Ever since North End Cafe opened in Clifton nearly a decade ago, the name of the place seemed a little odd to me. When I grew up in Louisville, we sorted our town into East End, South End and West End, and back in those Baby Boom days of Elvis, tail fins and ducktails, those were the urban ends of the city, not the suburbs. There was not much out there but farms, as far as we knew.
So the arrival in 2003 of this comfortable, casual bistro in Clifton made little geographical sense to me. What’s a North End? Someplace over in Indiana? Nope, it’s right there on lower Frankfort Avenue, inner end of what we used to call the East End. Continue reading East End, South End, where’s the North End?→
What’s a diner? This question would be easy to answer in New York, New Jersey, and across much of the Northeastern U.S., where diners abound. In Louisville, not so much. There’s a fine line between a diner and a family restaurant.
If it’s located in an old railroad dining car or a building made to look like one, it’s definitely a diner; but this is by no means a necessity, and in fact I can’t think of any railroad-style diners in or around this town. (If you know of one, please let me know.) Continue reading Diner delights at Frontier on Dixie→
Let’s welcome the Voice-Tribune’s move to NuLu late in 2011 with a word of praise for another long-time St. Matthews institution that’s thriving there. The classy bistro Wiltshire on Market is a direct descendant of Susan Hershberg’s much-loved Wiltshire Pantry, which got its start on Wiltshire Avenue in St. Matthews.
Its always appealing menu is based on American culinary traditions with international touches, and a strong emphasis on fresh, local produce and meat. Wiltshire opened on Market in April 2009, so it’s practically an institution by the fast-moving standard of its trendy neighborhood. Continue reading Wiltshire is thriving on Market→
Some say the ancient Romans loved ice cream, but that was really just Alpine snow, literally run down from the Alps to serve in the Caesars’ courts. Ice cream as we know it came about in Europe around the time of the American revolution, and Thomas Jefferson reportedly served it with delight at Monticello. Continue reading Get your lunch in the cone zone at Neighborhood Café→
Breakfast appeals to me, and I’m more than willing to take on a platter of eggs, biscuits and hash browns at any time of day. Breakfast for dinner? I’m there!
I like that about Verbena Cafe, a popular spot at Norton Commons: You can get breakfast any time they’re open, which makes an omelet, blueberry pancakes or even a raspberry Nutella crepe an entirely reasonable proposition even at 2 p.m. Continue reading Breakfast for lunch, and vice-versa, at Verbena Cafe→
Gather round, young ‘uns, and let me try to explain why we graying Baby Boomers care so much about bagels. You see, there was a time in Louisville when you couldn’t grab one at every coffee shop or buy ‘em by the sack at the grocery store.
No, until the 1970s or thereabouts, a bagel was a rare and unusual thing. You basically had to go to New York City or Chicago to get one. When a bagel bakery opened in Cincinnati some time during Jimmy Carter’s presidency, we would actually drive up there to get a bag full. And when Louisville’s first bagel shop opened in Hikes Point a few years later, the city knew bagel jubilation.
Venison meatloaf at Majid'sWhen I last spoke of Majid’s, not long after its opening in Chenoweth Square last winter, I told you about its appealing, globe-spanning cuisine and the multiple options that the diner enjoys in this sprawling, three-room venue, with your choice of elegant dinners in the dining room or creative small plates in the bar; or a lighter, lower-price experience at lunch.
Now the hospitable proprietor Majid Ghavami offers another option: Majid’s is now open on Sundays for brunch from 11:30 a.m. through 2:30 p.m. Those who wish an adult beverage may want to delay their arrival until 1-ish. We felt no such constraints and popped in before noon, enjoying dark coffee and fresh iced tea with our meal.
Now, let’s make one thing clear: This is not one of those gigantic, all-you-can-eat buffets. Not that there’s anything the matter with that, but Majid’s — like 211 Clover, another classy St. Matthews spot — takes the menu brunch route, offering a special brunch menu with a dozen stylish, even elegant brunch plates from Executive Chef Charles Reed’s kitchen.
Brunch dishes range in price from $11 (for smoked salmon and a bagel) to $18 (for steak and eggs, grilled beef tenderloin with eggs as you like them). There are plenty of hearty breakfast dishes (three eggs your way or three-egg omelets, buttermilk pancakes or French toast, all $12), and a good choice of lunch-type options for those who prefer to put morning behind them (venison meat loaf, $15, or lemon sole stuffed with crab and ricotta, $17).
Order your brunch dish, and before you know it goodies start showing up on your table. In addition to your main-course choice, brunch includes a chef de cuisine bakery plate (this day featuring a rich blueberry coffeecake and Danish pastry dough wrapped around blueberries), and a fresh fruit cup (an artful ration of watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew melon balls dropped into a wine glass with a few blueberries, and a wedge of lime perched on the edge of the glass. Use it: A tart squeeze of lime really kicked up the flavors of the fresh, juicy fruit).
Most brunch dishes also come plated with the house potatoes — on this occasion, split roasted fingerlings — and the vegetable of the day, in our case a tender slab of roasted butternut squash and several crisp-tender asparagus spears.
Mary’s choice, the venison meat loaf ($15) was a brick-size slab of ground meat mixed with carrot brunoise, plated on a rich brown-onion gravy and served with the aforementioned veggies and potatoes.
My pick, huevos rancheros ($14), was as flavorful a rendition as I’ve had in Mexican restaurants. Two soft-fried eggs (my choice, you can have them your way) were served atop a chewy corn tortilla and topped with a bit of melted yellow cheese, sauced with a green-chile salsa and served with savory pinto beans and light Mexican-style rice. A halved, broiled jalapeño served as decor. “Watch it,” the friendly server warned.
Dessert, lemon mascarpone cheesecake ($8) was beautifully plated and tasted as good as it looked. It’s gluten-free, Majid said, creamy and tart-sweet on a crushed walnut crust, decorated with a surprising touch of cinnamon chutney and a dark, sugar-dusted homemade chocolate cookie.
An indulgent brunch for two came to a very fair $43.99, and courteous and not overbearing service earned a $10 tip.
AP Pub burgerI have to confess that I was uncertain about Westport Village at first. Sure, the aging Camelot shopping center was due for replacement. But as Camelot’s modern replacement rose on the site, its offbeat architecture looked funny, somehow, prompting wisecracks about sets at a Universal Studios theme park. Moreover, the choice of several national franchise operations among early tenants didn’t inspire my confidence.
But what a difference a few years make! Over the past three years or so, Westport Village has evolved into a new and desirable kind of suburban center, its hard edges softened by landscaping and its character shaped by the mostly local independent businesses that now dominate its roster: Wild Eggs, Boombozz, Napa River Grill, Westport Whiskey & Wine, Hiko-A-Mon, Jade Palace, Heine Bros., the Comfy Cow and many more.
With frequent parades, picnics, concerts and other events, Westport Village has become a virtual center of its community.
And now Tony Palombino, papa of the growing Boombozz pizza mini-chain, has upped things another notch with AP Crafters, a new eatery that fills the sizable vacant space left by the departure of Indigo Joe’s, a link in a 50-unit sports bar chain based in Southern California.
Palombino (I can barely overcome the impulse to identify him as “Boombozz”) is as well-known for creating, incubating and spinning off new restaurant ideas that might morph into chains. For instance, he created Thatsa Wrapp, Bazo’s, Benny B’s Sandwiches and more. And now he appears to be embarked on a similar quest with AP Crafters, which has a chain-like look – in a good way – based on the currently trendy “gastropub.”
What’s a gastropub? To define it by example, Louisville’s uber-popular Blind Pig is a gastropub. So is Anchorage’s Village Anchor Pub and Roost and New Albany’s Bank Street Brewhouse. Get the idea? It’s a pub … but it pays more attention to fine food than you’ll get at your typical bar and grill.
Indeed, AP Crafters’ menu offers a wide selection of filling, appetizing burgers, bar fare and hearty comfort food. It’s all priced for a recessionary economy, too, with few of the many dishes reaching over $10 save for specialty items like mussels ($14) or Huli Huli Chick ($11), grilled chicken with Hawaiian-inspired sauce and grilled pineapple.
More than a dozen burgers top out at $10.50 for “The Double” or the Carnegie, which dresses your ground beef with an order of pastrami and Swiss. A variety of soups, salads, appetizers, sandwiches and “long platter” entrees fill out the oversize menu page, and full bar service includes a decent selection of craft beers and interesting, affordable wines.
We sampled a pair of pork “rollers” ($9), grilled, smoked pork “lollipops,” a round of tender meat attached to a bone “handle,” served with caramelized onions and sweet-tart barbecue sauce; excellent charred chicken wings ($8), good-size wings dry-rubbed with a peppery smoked-paprika mix and finished on the grill; and the signature AP Pub burger ($8.50), quality ground beef brilled rosy pink and taken upscale with applewood-smoked bacon, aged Cheddar and a tangy “zip sauce.”
Everything was well-made and ample – we brought enough leftovers home in a box to make lunch another day. Desserts looked great, too, and the warm doughnuts with caramel sauce ($4.50) have received rave reviews from LouisvilleHotBytes.com scouts. Still, if you have any room left after a fine AP Crafters meal, the Comfy Cow is, after all, just down the way.
An excellent lunch, with a Coke and iced tea, totaled $29.15 plus a $6 tip.
Pizza! It’s what’s for lunch, and what’s for dinner too. You can even enjoy it as breakfast, cold from the fridge or reconstituted in the oven. You can make it healthy with light veggies and skimpy cheese; or you can load it up with a meat lover’s special, double down on the cheese, and give a cardiologist nightmares.
Pizza! St. Matthews is awash in pizzerias these days, and I expect that’s because its burgeoning nightspot scene has become a rival to the metro’s other busy night-life zones, and all that boozy frolicking calls for something cheesy, salty and substantial that’s available late. Continue reading Frascelli’s offers a taste of New York in Crestwood→
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