Roundup: French macarons in Westfield, Italian in Carmel and just-add-meat meals

The owner of Zionsville treatery Le Dolce Vita Patisserie plans to open a second European-style bakery in downtown Westfield.

Union Baking Co., located in a historic bank building at the corner of Union and Main streets, likewise will specialize in French macarons—thin meringue-based sandwich cookies with a variety of fillings.

It’s scheduled to open sometime this month.

Owner Kelly Evans began baking while in high school and worked as a private-duty flight attendant before opening sister shop Le Dolce Vita in 2010.

The new bakery’s offerings reflect global influences the Carmel resident picked up along the way: Union’s website said beignets, croissants and kolaches will be among an array of baked goods changing daily (along with the ubiquitous cupcake).

“There is such joy in watching people enjoy the treats I make,” Evans wrote on the site. “It is truly a blessing.”

In other retail news from the northern ’burbs:

— Fresh Artistry meal prep kits are set to debut Friday at Moody’s Butcher Shop, 11145 N. Michigan Road. Carmel entrepreneur Tom Blessing’s refrigerated, just-add-meat kits contain a recipe from Black Swan Brewpub chef Nicholas Carter and enough spices and oils for a single serving. The ingredients for a side dish (usually a vegetable) also are included.

Prices range from $5.99 to $7.99.

Blessing, a 2009 Indiana University grad, came up with the idea while working as an investment banker in Manhattan. He was single, busy and new to the kitchen.

“I thought it was silly to buy $25-$30 worth of ingredients to make one meal when I was only using a quarter of what I bought for the recipe,” he wrote in an email to IBJ.

— An Italian eatery is planned for 620 S. Range Line Road, in Carmel’s Mohawk Place Shopping Center. Owner Lucio Romani’s 2,000-square-foot Roma Italian Restaurant is expected to seat about 130.

— A former sandwich shop in the Providence Shoppes at 12505 Old Meridian St. in Carmel is being transformed into a pizza parlor. Crust Pizza is planned for a 2,700-square-foot storefront.

— Ossip Optometry is planning a 4,600-square-foot store at 1583 W. Oak St. in Zionsville, west of Ford Road. Founded in Broad Ripple in 1952, the local eye-care practice has 16 locations throughout central Indiana, including one in a nearby Zionsville professional building that presumably will close.

— Crews are working on the first phase of South Village of Zionsville West, a (not-for-the-directionally-challenged) retail development anchored by Bub’s Burgers. The Carmel mainstay also operates a food truck and a café. The 5,100-square-foot restaurant is taking shape at  576 S. Zionsville Road.