The Fountain Room

A reimagined supper club takes us back.

Written by Neil Charles / Photographed by Dave Pluimer

Occupying a prime location on Massachusetts Avenue in the relatively new Bottleworks District, our featured restaurant, the charming and upscale The Fountain Room, has the feel of an elegant supper club from the 1950s and ‘60s, with moody lighting and gleaming wood. Stepping inside, one can easily imagine Mad Men’s Don Draper on a Wisconsin vacation, quaffing Manhattans in his favorite booth.

The Bottleworks District was unveiled in 2021 by Hendricks Commercial Properties, the developer responsible for Ironworks at Keystone, and the project became an overnight success, despite the constraints and challenges imposed by the global pandemic, then still in full swing. A massive mixed-use property that includes a food hall, several restaurants, a movie theater and a boutique hotel, Bottleworks is the redevelopment of a former CocaCola bottling plant, a fine specimen of Art Deco commercial architecture that had lain empty and unused for several years.

The Fountain Room features colorful Art Deco decor.

Those with either a long memory or fascination with Hoosier restaurant history will find The Fountain Room’s backstory of interest. Back in 1965, Indiana Hall of Fame restaurateur Carl Fogelsong established a tiny burger joint in Michigantown, Indiana. He named it Clancy’s after a character in an old comic strip, and before long a chain was born, with outlets all over central Indiana. With the advent of stiff competition, however, especially from the march of golden arches across the country, Clancy’s success was to be short-lived. But by the time the restaurant had all but disappeared, Fogelsong had turned Clancy’s Hospitality into a small chain of mid-tier sit-down restaurants by the name of Grindstone Charley’s.

In 2010, Carl’s grandson Blake Fogelsong graduated from Ball State University and joined the family business, working his way through the ranks until he opened a new concept—the first Grindstone Public House, in downtown Noblesville, and Grindstone on the Monon in Westfield. In both menu and concept, Grindstone represented a move up the culinary ladder, offering a higher quality, more ingredient-driven model than its precursor, and subsequently, attracting a new generation of diners. And so began the next chapter in the family’s gastronomic history.

During the early stages of the Bottleworks development, Blake explored the idea of opening an upscale restaurant there. Covid intervened, but plans were made to reintroduce the Clancy’s brand in The Garage, the diverse and upscale food hall at the heart of the project. Like its namesake from the ‘60s, Clancy’s Hamburgers would offer double smash burgers with the “best fries in town,” as well as shakes, hotdogs, and chicken sandwiches. Befitting its location, the burger joint brought more than a hint of nostalgia to its historic surroundings, and was a hit from day one. “With the success of Clancy’s Hamburgers, we felt that this was the right place at the right time to expand our brand into downtown Indianapolis,” the younger Fogelsong explains.

The restaurant overlooks the Bottleworks Hotel.

Following a trip to Wisconsin with his father, president/CEO of Clancy’s Hospitality, Perry Fogelsong, Blake found his inspiration. “We like to call this place a nostalgic cross between a classic jazz-era steakhouse and a Wisconsin supper club,” he says. “We were seeking to create a timeless date night and birthday spot that would also appeal to the Mass Ave millennials.” Although there were no rules or constraints regarding the interior design, Grindstone’s longtime design consultants, Phanomen/Design, created an interior that is sensitive to its surroundings, with one foot in the present and the other in the first half of the last century. The fluted columns and Art Deco elements of the building interact beautifully with glorious tile work and colorful carpets, truly a feast for the eyes. Upstairs, a mezzanine seats an additional 50 guests or private parties.

The Fountain Room does classics well, like this roast chicken.

Offering a broad, crowd-pleasing menu ranging from a cheesesteak sandwich to a 28-ounce porterhouse, the bill of fare is also heavy on fish and seafood dishes. Executive chef Andrew Popp says, “While some of the menu changes seasonally, we retain a number of our popular supper club dishes, like the seafood tower, the lobster Rangoon, and the brie brulee—classics with a twist.” Steaks are offered with a variety of supper-club-style enhancements, such as a Maytag blue cheese crust or a pink peppercorn sauce. Most reminiscent of the north country is the splendid relish tray, a substantial serving of house pickles, pimento cheese, peppadew jam and lots more. Prime rib is offered daily and there is grasshopper pie for dessert. All that is missing are two feet of snow and Packers fans.

Creamy corn pudding is shareable, or not.

With a cocktail list that combines classics with several house creations, The Fountain Room serves only the finest spirits like Carpano Antica and Ford’s Gin, all beautifully prepared. A subsection of the menu title “A Three Martini Lunch,” pays homage to the times when people were generally less squeamish about day drinking and great ideas were hatched over a cocktail or two. Full-flavored, non-alcoholic mocktails are also available. The wine list is very well considered, steering mostly clear of the usual steak house behemoths and offering a good selection of well-balanced, food-friendly reds and whites. There is even an orange wine from France, not something you see every day.

The Upper Crust cocktail

Despite the wonderful food and stunning décor, our favorite aspect of dinner at The Fountain Room is the brilliant soundtrack emanating from a vintage Akai reel-to-reel behind the host stand. Drawing from a library of tapes custom-mixed by Uncanned Music in Chicago, diners can enjoy a world of wonderful music drawn from the depths of the great American songbook but also places further flung. A little Velvet Underground with that Manhattan? Yes, please.

Steaks are offered with a variety of enhancements.

For more information, visit thefountainroom.com