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Cunningham Restaurant Group, the parent company of Vida, Livery and other dining concepts, will serve five-course meals during two nights of this year’s Butter fine art fair, organizers announced Friday.
Cunningham’s pop-up restaurant is a partnership with GangGang, the creative advocacy agency that founded Butter as an annual showcase for Black artists.
The fifth edition of Butter will be presented Aug. 28-31 at the Stutz, 1060 N. Capitol Ave.
The dining experience is planned at the Butter Loft VIP Lounge, which is on the third floor of a building south of the Stutz. The 20,000-square-foot warehouse space is part of a building known as Stutz II.
Two 60-seat dining sessions are planned each night of Aug. 29 and 30. Tickets are priced at $250 and include admission to the art fair.
Cunningham Restaurant Group CEO Mike Cunningham said the meals will celebrate the intersection of fine dining and fine art.
“It’s sort of an ‘art on a plate’ idea,” Cunningham said. “Our culinary team will produce a five-course dining experience, and it’s going to be fun. The Butter event has had a lot of success and it seems to be gaining momentum. This was something they brought to our attention. They asked, ‘Would you like to partner with us?’ and we said, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Carl Chambers, Cunningham Restaurant Group’s executive chef, and Colin Hilton, the company’s chef de cuisine, will oversee the meals. In March, Hilton won the title of 2025 World Food Champion in the World Food Championships competition.
Artful plating is a Cunningham Restaurant Group strength, Cunningham said.
“If you go to Vida, people often will say, ‘This is too pretty to eat.’ We want to expand on that,” Cunningham said of his restaurant at 601 E. New York St. that was listed on OpenTable’s top 100 list in 2024 and Yelp’s top 100 list in 2023.
Butter fine art fair, known for collecting no entry fees or sales commissions from artists, is no longer confined to Indianapolis. A pop-up version of Butter opened July 26 in Los Angeles and will continue its presence at the Context Projects gallery through Aug. 17.
The show includes work by Indiana artists Gary Gee, Samuel Levi Jones, Ashley Nora and Samuel Levi Jones. Additional pop-up versions of Butter are planned for Chicago in October and Miami in December.
To purchase tickets for the Cunningham Restaurant Group dining experience at Butter, visit butterartfair.com.
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Seems like a major missed opportunity