A foodie’s guide to Indianapolis, USA

“Definitely a city you must visit if you consider yourself a foodie.”

— Hugo Cano, Amberson Coffee

Hugo Cano opened Amberson Coffee & Grocer in Indianapolis, Indiana during the chaos of the pandemic. It has since become a staple in the Indy food and beverage scene, and he has won the 2021 U.S. AeroPress championship. Hugo, who grew up around restaurants and coffee in Mexico and California, shares his guide for what to eat, drink, and experience in Indianapolis.

*Amberson Coffee & Grocer. All photography by Hugo Cano unless otherwise noted*

Filter: What do you like to do for fun around Indianapolis?

I spend most of my time in Indy working at the shop, but, for the few instances I get to go out, I love spending time at coffee shops, bars, and my favorite Indy restaurants. I grew up in the food industry. My parents owned restaurants since I was 12, so spending time at food and drink establishments is my comfort zone.

TL:DR, I love eating and drinking for fun when in Indy! Luckily, the city is in constant growth and the food scene is great considering the size of the city. Definitely a city you must visit if you consider yourself a foodie.

Filter: If a good friend came to visit, where would you be sure to take them?

I would take my friend around the city to do what I would consider to be the perfect day in Indy, which, if you know me, would mostly revolve around food. Unapologetically, we’d begin the day at Amberson. I would love to start the day by treating my friend to the pour over or espresso we’d most be digging at the moment among the many roasters we’d be featuring then. Next stop would undoubtedly be Milktooth. I’ve always been a huge fan of their food, vibe, and the wonderful coffee program curated by Adrian. To me it’s consistently the best espresso in town, and, while I’m not a huge fan of sweet or flavored coffee drinks, their flavor combinations for their specialty drinks are very creative and unique. The 4oz pour overs are always a hit too. It’s always inspiring to come, sit, drink, and sometimes chat with the staff here too. It’s my happy place in Indy outside of Amberson. Try the slab bacon and the patty melt and tell them Hugo sent you.

One of my other passions is art. Newfields, which is the Indianapolis Museum of Art, is one of the best museums I’ve been to in the US. They have a nice little collection of impressionist art that includes pieces from Gaugin and Monet, and a few standout pieces from O’Keefe, Turner, and other great American artists. They have an amazing rotation of temporary exhibits and very often feature great local artists. A visit to the Virginia B. Fairbanks Park a few miles down the road is always on the books after visiting Newfields. This is a great way to decompress, appreciate nature, and take in some of the natural beauty Indy has to offer.

After visiting the park, we would go back to the city for some more eating and imbibing. Lately, I’ve been enjoying Bluebeard a lot. Their food and their drinks, especially the latter, are top tier and always hit the mark. However, if it’s a Sunday, King Dough is the place to be. Sitting at the bar and having some of their rotating cocktail options is always fun. The pizza is also always on point. If we’re celebrating a momentous occasion or just good company, Vida would be the ultimate treat. To me it’s the best chef-driven menu in the city. On a wild night, I’d try to fit all of these three in any number of combinations.

Filter: What do you like to do to escape the city?

Another big passion of mine is travelling. I grew up in two of the world’s mega cities, so sometimes I just need to get out and experience the unknown or be immersed in places with lots and lots of people and things to do. This is my way of escaping the city and taking a mental break from work.

We have also been very fortunate to participate in many coffee competitions this year. We typically drive since this option is cheaper when traveling with a group of people. This has allowed us to travel in and around the Midwest. Getting on the road to drive the serene albeit slightly boring countryside of the central United States is an experience in and of itself, but the recompense has been able to visit cities that I had never been to before and find some amazing coffee shops, bars, and restaurants. We’ve stopped at many amazing cities and shops owned by friends, such as Daydrink in Iowa City, IA, Horizon Line in Des Moines, IA (also try Bartender’s Handshake if you’re staying the night), Press Coffee in Dayton, OH, Bradbury’s in Madison, WI, and the awesome and now world famous Archetype Coffee in Omaha, NE. The Midwest has amazing places to be discovered and I believe it’s deserving of its own spotlight.

Filter: What touristy things in Indy are worth the hype?

Both Newfields and the Virginia B. Fairbanks Park are definitely worth the hype. The Canal Walk in Indy is a good place to spend some time and explore around. I love jogging along the Canal on chilly and quiet Sunday mornings if I’m in Indy and manage to take the morning off. The Indy 500 is a very interesting experience that I’d definitely recommend, even if you are a fan of racing or not. Similarly, going to a Pacers game is fun even if you secretly root for the Lakers. Finally, Monument Circle is worth the visit, especially at night when it's lit up. It’s crazy to think that Indy’s governor’s mansion used to be where the monument now stands. Lastly though, no visit to Indy would ever be complete without going to Cake Bake Shop. Yes, it’s touristy. Yes, it’s been overly featured in the mainstream media by Oprah, et al. Yes, it’s too much glitter and pink, but you can’t go wrong with a slice of chocolate cake and a cold glass of milk.

*Hugo Cano founded Amberson Coffee & Grocer in Indianapolis in 2020. Photo by Jes Nijjer*

Filter: Where are your favorite quiet corners and hidden gems there?

The White River State Park is a very enjoyable park at the end (or start) of the Canal Walk. It overlooks the river in an amphitheater-like set-up. This is a great spot for picnics or to rest with a view after a nice bike ride around the city.

For quiet corners, I really enjoy going to Coat Check Coffee to read or journal in the early mornings. It’s typically quiet between 7-8am and also brings fond memories of my first ever visit to Indy. Sunday evenings at Commissary Coffee are also nice and quiet to fit in some reading or writing.

A hidden gem is definitely the Garfield Park Observatory. This is an amazing place to find quietude and solace or to have a nice fun date with your significant other who finds much joy in nature and the little things (hello Jessa!) Be sure to visit Helm Coffee on your visit before or after the Observatory!

Another favorite of mine, which was the inspiration for the book The Magnificent Ambersons and where the coffee shop takes its name from, is Woodruff Place. It’s a very eclectic neighborhood with such an interesting history, located to the east of downtown Indy and replete with repurposed mid-19th century mansions. I like coming here from time to time to imagine life in this neighborhood when it was at its height, taking in all of those feelings of nostalgia.

Filter: What’s another coffee shop around there that you really admire?

I’ve already written plenty about the wondrous place that is Milktooth. I really admire Adrian’s approach to coffee and flavors. I always gain insight on every visit and really appreciate how his vision and expression of coffee is different than mine but equally enjoyable. This diversity is one of the many things I love about coffee.

Among the many good things happening in Indy’s coffee scene, another coffee shop that I particularly admire is the aforementioned and emerging Helm Coffee in Garfield Park. Jill is one of my favorite people in Indy who will always greet you with a smile and an athlete-caliber hug. We’ve been fortunate to collaborate with her in coffee competitions in the past and our friendship has only grown from there. What she and Justin have been able to build and grow at Helm is spectacular. Participating in competitions has helped them raise the standards for greatness and the shop has become an obligatory stop in the city if you consider yourself a coffee aficionado. Their roasting and pour overs are only getting better. It takes people with commitment like them both to get the coffee to the quality where it is. I’m excited for their future and for the great things that they’ll both accomplish in years to come.

Filter: What makes Indy feel most like home to you?

I have only been in Indy for a bit over 3 years. Truthfully, what makes Indy feel like home to me is Amberson. I feel very fortunate to have been one of the businesses to have made it through the pandemic thanks to the support of our neighbors and patrons. I have managed to meet wonderful people here, both co-workers and regulars—people whom without I would probably have not made it through such a difficult season.

The thing I look forward to the most after traveling back to Indy is going to the shop and experiencing that community again. That is home to me.

Filter: How did you end up in the Indy coffee scene?

I am a California native but I grew up in Mexico. I lived in Mexico City for a few years and then moved a couple hundred kilometers north to a city named Querétaro, which I consider my home. I then moved back to California for college.

As I mentioned, having grown up in the service industry, my dream since I was very young was to open a restaurant or a coffee shop. I started working in coffee during college with the goal of fulfilling that dream. I very quickly went down the rabbit hole, trying to learn as much as I could about coffee and eventually discovering specialty.

My first job in specialty coffee was Espresso Cielo in Santa Monica, where I met my good friend Zayde Naquib. Zayde would later move on to open Bar Nine in Culver City and invited me to be a part of his opening team. I consider this my alma mater and the place where I was born as a coffee professional. This is also where I discovered coffee competitions.

After a few years, I moved back to Mexico to work in the family business but also started competing in the U.S. Competition circuit at the same time. I would often traveling back to the U.S. to compete while working in Mexico. This was my only connection to coffee over the few years I lived in Mexico. I moved to Indianapolis for a previous relationship and decided to open a coffee shop in the city as a way of putting down roots, moving and signing the lease for the shop on March 1st, 2020.

*Woodruff Place, “located to the east of downtown Indy and replete with repurposed mid-19th century mansions,” says Hugo Cano.*

The pandemic hit a couple of weeks later and amidst many challenges we managed to open the shop in late June of that same year. A few months later, the relationship that brought me to Indy ended but the shop continued. Coffee and the people in and around the shop helped me push through those hard, early months. I am very thankful for how the community supported us and for everything we as a shop have been able to accomplish in our community, both locally and nationally. It has been a fulfilling experience and I am forever grateful.

Filter: Can you share about starting Amberson and your day to day?

I’ve shared a bit about the opening of the shop in the previous question. Needless to say, we’re approaching our 4th year of operation. Our goal has always been to provide memorable experiences through coffee. That same vision holds today and is how we motivate ourselves going forward. For this reason we try to make everything in house since this is the only way we can ensure quality and uniqueness.

I am pretty involved in the day-to-day of the shop. These last few months, I have been waking up at 4am to go into the shop and bake all of the day’s pastries. I’ve been enjoying baking a lot lately as it’s a very meditative experience. We typically open at 7am, 8am on weekends, and I am involved in dialing in all the day’s rotating coffees at the shop. I sometimes do so by myself or will aid any of our many talented baristas. I am pretty much at the shop all day through close, mostly helping with service and working the bar. After close, I’m typically at the shop after hours practicing for competition for a couple of hours. Then it's back home to rest and repeat the next day all over again.

One of my personal goals for 2024 is to find more work-life balance and to delegate some of these responsibilities. For me, however, it’s very rewarding when people come up to us and mention how it’s the best coffee, pastry or breakfast sandwich they’ve ever had. Makes all the hard work and the hours we’ve put in this humble little shop worth it.

Filter: If you could move to any place in the world just for the coffee scene, where would you move, and what shop would be the biggest reason?

This question is the most challenging one out of the bunch! These last two years I’ve been very fortunate and thankful to visit so many cities around the world and such great coffee shops that I admire and model our own coffee shop after. Foreign cities like London, Madrid, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Tokyo, and Melbourne have amazing scenes and I have had extraordinary experiences at many shops in those cities. LA, Portland, Minneapolis, and Denver are a few of the cities in the US that I’ve been able to travel to these last few years as well, also featuring some of the country’s best shops and coffee scenes that are enough reason for me to pick up and move to for the coffee alone. However, out of all of these, my pick would have to be Paris.

Paris is one of my favorite cities in the world and I have often dreamt about moving there at some point in my life. I love the art, the way of life, the importance of food in that culture, and it has what I’ve pinned down as my favorite triad of shops in the world, one of them featured on

the Filter guide (!)—Téléscope, Dreamin Man, and Motors Coffee. I first visited Téléscope in 2014, back when I was getting into specialty coffee. It was also a very introspective part of my life when I went for the first time, and this was one of the places I found much solace in when traveling in this city. To this day this shop is nostalgic to me and has a very special place in my heart. I love their AeroPress menu and the simplicity and intentionality of their shop.

Dreamin Man and Motors Coffee are examples of how the coffee scene in the city continues to thrive. They have both opened in the last 5 years, and, along with Téléscope, continue to be relevant and exciting in a city flooded with tourists and quality-demanding locals. Visiting each of these shops yields a very unique experience that is thoroughly enjoyable, each for their own reasons.

Every couple of years that I have the opportunity to visit this city, I hear of many newly opened coffee shops, with each setting new standards for what it means to be specialty. This truly is an exciting scene that I would love to experience as a local. For now, I have committed myself to keep visiting the city as much as I can.

11. What have I not asked that you’d love to tell about?

A bit more of my credentials as a coffee professional—I’m the founder & owner of Amberson Coffee & Grocer in Indianapolis, IN. I am the 2021 US AeroPress Champion, 2023 Top 8 US Brewer’s Cup competitor, and future US Barista Champion ;)

I am also the founder of Team Indy—a group of coffee professionals dedicated to providing free resources to first-time USCC competitors. During the 2023 season, we managed to have 5 of our team members reach the National stage in Brewer’s Cup and hope to reach new heights in the 2024 season.

Thanks to Filter and Josh for having me share a bit about Indy and myself through this guide! It’s been a pleasure sharing these words with you as well as some of my film photography. Thank you!

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Amberson Coffee & Grocer is multi-roaster cafe located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

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