Three restaurants opened on the east side of Bloomington over winter break, including a new local option, a regional chain and the introduction of a national franchise to Bloomington.
Burgers, Wings, & Things, opened on Dec. 4, replacing Moe’s Southwest Grill east of the 45/46 bypass, owner Jenny Hendrickson said.
The establishment serves a wide variety of specialty menu items including burgers and sandwiches, Hendrickson said. Aside from sandwiches, the restaurant also serves wings, soups, salads, garlic parmesan fries, breakfast bowls and quesadillas.
The restaurant’s jumbo wings are its most popular item, Hendrickson said.
When dining in, plan to order via a routinely sanitized touchscreen kiosk which cuts back on face-to-face contact, Hendrickson said. The restaurant runs specials with local delivery services and is running a $5 off special with Btown Menus, she said.
Johnny Lin, owner of Sakura 15, said that the Japanese restaurant opened its doors on Dec. 15 in Bloomington, but it is not the first Sakura location. There are 14 other store locations across several states including Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, Lin said.
It’s located in the Shoppes shopping mall south of College Mall.
Sakura 15 serves traditional Japanese items such as sushi, miso soup, hibachi, bento boxes and teriyaki as well as fried rice, lo mein, vietnamese pho noodles and poke bowls.
Sakura 15 has dine-in and takeout and delivers with Uber, DoorDash and Btown Menus, Lin said.
Dunkin’ and Baskin Robbins also opened in early December. The donut, coffee and ice cream place opened up in the former Steak ‘n Shake location west of College Mall on Dec. 7, employee Lindsay Koontz said.
Popular food menu items include croissants, sandwiches and donuts, Koontz said. Most people stopping by the store order coffee, and the ability to customize your drink is really popular, she said.
“We have a 10% discount for all IU students and we are also extending our hours back to 10 p.m. when students return,” said Koontz.
The store location also reintroduces Baskin Robbins ice cream to Bloomington. It was last seen in Bloomington on Kirkwood Avenue around the time “Breaking Away” was filmed.
The Dunkin and Baskin Robbins is open for dine-in and through drive-thru.
