Mark Jacob has been in the restaurant business for 35 years. He wanted to open a tapas restaurant for almost 20 of them.

But the more he learned about the Spanish custom of friends sharing small plates of food at one or more bars before going to dinner, the more he felt that “tapas isn’t really possible in the U.S. because of the differences in the way we eat,” he said.

But Jacob knew it was possible to re-create the energy of a shared meal, so the man behind a series of successful Far-Northside eateries — Gritzbe’s, Salvatore’s, Café Nora and Zorro’s — came Downtown and opened Zing.

The restaurant occupies a long-vacant building at Indiana Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street, across from the Madame Walker Theatre Center. The contemporary decor is complemented by fusion cuisine such as stuffed medjool dates with chorizo sausage and bacon, pineapple tamale with sautéed shrimp, spicy chipotle spinach al fredo, and grilled mahi mahi tacos with avocado cream, jicama slaw and cilantro pesto.

But the restaurant’s most appealing feature is the large balcony, which offers a great view of Downtown and a street-life vitality.

Zing StreetCred:
http://www.indy.com/streetcred/l...