Downtown Dining: Dinner Edition

For those of you who will be in town Friday night and looking for a place to chow down, here are some ideas!

There are several restaurants in the blocks surrounding the Indiana Repertory Theatre, including most of the standard chain restaurants one finds attached to shopping malls these days. PF Chang's, Champps, Weber Grill, and Buca di Beppo can all be seen from the corner of Illinois and Washington streets. There are also 3 brew pubs in a 2 block radius: Rock Bottom at 10 W. Washington, Alcatraz at 49 W Maryland, and Ram at 140 S. Illinois.

If you're looking to escape the world of national chain restaurants, here are a few more excellent options:

Yats is a local restaurant with several locations around town, and man, do they have a great thing going! If you're looking for cheap, hot, and amazingly tasty cajun food you have to check this place out. They have only 5 options of entree each day, all served up in huge portions over rice. You can get one choice of entree for around $6 or a split plate of 2 entrees for around $7. Watch out though, it can be pretty spicy. The closest Yats is located at 659 Massachusetts Ave (which would also give you the chance to check out the Mass Ave neighborhood, a great part of downtown with little shops, bars, and tons of other restaurants.) Ooh, looking at the website, it would appear Yats has recently expanded to the Chicago market. Yats is probably a good 20-25 minute walk from the theatre but there is fairly ample parking in the Mass Ave area should you choose to drive.

Looking for a little adventure? Check out Sushi on the Rocks at 235 S Meridian. FH and I had lunch there the other day to celebrate picking up our marriage license and it was so delicious. Be sure to sit at the sushi bar and watch the sushi chef in action!

Finally, a favorite of the IRT production department is Loughmiller's Pub. It's located about 1 block west of the theatre on the south side of Washington street and serves up great burgers, sandwichs, big salads, and all the other standard pub fair.

Also, with all this talk of food, I should remind everyone staying at Candlewood Suites that your rooms will have kitchens in them so if you'd rather not attempt to find a restaurant you'll have all the resources you need to refrigerate food and cook for yourself. Candlewood has a small shop in the lobby that sells snacks, convenience foods, and other essentials, though there are really no restaurants within walking distance from the Candlewood so you'll need to drive (albeit less than 1 or 2 miles) to get to dining options.