Edamame in Indianapolis

5 restaurants in Indianapolis list edamame on their menus. The cheapest is Watami Sushi at $4.95. The typical price across town is $6.00, and the dearest we found is $9.00 at Modita, so the two ends of the list are $4.05 apart, which is 82% more for the same dish. Of the 5 kitchens listed, 1 charges more than a dollar under the typical price, 2 sit within a dollar of it and 2 charge more than a dollar over.

We track edamame in 14 other areas and compare them all on edamame across United States. The typical price there runs $6.50 at the median, so Indianapolis is cheaper than most of them, with a lower typical price than 8 of the 14. The lowest best price anywhere we cover is $4.00 at Shiku in Seattle, WA, and the highest best price is $5.50 in Naples, FL. The nearest area with it is Nashville, about 260 mi away, where the best price is $4.95.

Where is the cheapest edamame in Indianapolis? Watami Sushi, at $4.95 on 1912 Broad Ripple Avenue. The same dish reaches $9.00 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $4.05.

What should edamame cost here? About $6.00 is the typical price across the 5 kitchens in Indianapolis that list it. Of the ones listed above, 1 is more than a dollar below that and 2 are more than a dollar above, so the typical price is a middle rather than a floor.

Is it cheaper nearby? The nearest area we track it in is Nashville, about 260 mi away, where the best price is $4.95. That is the same as the best price here.

Why do the prices differ so much? We compare what each menu calls the same dish, and menus are not identical: portion, cut, sides and the kind of room you are sitting in all ride on the price, and none of that shows up in a number. Part portions and half sizes are kept out of this comparison, and a chain charging the same at several addresses is counted once, so the spread above is between genuinely different kitchens rather than the same one repeated.