All posts by LEOs Eats with Robin Garr

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, LEO's Eats, Vegetarian/Vegan, World Food

Funmi’s favors us with Nigerian flavors

What do Americans know about Nigeria? Not much, to be frank, and sadly enough, a lot of what it isn’t good. Beyond Internet scammers with wacky schemes and Boko Haram terrorists, what do we know?

The most populous country in Africa, whose Yoruba culture goes back more than 1,000 years, and one of the world’s top producers of oil, Nigeria boasts coastal cities with glittering office towers and luxury living for the 1 percent. On the other hand, about 70 percent of Nigerians live in extreme poverty.

In other words, it sounds a little bit like Trump’s America! But let’s not go there today. Let’s focus instead on the warm and friendly people of a tropical nation with a hearty cuisine that’s well worth discovering. Continue reading Funmi’s favors us with Nigerian flavors →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown, LEO's Eats, World Food

Arepas y mas! Nahyla’s brings us Venezuelan delights

Our immigrant neighbors have taught us to love tacos. They’ve introduced us to gorditas, and roti, chapatis and naan, bao and banh mi and pitas and lavash and much, much more; and for all these carb-loaded delights we are much in their debt.

Now say hello to the Venezuelan arepa, yet another appealing way to enclose something good to eat within a tasty wrapper, a hand-held treat that long pre-dates the invention of Lord John Montagu, fourth Earl of Sandwich. Continue reading Arepas y mas! Nahyla’s brings us Venezuelan delights →

$$$ Upscale ( $50 - $80), LEO's Eats, Mexican, Cuban, Caribbean, Northeast Metro

Guaca Mole soars over all walls with Mexican delights

Here’s a memorable twist on an immigrant story: Havana-born Fernando Martinez has tried to get to America three times and made it twice. First, in the mid-1990s, he and his mother and a few friends tried to make their way from their native Cuba to the U.S. in a hand-built raft. Continue reading Guaca Mole soars over all walls with Mexican delights →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, LEO's Eats, New and noteworthy, Southern Indiana

Get on the bridge of your choice and go to Portage House

The East End Bridge will open this weekend, and when it does, Louisville will have more ways to get across the Ohio River than ever: four by car, two by train, and one on foot or via bicycle.

This is good news, because Southern Indiana has more good places to eat and drink than ever these days, and it would be foolish for hard-core Louisvillians to stay rooted sullenly on the Kentucky side when it’s time for dinner.

Today let’s thank Paul Skulas, past chef at Holy Grale and Gralehaus and now owner and chef of Jeffersonville’s new Portage House, for the latest and one of the most attractive new arrivals on the “Sunny Side.” Continue reading Get on the bridge of your choice and go to Portage House →

$$$ Upscale ( $50 - $80), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, Bistros, LEO's Eats, New and noteworthy

We dine on the fat of the land, er, lamb, at Fat Lamb

When you think about a place named The Fat Lamb, if you think about it at all, you would probably imagine a temple of carnivorous delights.

And just as you would expect, Louisville’s new Fat Lamb offers some of Chef Dallas McGarity’s appealing takes on lamb, pig, cow, chicken, a bulging net full of seafood and fish. What’s more, there’s a similarly delicious cornucopia of healthy veggies. Continue reading We dine on the fat of the land, er, lamb, at Fat Lamb →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), LEO's Eats, Pacific Rim, Southern Indiana, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, World Food

Korean food, a warming choice for chilly days

I’m wild about Asian food. From India across Southeast Asia to Japan and China in all its regional delights, my Asian culinary favorite is usually whichever I had last.

But winter’s coming on now – believe it, even if the leaves are still mostly green and the breezes balmy as I write this – and cold weather makes my Asian dining fancy lightly turn to thoughts of Korean food. Continue reading Korean food, a warming choice for chilly days →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, Italian (and Pizza), LEO's Eats

Garage Bar summons our meditative mindfulness

Garage Bar: It’s noisy, it’s fun, it’s all about artisanal pizza and fine country ham, not to mention a companionable bar scene in a cheekily renovated old auto service station. What’s so Zen about that?

Bear with me, Grasshopper, and I shall explain. Continue reading Garage Bar summons our meditative mindfulness →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, LEO's Eats, Pacific Rim, Vegetarian/Vegan

Roots will make you eat your vegetables, and like them

Vegetarian and vegan lifestyles are on the rise, and this really shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, the Baby Boom is growing older and more health-conscious, while a lot of Millennials are looking at a self-destructing world and worrying about a sustainable future for themselves and their children. Put these trends together, and it’s no wonder that more and more people are giving up meat.

This also may help explain why Louisville’s Roots and Heart & Soy restaurants have won a large and faithful audience since their opening in 2011. Continue reading Roots will make you eat your vegetables, and like them →

$$$ Upscale ( $50 - $80), BBQ, Burgers & Down-Home, LEO's Eats, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

Red Barn Kitchen is newer than dirt, and it’s good.

Now and then I crack that the Martinez family’s Olé Restaurant Group is “The Energizer Bunny of Louisville dining.” All together now, let’s say that again: I’ve just returned from my third review of an Olé Group eatery, and I’m delighted to award Red Barn Kitchen my “Recommended” gold star.

But something about this restaurant is different from all the rest. Continue reading Red Barn Kitchen is newer than dirt, and it’s good. →

$ Budget (under $30), Eats Tweets, LEO's Eats, Mexican, Cuban, Caribbean, QuickBytes, South End, Taquerias, World Food

Hablamos y comemos at La Guanaquita Restaurante

¡Buenos días, señoras y caballeros, hermanos y hermanas! ¡La Guanaquita Restaurante es muy bueno!

Why, yes, I am speaking a little Spanish today, signing on from a sweet little new Central American eatery in the South End. Continue reading Hablamos y comemos at La Guanaquita Restaurante →