Indianapolis restaurants: Peppy Grill reopens in Fountain Square

Not far from Peppy Grill, a home was recently listed for a half-million dollars. New rapid-transit Red Line buses whiz by the Fountain Square restaurant on the way to shiny Virginia Avenue stations. Up the block is the latest hipster restaurant.  

But at Peppy Grill Tuesday night, regulars gathered just like always at picnic tables on the patio.The Fountain Square diner had just reopened after 10 months of renovations that fans feared would wipe out one of the last signatures of the neighborhood’s past.

Instead, the big heart of this lovingly billed “greasy spoon” continues beating, even in the face of change.

“When I come here, I feel like I fit in,” Erin Ridout said.

Funky art hangs on trendy exposed brick walls once covered by an open kitchen where cooks fried eggs while sending shout outs to their favorite customers. Plush booths have replaced plain, plastic benches perfumed with years of hamburger grease. Beer and wine will soon be served at the new bar.

It all looked nice, but regulars were at Peppy Grill’s first night back for other things. 

“The food. The conversation. The people. I’ve been waiting for it ever since November,” Paul Kelly said of the many days he sat alone, smoking a cigarette, at his favorite Peppy picnic table while the restaurant was closed.

Food is still cheap

Tuesday’s reveal was just a preview, a chance for Kelly and others to reconnect with their favorite waitresses and cooks at Peppy Grill, 1004 Virginia Ave. Grand opening celebrations Sept. 13 and 14 are when Peppy returns to its 24-hour schedule, dishing out basically the same menu of low-budget burgers, breakfast, BLTs, homemade pies and sour cream fries.

Everyone comes to Peppy, it seems. Kelly, who still lives on the Fountain Square street where he was born 80 years ago, walking distance to Peppy Grill, couldn’t imagine life without a mug of coffee served by waitress Betty Stringer, who’s worked at Peppy for nearly 50 years.

Nightclub hoppers arrive in the wee hours for sooth-the-burn biscuits and gravy. Artists come for cheap eats. Polished professionals hit Peppy for quick, no-fuss lunches.

No matter who walks in the door, burgers cost just $3.99, slightly up from the $3.50 pre-renovation price and far from the $13 burgers at newer restaurants up and down Virginia Avenue.   

Maintaining that unpretentious Peppy Grill feel was always the plan, said Brighton Dube, part of the management team that revived the nearly 70-year-old restaurant and intends to open at least 10 locations around Indiana, starting with Broad Ripple in coming months. 

Dube’s business partner, Hai Duong, purchased Peppy Grill in 2015, thinking it would be a turn-key business. But old refrigerators and unwelcome pests led to temporary closures in 2018 and the decision to remodel. 

“We were almost about to lose this place completely,” Dube has said. “People wanted to buy it, change the name, put something else here.”

“Peppy Grill 2.0,” as Dube calls the 40-seat remodel, mixes past and present. Beer and wine once served at Peppy return soon, but there’s a new 10-seat bar. Painters are booked to restore signs that long decorated Peppy windows. One will face a new, covered patio.

The one heart-breaking change

Griddle and fryers previously in the dining area left guests with their clothes smelling like the grill, a problem for customers who had to return to office jobs, Dube said.That convinced owners to move the kitchen out of sight, a decision that hurt many Peppy fans.

“I must say they did a very nice job, but they did remove Peppy from the place,” Frank Zoellner said of the remodel. Watching and talking to cooks “was half the pleasure of going there,” he added. “Now it’s just another building that has been stripped all in the name of gentrification of Fountain Square.”

Zoeller won’t return to Peppy Grill. He prefers to remember the diner as it was. “I’m sure someday the new Peppy will have a soft spot in its customers’ hearts,” Zoeller said, “and I hope it doesn’t get taken away as did the old Peppy.”

Cook Danny Wilkins understands Zoeller’s feelings. Wilkins grew up in the restaurant and has worked there for 17 years. His mom is that longtime waitress, Betty Stringer. Socializing with customers while he cooked was a joy. “I just like joking around with them. A lot of them have known me since I was a baby,” Wilkins said. “This restaurant is my whole life.”

Wilkins’ brother, kitchen manager Joe Wilkins, expects lively regulars will keep talking, despite swinging doors separating the kitchen and dining room.

“I’m going to be back there in that kitchen, and I’m just going to hear, ‘Joe! Joe!’” he said, laughing.

Peppy Grill will survive

Indianapolis once hosted a bunch of Peppy Grills. The Sluder family opened the first one in the late 1940s at the corner of Washington and Senate streets, according to Dube’s research.

By 1960, 10 Peppy Grills dotted the city, including Fountain Square’s first location at 1024 Morris St. Another stood on Shelby Street at Garfield Park. More were added, but over time, Peppy Grills closed or changed hands, including the existing but no longer affiliated Burt’s Peppy Grill on 10th Street, between Rural Street and Sherman Drive. 

Joe Wilkins has worked at the Fountain Square Peppy Grill for 27 years. He remembers the last time the restaurant was renovated, about 25 years ago. Peppy Grill endured then, he said, as it will now.

“I think it’s just the history of it being here for so long,” Wilkins said. “It’s a nice place to come to.”

Follow IndyStar food writer Liz Biro on Twitter: @lizbiro, Instagram: @lizbiro, and on Facebook. Call her at 317-444-6264.