Before a recent lunch visit to the downtown City Market, it had been 13 years since I had been there.
Needless to say, a lot has changed in those years – with me as well as with the market.
The historic City Market at 222 E. Market St., has been there since 1821 and has still managed to keep up with the hustle and bustle that lunchtime in downtown Indianapolis brings.
Since the City Market is due to make some major changes to attract more tourists, customers and upscale vendors, a visit to the venue for lunch now was decided before the changes are made.
Entering City Market, a visitor is immediately welcomed by the diversity of smells that fill the air. They will look around to decide where to have lunch. There’s a popcorn vendor selling popcorn in every color of the rainbow. There’s a vendor that has something for a sweet tooth, including an array of chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter fudge, no- bake oatmeal cookies, cinnamon twists and sugar cookies.
Deciding not to indulge in the sweets category, I went for the real food and stopped at Enzo’s Pizza for a chicken chef salad, garlic bread and a cherry Pepsi.
The salad was huge! Opening the box, there was a mixture of romaine and iceberg lettuce topped with Spanish olives, banana peppers, feta cheese, cubed chicken and lightly sprinkled with garlic powder. A pinch of crushed red pepper gave the salad some added spice. A toasted piece of ciabatta bread topped with garlic butter gave an awesome compliment to the salad.
Janell Stum, a downtown employee, said, “My friend and I come over here and get these salads all the time.”
After finishing the salad, a stroll around the market showed what other food stands had to offer. It would have been nice to try a gyro or a lightly salted pretzel with cheese dipping sauce, but I didn’t have the room to do so.
The trip to the City Market was most enjoyable and others would find they would like it too. In addition to the food vendors, the market also has various arts and craft stands where one could buy many specially made items.
For more information, visit www.indycm.com or call (317) 634-9266.
