Indo chef-owner Nick Bognar just gave customers two more reasons to visit his three-year-old restaurant in Botanical Heights: The 31-year-old chef-owner has added a cocktail bar and a handroll menu to the existing modern Southeast Asian offerings.
Guests can now order from a menu of 14 handrolls, priced $5 to $14 each. (Called “temaki” in Japanese, a handroll is a handheld sushi typically made up of vinegared rice, sashimi and other fillings, wrapped in nori.) “Handrolls are like the tacos of sushi,” says Bognar. “I’ve been making handrolls for myself at home for years, and I’m excited to bring more of this lesser-known sushi to the St. Louis community.”
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The new menu features handrolls with Japanese sea bream, seared salmon belly, ocean trout, fatty Bluefin tuna, and tempura shrimp, among other options. Adventurous diners can order omakase style, leaving the decision up to the chef, with either three handrolls for $22 or five for $32. “Adding handrolls allows indo to become what it’s going to be in the future,” Bognar says, “leaning more to the cold side of the menu and in a very approachable, price-conscious way. The value is there and it’s obvious.”
Guests can also still order from indo’s 20-item everyday menu, which includes gyoza, shrimp toast, palm sugar ribs, sashimi, black tiger chili prawns, vegetable crunchy rice, and coconut mango rice pudding.
The former chef’s counter has been converted into a seven-seat cocktail bar. “We always wanted a cocktail bar at indo but didn’t have the space,” Bognar said in a release.
Beverage director Kira Webster heads up the cocktail program at indo’s new bar and will do the same at Sado, the Bognar-owned sushi-themed restaurant that’s slated to open at 5201 Shaw (the space that previously housed Giovanni’s on the Hill) later this year.
Webster placed second in the inaugural National Sochu Competition, held earlier this year in Brooklyn, New York. “As a second-generation Japanese-American who spent my summers visiting Japan, working at indo and the soon-to-open Sado is a way for me to explore my identity through the lens of cocktails,” she said in a release. “I enjoy introducing lesser-known Asian ingredients to the beverage world.”
To wit, among the inspired drinks at indo (pictured above, left to right):
- The Mighty Hanuman: Monkey Shoulder Scotch, apple, sesame-washed creme de cacao, J. Rieger caffe amaro, orange bitters, mushroom, and salted cherry.
- Taro Shinju: A boba tea–inspired drink with “Bride of the Fox” Junmai Ginjo sake, taro tea, cognac, apple, and boba.
- Fit for Himiko: Chiyonosono “8000 generations” shochu, blanc vermouth, pistachio liqueur, Nikka Coffey gin, and melon bitters, topped with a genmaicha lollipop.
When asked how cocktails get paired with Japanese food (since the common belief is that they don’t), Bognar has an explanation. “Cocktails paired with handrolls make perfect sense,” he says. “The fun we’re having at indo and the flavor combinations we’re coming up with—like the spicy tuna handroll with chilies, fried chickpeas, scallions, and tobiko—those different flavors and crunchies go well with the cocktails that Kira [Webster] is creating. Sushi, especially a piece of delicately flavored nigiri, is harder to pair—it’s too easy to overdo it—which is why a sake or a palate cleansing Japanese beer is recommended there.”
What Bognar calls “the indo-creative menu” is “fun, playful, all-across-Asia, and less traditional Japanese, if you will. Now if you’re talking about a nigiri program, multi-course omakase dinners, and clean, traditional Japanese flavors, that’s where a place like Sado comes in. We will definitely bring nigiri back there and in a better way than ever before.”
When making reservations at indo, guests may request sitting in the 22-seat dining room, or on the charming, partially covered back patio. (Reservations can be made on Tock.) The bar is first come, first served. The restaurant is open from 5–9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, as well as 5–10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
