THINGS TO DO

Liz Biro: Yes, they sell python at Market District

Food Network's "Unwrapped" host Marc Summers, who was at the opening, best described the array of experiences here: "This store is making my head explode!"

Liz Biro
liz.biro@indystar.com
  • Celebrity chef cooking classes
  • Bizarre fruit
  • Bacon-wrapped lobster

Just two days off two weeks in Italy, I didn't think anything foodwise back home in Indiana would wow me for months to come. Then I thrust myself into the Oct. 7 grand opening of Carmel's 120,000-square-foot Market District, 11545 N. Illinois St. The food bars alone had me drooling over a mountain range of olives in what seemed like every imaginable variety. Cheese, exotic fruit, doughnuts made fresh, bacon-wrapped lobster, dry-aged beef, even an impressive wine list – at the wine bar.

You read it right: the wine bar. And that's not all at this, er, place. I can't really call it a "grocery store" or "supermarket." Indy native and Food Network's "Unwrapped" host Marc Summers, who was at the opening, best described the array of experiences here: "This store is making my head explode!"

Sit at the bar

A swanky wine and beer bar looks more downtown than supermarket rest stop. All granite, gray and glass, it sports 18 rotating taps featuring craft beer, locals included, ($5-$10). Bottled beer and ciders run $4-$5. A huge selection of wines categorized by grape, region and taste supply by-the-glass selections ($6-$14), bottles ($18-$90) and flights ($14-$18). The list includes Not Your Father's Root Beer from Wauconda, Ill.; not always easy to find Lyric by Etude pinot noir; award-winning Saget La Petite Perriere sauvignon blanc from Loire, France; and good old Bud Light.

All granite, gray and glass, Market District's bar sports 18 rotating taps, bottled beer and ciders and a nice selection of wine.

Taste python

Yes, python. The big snake. Find it in the specialty meat department along with wild boar. No, hunters don't wrestle python in the Everglades. It's farm-raised, Market District product development chef Ben D'Amico said. And yes, it kind of tastes like chicken, he added. You could take some python home and sear it (don't overcook it. The meat is notoriously chewy, sort of like calamari and nothing like rattlesnake). You might consider a braise. Better yet, hit the market with a group of food adventurist friends, go in on a piece of the $29.99 a pound boneless python filets and walk across the aisle to the open kitchen where one of the cooks will prepare it, for free, to your specifications along with your pick of fresh vegetables from the produce department.

Find python -- the snake -- in the specialty meat department along with wild boar. Walk across the aisle to the open kitchen where one of the cooks will prepare it, for free, to your specifications.

Take a date to dinner

Market District features a full-service, 115-seat restaurant ($9-$23) with shareable plates, burgers, smothered fries, wood-fired flatbreads, salads and full-portion main courses. The menu boasts beef carpaccio; wood-fired beets, vegetable and bean cassoulet, steak frites, hand-cut fries smothered in house-smoked barbecue pork and Boursin fondue, and a roasted wild mushroom flatbread with fontina, arugula and truffle oil. Another 52 seats are outside. The space is sleek, pale green with dark wood contrasts and features a semi-open kitchen.

Market District features a full-service, 115-seat restaurant ($9-$23) with shareable plates, burgers, smothered fries, wood-fired flatbreads, salads and full-portion main courses.

Celebrity chef cooking classes

Summers was part of the Market District grand opening celebration, but he won't be the last food celebrity you see at the store. A cooking school upstairs will sometimes feature celebrity chefs and foodies. Market District has worked with Michael Symon, Ted Allen and Mario Batali. The classroom is part of a large, second-floor auditorium.

I got to meet Food Network’s “Unwrapped” Marc Summers at the Market District grand opening celebration, but he won’t be the last food celebrity you see at the store. A cooking school upstairs will sometimes feature celebrity chefs.

Taste bizarre fruit

Market District has a big selection of exotic foods, things like jackfruit, dragon fruit, rambutans, banana buds and preserved lemons. Want a taste? Get to know the produce department crew. Sampling is part of the fun at Market District. Ask the staff for recipes and cooking tips, too. They're trained to help you figure out what to do with ingredients. Education is a big part of the store's focus, D'Amico said.

Get to know the produce department crew. Sampling and education are part of the fun at Market District. You might get to taste a rambutan.

3-foot long salmon

Saltwater fish and shellfish are another major aspect of the Carmel Market District, D'Amico said. Knowing that Central Indiana has limited access to seafood, the company strives to supply a big selection. I saw huge whole salmon and sides of salmon, bacon-wrapped lobster, all manner of shellfish and, it's cliche to say, I know, but the jumbo shrimp were glistening.

Aged steaks

Between fresh oysters at the seafood market and fine bourbons and cigars in the wine and spirits room, check out a tall, glass cooler full of, what else, dry-aged steaks. Twenty-one-day, dry-aged Certified Angus Beef rising several tiers high stand on their deserved pedestal well above the crowds in the specialty meat market.

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

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