Kuma’s Corner (Indianapolis)
1127 Prospect StreetQuick work trip to Indianapolis.
A co-worker and I took a trip south a few weeks ago to Indy. We were only going to be gone a night. We had one day of work late in the evening on a Saturday so we stayed the night in Muncie. We didn’t want to be making a trip home at 2 AM after a 16 hour work day.
We left Kalamazoo pretty early on Saturday morning to head to Indianapolis. We didn’t really need to be in town until about 2:00 or so. Co-worker doesn’t usually go on these trips so he was a little antsy. I was fine leaving early. That means we got to stop for lunch once we reached our destination.
I didn’t tell him on the way there but I had a plan for lunch the whole time. I noticed a Facebook post by a friend of my who lives in Indy for a restaurant I was familiar with opening a location there.
Kuma’s Corner is a Chicago restaurant that has been slowly expanding since they opened their first location on Belmont Street in Chicago’s Avondale Neighborhood 16 years ago. They’ve opened three other Chicago area locations plus this Indy spot and one in Denver.
The Indianapolis Kuma’s Corner is in the Fountain Square neighborhood on the corner of Prospect Street and Morris Street. The quirky neighborhood doesn’t have much parking other than on the street but Kuma’s purchased an old car lot across the street to use as restaurant parking. I noticed that after we drove around the block a couple of times looking for street parking.
J and I ate at the Original Kuma’s Corner in 2009 and honestly, it was kind of a clusterf#$% then. We picked up a friend of J’s who was in town for our wedding from one of her friends and somehow, all of us ended up going to Kuma’s. The restaurant was super popular at that time because they had just appeared on Diner’s Drive-Ins and Dives. They refused to split the check and no one had the right amount of cash..and this was the days before you could just Venmo someone to cover your share. I think I ended up paying for like three people’s meals because I had cash and I just wanted to get out of there at that point. The food was good but the experience was not.
This trip to Kuma’s was not as hectic.
The restaurant isn’t huge but they pack tables in to make the most of the space. There’s a dining room off to one side of a partial wall
The other side of that wall is the bar. We were seated at a pub table for two in that area. I was really bummed I was technically at work because they had a helluva beer list including two of the Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout variants. I would have loved to have stopped in to Kuma’s after work…not before.
The theme at Kuma’s is heavy metal. All the sandwiches are named after bands and honestly, it’s really hard to pick just one. I told my co-worker to just order five of them and bring the rest home for later. Literally everything on the menu sounded delicious.
I ordered the Metallica. This burger is applewood smoked bacon, Buffalo sauce, bleu cheese dressing, lettuce, tomato, and onion served on a pretzel roll. Kuma’s got a reputation early on as one of the best burgers in Chicago. It’s obvious why. The burger is so juicy and so full of flavor…the burger toppings are just like extras. I could eat a thousand of these burgers totally plain. This pick though was such a perfect combination. The Buffalo sauce added a little bit of heat but the bleu cheese dressing knocked it down in a hurry.
The sandwich comes with fresh cut fries. These type of fries are my favorite. There’s something about the way Chicago makes fries. They’re golden brown and crispy but at the same time, soft and kind of floppy.
The cost for my meal was right around $20 with a Coke to drink. I really wish I could have gotten a beer though.
I’m so glad I happened to see that Facebook post from a friend. I’ve been wanting to go back to Kuma’s Corner for years but the original location was so far from where my in-laws used to live. They’re expanding a little bit now so there are options. If you’re ever in Indy (or Chicago) and craving a burger, this is place to look up.
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