A Bloomington restaurant known for its wings is coming to Carmel.
BuffaLouie’s is aiming for a November opening in the adjacent spaces that were previously home to the Carmel Chocolate Cafe and Main Street Barber Shop on the southeast corner of Main Street and Veterans Way in Carmel’s Arts & Design District.
The restaurant, selected as one of the top 10 wing joints in the U.S. by USA Today, opened in Bloomington in 1987. Besides wings, BuffaLouie’s offers salads, burgers, sandwiches and more.
BuffaLouie’s was founded by Jay Lieser, a Buffalo, N.Y., native, during his junior year at Indiana University. The restaurant is named after his late grandfather, Louie Lieser. Lieser family recipes inspired many of the restaurant’s offerings, and Jay Lieser’s mother, Trudy, plans to attend the grand opening.
The Carmel restaurant will be the second BuffaLouie’s location and includes former Indiana University basketball standout Yogi Ferrell as a partner. Lieser said he hopes the expansion into Carmel will serve as a “springboard” to open additional restaurants in the Indianapolis area.
“As I travel the state, the country and even outside the country, and you mentioned Indiana University or BuffaLouie’s and it definitely has some notoriety,” Lieser said. “We take pride in what we create in our name and our brand and really are looking forward to coming to Carmel.”
Previous tenants in the space Main Street Barber Shop relocated to 2462 E. 116th St. in Merchants’ Square in the fall of 2022, and the Carmel Chocolate Cafe closed last month.
Learn more about BuffaLouie’s at BuffaLouies.com.
