Indy: If not us, Who? If not now, when?

John Birdsall recently wrote about a recent visit to Indianapolis in Bon Apetit Magazine. Birdsall could not have picked a better tour guide for all things Indy food in Jon Brooks. Brooks, as many of you hopefully know, is the leader in our new generation of food. He owns and operates a restaurant named Milktooth. Milktooth is a new wave for Indy. The restaurant, and Brooks, are unapologetic about what they are doing and how they operate. Summed up by the line “Substitutions are politely declined” printed on every menu.

The concept of being unapologetic is a new feeling to most of us in Indianapolis; especially those of us that grew up in Indy. We take pride in our hospitality. We are apologetically polite. Yes, we apologize for being overly polite. It happens. When we hosted the Super Bowl, we took action to make it the most damn polite Super Bowl host city in history.

As I saw people share the link to Birdsall’s article, a familiar pattern emerged. Some thanked him for noticing our quaint city. Others echoed his sentiments that we have some amazing food and drink being produced in Indianapolis. What I enjoyed most about the article is the quotation attributed to Brooks:

“We have people who come into Milktooth and say, ‘This feels like New York,’ ” Brooks says. “I’m like, it’s not f*#%ing Brooklyn. It’s Indianapolis.”

I stopped reading and then re-read that again. “FINALLY!” was the thought that first came to mind (and a couple of tears). You see, I am one of the many in my generation that grew up in Indianapolis and then quickly moved to another city (or country) as quickly as possible. I moved back to Indy in 2011 and started participating in the beer industry. In the five years that I have been back, we have had a number of chefs and breweries make waves nationally with awards. However, the interview usually ends with “Come see us in Indy. We have a great thing going.” Even when receiving praise, we are still humble. I have never before read where someone came out and said what a number of us have been thinking: Indianapolis is a fucking rad city and you should know about it. It should be on your travel destination map. If it isn’t, put it there.

We need to have a chip on our shoulder. We have a group of people (most of us are in our 30s) who are busting our asses to be the next group that makes cool shit happen in Indy. The first group was focused on making Indy the amateur sports capital of the world. We’re pretty close. The next group focused on food and drink and contains names more familiar to us in the industry: John Hill, Martha Hoover, Ted Miller, Greg Hardesty, Neal Brown, Ed Rudisell, Dave Colt, Omar and Clay Robinson, Tom and Ed Batista. Without these groups, we would not have the platform we do to be more vocal and grow.

We need to change the way we talk about Indy. The next time you travel, sit at the bar and have a conversation about the cool spots in the place you are visiting. Then compare those places to places in Indianapolis. If someone says, “Oh. I’ve heard of Indy.” and they use a tone that is demeaning, don’t apologize. Explain why that perception is incorrect. Use examples.

We have to be our own hype man. Otherwise, we will just wait for the next national writer to be unwittingly dispatched to our city in the hopes we get noticed.