Where to eat in Indianapolis: Italian restaurant coming to Mass Ave
Cheryl V. Jackson // Indianapolis Star
The folks at The Oakmont in the Mass Ave. district have amore for the downtown Indy dining and entertainment area.
They’re doubling down in the area, opening an Italian restaurant concept on the same block.
Chris Burton and Gus Vazquez will open Vicino at 350 Massachusetts Ave.
The restaurant will open in mid-April, taking over the space that had housed Hedge Row American Bistro.
Like, The Oakmont, Vicino will be cocktail and spirits heavy, with lots of wine.
But the restaurant will welcome all ages.
Diners should expect brick oven chicken and pizzas from the wood-fired oven. Veal osso buco and pasta will be on the menu, as w
“It’s not going to be a traditional mom-and-pop Italian restaurant. It’s more of a modern take on it,” Burton said. “Music will be high energy.”
Best breakfast and brunch:Top places in and around downtown Indianapolis
The Oakmont, 323 N. Delaware St., was such an immediate success story that the team had planned to work on a second location of that brand. But when the former Hedge Row space became available, they pitched an Italian concept to the building owners figuring, outside of pizza, there wasn’t much of that representation on Mass Ave., Burton said.
“There isn’t an Italian restaurant there. There are some good ones downtown, but nothing in the Mass Ave. district other than some pizza places,” he said.
Because the executive chef at The Oakmont, Sean Day, ran the kitchen at the now-closed Palomino Restaurant & Bar for several years the team could easily slip into Italian, Burton said.
Day will be heading the kitchen at Vicino while sous chef Anthony Felts steps up at The Oakmont.
The name Vicino is Italian for neighbor, Burton said.
“We thought that would be pretty cool, being so close to The Oakmont and welcoming our neighbors,” he said.
The new restaurant will seat about 120 people inside, and another 50 on the outside corner patio.
The place is fully equipped and furnished, since Kimbal Musk-owned The Kitchen Restaurant Group never reopened Hedge Row after it announced a temporary closure in July 2020.
A second Oakmont location is still likely in the offing, probably in Hamilton County, Burton said.
“We’ll keep an eye out for locations,“ he said. “We have a lot of people from Carmel and Fishers asking us about a location there.”
Contact IndyStar reporter Cheryl V. Jackson at cheryl.jackson@indystar.com or 317-444-6264. Follow her on Twitter:@cherylvjackson.
