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Visiting Indianapolis for 2 days, any advice while I'm there?

Arm Van Dam

Arm Van Dam

self-requested ban
Banned
Mar 30, 2019
5,951
Illinois
I'm visiting Indianapolis with my stepfather (originally my brother was going, but needs to go to Ames, IA for work) for the Horizon League Basketball Tournament, more specifically, the conference finals at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on March 10 and we want to take a look around the city the day before. I got front row tickets (cheap as hell!) and hotel booked, bringing my own sign to as a shoutout to ERA.

Indianapolis-ERA, anywhere good where we should go for restaurants, attractions, etc.?

Any advice is appreciated!
 
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Starphanluke

Starphanluke

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Nov 15, 2017
7,333
They call Indy Naptown for a reason... because it's so boring you're better off taking a nap.

Only mostly joking. It's a fine city, I suppose. Born and raised, only moved away just last year. If you're into movies at all, the Indiana State Museum has a true IMAX that regularly plays movies on actual film. My buddy saw 1917 there the other day and said it was extraordinary.

Mass Ave is part of downtown and has a great nightlife--bars (including a cool arcade bar), quirky shops, etc.

Indy is also big into sports and I know there are a lot of cools things to do regarding that... but I'm not so well equipped to speak to those things. Not exactly an expert.

I grew up next door to Mike Pence. I can tell you where that was if you want to have whatever the opposite of a pilgrimage is. (On second thought... maybe not such a good idea ;-) The people who live there now are lovely).
 
Foltzie

Foltzie

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
6,788
St Elmo's Shrimp Cocktail is always a fun experience, you can get it at ST Elmos steakhouse (high end steakhouse), Harry and Izzy's (sister restaurant to St Elmos), or Burger Study all located in roughly the same block in downtown.

There are several museums downtown, including the Eiteljorg, Indiana State, Historical Society. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a heck of a museum on site and you can take a lap around the track in a bus.
 
grang

grang

Member
Nov 13, 2017
10,066
I was in downtown Indianapolis once for a conference 5 or 6 years ago and wandering around, I happened across a place called Soupremacy. I ended going there all three days I was there. Still think about the Chicken Velvet soup to this day.
 
SwampBastard

SwampBastard

The Fallen
Nov 1, 2017
11,030
Foltzie said:
There are several museums downtown, including the Eiteljorg, Indiana State, Historical Society. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a heck of a museum on site and you can take a lap around the track in a bus.
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The NCAA is headquartered downtown and also has a museum right by Eiteljorg/ISM. Outside of downtown is the Indianapolis Museum of Art (part of Newfields), which always has some great stuff going on.
 

Ajax125

Member
Nov 15, 2017
902
Food: St. Elmo's - Steak, Caplinger's Fresh Catch - Fish, Portillo's - Hotdogs, Hotel Tango - Drinks, Tappers Arcade - Drinks + Arcade

Activities: Sadly there's not a whole lot that's interesting to do outdoors until Spring starts. What activities do you enjoy doing?
 
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Foltzie

Foltzie

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Oct 26, 2017
6,788
snacknuts said:
The NCAA is headquartered downtown and also has a museum right by Eiteljorg/ISM. Outside of downtown is the Indianapolis Museum of Art (part of Newfields), which always has some great stuff going on.
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The Indianapolis Children's Museum is also great, and it happens to be the worlds largest such museum. It obviously leans towards kids, but has larger exhibits.
 
Foltzie

Foltzie

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
6,788
Do duckpin bowling in Fountain square. Its weird and not too many other places offer that game.
 
OP
OP
Arm Van Dam

Arm Van Dam

self-requested ban
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Mar 30, 2019
5,951
Illinois
snacknuts said:
What kind of stuff are you into? What kind of food do you like? What part of town are you staying in?
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Museums and stuff, pretty much anything as long as it's not overly expensive, east side of Indy

Foltzie said:
There are several museums downtown, including the Eiteljorg, Indiana State, Historical Society. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a heck of a museum on site and you can take a lap around the track in a bus.
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Foltzie said:
The Indianapolis Children's Museum is also great, and it happens to be the worlds largest such museum. It obviously leans towards kids, but has larger exhibits.
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Will do those!

TK-421 said:
One more recommendation, the pork tenderloin sandwich from Edwards Drive in


They pound that thing out and it's quite tasty.
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Looking at it, sounds pretty good to me!
 
KingK

KingK

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,853
I've lived here since 2017.

Mass Ave is nice for restaurants and night life downtown.

Broad Ripple further north or Fountain Square further south are fun too.

I live near Fountain Square and there's a lot of good breweries in the area and a cool arcade bar called Tappers.

Children's museum is great. As is the Newfields art museum.
 
Stooge

Stooge

Member
Oct 29, 2017
11,221
Yeah, it's a very very mediocre city.

Ball and the Biscuit is a pretty ok bar? The bar at the Alexander hotel has good cocktails. St. Elmo's Steakhouse is neat. I find the food to be just ok and the shrimp cocktail is overrated.. but it's really cool spot. Iaria's Italin is fun and old, but not very good.

Massachusetts Ave is sort of "The Place" in the city. It's about as mediocre as the "cool part" of a city could hope to be.

The rest of the city is just shitty chain restaurants you expect in the burbs but downtown instead.
 
affeinvasion

affeinvasion

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,951
I always went to Fountain Square. A lot of craft breweries and more off the wall craft distilleries and even a craft meadery (that assuming it's still there) is really good. There's also some good restaurants in that area.

There's a cool German restaurant with a biergarten that's really fun to go to, but I can't remember what it was called or where it was as I was driven there with a big group of people.
 
Kewlmyc

Kewlmyc

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
26,704
I forgot, but the Children's Museum is the best/biggest one on the planet, or at least in the country. I'd check it out, even if you don't have kids of your own.
 
WestEgg

WestEgg

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,047
Come hang out with me!

Kidding, but the highlights are probably the Children's Museum, the Speedway of you're interested in auto racing (there's a museum inside the track and a lot of good restaurants in an area south of the track), and Tappers is a pretty neat arcade bar.

Oh yeah, don't forget to grab a pork tenderloin sandwich while you're here, it's something of a regional signature dish, and a lot of places have a good one (Squealers has one of the best ones for $10). The breaded tenderloin should spill out on both sides of the bun and be excessively large.

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Broadripple and Downtown are where the night life is, and both are pretty great bar wise.
 
MrHedin

MrHedin

Member
Dec 7, 2018
6,815
Foltzie said:
The Indianapolis Children's Museum is also great, and it happens to be the worlds largest such museum. It obviously leans towards kids, but has larger exhibits.
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Too bad the ancient Greek artifacts exhibit just finished up. This month the Mo Willems exhibit opens which is going to be big in my household.

TK-421 said:
One more recommendation, the pork tenderloin sandwich from Edwards Drive in


They pound that thing out and it's quite tasty.
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Hmmm...that doesn't look like Mug n Bun.

As far as museums in the city the IMS museum gets my vote but that's more of me liking to look at cars.

St. Elmo's is the quintessential Indy restaurant and Mass Ave is the better night life area. I would also recommend Shapiro's for food as well, especially if you like reubens.
 
IggyChooChoo

IggyChooChoo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,230
snacknuts said:
The food scene is big here, there are a ton of breweries, and plenty of things to do. Indiana outside of the Circle City is pretty terrible, but Indy is nice.

NYT: 36 Hours in Indianapolis
Forbes: Six Great Reasons to Visit America's Most Underrated City
Bon Appetit: Looking for Brooklyn in Indianapolis
Indy Accolades

What kind of stuff are you into? What kind of food do you like? What part of town are you staying in?
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You know, I clicked that Forbes link and I have to say, I didn't realize Indy had such decadent, last-days-of-the-Weimar-Republic cultural activities going on.

Famed race car driver AJ Foyt and his family recently opened a wine bar and tapas style tasting room cum racing museum directly across from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the famed "Brickyard."
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Cum racing sounds even more sexually avant-garde than whatever "duckpin bowling" might be.
 
thewienke

thewienke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,948
Moved to Indy from St Louis and like living here a whole lot more. Most things are just cleaner and newer with a comparable economy and cost of living.

I guess that's the rub since instead of "nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live there" it's "nice place to live, wouldn't want to vacation there".
 
Jiraiya

Jiraiya

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,285
Burger Study in circle center mall tastes amazing. Went last week and it was well worth the final tab.

Get Longs as some suggested....preferably wait in line in the am for them to open because the yeast are great fresh.

Also...El Jaripeo is me and my gf's favorite regular restaurant. Good food and quick service without a high price tag.
 
DyByHands

DyByHands

Member
Jul 16, 2018
1,132
You can go to the soldiers and sailors monument for free, a decent view... if theyre open, lol.
Some of the bars downtown kind of suck unless youre just wanting a beer. Like they dont even know what a martini is.
 
HotHamBoy

HotHamBoy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
16,423
Tappers Arcade Bar

No cover, free arcade and console games. Pinball and Killer Queen cost money.

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HotHamBoy

HotHamBoy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
16,423
affeinvasion said:
I always went to Fountain Square. A lot of craft breweries and more off the wall craft distilleries and even a craft meadery (that assuming it's still there) is really good. There's also some good restaurants in that area.

There's a cool German restaurant with a biergarten that's really fun to go to, but I can't remember what it was called or where it was as I was driven there with a big group of people.
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The Rathskeller

Mass Ave is trendy
Fountain Square is hip
 
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