, which is a result of owner Curtis Gregory's upbringing in KC. Rib tips and wings serve as alternatives to sandwiches overflowing with pulled pork or shaved brisket, and each plate can fill in with “fixins” of dirty rice or tender collard greens, or with thick slices of coconut pound cake.

Whenever an adult purchases an entree at select restaurants, a child younger than age 12 dines free thanks to The Kids Club Card—an innovative pass that helps families save money when eating out. Participating eateries, such as Applebee’s, Dairy Queen, and T.G.I. Friday's, offer a variety of tastes for patrons who might have otherwise avoided restaurant prices by staying home and eating porridge. Local charities also benefit from the pass, receiving a cut of its proceeds when it's sold in their communities.