Lunch in a $14.5 million home: inside Restoration Hardware's Indianapolis restaurant

My steadily disintegrating 2004 Toyota Camry has been a lot of places it shouldn’t — arguably anytime it leaves my apartment complex’s parking lot — but it’s never looked more out of place than when it rolled up the gravel drive of the DeHaan estate at 4501 N. Michigan Road.

The former home of Indianapolis businesswoman and philanthropist Christel DeHaan became the highest-selling residential property in state history when Restoration Hardware bought it for $14.5 million in September 2022. Now, the seven-bedroom mansion serves as an RH gallery with a restaurant called simply enough the Dining Room.

As someone whose 625-square-foot apartment features a twin XL mattress that has occupied five different residences across two states and a drop-leaf table that recently had to be glued back together, I hesitate to comment on RH’s upscale furniture.

The food is another story.

What's on the menu at Restoration Hardware's restaurant?

A colleague and I recently lunched at the Dining Room in the mansion's ballroom overlooking a 35-acre lake, working our way through roughly a quarter of its slim daytime menu. The cuisine is largely what you’d expect at a fine dining establishment: steak, salmon, an expansive wine list and a staggering volume of aioli.

Small menus don’t automatically denote quality, but I can appreciate a restaurant sticking to its strengths. For my money, the Dining Room’s core strength is its appetizers.

A plump, generously peppered disc of burrata cheese joins three planks of charred ciabatta bread and a cluster of roasted mini red, yellow and orange peppers ($20). You run a fork through the burrata’s supple exterior, coaxing out fine mozzarella curds suspended in clotted cream.

The ciabatta is relatively pedestrian, but its taste is less important than the airy pockets dotting its surface. Cream eagerly pools into each divot, turning the audibly crunchy bread chewy and faintly sweet.

The jewel of the plate is the roasted peppers. Their bright, surprisingly fruity flavor contrasts splendidly against the smoky blackened skin, while a restrained scattering of basil cranks the freshness up to 11.

Also on the starters menu are crispy baby artichokes served with rosemary aioli ($18). Your teeth shatter through dozens of flaky petals curled around a tender, almost creamy heart. The taste is unmistakably fried yet refreshingly vegetal, while the aioli bathes everything in pleasant, mild funkiness. It was the best bite of the meal.

Entrees range from sandwiches to steak at RH Indianapolis

We chose our entrées mostly by process of elimination. I’m philosophically opposed to paying $18 for a cheeseburger — especially when the truffle fries cost another $16 — so the RH burger was off the table. Admittedly, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a few second thoughts watching a waiter walk by with one on a platter.

Meanwhile, I didn’t think I’d discover anything insightful in the filet mignon ($48) or the 12-ounce ribeye ($56). Steaks that cost $50 generally taste good, and even if they don’t, you’re probably going to convince yourself they do anyway.

That left the sandwiches. I got the rotisserie chicken with arugula on buttered ciabatta ($22), while my colleague opted for the charred ribeye with caramelized onion and more aioli on ciabatta ($32).

The chicken was commendably tender for breast meat, and the ribeye had a nice smoky chew. Caramelized onions remain one of life’s inimitable joys, and charred ciabatta is a solid bread option.

I have no regrets about my sandwich, but I enjoyed my side of charred heirloom broccolini ($12) significantly more. The verdant stems snap with bright, lemony flavor, while the florets soak up acidity and a twinge of heat from the garlic and Calabrian chili peppers.

On the opposite end of the food pyramid, the Dining Room offers three desserts: caramelized banana split ($14), butterscotch brûlée ($12) and a slice of SusieCakes birthday cake ($14). We opted for the brûlée, mostly because its description on the menu read, “No words.” I’m nothing if not a curious eater.

A brass-colored sheet of crackly sugar readily splinters with a few good whacks of a spoon before dissolving on your tongue in little crystals. Each spoonful of the decadent butterscotch cream eases onto your palate with toasty caramel notes. Clearly, the dessert didn't leave me with "no words," but I have no complaints, either.

An atmosphere of luxury in the Restoration Hardware Dining Room

If you think the food sounds decent but questionably expensive, that’s because it is. RH wants to create an atmosphere of luxury and exclusivity — no professional photographers allowed, for example — so you’re partially paying for the experience.

Even if I didn’t adore my chicken sandwich, I was still eating it in a small castle next to a private lake. The wait staff, while still working out some kinks, was extremely attentive. If you like a little pampering, you’ll have a blast. If you also like menus that prominently feature the word charred, you’re basically in heaven.

Is RH's food worth a visit to the Christel DeHaan Mansion?

I assume if you visit the Dining Room, it will be for a special occasion, an important meeting or because your pockets are deeper than mine. Nothing I write should stop you from living it up, Napa wine and all.

Perhaps I shouldn’t turn up my nose at expensive food. While I struggle to fathom a reason to justify an $18 cheeseburger, I suppose overhead costs at a lakeside château are a bit higher than your average Wendy’s.

I’m just saying, it would be nice if it came with fries.

Contact dining reporter Bradley Hohulin at bhohulin@gannett.com. You can follow him on Twitter/X @bradleyhohulin.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: A look inside the Restauration Hardware Indianapolis Dining Room