LouVino brings its quirky Southern food and fun wine list to Mass Ave.

The restaurant, already in Fishers, will occupy space in Penrose on Mass

Liz Biro
IndyStar
Fried chicken tacos filled with mashed potatoes and gravy at LouVino, 8626 E. 116th St., Fishers.

Known for its no-pressure wine list and new American dishes inspired by Southern cooking, LouVino is coming to Mass Ave.

The 165-seat restaurant, already in Fishers, opens in February 2019 in Penrose on Mass, a retail/residential complex under construction at 530 Mass Ave., between East and New Jersey streets, Lou Vino owner Chad Coulter said.

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Penrose on Mass, scheduled to open in spring 2019, hosts 236 apartments, 40,000 square feet of retail space and 379 parking slots. More than half of the parking will be available for retail and restaurant customers, Mark Juleen of Penrose developer JC Hart Company has told IndyStar.

Penrose on Mass, an apartment complex at 502 Mass Ave in downtown Indianapolis on Friday, Aug. 17, 2018.

It's fun to share whimsical plates at industrial chic LouVino restaurants, which pharmacists-turned-restaurateurs Coulter and his wife, Lauren Coulter, founded in 2014 in Louisville, Ky.

Signature fried chicken tacos come packed with cheddar, garlic mashed potatoes and pepper gravy. Fried black eyed peas accompany country-fried soft-shell crab with hot sauce beurre blanc (French butter sauce).

For brunch, there might be breakfast “corndogs,” sausage links dipped in pancake batter, fried and served with spicy maple aioli.

Guests in Mass Ave.'s 115-seat, first-floor bar and dining room will be able to see the cooking action in an open kitchen.

"You can actually look down into the kitchen from the mezzanine level," Coulter added, talking about an up-high 15-seat lounge area and 35-seat private dining room. Another 15 seats may land on the sidewalk outside.

Each LouVino location's executive chef creates some of his or her own seasonal dishes. Elliot Checinski, the Fishers' chef, will move to Mass Ave. His sous chef, Aaron McGuire, will head LouVino Fishers when Checinski leaves, Coulter said.

Checinski's seasonal dishes at LouVino Fishers, launched in December 2016, 8628 E. 116th St., have recently included ahi tuna on grilled corn couscous with asparagus, shaved fresh radishes, wasabi sour cream and brown butter soy sauce. He is especially known for off-beat ice creams like s'mores pie gelato with buttered graham crackers and toasted marshmallow fluff. Most dishes on the full menu cost $10 to $16.

Sixty-plus wines by the glass or bottle, and in flights, are grouped into easy-to-understand and amusing categories. At Fishers, “Fun, unique and interesting whites” populate the Jim Gaffigan flight. Reds for the James Dean flight “will make you feel like a ‘Rebel without a Cause.’" Choose your own reds under headings such as "smooth, savory and seductive" or "funky tastemakers." Wines by the glass run from $7 to $13.

Cocktails are also served, including seasonal selections such as summer 2018's rose wine slushes with fruit and  Rosemary’s Lemonade with gin, from-scratch lemonade, rosemary, pea flower extract.

The Coulters also operate two LouVinos in Louisville and another in downtown Cincinnati. They have no plans for more locations in the Indianapolis area.

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