Indianapolis, Indiana, from a Local Perspective

Seth Hancock: Hi everybody and welcome to this episode of Doing Indy. I’m your host Seth Hancock. We got an email from our good friend Mike Perron, which many of you may recall from last year’s living in downtown Indy episode. And he said, “Seth you know I live right in the heart of town square and I think you guys definitely have to do an episode from there.” And we said okay Mike you are on. You’ve got to show us your fountain square. So Mike, we’re here thank you for inviting us. Thank you for inviting us first of all. Mike: Thanks for coming. Seth Hancock: You know, we love fountain square, we’ve been down here before and what’s great about this is the place that you're taking us right now which is a fantastic pizza joint that’s Gusto. Mike: Well we kind of discovered this together on my birthday. We came down here for first Friday. We’re down checking out our first Friday and we came down to Fountain Square and this is where it was happening. Seth Hancock: Because what was nice was as soon as we walked in to the Murphy building here, the pizza smelled just completely permeated the air and we knew at some point during the course of the night we’re going to have to stop and eat here. I think what most people would be surprised to know is just how artsy and how really eclectic this whole area is. I mean not only the first Friday stuff in the Murphy building here, but as you see it’s everywhere down here. Mike: Yeah, independent artist are actually choosing the fountain square area to move to. We’ve got the Wheeler Art Center just around the corner here where artist actually live there upstairs in the Murphy art center. There are studious up there where people are actually living. And in the neighborhoods you know the residential. It’s growing—we’re turning into a major force to be reckoned with in the arts area. Seth Hancock: So as we've heard from Mike P. one of his favorite places right here in Fountain Square is this place Gusto. And I got to tell you its phenomenal pizza made by this guy right here. This is Tim Lutes, Owner/Operator. And Tim, first of all what I love is the fact that your pizza company is Gusto Indy and Indy is not just about Indianapolis but it’s kind of an independent state of mind too, right? Tim Lutes: Yeah, absolutely. Being independent to me is very important. I’ve had the opportunity to work for several different corporations. I’ve been in and out of mortgage business, in and out of food business and it’s really kind of an honor to have my own business that’s independent and everything that we do from our own homemade hand rolled dough, homemade meatballs, homemade sauce and as we go along and as we grow and evolve and progress, we’re taking more culinary ownership of all our items. We’re going to remain independently owned and keep that mindset. Seth Hancock: If I had to tell somebody whose coming down to Gusto—well you start off your meal with when you come here. I would have to say, you got to start off with a beer then you got to go with the cheese sticks because the cheese sticks are just out of this world. Tim Lutes: I agree. Seth Hancock: And then my wife would say Greek Pizza, I would say just any pizza. Tim Lutes: I’d have to agree. The Greek is probably my personal favorite. Of course when I say that I feel bad about leaving the Hawaiian pizza out because that’s also very good. Seth Hancock: I got to tell you if you guys, when you come down to Fountain Square and you’re looking for a place to eat you will not be disappointed with Gusto. And you know what, you guys hear me talk about restaurants and how great I love things just because I like food, but I’m being completely honest and sincere when I tell you—if you don’t like Gusto, Zach, my producer/camera guy will actually give you your money back. Man, that pizza was absolutely phenomenal. I hope everyone watching comes down here and experiences Gusto because you really do have something great going on here Tim. Tim Lutes: Well I appreciate it. It was our pleasure and I look forward to seeing everybody down. Thanks guys. Seth Hancock: We got to check out the rest of Fountain Square. Alright Mike, once again Gusto did not disappoint—fantastic pizza. Mike: Yeah, it was great as always! Seth Hancock: But you know what the one of the cool thing is that there is so many other great restaurants right down here in Fountain Square right? Mike: There are, yes. Seth Hancock: Like Deano’s Vino. Mike: Deano’s Vino, Santurini Greek Kitchen, what else? We’ve got Luxor up here and I can’t always forget the Diner at Fountain Square. Seth Hancock: Diner at Fountain Square is fantastic. You know one of the cool things about Fountain Square that people need to come and see too is there is such a great history here. In the Fountain Square Theater building I guess is one of those things that kind of kicks it off and it’s been around since the early 1900s. It has got the diner—it got duckpin bowling. Mike: Duckpin bowling, you got the upstairs bar and dining in the summer and then the diner with great milkshakes. Seth Hancock: So, Mike I appreciate you telling me all about Fountain Square but there is one place that I got to take you and this place is called Arthur’s Music Store. I mean it’s been around since—its sort of my favorite places here in Fountain Square and I think its just something that you got to see. Mike: Okay, let’s check it out. You know I love Arthur’s Music Store. This place has been around for—I can’t tell you, but the owner Linda right here she can tell you how long it’s been around. And it’s been around for what? Seth Hancock: 50 something years? Linda: 56 years. Mike: And it’s the original family. Linda: It’s the original family were working on the second and third generation now with the family. Mike: Okay, so like when you consider—you know these places like Guitar Center—this huge conglomerates how is it that some place like Arthur’s Music has been able to sustain itself for the 56 years? Linda: Being really stubborn I think is part of it. But we sell so many different things. We’re not just the guitar store. We do pedal steels and we do accordions and native American flutes and we have somebody in the store that either knows or plays all those, so that makes a difference too. Seth Hancock: Mike P, thank you so much for showing us Fountain Square. You know I know we’ll be back here during the course of the year because I mean we just barely scratched the surface on what Fountain Square has to offer. But dude you took us to Gusto! Mike: Greatest place down here. Seth Hancock: Oh my gosh it’s so good. And I think the viewers need to come down here and experience Gusto for yourself. I mean you really do. It’s a great place. But really Fountain Square in of itself its beautiful, its historic, its growing, its artistic, its eclectic. We can just go on and on. Mike: On and on. Seth Hancock: So Mike is a man of many, many words as you can tell. So I guess I’ll just end it here. So for Doing Indy, I’m your host Seth Hancock and remember in Indianapolis it’s always so easy to do so much. Mike: You just have to get out there and do something.