Food, Culture, & Community: Lino's Coffee

Located in the heart of the iconic town of Speedway’s Old Main Street is a little Italian gem, and what is becoming a neighborhood anchor known as Lino’s Coffee. On January 13, Andrew and I headed west on 16th with high expectations and large appetites. We were both eager to see this small piece of Italy for ourselves. Once there, we found this quaint coffee shop offers a wide array of coffee blends from around the world, and as many varieties of espresso drinks as coffee blends. To accompany the coffee, Lino’s also offers exquisite, simple, and freshly prepared sandwiches featuring a wide array of charcuterie from imported prosciutto to Italian ham. They also offer delicious Italian staples like personal pizzas.

Here’s a little background: The original Lino’s Coffee opened in 1990 as a small coffee-roasting factory in the town of Parma, Italy. Within the first five years of opening, Lino’s experienced great success by importing the best beans from all over the world. This success culminated in 1995 when Lino’s was invited to join the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe.

Six years later, the small, but accomplished roastery opened its first coffee shop just outside of Parma. The town had never seen anything like it. Lino’s served up specialty, Italian style coffee beverages in an atmosphere much like the American-style coffeehouse. After experiencing a great deal of success, Lino’s expanded both nationally and internationally by opening similar shops across Italy, and eventually around the world. Soon the countries of Egypt, France, Kuwait, South Africa, Switzerland, and the town of Speedway, Indiana began enjoying the delicious coffee shop that is Lino’s.

Lino’s offers Indianapolis and Speedway an authentic Italian culinary experience that pairs well with the mutual loves for Formula 1 racing and coffee, found in both Italy and Indy. With coffees still internationally sourced, and numerous dishes featuring imported Italian meats and cheeses, this little coffee shop boasts big flavors in ethnic fashion. As if that wasn’t enough, Lino’s offers a unique twist in its dining experience as it sits, located in lobby of the Italy-based Dallara IndyCar Factory. This means that not only will you experience authentic Italian goodies when you take your appetite to Lino’s, but you might also experience the Italian racing community as Lino’s is frequented by Italian Formula 1 drivers and engineers.

We left Lino’s with our bellies full, and with a newfound respect for the neighborhood anchor that the coffee shop has become for Speedway’s industrial community. In the coming years, the Old Main Street corridor will continue to be redeveloped as a primary area of concentration of the Speedway Redevelopment Commission. We were all encouraged at the thought that community leaders will always be able to find common ground for important conversations over delicious food and coffee at Lino’s.