Iaria's: Indianapolis, IN

On our family's recent visit we spent our last evening there dining at Iaria's, an eatery founded by Italian immigrants over 100 years ago. It's now being run by a fourth generation serving up the same great recipes that they started out with.

We started out with Mate's Mozzarella. These are like traditional mozzarella sticks, but way, way, way better! The fresh mozzarella is covered in homemade breadcrumbs and sautéed in olive oil, then served with marinara sauce. It's one of those succulent tastes that I know will stay with me and I won't be able to duplicate or find another that will measure up. It came with five, so it was a nice sharing appetizer.

We tried out the shrimp cocktail as well. Great sauce!

 The crusty Italian bread was carbohydrate perfection.

My meal came with soup and salad. The minestrone was a great start to the meal.

The kids were in the mood for pasta, so spaghetti and meatballs it was. The sauce was superb and the serving were huge.

This was the kid's portion!

Hubby was in the mood for pizza. We went for the Bianco, which has grilled chicken, bacon, alfredo sauce and provolone cheese on a beautiful, thin and crispy crust.. One of the boys said he'd like a slice, but wanted more meat, so we added on sausage and pepperoni.

I've said often that when traveling around the Midwest, it's really hard to find good pizza. Well, this one blew away even some of my favorite Chicago area spots. It was fantastic. I even brought the rest back to the hotel and had a cold slice the next afternoon and it was even better. So, if you're a Chicagoan spending time in Indy, this is THE place to get some awesome pizza that will rival many pizzerias back home.

I ordered one of my favorite dishes, Chicken Picatta. The white wine and lemon butter sauce was delicious and I'm always a sucker for sautéed vegetables. It was a wonderful meal ~ one of the best versions of this dish that I've had.

When we dine out, the kids usually order root beer and they love it when it comes in a bottle. I tried a sip of this one and it was pretty awesome with a nice foamy throwback taste. I'll have to keep my foodie eye out for it in the future.

We happened to be dining there as we celebrated my youngest son's 9th birthday and when I mentioned it to the waitress, she showed up with this and we all sang to him in our best Italian voices. :)

The place was a little out of the downtown area where we spend most of our trip, but it's worth the trek. It's in a little unassuming building that we almost missed driving by, but once you're inside there's magic happening in that kitchen. It's definitely one to add to the itinerary on an Indy visit.

Iaria's

317 S. College Avenue

Indianapolis, IN

(317) 368-7706

www.iariasrestaurant.com