Every Week is Restaurant Week in South Bend, IN

A list made originally for my dear friend spending three months there. It has been edited to reflect closures (sad) and generally updated to reflect the current state of affairs that is the cultural mecca of my heart, South Bend, Indiana.

• Breakfast

  • Farmer’s Market Cafe (open T, Th, Sat) (the most sacred spot and most blessed of all diners)

  • Jeannie’s (in truth, only one small sacredness rung below the FM Café)

  • Pegg’s — It's Le Peep in my heart and it tastes like sophomore year.

  • Yellow Cat Cafe (the option to take if Farmer’s Market/Jeannie’s are all not open) 

  • Rise and Roll (When a bakery features donuts known as Amish Crack—get them)

• Brunch

  • Uptown Kitchen — it's the classic brunch for the family outing or picky eater.

  • Evil Czech — is so fun. The tapas brunch never fails to delight.

• Coffee Shop

  • The General—the place to see and be seen.

  • Zen Cafe (both locations are flawless)

  • Chicory Cafe— for okay coffee but A+ nooks

• Lunch

  • Purple Porch Co-op (their dining room)  

  • Bourbon & Butcher (Corndance’s lunch counter, and their burger is one I dream about)

  • Mango Café (their arepas are to die for and carry mythic weight in my family) 

    • Apparently they are permanently closed :/ :/ :/ :/ 

    • They're worth talking about anyway.

    • Tacqueria Chicago (I don’t like it, but people swear by it)
      Taco Jacinto and La Esperanza are my go-to for Mexican food

  • Chimichurri - Argentinean Food (fantastic to-go empanadas)

  • **Bantam Chicken & Seafood has been brought to my attention**

• Dinner

  • Cambodian Thai (incredibly important restaurant. Just cannot be missed.)

  • Crooked Ewe (perfection. Their menu is my heaven)

  • Render (How can I put it? It's New York in South Bend)

  • LaSalle Kitchen (less-creative version of Crooked Ewe but will do.)

  • Rocky River Tap & Table (more suburban version of LaSalle)

  • The View (best dive bar burgers ever - I want them right now.)

  • Oaken Bucket (tiki drinks and burgers and a resident raccoon)

  • Rohr’s (just Notre Dame enough but not too Notre Dame) 

  • Cre-Asian (for Pho — this is controversial. Nom Nom Pho believers are all around you)

  • Corndance (Just general good farm-to-table, higher end new American nonsense)

  • Yesterday’s (Yesterday's is the granola-crunchy version of Corndance, and it's better - you have to wait forever for a table, for food, to leave. It's a 3-4 hour affair but once the dessert tray is paraded in front of you, you will not regret it.)

  • Thai Lao (temporarily closed :/ :’( but included here in prayers that it one day may reopen in its psychedelic glory)

  • JW Chen’s (Just put yourself in the hands of Jeanne. Tell her what you’re into, what you’re allergic to, and let her surprise you.)

  • Jésus Latin Grill and Tequila — it’s stupid — it’s literally the silliest restaurant, but somehow delightful.

  • Italian:

    • I would say Carmelas or Simonini Gourmet. But choose any other option here.

  • Journeyman (in Michigan — worth the drive for the best burgers and drinks and Brussels sprouts in the cutest distillery you ever did sit in)

• Bars

  • The Exchange (best)

  • The Hideaway

  • Hammer and Quill

  • Brewery:

    • Heavenly Goat is trés cute

    • Bare Hands Brewery,

    • SB Brewwerks for local drafts,

    • Greenbush (in Michigan—but apparently they have a South Bend tap room now!)

• Dessert

  • Fiddler’s Hearth (getting the whiskey sundae without the whiskey does not detract from its deliciousness)

Heresay: The Lauber and Jack’s Donuts are part of this new development on LaSalle Avenue—supposed to be good!

Trusted sources also say that Fat Bird downtown is delish