Roxanna Williams has been in the food business for decades. She’s worked in large restaurants with over 200 seats, but she wanted her Thai restaurant to be more intimate.

“I wanted it to be like eating at grandma’s house,” Williams said.

So, she and her family renovated a former hair salon located inside a house on the southeast side of Indianapolis. Williams has worked to capture a family environment by hanging decorations, such as a large wooden sculpture from her childhood home in the 1970s and 1980s. The family feel gets an added boost from her four sons who work with Williams at the restaurant.

Baan Thai Bistro serves some of Williams’ own recipes, but most of them come from her mother, whose food has roots from the northeast and southern provinces of Thailand.

Roxanna Williams prepares Thai beef jerky, fried rice and egg rolls at Baan Thai Bistro in Wanamaker, a tiny 2-mile long community in Franklin Township in Indianapolis on May 6, 2026. Credit: Abra Richardson/Mirror Indy

But the restaurant is in an unlikely location — Wanamaker, a community along a roughly 2-mile stretch of Southeastern Avenue in Franklin Township.

Baan Thai Bistro is one of roughly a dozen Wanamaker restaurants that are redefining the area and cooking a new up-and-coming food scene. Multiple new eateries have popped up over the past six months including Fizz’n, a soda shop; Bread by Jen, a bakery run by a registered nurse; and The 3 Princesses Ice Cream, which also sells snacks.

The owners of Sahara Bazaar, a small Indian grocery store, have operated their shop for three years. By the end of May, the owners are expected to open Gup Shup Punjabi Cafe and Street Food. Plus, Hoosier Brewing Company has been working to open a south side facility.

One of the reasons Wanamaker has attracted visitors over the years is because of New Bethel Ordinary, a popular family-owned pizza pub and bar. Jaida Austin, manager of New Bethel Ordinary, is a born and raised Wanamaker resident who loves living and working in the area.

Over the past decade, Austin said the increase in housing has contributed to the growing neighborhood.

“From when I first started into now, it’s completely different,” Austin said. “Clientele, how much busier we are, how many people we see in a short amount of time. It’s absolutely insane.”

New Bethel Ordinary’s homemade white chicken chili served with garlic bread loaf, chicken cordon bleu sliders with curly fries, rilled chicken pesto flatbread and Texas BBQ Burger. Credit: New Bethel Ordinary/Facebook

Could Wanamaker be the new Zionsville?

The community has existed since around 1834, according to the Franklin Township Historical Society. It was initially named New Bethel after a nearby church. But, after residents realized that New Bethel was already the name of another area, it was changed to Wanamaker in the late 1800s, after John Wanamaker, President Benjamin Harrison’s postmaster general.

By the 1880s, the neighborhood had grown to around 150 people, then jumped to 4,500 around 1970. The former unincorporated town lost its independent status in 1970 when Indianapolis absorbed many of the surrounding areas and created a combined city-county government, known as Unigov. Since then, some residents feel like the area was forgotten, leaving behind dilapidated buildings. But the town has continued to grow, with at least 29,000 people living there according to 2020 Census data.

“I feel like it’s almost outside of Franklin Township because a lot of people who live in Franklin Township don’t even know that this little area exists,” Williams said.

The Wanamaker community is working to elevate the area’s profile with plans to revitalize the neighborhood over the next decade. The goal is to enhance the community’s local charm while also attracting new businesses and providing more public amenities.

Russell E. Flagle, a former Wanamaker resident who died in 2021, owned multiple properties in the community, including the building where Williams operates the Thai restaurant, as well as at least 25 acres of undeveloped agricultural land, according to city documents.

Now, Williams said the Russell E. Flagle Charitable Trust is working with the city to create a new community center, as well as refurbish an old alley that will connect the center to local businesses.

“We could be the new Zionsville,” Williams said. “We could literally transform it and create a real community within Franklin Township.”

More Wanamaker restaurants along Southeastern Avenue

Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.

Mirror Indy reporter Elizabeth Gabriel covers the south side of Marion County. Contact her at elizabeth.gabriel@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X at @_elizabethgabs.

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