Gather ’round, youngsters, and I’ll tell you about a time when fish tacos were unknown in our town.
It wasn’t all that long ago, really — as recently as the ’90s — when the idea of putting fish on a taco pretty much struck everyone as weird and unappetizing. Or so it seemed to everyone who hadn’t tasted the original at taco shacks on Mexico’s Pacific Coast beaches, or at Rubio’s in Old Town San Diego, anyway.
But that was before Bazo’s arrived in town with a more than credible version of Rubio’s original, and suddenly the idea of putting crunchy, golden-brown and delicious nuggets of fried white fish on a soft corn tortilla with shredded cabbage and spicy white crema didn’t seem so strange anymore. Continue reading Bazo’s shows off the fine art of the fish taco→
I learned in grade school that America was a melting pot, a vast cultural amalgam made up of gifts from national and ethnic groups around the world, molten into sturdy steel to which every group contributed its special strength and character. I thought that was pretty cool back then, and I still do.
But upon more mature reflection, living and dining in a modern Louisville that’s far more diverse than the white-bread city where I grew up, I think maybe it’s even more accurate to describe us as a cooking pot, into which each generation of new immigrants has added appetizing ingredients to build an amazing national stew. Continue reading Vietnamese and American flavors meet and mingle at Four Sisters→
Lolita’s Tacos, a bright spot in the culinary landscape of Poplar Level Road near the Watterson, is a great place for lunch, but it’s a good idea to show up early. The other day, the tiny eatery’s handful of tables were already filling up by 11:30 a.m. Many of the diners, it seemed, had come on pilgrimage to get Lolita’s trademark favorite, the avocado burrito. Continue reading At Lolita’s, it’s all about the avocado burrito→
Nine chaplains walked into a bar … which sounds like the lead-in to a really bad joke. It’s a true story, though. I’ve been hanging out with hospital chaplains this summer, and when a bunch of us wanted to find an affordable, decent lunch in relaxing surroundings after a long morning meeting in the East End, Austin’s emerged as a convenient and decent dining option. Continue reading Nine out of nine chaplains say yes to Austin’s→
With apologies to Bulwer-Lytton, it really was a dark and stormy night. Rain pounded down. Thunder rolled and lightning flashed — and smartphones throughout the dim room flashed red, pink and green, too, as diners nervously checked the weather radar.
Suddenly a rumbling, clanking roar rang out! It sounded just like a freight train! A tornado? Well, no. It really was the sound of a freight train. This is a thing that just happens when you’re dining out along Frankfort Avenue. Continue reading Kentucky’s nectar and fine fare lift Bourbons Bistro→
Few of us are eager to admit we’re getting older. Every now and then, though, some sudden recognition of time’s passing steps up and smacks us in the face with a solid reality check.
Take Equus, for example: A local destination restaurant that opened just a few years ago. Well, OK, OK, it opened in 1985, but who’s counting? Not me, that’s for sure. In some ways, after all, Equus never seems to change very much. Continue reading Equus evolves, but its character stays intact→
I love Chinese food, and I’ve loved it since I was a little boy, when the only places you could get it in Louisville were the old Hoe Kow — then at Bowman Field, gone for years — and the sibling eateries House of Chen in Shively and Oriental House in St. Matthews. Only the last remains, and Grandma and Grandpa would probably recognize only part of its 21st century menu.
My friend Anne and I wanted to catch a quick lunch close to the office the other day, so we wheeled down the way just a mile or two and cut into a gritty little strip center with a Mexican grocery and taqueria on one end and an Iranian grocery and shawarma shop on the other.
Downtown? Nope! This little center of international good eats sits on the south side of suburban Westport Road about halfway between Westport Village and Springhurst, but its culinary offerings differ mightily from the modern delights of the more traditional suburban centers. Continue reading Westport Road adds pitas and tortillas to the traditional whitebread→
“Sitar.” Sounds like “guitar,” a little, and sort of acts like one, too, this oversize Indian guitar-equivalent that the Beatles loved. It’s a stringed instrument that plays eerie, sinuous music that can’t be duplicated on a keyboard because it slides into the spaces between the keys.
