A TASTE OF GATHER 22
GLOBALLY INSPIRED, BUT INDY AT ITS HEART
Until you’ve been there, it’s tricky to see how Gather 22 makes any sense.
Gather is not a coffee shop, but you can get a craft latte from mid-morning to late evening. One owner described the menu as “West Coast-inspired,” but last I checked, California has yet to annex Thailand, Vietnam or Philadelphia, whose cuisines are all represented. And there’s a pizza truck on the back patio, which might look like an accessory but is largely the reason the restaurant exists.
That curious hodgepodge of ideas is at the heart of Gather 22, which has quickly become a popular neighborhood haunt at 22 E. 22nd St. since opening in October. The project of partners and budding restaurateurs Pablo Gonzalez and Adam Reinstrom, Gather centers everything from its diverse dishes to its bubbly atmosphere around one core tenet: “Inspired by the places we love to visit, built for the place we love to live.”
Gonzalez, a Los Angeles native, spent most of the last decade tending bars in Portland, Oregon. Reinstrom got his first taste of the Indianapolis dining scene as a teenager working at Byrne’s Grilled Pizza, which his parents operate (they also have partial ownership of Gather 22). The pair met about five years ago when Reinstrom visited a bar Gonzalez was tending in Portland. One visit turned into several, then a relationship and now a business partnership.
They initially planned to open a small wine bar to complement Byrne’s before they fell in love with the 7,000-square-foot venue, previously home to a healthcare non-profit, that now houses Gather. Before opening, they walked to nearby houses, asking neighbors what they’d want in a new restaurant and leaving doorknob hangers with QR codes that linked to a suggestion form.
“There’s a fine balance of sharing our experience and blending that with the community that we live in,” Gonzalez said.
The result is a menu that ambles between regions and culinary styles, abruptly changing course just when you think you’ve got a handle on it.
What’s on the menu at Gather 22?
Take the shareables, which range from herby brown butter potatoes ($8) to miso pickled eggs ($9). My partner and I opted for the night and day rice ($8), a throwback to Gonzalez’ time working at a Thai restaurant, and the whipped ricotta cherry toast ($15).
The rice is a game of contrasts. Chewy white jasmine and black “forbidden” rice evoke the sun and moon, while pickled ginger and zigzags of spicy mayo bring crunch and heat. It all sits in a glossy pool of sweet soy sauce, the result landing somewhere between fine dining and the borderline addictive teriyaki fried chicken of your favorite Chinese American strip mall joint.
The cherry toast is best saved for last, as it would rank among the better desserts I’ve eaten in recent memory. A slab of sourdough supports swirls of airy ricotta, jammy cherries and bright mint leaves.
Fond memories of artery-punishing cream cheese cherry pies from potlucks past flickered through my mind before tangy sourdough and cool mint balanced out each mouthful. A drizzle of balsamic glaze completes this dish that straddles the line between refreshing aperitif and sweet sendoff.
Sharing small plates is the modus operandi at Gather, but the entrees are too much for an adventurous eater to ignore. The Banh Mi-LT ($18) tucks thickcut bacon in a thicket of pickled carrot, radish, tomato, jalapeño and cilantro doused in sticky sauce. Like any good BLT, the earthy veggies do the heavy lifting while the bacon sits back and tastes like fried pork, which is to say delicious.
The most aggressively trendy fare on the menu is the tinned fish ($19), which pairs oily sardines with grilled pinsa (think pizza dough, but healthier) and an assortment of raw and pickled vegetables. Any further description would be redundant. Just pile up the pinsa with sardines, a squeeze of lemon and as much vegetation as possible to create a salty, tangy, slightly smoky mouthful.
What to drink
When it comes to cocktails ($13), Gonzalez follows a simple outline: Start with the classics and add a twist. The Oaxacan old-fashioned swaps out the standard-issue bourbon and orange peel for reposado tequila, mezcal and a grapefruit twist. Smoky mezcal lingers in your nose while sweet agave syrup eases you past the initial lemoncharged pucker.
The Brooklyn Baby blends dry gin, blueberry, sage, hibiscus and lemon in a pastel pink, intensely botanical concoction. Drinking it is what I imagine it would be like to eat a flower bed — in a good way, I promise — with just enough sweetness to remind you you’re sipping a fun pink cocktail.
At Gather, the atmosphere makes the experience
In the same way that Gather has something for everyone, there are probably things that will make you raise an eyebrow. “Vegan Philly cheesesteak … that’s like, an oxymoron, right?” said one diner scanning his menu nearby.
Nonethless, Gonzalez and Reinstrom don’t want to shy away from the experiences that have shaped them. Thai rice dishes don’t often occupy a menu alongside grilled pizza, but excluding either would mean leaving out part of the owners’ identities. Nods to the duo’s eclectic backgrounds are everywhere, even in the lighting fixtures — Reinstrom, who studied interior design in college, handcrafted them from clay.
Prints from local artists on the walls, smooth stones pressed into the bar top and rows of caramel-colored woodworking create a setting that — pardon the painfully Gen-Z terminology — is simply a vibe. Gonzalez half-jokingly called the atmosphere a “vibe lighthouse,” attracting likeminded folks to eat, drink and hang out.
If you’re going to get coffee and sardines anywhere, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better table to gather around.