At the end of 2018, I reported that 30 new restaurants were coming to Indianapolis in 2019. Just a handful of those were slated for the downtown area. Since then, a dozen new restaurants have opened in and around Mile Square, and you'll be happy to hear not a single one is a steakhouse.

Another six restaurants are coming soon to the downtown area, and I know of at least two tentative locations planners are not ready to discuss.

Downtown Indy has a dozen high-end steakhouses within a couple blocks of one another, too many as far as some locals are concerned. Restaurants on this list feature everything from classic Italian spaghetti and meatballs to seafood, tacos, vegan comfort food, salads full of local produce, barbecue, wood-fired pizza and a chef's table in the kitchen.

Eat everywhere that matters:Liz Biro is your food tour guide

Most of these places are open now or coming in the next several weeks.

Pier 48

130 S. Pennsylvania St., eatpier48.com

Brown butter lobster rolls, creamy clam chowder, stuffed calamari in tomato sauce, Midwest beef and handmade pasta are some menu features planned at this Carmel-based FK Restaurant Group concept scheduled to open in August at the new Hyatt Place/Hyatt House hotel. Expect indoor and outdoor dining for 225 guests, including 50 seats at the bar. Company CEO Fred Knipscheer is a retired professional hockey player who hit pucks for the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues.

Comida

43 E. 9th St., 317-426-4392, facebook.com/IndyComida

Fried chicken and macaroni and cheese fill quesadillas. Chefs tuck General Tso chicken into tacos, pile bulgogi on nachos and cover corn in Flamin' Hot Cheetos dust for elotes. Breakfast brings biscuits and chorizo gravy. Mexican fusion dictates the menu at this restaurant that opened in February at former Plow & Anchor. The owners are also behind Indy’s Pinnacle Catering Group, and that business' bookings sometimes limit Comida’s menu or affect hours. Call ahead or check Comida social media accounts before you go. Also, keep in mind that Comida closes at 2 p.m. on Tuesdays and Sundays.

Maialina Italian Kitchen & Bar

1105 Prospect St., maialinaindy.com

The family that runs Ambrosia Italian restaurant near Broad Ripple is scheduled to open this 80-seat, contemporary Italian restaurant any day now in the Fountain Square Theatre building. In mid-May, co-owner Francesca Pizzi estimated Maialina would open in three to six weeks. Shareable dishes and a casual atmosphere are what she and her business partner, stepbrother Lawrence Green, have in mind. Lately, they've been showcasing classics like cacio e pepe and and spaghetti with meatballs on Maialina's Instagram.

Kilwins

530 Massachusetts Ave., 317-388-5488, kilwins.com

Kilwins opened in March, and, granted, it's not a restaurant, but you’ll be tempted to make a meal out of fudge. Staff stirs it warm right in front of you. The crew also dips Granny Smith apples in caramel and then chocolate and then chopped pecans. Round out your sweet meal with chocolate-covered everything: pretzels, marshmallows, Oreo cookies, crispy rice cereal treats, caramels, toffee and nut clusters. The Kilwins chain is famous for its ice cream, 32 flavors on Mass Ave, served in housemade waffle cones. Fans have been known to line up out the door for dips at some locations.

Rebar

20 N. Delaware St., 317-685-5100, rebarindy.com

The popping scene that used to be Paddy’s Legal Beagle here feels as if it has returned now that chef Charles Mereday has taken over the space. Previous Rebar owners shuttered the bar and restaurant in January. Mereday bought the business soon after and reopened Rebar in March with a new menu. You’ll be back and forth to the self-service draft beer bar thanks to snacks like sticky, crispy, sour apple ribs or fat fried fish tacos with watermelon salsa. Mereday is a tremendous chef, and it shows at pop-up and private dinners he hosts in Rebar’s side room. As for drinks, share a boozy milkshake or consider the huge bourbon and whiskey list's 100 selections.

Tequila Street Tacos and Cantina

250 S. Meridian St., 317-419-2847, tequilaindymex.com

The owners of Fletcher Place’s Mr. Tequila Mexican restaurant took over what was Urban Eats Grill & Cantina and, in February, turned it into this street tacos spot. True Mexican tacos might hug “chapulines,” meaning “toasted grasshoppers,” and “suadero,” a beef cut from between the belly and the top of the hind leg stewed until it’s roast-beef tender. Find gringo-friendly steak, grilled chicken and fish tacos here, too, as well as all-American Buffalo wings with ranch dressing. The kitchen is open for lunch and dinner daily, and until 5 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Sauce on the Side

130 S. Pennsylvania St., sauceontheside.com

Every kind of calzone you can imagine, including the ones you dream up yourself, are served at this St. Louis-based chain scheduled to open this summer at the new Hyatt Place/Hyatt House hotel across from Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Cock-A-Doodle Noodle made it on Travel Channel’s “Food Paradise” thanks to a filling of mac and cheese, roasted chicken, pancetta, mozzarella, green onions, garlic oil and spicy Buffalo butter.

10th Street Diner

3301 E. 10th St., 463-221-1255, facebook.com/10thStDiner

On the near east side, just a couple miles from Mass Ave., owners Karen Holmes and her son, Will Holmes offer homespun vegan meals. Their from-scratch cashew ricotta and tomato sauce make for total-Mom lasagna. Housemade seitan, fried onions and bell peppers pack a grinder. Appetizers, sandwiches, salads and entrees populatel the small menu, 20 selections in all, plus a couple daily specials and big, lemon-frosted banana cookies. The restaurant opened in mid-May.

Lou Vino

530 Massachusetts Ave., 317-744-9955, louvino.com/massave

Southern cooking inspires new American dishes by one-to-watch chef Elliot Checinski at this wine bar and restaurant that opened March 5 at Penrose on Mass apartment complex. Share signature fried chicken tacos with cheddar, garlic mashed potatoes and pepper gravy, or go more sophisticated with crispy salmon on a bed of black quinoa and goat cheese cream, fried dill fronds on top. For brunch, Checnski serves eggs benedict on cheddar grits cakes instead of English muffins and then tops them with crispy shrimp, red pepper hollandaise and tomato-jalapeno relish.

Public Greens

301 E. Market St., 317-552-1318, publicgreensurbankitchen.com

The Patachou Inc. company that owns Public Greens stays on the cutting edge of what makes restaurants better. This Cummins tower location, launched in January, offers stainless steel lunchboxes that help you achieve zero-waste goals. Get take-out meals in the stackable containers that you drop off when you're done eating, no dish washing. Cafeteria-style service focuses on local ingredients. Baked treats, including giant chocolate chip cookies, greet you at the head of the line. Next up, seasonal salads and hearty dishes like a made-to-order blackened trout bowl with quinoa, cabbage and spicy ranch dressing. A runny egg breakfast sandwich hosting bacon and pimento cheese is on the small breakfast menu.

Krueger's Tavern

323 N. Delaware St., 317-790-3660, kruegerstavern.com

The Cincinnati company behind hot Mass Ave. restaurants Bakersfield (tacos) and The Eagle (fried chicken) added this burger, sausage and canned craft beer place in January at the Mass Ave. and Delaware Street crossroads. Named after the first brewing company to put beer in cans, Krueger’s uses house-ground meats for burgers, sausage and meatballs. Most of the six burgers offered are classics, but each one is a double, including the ghost pepper jack cheeseburger with spicy homemade pickles and chipotle habanero slaw.

The Point on Penn

605 N. Pennsylvania St., 317-746-6961, thepointonpenn.com

What used to be Elbow Room became a three-in-one restaurant in March. Downstairs, The Flatiron, open Wednesday-Sunday, ranges from upmarket steaks to informal burgers and breaded tenderloin. Breakfast in the cottage-cozy front room brings “earth bowls” with grains and vegetables but also biscuits and gravy as well as cappuccino to sip in plush teal-blue wing chairs by the window. The by-reservations-only Upper Room on the second floor hosts a grand, 24-seat chef’s table stretching nearly the length of the narrow space.

Condado Tacos

530 Massachusetts Ave., 317-222-5999, condadotacos.com

Mass Ave.’s newest restaurant is an enormous shrine to tacos. Hit it for late-night munchies or day-drinking easy margaritas and crushing chips with your friends. The 200-seat Mexican restaurant opened in April at the Penrose on Mass apartment complex. Build your own tacos and get them as late at 2 a.m. Graffiti-style art covering the walls throws respect to Indianapolis and the Mass Ave. neighborhood.

Old Gold Barbecue food truck

Metazoa Brewery, 140 S. College Ave., 317-522-0251, oldgoldbarbecue.com

When he’s not tending the fire or smoking meats, pitmaster Alex George splits and stacks the cherry, Indiana white oak and Texas post oak logs he uses to achieve a masterful smoke balance on brisket, ribs, pulled pork and turkey breast served Texas-style on brown-paper-lined sheet pans. “Wait ’til they have one of my half-pound burgers stuffed with brisket, Monterey Jack and serrano,” George says of specials he plans as Old Gold moves closer to occupying brick-and-mortar digs this year. Stayed turned for location details.

Croute

320 N. Meridian St.

Serving mainly as a bakery and test kitchen to support Cunningham Restaurant Group properties such as Vida and Livery, the space will also host what's shaping up to be one the swankiest chef's-table dining experiences downtown. A stunning chandelier will illuminate a 10-seat, cherry wood, locally crafted table in the kitchen for special-event, by-appointment and cook-with-the chef multi-course dinners. Opening day is scheduled sometime this spring.

The Savory Swine

501 N. College Ave., thesavoryswine.com

Owner Lisa Abendroth’s original location is in downtown Columbus. For Indy, she’s sketched a two-story complex including a deli, meat market and lounge offering wine and craft beer at former 501 Eagle nightclub. When it opens before 2019’s end, you’ll be able to pop in for everything from custom-cut and grab-and-go meats to eat-in or take-out sandwiches like roast beef stacked with red pepper and onion relish plus blue-cheese-marbled jack cheese. The Savory Swine’s popular lasagna with ground beef and housemade sausage is among heat-and-eat dishes you'll be able to take home.

Taxman Gastropub

taxmanbrewing.com

Burgers, sandwiches, Belgian-style fries and waffles at Taxman in Bargersville and Fortville are about as popular as the brewery’s fine beers. The menu will be similar at this 3,000-square-foot beer garden and 130-seat restaurant launching in September at CityWay 2.0. The spot will be inside a circa-1800s livery at the Delaware and South streets intersection, across from The Alexander hotel.

King Dough

452 N. Highland Ave., 317-602-7960, kingdoughpizzas.com

Owners Alicia and Adam Sweet are so serious about pizza, you wonder if King Dough’s motto, “Live by pizza. Die by Pizza,” was part of their wedding vows. The Sweets pull their own mozzarella, make dough using natural starter, cop local produce and fire their oven with nothing but wood to produce blister-edged pizzas that would make a displaced Neapolitan weep. The Bloomington-born pizzeria opened in January 2019 in the Holy Cross section of Indianapolis, just a mile from the heart of Downtown.

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