AN EVENING AT VIDA
James Beard Award Semifinalist Chef Thomas Melvin elevates food without being stuffy words: Charity Singleton Craig | photography: courtesy of Cunningham Restaurant Group
W
hen my husband, Steve, and I arrived at Vida, a AAA-Four-Diamond restaurant tucked into the Lockerbie Square neighborhood of Indianapolis, we knew we were someplace special. The expansive patio with an indoor/outdoor fireplace, the verdant hydroponic wall garden and the subdued volume all gave us the impression of elegance, luxury. But there was also something familiar about the restaurant, with its exposed ceiling rafters, orange and tan upholstered chairs all neatly tucked beneath bare wood tables, and the open kitchen, where Executive Chef Thomas Melvin, a semifinalist in the 2022 James Beard Foundation’s Restaurant and Chef Awards for Best Chef: Great Lakes, plated dishes as we passed by on the way to our seats.
14
edible INDY
Summer 2022
