Is there a chain with a more fervent fan base than Yat’s? Joe and Regina Vuskovich’s original location at 54th Street and College Avenue has since expanded to outposts across the state, and the couple launched a franchise model for the Cajun-inspired business in 2012. Now it’s hard to find an Indy neighborhood that doesn’t have a Yat’s.
But the company suffered a setback this week when the USDA announced that Custom Food Solutions, the Kentucky-based company that produces Yat’s dishes for its various franchisees, had to recall “approximately 105,164 pounds of ready-to-eat (RTE) frozen drunken chicken product due to misbranding and undeclared allergens.” I don’t know why it surprised me that Yat’s franchisees don’t prepare the dishes we order on-site, but I’ll confess to you that it did! The detail that staggered me even more was the news that those bagged meals sent to Yat’s shops “have a shelf-life of one year,” as trade pub Food Manufacturing points out. Sure, it’s perhaps unexpected that the homegrown restaurant’s food comes from a factory-manufactured bag, not a storied Creole chef, but those year-old chicken sacks are going to look pretty darn great if bird flu shuts the poultry business down. If I were a Yat’s owner, I’d be stockpiling big boxes of the company’s dinners as one might store up gasoline, toilet paper, or gold.
Hoosiers might soon pay a little bit more for food delivery. Authored by Rolling Prairie Republican Rep. Jim Pressel, House Bill 1461 would allow Indiana counties to add a 50-cent to $1 fee to most large-company food or retail deliveries (think DoorDash or Instacart), as well as rides with companies such as Uber or Lyft. The funds generated by the surcharge would go to road repair, with analysts predicting it would scare up $20-24 million in revenue in Indianapolis alone. The Star has a nice rundown on the arguments for and against the proposal.
And while we’re on statewide legislation…Another newly proposed law, Senate Bill 260, would increase the powers held by the Indiana Alcohol & Tobacco Commission to shut down bars in which violent or drug crimes occurred. Republican senators Kyle Walker and Ron Alting are behind the bill, with the latter telling the Star that at present, “If you had a shooting in a bar, you couldn’t even close it down until there was a meeting scheduled at the ATC,” something this law seeks to change. It’s great to see these lawmakers are so concerned about shootings, so I’m sure this move to regulate bars in which gun violence occurs will be swiftly followed by legislation regulating guns. It’s only logical, right?
Rev just announced its biggest lineup ever. The beloved night of food and festivities at the IMS just dropped its list of chefs for the 2025 event, and it’s a banger, with some of our favorite food makers showing up to turn out “89 of the best bites Indy has to offer.” The full list is online, and though tickets for the May 3 event are already sold out, the waitlist remains open.
Mass Ave’s DORA dreams have died. The buzzy downtown street was considering a plan to allow select outdoor drinking activities, as has been done in spots in Noblesville, New Albany, and Kokomo. But Mass Ave merchants didn’t want their sleepy, quiet strip to suffer from the same Spring Breakiness those wild bergs do, reports CBS4.
Obviously, I’m speaking somewhat in jest: I live on one of Mass Ave’s busiest blocks and am well aware of its bumping and busy scene, but folks like Almost Famous bar owner Curtis McGaha worried that a DORA (which stands for Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area) might put the street over the edge. Current open container laws already mean “you can bring booze, and you can have a party on the corner,” he says. He adds that while ”a DORA would really give us more rules on what’s allowed on Mass Ave … who’s going to enforce those rules is really the problem we ran into.” So don’t expect a DORA on Mass Ave—or anywhere else in Indianapolis—for now.
January has been a roller coaster for chain restaurant Joella’s Hot Chicken. The business is a unit of large conglomerate EAP Restaurant Concepts, which since 2016 has been hustling to expand across several states. (Want to feel weird? Check out the company’s “About” page, with its problematic-slang laden references to a presumably imaginary “Miss Joella” that reads quite oddly when you read how plainly its founder describes the business as a “concept.”)
Part of the company’s growth involves the launch of “Nuggz,” an adjustable heat level nugget offering that a spokesperson said via email last week would set it “apart from other brands.” But even Nuggz couldn’t save the 1072 Broad Ripple Ave. outpost of the company, which WRTV noted has shuttered in recent days. Comments on the Facebook announcement of its closure are consistently heartbroken, suggesting the company does indeed have its stalwart fans; they’ll now have to travel to the remaining Indy-area Joella’s locations at 4715 E. 96th St. and 2554 E. 146th St. in Carmel.
And now for a quick roundup of new Indianapolis restaurants to look forward to:
· As we teased back in April, Indy’s first location of food and fun company Culinary Dropout will open in mid-February at 1320 E. 86th St. The restaurant, a product of Phoenix-based conglomerate Fox Restaurant Concepts, is known for grown-up-style arcade games and standard bar fare along the lines of chains such as Dave & Busters.
· In the same press release announcing the Culinary Dropout debut, Fox also said it would open Flower Child, another of its companies, in a Nora Plaza space just across the parking lot. The bowls/wraps/salad chain promises to be “a place where you can come and fill your soul (and your belly) with goodness.”
· Filigree Bakery just teased an upcoming storefront on Instagram. The macaron-centric boutique sweet shop has been a market and pop-up darling for years, but owner Laura Lachowecki told me last fall that a permanent location is in the works; savvy locals might even be able to guess its new (under-construction) address from the Insta post.
· The newest outpost of Huse Culinary (St. Elmo, Harry & Izzy’s) sit-down mini-chain 1933 Lounge will open in Carmel in April, a currently circulating job posting says. Construction is ongoing at the 111 S. Rangeline Rd. location, a rep tells me, and an exact date is TBD.
· By the time you read this, national chain Just Chicken should be serving up poultry in The Garage food hall (906 Carrollton Ave.). The company focuses on fowl sandwiches, salads, and fries. There’s also something called a “Focaccia Bread Ball,” which I am definitely interested in observing.
The post The Feed: Food Delivery Fees, Big Chicken News, Recall At Yat’s appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.