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Indy is America's 'next big destination,' says Travel + Leisure

Great restaurants like Milktooth put Indy on list of 50 best places to travel in 2017

Liz Biro
liz.biro@indystar.com
Smoked Indiana pork brisket with fermented sweet corn–tomato salad and hot water cornbread was among dishes Indiana chefs cooked for a 2015 dinner at the James Beard House in New York City. Indianapolis chefs cooked at the house again in December 2016.

One of India’s most spectacular monuments. The saunas of Helsinki, Finland. The temples of Laos. Wineries in France’s famous Provence region. And the food scene in Indianapolis.

When Travel + Leisure magazine asked writers and editors to pick the 50 best places to travel in 2017, Indy didn’t just make the list. Associate editor Lila Battis said the city is “poised to become America’s next big destination" mainly because of all the great dining.

20 new Indy restaurants in the past 2 months

“The city shattered expectations of Midwestern dining a couple of years ago with the opening of beloved brunch spot Milktooth,” Battis wrote.  No surprise the Fletcher Place restaurant led the pack. Eater restaurant editor Bill Addison just put Milktooth on his 2016 best restaurants in America list, following 18 months of accolades for Milktooth from various national media outlets including Bon Appetit and Food & Wine.

The list arrives less than a week after respected national restaurant guide Zagat ranked Indianapolis No. 15 on its list of the 26 hottest food cities of 2016.

6 restaurants coming soon to Mass Ave

Travel +  Leisure also pointed to soon-to-open The Owner’s Wife, a Mass Ave-area gastropub where Brooks help plan the menu, and another opening soon project, Crispy Bird, a fried chicken spot from Martha Hoover, who brought you Café Patachou, Petit Chou,  Napolese pizzeria and Public Greens.

Other reasons to visit were Sun King’s 15,000-square-foot distillery planned near Carmel and new hotels like West Elm coming to the Coca-Cola plant on Mass Ave.

The list, in alphabetical order, also includes Indy neighbors Cincinnati and Nashville, Tenn.

Follow IndyStar food writer Liz Biro on Twitter: @lizbiro, Instagram: @lizbiroFacebook and Pinterest. Call her at (317) 444-6264.