Angela McCrovitz, the chef once known for her lobster rolls at The Captain's House in Gary's lakefront Miller neighborhood, has returned to Northwest Indiana with a new mobile concept: Scarsdale's Soup Apothecary, a converted school bus decked out with vintage apothecary styling, amber bottles and botanical imagery, serving up handcrafted soups and artisan breads to evoke a traveling neighborhood apothecary.
McCrovitz's return to the region was reported by The Times, which detailed the new venture's quirky theatrical touches: customers place their orders on prescription-inspired slips, and McCrovitz wears a chef's uniform modeled after a traditional pharmacist's white coat. The concept includes a Daily Dose flight of three soups served with fresh bread, a nod to the apothecary bit running through the whole operation. The Times reports McCrovitz returned to the region in part to spend time with her mother.
From Miller Beach to the Green Mountains and Back
This isn't McCrovitz's first reinvention. Before launching the soup bus, she had a roughly four-and-a-half-week stretch at The Landgrove Inn in Landgrove, Vermont, where she designed seasonal menus and storytelling wine dinners in the Green Mountains, according to Women's Magazine.
McCrovitz's original flagship, The Captain's House, sat at 6004 Miller Avenue in Gary's Miller Beach enclave near Lake Michigan, per Visit Indiana. The restaurant built her a loyal following in the region. The NWI Times' “Chefs of Steel” showcase identified her Low Country Boil at Captain's House as her signature dish.
A Career Built on Discipline and Storytelling
McCrovitz's path to the soup bus runs through the United States Air Force, where she served before building a culinary career that has included mentorship, according to Women's Magazine. She also runs Table & Thyme, a Northwest Indiana private-dining and catering outfit.
The Times reports McCrovitz is developing Scarsdale's Soup Apothecary for farmers markets, festivals, community events, private gatherings and corporate workplaces throughout Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland. Beyond the bus itself, she plans to offer cooking classes and private chef services.
A Valparaiso Partnership
Central to those expansion plans is a partnership with Valparaiso restaurant chef Chris Pavlou, a self-taught chef whose flagship downtown establishment, Radius, was named Northwest Indiana Restaurant of the Year for two consecutive years, according to GreatNews.Life.
Community Cooking
McCrovitz's work extends into community events as well. She was scheduled to curate the Pink Carpet Experience culinary program at Moo Moos & Margaritas, an event for breast cancer survivors, Friday at East Chicago Marina, according to a Facebook post from the event's organizers. The appearance reflects a thread running through her recent career, blending experiential, story-driven dining with community engagement, even as she builds out the apothecary-themed soup bus into a fixture of Northwest Indiana's food scene.
