Okay, let’s review the geography of pizza, nature’s most nearly perfect food.
Born in Naples, Italy, it came to the United States with Italian immigrants and soon became a favorite in New York City and the urban Northeast.
Like so many other things, this deliciously cheesy, tangy, salty supper on a plate went national with the Baby Boom. And as it grew, it evolved, taking on regional differences as cities made it their own.
Continue reading Stop! In the name of Loui Loui’s Motown pizza
Thomas Jefferson said it best: Government should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.” This great American tradition, enshrined in the Constitution, would seem to protect us from governmental intrusion in such deeply personal matters as, for example, enjoying an adult beverage with brunch on Sundays.
So why did it take more than two centuries for us to be able to enjoy the simple pleasure of a bloody mary with a morning repast in Louisville?
Continue reading We brunch and booze it up at Hillbilly Tea
If you think the Balkans are bad for bloody border warfare, just try to find a space in the maze of parking lots behind the busy storefronts of downtown St. Matthews. Warring posters warn of dire consequences if pilgrims bound for Mellow Mushroom, for example, or Plehn’s bakery, dare to park in St. Matthews Station’s parking lot. Or vice versa.
Continue reading Tasty new fare at Meridian Cafe, but tricky parking remains
Chipotle is here at last. Let the congregation say “Whoopee!” The 20-year-old Denver-based fast-food chain built about 1,400 units in 43 states (including a few properties in Lexington and about 30 in Greater Cincinnati) before one finally opened in downtown Louisville last month. (March 2013) Continue reading Louisville finally gets a Chipotle. W00t!
We rolled up to our destination in the gathering darkness, and I found a parking spot at the curb out front. I turned, looked up, and … wow! This looks just like our old neighborhood in New York City! It’s a sturdy, three-story block of brick, not brownstone — visualize Queens, not Greenwich Village — with cozy lights in apartment windows on the upper floors, and busy storefronts opening on the street: a meat market, an Italian gelato shop and a family-run Chinese eatery.
Continue reading Tea Station’s simple pleasures warm the heart and tummy
Who doesn’t like a good, juicy burger? It’s ground bliss on a bun, and if you pair it with something else delicious and it gets even better. Burgers and cheese! Burgers and onions! Burgers and fries! Burgers and onion rings, oh my!
But “let’s go get some burgers and mussels” said no person ever. Until the recent arrival of Mussel & Burger Bar, that is, which suddenly has us musing about combinations of artistic dishes never tasted before.
Continue reading Get your surf and turf at Mussel & Burger Bar
For those of us who grew up in an age when we thought a bipartisan series of presidents wanted to send us off to exotic places with strange names like “Vietnam” and “Thailand” to meet nice people and kill them, it is a fine thing that we now go to Vietnamese and Thai restaurants right here in Louisville, meet nice people and eat their delicious food.
The war sputtered to an end with the fall of Saigon in 1975, and it was maybe a decade before the first Vietnamese restaurants appeared in Louisville. Continue reading Saigon Café kicks Vietnamese up a notch
Chef Edward Lee’s insanely popular new restaurant MilkWood at Actors Theatre of Louisville reminds me more than a little of Chef David Chang’s acclaimed Momofuku Ssäm Bar and other Momofuku eateries in New York, Toronto and Sydney, but I think MilkWood has the potential to be even better.
Continue reading MilkWood reminds us of Momofuku, only better
Some restaurants become landmarks through longevity in place, gaining familiarity by virtue of “always” having been there.
The Seelbach’s Oakroom and Brown Hotel’s English Grill fall easily into this category of historic worth, and a generation of Baby Boom icons — the original Bristol, Jack Fry’s, Lilly’s, Equus, Pat’s, DelFrisco’s and quite a few more survivors of the ’70s and ’80s — have become fixtures on the local dining map. (This, perhaps, is why so many felt particular pain as the former Azalea building, a graceful restaurant venue since 1870, was allowed to fall into grubby disrepair so as to justify its destruction in favor of a modern replacement for an upscale eatery, Mesh.) Continue reading Blackstone settles in as Prospect destination
“You’re taking forever to eat your soup,” my wife grumbled. “What are you doing?”
“Juft a minip,” I mumbled. I hate to talk with my mouth full. “… six, seven, eight …”
This earned me a glare, but I kept on keeping on. “Garbanzo. Pinto. Great Northern. There’s a lima.”
Continue reading Vegan, omnivore, it’s all virtuous at Earth Friends Café
