The typical restaurant menu for children is something most parents can recite in their sleep: Chicken fingers, mac and cheese, hamburger, pizza or grilled cheese, with a side of fries and chocolate milk. Not that kids don’t find these delicious, but offering children different menu options opens them up to trying new (and often healthier) foods to love.
Fortunately, many Indy area restaurants cater to kids ready to expand their palette. From the August issue of Indy’s Child magazine, check out these spots that provide children’s menus with more off-the-beaten-path variety.
Shoefly Public House
122 E. 22nd Street, Indianapolis
What feels like the most robust and creative kids’ menu in the area, Shoefly offers “The Camila” – pulled roast chicken with sweet potato fries and “The Julio” – pork tacos with yucca fries among their other kid-friendly choices.
Jockamo’s Upper Crust Pizza
Multiple locations including Irvington, Lawrence and Greenwood
Along with all the other unique pizzas available, Jockamo’s has the perfect pie for the under 12 set. The PBJ is a peanut butter and grape jelly pizza laid out on a pita.
Broad Ripple Brew Pub
842 East 65th Street, Broad Ripple
Shepherd’s pie is one of BRBP’s most popular dishes, so the kitchen sizes it down for kiddos on their children’s menu. Alongside other mainstream kid meals, you’ll also find a corndog with sautéed veggies as a side option.
Scotty’s Brewhouse “Young Adults Menu”
Multiple locations including 96th Street, downtown Indy, Carmel, Brownsburg and more.
Scotty’s has kids’ meals that cater to the under 8 crowd (carrots and ranch dressing pre-meal snacks included), but also offers a Young Adults Menu for those kids in between “little kid” and “grown up” Options include a Scott Pocket tortilla wrap with grilled chicken, nacho cheese and broccoli, or Mac n Cheeseburger Helper – prepared exactly as it sounds.
Rathskellar
401 E. Michigan Street, Indianapolis
A nominee not for their entrees, but for the breadth and depth of side dishes on their children’s menu like potato pancakes, spaetzle noodles, red cabbage and seven bean succotash. Pile them on!
DYK: This article appeared in the August issue of Indy’s Child? Discover more hot August topics including back to school tips in our digital edition!
MCL Restaurant & Bakery
Multiple locations throughout the Indianapolis area
What do kids love about MCL? They can come up with their own unique meal from a combination of choices. Since menus change daily, there’s always something different. New offerings promise healthier choices to make mom and dad happy too.
What other unique kid meal options in Indianapolis did we miss? Don’t keep the secret all to yourself: Tweet us at @indyschild so we can add them to our list to check out too!
