All posts by Robin Garr

$$ Modest ($30-$50), A RESTAURANT LISTING..., Mexican, Cuban, Caribbean, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, Taquerias

Taco Choza’s burrito is bigger than your sled. Well, almost.

Imagine yourself with a burrito on your plate. A hefty El Compadre burrito from Taco Choza, that’s a good one. Are you getting hungry? I sure am! Lift it, feel its weight, admire the tasty char marks on its textured wheaten surface. Mmm, mmm, good.

This is what I love about a burrito: When you bite through that tasty flour-tortilla wrapper, your first mouthful incorporates a collection of goodies. With Taco Choza’s signature El Compadre that’s going to be meat, reddish-tinted Mexican rice, two kinds of beans, some salad greens, a dash of pico de gallo, a taste of guacamole, a bit of sour cream, a drizzle of queso, all coming together in one symphonic gulp. Continue reading Taco Choza’s burrito is bigger than your sled. Well, almost. →

$ Budget (under $30), Commentary, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, Hot Chicken, Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown

Support our local restaurants: This week, Royals Hot Chicken

The Louisville dining scene is facing a grim scenario as I write this, and we’ll be looking down the barrel of a disturbing deadline when you read this. Let’s talk about this, but first, as I’ve told you before: Get out there and order as much takeout food from local restaurants as you can, and tip ‘em as if you’re Scrooge McDuck. They need all we can do for them right now.

Here’s the heart of the problem: Restaurants and bars are perceived as potential pandemic hotspots, with reason: Even with social distancing, they attract people to gather indoors in crowds, and to make matters worse, it’s impossible to mask up for others’ protection while you’re eating and drinking.

That’s why restaurants and bars have borne a disproportionate share of regulation since Covid-19 came to town last winter. Continue reading Support our local restaurants: This week, Royals Hot Chicken →

$ Budget (under $30), Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown, Indian

New Indian grocery leads us back to Shreeji

Back in the ‘90s, I lived for a while on New York City’s Lower East Side. It was quite an experience for a Louisville boy, and one of the best things about it was my proximity to Indian Restaurant Row.

That’s what we called the block of Second Street between First and Second avenues, anyway, and the name fit: Every single storefront on the south side of the block housed an Indian restaurant, and they were all good. Their menus were all similar, prompting the rumor that they all shared the same kitchen. Doubtful, I know, but it seemed right.

Now, Louisville is not New York City, but it crossed my mind the other day that we’re kind of, sort of developing our own Indian Restaurant Row. It’s not as dense as New York’s, and there’s no question of a shared kitchen. But hey! Six Indian culinary establishments – four restaurants and two groceries – in a three-mile stretch of Hurstbourne Parkway isn’t bad in a city where we once had to drive to Cincinnati to get Indian food. Continue reading New Indian grocery leads us back to Shreeji →

Commentary

Support your local restaurants: Now more than ever

If you’re the least bit interested in the Louisville dining scene, you know how many of our vibrant local restaurants have been struggling since the Covid-19 pandemic brought strict, but necessary, restrictions starting last March.

Things may have looked a little better during the summer when good weather invited patio dining and improving case rates fostered slightly loosened restrictions including resumed dining in with limited, socially distanced seating.

But the expected autumn Covid spike brought about the return of strict rules. Continue reading Support your local restaurants: Now more than ever →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, Italian (and Pizza)

Emmy Squared brings Detroit pizza from Brooklyn

Pay attention, now, because what I’m about to tell you might not make sense if you hear it with only half an ear: A popular Brooklyn restaurant that features Detroit-style pizza has opened in Louisville.

Yes, that’s right: Say hello to Emmy Squared, new in NuLu, where you can get fine square pizzas in the fashion of Detroit, plus worthy burgers and a lot more goodies that you won’t find in your usual pizza joint. Continue reading Emmy Squared brings Detroit pizza from Brooklyn →

$ Budget (under $30), Breakfast and lunch spots, sandwich spots, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill

Boujie Biscuit brings the comfort

Covid is spiking … again. The election remains undecided as I write this, and chances are there’ll still be plenty of political controversy and yelling when you read this. It’s just plain common sense to reach for comfort food right now, and it’s hard for me to imagine an item more comforting than a warm biscuit.

Mmm, biscuits. No sooner did I write that than I want one right now. One of the simplest of breads, this buttery short, soda-risen delight is easy to make at home but difficult to perfect. Continue reading Boujie Biscuit brings the comfort →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), BBQ, Burgers & Down-Home, Commentary, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill

No ghosties, no ghoulies: Hillcrest Tavern offers pure comfort

Halloween has come and gone, taking with it another piece of collateral damage from the pandemic: There was no Hillcrest Avenue halloween decoration extravaganza this year.

But there is still a doggone good reason to go to Hillcrest – or to be more exact, to cross the railroad tracks, turn left onto Frankfort Avenue, and drive a few blocks past Louisville Water Co. to Hillcrest Tavern.

You won’t be sorry. Continue reading No ghosties, no ghoulies: Hillcrest Tavern offers pure comfort →

$ Budget (under $30), Commentary, Soul Food, West End

Big Momma’s Soul Food Kitchen lures us West

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we interrupt our dining review for this public-service announcement: Have you voted yet? Good! Wait, you over there! You haven’t voted? Please vote on Election Day, Nov. 3, or vote early in person at one of Louisville’s convenient early polls. But vote! Vote as if your life depends on it, because just possibly it does.
 
There! I’m glad to get that off my chest. We voted last week. It was easy. It really felt good. And best of all, it led us toward this week’s exceptionally tasty food report.

Here’s how it went down: We voted early at the Kentucky Center for African-American Heritage, then decided to grab a delicious soul-food meal from a Black-owned West End restaurant: Big Momma’s Soul Food Kitchen. Continue reading Big Momma’s Soul Food Kitchen lures us West →

$$$ Upscale ( $50 - $80), Commentary, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, LEO's Eats, Mexican, Cuban, Caribbean

Cochinita pibil at Mayan Cafe takes us straight to Yucatán

Cochinita pibil. These two Spanish words – one common, the other not so much – shine a bright light on both the Mayan cuisine of Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula and neighboring Guatemala and into one of Louisville’s favorite South-of-the-Border restaurants, Mayan Cafe.

So what’s a cochinita pibil? A little pig – that’s the easy part – long and slowly roasted in a tart, flavorful marinade of sour oranges and Mayan spices, housed in a large metal box and lowered into a pib, the traditional Mayan fire pit.

Mayan Cafe doesn’t have a giant fire-in-the-hole in the tiny kitchen of its NuLu home, but I can testify that Chef Bruce Ucán’s oven-roasted rendition is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen done to pork. Continue reading Cochinita pibil at Mayan Cafe takes us straight to Yucatán →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Chinese, Commentary, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

Jade Palace’s dim sum makes great takeout

I’ve been a big fan of Jade Palace’s dim sum ever since the late 1980s, when this popular eatery in what is now Westport Village introduced Louisville to these tasty, bite-size Chinese snacks.

But the other day I had a pandemic-related revelation: In these days when many of us are wary about dining indoors at a crowded restaurant: Dim sum makes a great takeout alternative. In fact, Jade Palace is closed to dining in during the pandemic, but it does offer takeout, curbside pickup, and delivery. Continue reading Jade Palace’s dim sum makes great takeout →