Molecular gastronomy in Indiana!

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At L’Explorateur, a chic little restaurant in Indianapolis, I was amazed to find ‘crispy sweetbreads with bone marrow ice cream and herb purée’ on the menu last weekend. Had to order it. Yup. It was bone marrow ice cream, all right. My son’s appetizer of Hawaiian poke of seared tuna and octopus showed up with some intriguing powders to drag the tuna and octopus through -- coconut powder, soy sauce powder and smoked salt.

For my main course, I ordered omakase -- chef’s choice. (That’s right: In Indy, you can get it for just one course.) What was it? Surf n’ turf! A huge (16 ounce?) bison rib-eye steak, with a salmon filet plunked right on top. Now that’s molecular gastronomy!

-- Leslie Brenner