Away from the busiest downtown and campus blocks, Bloomington has small independent kitchens that are easy to drive past: a gluten-free cafe, family-run restaurants in shopping strips, old-school counter shops and small bakeries. These are places local writers and neighbors keep coming back to.
Kitchens and cafes
Brightside Cafe
Brightside is a fully gluten-free restaurant and bakery on the lower level of Fountain Square Mall, reached from the Walnut Street side. Local owners opened it to give people on gluten-restricted diets a place to eat without checking every ingredient.
Hive
Hive is a counter-service restaurant on East 10th Street, away from the downtown and campus crowds. The menu is comfort food with an international slant, with breakfast, bowls, sandwiches and roast chicken, plus community tables and a dog-friendly patio.
Bangkok Thai Cuisine
Bangkok Thai Cuisine is a family-run Thai restaurant on the east side at Covenanter Drive, in the former Limestone Grille space. Bloom Magazine described a dining room built around a carved limestone wall that spells Indiana.
Kabul Corner
Kabul Corner is a small Afghan teahouse on East Third Street, opened in December 2025 by Nargis Orokzai. It serves tea from Afghan-owned brands, including cardamom tea, with pastries such as roht, and sells dried fruit, nuts and woven rugs.
La Bonita Restaurant & Market
La Bonita pairs a Mexican restaurant with a small Latin market on North College Avenue. The market stocks groceries, snacks and drinks, and its bakery turns out Mexican breads and desserts daily. The menu also lists birria and tacos.
Judy’s Kitchen
Judy's Kitchen is a Chinese and Taiwanese carryout-oriented restaurant on East Third Street, where the site says its Taiwanese and Cantonese chefs have more than 30 years of cooking experience. It sits well away from the downtown and campus blocks.
Bakeries and sweets
Two Sticks Bakery
Two Sticks is a small, women-owned bakery on South Washington Street that bakes from scratch each day. Morning pastries, hand pies, focaccia, scones, cookies and cake by the slice sell out early, so it keeps short weekday and Saturday morning hours.
Rainbow Bakery
Rainbow Bakery is a vegan bakery in the I. Fell Building at Fourth and Rogers, with donuts, cookies, cupcakes and cakes. It keeps a separate case and workstation for gluten-free items, and its coffee drinks are made with plant milks.
Piccoli Dolci
Piccoli Dolci began in 2011 as a small business making regional Italian cookies and now runs a Market-Cafe in a Pete Ellis Drive shopping strip. Cantucci, nocciolini and other cookies are baked from scratch, along with tarts, cakes and savory lunch items.
Cresent Donut
Cresent Donut is a small shop on South Adams Street that sticks to classic yeast and cake doughnuts, coffee and milk. Visit Bloomington dates it to 1961. Bloom Magazine profiled it as a plain neighborhood shop with no novelty flavors.
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