Liz Biro: 5 restaurant openings to watch

Is Indy in a restaurant boom? It sure seems that way. I've reported at least 40 openings since the beginning of the year. Here are five more.

Repeal

Soft openings begin this week for Repeal on Virginia Avenue, at College Road, in the Fletcher Place neighborhood. This restaurant is from the owners of 12.05 Distillery in Fletcher Place. 12.05 is the date prohibition was repealed in 1933. The historic period is reflected in Repeal. A stylish, kind-of early 20th century, Manhattan lounge décor features reclaimed furnishings, chandeliers and table lamps softly lighting dark woods. Appropriately, Repeal is in the neoclassical Virginia Avenue State Bank Building constructed in the early 1920s. Expect craft cocktails made with 12.05 spirits and a menu focused on the 1930s and 1940s. That means ala carte offerings, as was the case during those decades. Prime rib lands on Fridays and Saturdays. Brunch with a Bloody Mary bar is scheduled for Sundays.

636 Virginia Ave., www.facebook.com/RepealRestaurant

Love Handle

A transplant from Milwaukee, Love Handle is one heck of a sandwich shop coming in about a month to 10th Street, about a block east of Rural Street. Creative sandwiches and good, honest ingredients are menu guideposts. During the recent downtown cocktail tour Mixture, Love Handle was stationed in the Milktooth restaurant parking lot serving smoked pork belly sandwiches with blueberry jam and roasted Chinese greens named kai-lan. Cooks might do grilled sirloin cap sandwiches with celeriac remoulade or beef heart ham with mushrooms, rosemary mayo and Butterkase cheese.

2829 E. 10th Street, www.facebook.com/LoveHandleIndy

Subito

Subito owners are talking about a mid-July opening for their take-away restaurant in the heart of downtown Indy, right by the new transportation center. Scratch-made soups like Brazilian Chicken Stew with bacon, kielbasa, shredded chicken thigh, tomatoes, kale and rice. Bread baked in-house using their own natural sourdough starter, including ciabatta. Interesting sandwiches, fresh salads including a true Caesar with anchovies are in the works. Subito is the Italian word for "now," a name chosen because the husband-and-wife owners met while they were both working in Rome. You may have seen this restaurant previously advertised under the name Ladle. After a recent trip to Italy, the couple decided to change the name. Ah, love.

44 Virginia Ave., www.facebook.com/Subito

Blind Owl Brewery Kitchen & Bar

Doesn't Indy have enough breweries? Apparently not. Blind Owl opens the week of July 13 on the Northeastside, at 62nd Street and Binford Boulevard. Head brewer Alex Petersen has spent the last two years brewing at Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Company in Broad Ripple. He's a big advocate of German lagers, and he's just back from a trip to Germany, where he met with farmers that grow hops for Blind Owl's pilsner and märzen beers. Blind Owl will produce its own honey and grow herbs for beers. Beer plays into the brewpub food menu, too. Think beer-battered fish and chips.‪

5014 E 62nd St., www.blindowlbrewery.com

Nada

Boca Restaurant Group opens 200-seat, modern Mexican restaurant Nada in early 2016 at Circle Centre. Slated for the unit directly below United Artists Circle Centre Theatre, Nada features punched-up, south-of-the-border standards. The pastor taco holds chili-marinated pork, pickled white onion, and guajillo diablo sauce. Slow-braised chicken and housemade chorizo go inside the tinga quesadilla with ancho chile, pico de gallo and chihuahua cheese. Riffs on classic American dishes include mac n' cheese with smoky roasted poblanos and lighter fare like the poached shrimp tacos with arugula, julienned radish, avocado and lime vinaigrette. Brunch brings the likes of chorizo and egg enchiladas and crème-brûlée-battered French toast with Bananas Foster caramel. Anticipate an open kitchen and a grand wall glowing with 200 bottles of tequila. Nada will serve lunch and dinner daily, and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.

45 Maryland St., www.eatdrinknada.com

Call Liz Biro at (317) 444-6264. Follow her on Twitter @lizbiro, Instagram @lizbirodish,Facebook and Pinterest.