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When creating a local restaurant from scratch for the first time, Rootstock Hospitality Group owners Andrew Vudis and Ryan Craig wanted to give customers a wealth of appealing choices.
“Craveable” choices, even, in the words of Vudis.
Aberdeen Social House, which opened in December near the intersection of 96th and North Meridian streets, aims for just that by providing a bit of sensory overload.
“I wanted to get people to come here, look at the menu and say, ‘I’m not really sure what I want, because I see four or five things that I want,’” Vudis said. “That creates those return visits, where people can come multiple times in a week and get something different.”
For Vudis and Craig, former Ruth’s Chris Steak House executives who established Rootstock Hospitality Group in 2017, Aberdeen represents a bold culinary statement.
The restaurant joins a Rootstock portfolio that includes long-running Capri Italian Restaurant and a quartet of Another Broken Egg Cafe locations. While Capri has been part of the Indianapolis restaurant landscape since the 1950s, and Another Broken Egg Cafe is a national chain, Aberdeen is the brainchild of Vudis and Craig.
Delivering high-quality food, service and ambience in equal measure is Aberdeen’s goal. Operating a restaurant becomes a challenge, Vudis said, when those components are out of balance. Great food can be undone by a bad location. Underwhelming service can squander a perfect location.
“Let’s combine everything,” Vudis said. “Let’s have something unique that doesn’t look like every other restaurant. The menu doesn’t look like every other restaurant’s. It’s really approachable, but it’s elevated.”
A fusion of flavors is found on Aberdeen’s menu, which features Wagyu pierogi as a Japan-meets-Poland appetizer and pineapple upside-down cake—accented by miso caramel sauce and vanilla gelato—among the desserts.
Chef Bruce Starr said unusual execution is key to the restaurant’s popular smoked short rib.
“We smoke the short rib for probably an hour and a half and let it slow cook for a few more hours,” said Starr, Rootstock’s culinary director. “Then we sous vide the short rib with a ramen broth. We serve it with samosa dumplings, so you have Japanese, some American and Indian cuisine combined into one dish.”
Aberdeen Social House occupies an 8,300-square-foot building where Granite City Food & Brewery served customers from 2009 to 2019. Rootstock replaced Granite City’s brewing equipment with a members-only space known as Ash at Aberdeen. Hidden away from the public dining room, Ash is stocked with modern art and high-end bourbon.
Meanwhile, the public dining room is home to a pair of refrigerated wine cellars (one for white, one for red). Visual art examples include two works by Hungarian photographer Bence Bakonyi.
Rootstock co-founder Vudis added text to customize Bakonyi’s images of people in mid-air. Near the door to Aberdeen’s kitchen, he penned an excerpt of 2004 Modest Mouse song “Float On” to reassure staffers as they navigate the ups and downs of restaurant work: “We’ll all float on,” regardless.
Inside Aberdeen’s entrance, Vudis scrawled a Yves Saint Laurent quote for all who arrive at the restaurant: “The most beautiful people are those who are kind and compassionate.”
More brunch
Rootstock’s next restaurant will be the company’s fifth location of Another Broken Egg Cafe.
The brunch spot will occupy 5,000 square feet in the Hobbs Station mixed-use development in Plainfield.
The project at U.S. 40 and North Perry Road includes more than 200 single-family homes, 650 apartments, 120 senior housing units and 50,000 square feet of retail and restaurants. Isaac Bamgbose, founder of New City Development Partners, said he’s looking for staying power when lining up commercial tenants for Hobbs Station.
“Is this a place that is going to stand the test of time with regard to the market we’re doing our project in? The last thing we want to do is put someone in, spend the money to prepare the space and then have to re-tenant the space after a couple of years,” Bamgbose said. “We also look for folks who add vibrancy and create a true live, work and play feel for the ground floor.”
In 2017, Rootstock acquired two Another Broken Egg Cafe locations (West Lafayette and Indianapolis) and opened another in Fishers, In 2021, the company added a second Indianapolis location.
Bamgbose said he met Vudis and Craig when they worked for Ruth’s Chris and he worked for Hendricks Commercial Properties. Ironworks Hotel & Apartments, 2727 E. 86th St., is a Hendricks development that became home to a Ruth’s Chris restaurant in 2014.
Vudis said Another Broken Egg Cafe locations aren’t charging more for menu items because of spiking egg prices related to the avian flu outbreak.
“One of the tough things about the restaurant business is the commodities going up and down,” Vudis said. “We faced the same challenges at Ruth’s Chris with beef prices. We’re paying four times more now for eggs than we were this time last year. It’s just one of the challenges.”
Vudis, a 49-year-old alum of Ben Davis High School and Ball State University, initially worked as a busboy at the downtown Ruth’s Chris, 45 S. Illinois St.
Craig, a 48-year-old alum of Carmel High School and Dayton University, worked at magic-themed restaurant Magic Moments and Peterson’s steakhouse before his stint at Ruth’s Chris.
Shea Parthun, general manager at Aberdeen Social House, said Vudis and Craig understand what it’s like to be an entry-level employee.
“They’ve worked in all the positions in the restaurant,” said Parthun, who also filled the general manager role at Capri. “They get it, and they are there to support. They hired me for a reason, and they give me that autonomy to run this business. They don’t need to micromanage me because they are such good and respectful owners.”
Vudis agreed with Parthun on the topic of valuable work experience.
“You will find that within a lot of companies, successful higher-level executives have started at the bottom,” he said. “That’s really the way to learn the business. There’s a lot of great hospitality schools that teach a lot of things that are important, but this is also a business where you can learn on the job, get that experience and work your way up.”
Personal touch
Vudis said he’s seen a decreased emphasis on hospitality in restaurants during the past decade—and especially since the pandemic. But he wants Rootstock staffers to be friendly and hospitable in all situations.
“I think expectations have changed,” he said. “In a lot of places, if you’re bringing my food and I get the bill in a somewhat timely manner, then we’re good to go.”
Hospitality training isn’t downplayed at Rootstock.
“You have to teach younger people a lot of those things that are so important,” Vudis said. “Why it makes a difference to use someone’s name, or why it makes a difference to walk someone to the bathroom instead of just saying, ‘Take a left at the bar.’”
Parthun, who grew up in Valparaiso and worked for Indianapolis-based Won’t Stop Hospitality Inc. (parent of the Patachou restaurant group) before being hired by Rootstock, said it’s important to be attentive to customers and to not view them “as a dollar sign.”
An effective approach, she said, is for staff members to consider the restaurant as an extension of their home.
“Be accessible,” Parthun said. “If you have people in your home and you’re entertaining in your home, you’re engaging with them, getting to know them or expanding on the relationship you already have.”
Aberdeen’s ascent
In addition to Aberdeen, Capri and the Another Broken Egg Cafe locations, the Rootstock portfolio includes a catering business and the Harrison Restaurant & Event Center at Golf Club of Alexandria in Madison County.
Vudis said the Rootstock name was inspired by the unheralded base of plant life.
“It does a lot of the work underground to keep the life above ground,” Vudis said of Rootstock. “That’s kind of what our home office is. We are behind the scenes. We’re not necessarily flashy. We want our people and our restaurants to speak for themselves.”
Regarding the Aberdeen name, Vudis said some credit goes to Granite City—the Minnesota-based chain that cleared out of 150 W. 96th St. years before Rootstock purchased the property.
Vudis said he and Craig needed a code name to substitute for Granite City when they had early discussions about launching a restaurant.
Through research, Vudis learned that “Granite City” is a nickname for Aberdeen, Scotland.
“We started calling it Aberdeen, just as our code in the office,’” he said.
New City Development Partners founder Bamgbose praised Rootstock’s makeover of the building.
“One of the challenges you face when you’re converting a space like that is to make sure it doesn’t feel like just a retrofit space,” Bamgbose said. “I think they did a great job of that.”
Beyond acquiring the property, Rootstock invested “a few million” dollars renovating the building for Aberdeen, Vudis said.
Across three months of doing business, the restaurant has established itself as a neighborhood favorite, Vudis said.
“We’ve done no major marketing push or advertising push,” he said. “We opened the doors. A lot of times, in this day and age, especially with social media, that’s all you need to do. … We want to be known as a go-to place for dinner, lunch and brunch.”•
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