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Bruce Kopp/Eyewitness News
Indianapolis, April 21 - Actor Abe Benrubi, recently in Miss Congeniality Two and NBC's ER, is back in Broad Ripple taking a short break from his television and film career to pursue his latest project.
"And this weekend we start my new role as restaurateur at Brugge Brasserie."
Located below the Netheads Internet Café along the Monon Trail in Broad Ripple, the restaurant is an outgrowth of some 20 years of friendship that began at Broad Ripple High School.
"It's the whole group of people that's involved in Brugge are all buddies from high school. We've known each other 28 years, some of us."
The kitchen will serve crepes, steamed mussels and pomme frittes, the French version of the french fry.
There are the artistic touches of his close personal friends, all the way down to the beer tap handles.
"Brugge Brasserie is what's known in Europe as a gastro pub, serving high-end food in a pub-like atmosphere. What makes it even more unique is it comes with its own built-in brewery."
Ted Miller is the brewmaster. "This side typically in a larger brewery would be called the brew house. And this side would be called the tank farm. But in brew pubs we put it all in one room."
Miller is one of the close friends opening the restaurant. He is passionate in his vision of the food that will be served, the beer that will be poured and even the soft drinks that will be made on site. "We're going to do Bingham Root Beer and Bingham Orange Vanilla soda. This is named after Joseph Bingham School Number 84. We will donate 84 cents of every glass of that to school 84."
If it's successful, Benrubi and his high school friends say it could be the start of a new restaurant trend. "We'd like to open a couple more throughout the Midwest and, depending upon the success, see where we can go with that. "
The restaurant opens Friday morning.
Benrubi says he'll head back to his home in Los Angeles after the restaurant's grand opening to resume filming more episodes of ER.
