I love food from around the world, and I intend to try as much it as I can, within reason. With a possible exception for aged, fermented Greenlandic shark. But ask me to name a favorite, and I’d be hard-pressed to single out just one.
That being said, Thai cuisine clicks off quite a few boxes for me. It’s colorful, aromatic, full of flavors that sing together in at least four-part harmony. Specifically, I’m thinking about the four flavors that Thai cooks seek to hold in balance in every dish: salty, sweet, sour and spicy.
I confess to being a little surprised at first when Mary came home from lunch with a friend the other day raving about how good the food at Los Aztecas had been.
Why the surprise? To be honest, I rarely think much about the Mexican-run local chains like Los Aztecas and El Nopal anymore, and I realized with a jolt that there might be a hint of food snobbery about that.
There’s a lot to love about the spicy, aromatic wonders of Ethiopian food, and I’ll tell you right now that I love it. But Ethiopian cuisine makes some folks nervous.
Why is that? Here’s why: Walk in to an excellent Ethiopian restaurant like Louisville’s Queen of Sheba without a prior introduction to this ancient East African cuisine, and you’ll see surprising things.
Food-loving Louisville folks often complain that our city just can’t get a genuine, New York Jewish deli like Shapiro’s in Indianapolis, or for that matter like Katz’s or Sarge’s or the late, touristy Carnegie Deli in actual New York.
I have never quite gotten this. We have excellent Louisville-style delis here where you can get a pastrami or corned beef on rye that gives New York a run for its money.
But nope, that doesn’t seem to satisfy the deli-hungry crowd. “That’s not autheeeennnntic, they cry.
Even in this age of bourbonism and pricy trophy labels, Louisville still loves Old Forester, the locally made, affordable Bourbon with its signature caramel and brown sugar flavors.
Or at least we used to love it. But then we got big mad last week after news broke that OldFo’s creator, Brown-Forman Corp., the lovable, liberal old local firm had suddenly abandoned its long-term commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and its support for the LGBTQ+ community.
You wouldn’t expect Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood to have a deep resonance with Louisville, but that erroneous conclusion overlooks the importance of Harold Henry “Pee Wee” Reese.
Generally speaking, I’m no fan of restaurant buffets. I didn’t complain much when the Covid-19 pandemic banished the buffet.
But I hear a lot of people complaining about the near-demise of the Indian buffet.
Why the difference? I wonder if it’s about unfamiliarity with Indian cuisine, coupled with just a touch of fear that you’re going to get something unfaniliar and possibly as hot as the hinges of Hades.
I really like little Namnam Cafe in St. Matthews, but to be honest, the last time I was there it wasn’t easy to concentrate my full attention on the fare.
What was the problem? That was in mid-March of 2020, just days before Gov. Andy Beshear ordered Kentucky restaurants and bars closed to indoor dining.
When a rising young chef at a popular new restaurant earns a James Beard Award nomination as an “emerging chef,” then steps up to serve as executive chef at another exciting new eatery, what would you expect?
When we’re talking about Chef Lawrence Weeks, who garnered the Beard nomination at North of Bourbon in Germantown, and spread his wings to hold down the same role at Enso in Clifton, I would expect great things.
