We had such a good time checking out Main Street last week that we decided to hit the other end of downtown for dinner at Marketplace. Hmm. This block is different.
Walk down Fourth Street toward Broadway on a quiet evening when there’s nothing playing at the Palace, Mercury Ballroom or the Brown Theatre, and you may not meet another human being. Until you get to Marketplace Restaurant, anyway. Continue reading Even on a quiet night, Marketplace rocks
LouisvilleHotBytes has been named to Feedspot’s Top 20 Restaurant Review Blogs and Websites To Follow in 2018. According to Mumbai-based Feedspot author Anuj Agarwal, “This is the most comprehensive list of best Restaurant Review blogs and websites on the internet … Continue reading HotBytes listed in world’s top 20 review sites
Say what you will about the Yum Center – and I say it looks like the offspring of an unnatural union between a toaster oven and an ink-jet copier – you have to give it credit for helping foster a boom in good places to eat in its Main Street neighborhood. Like Bluegrass Brewing Company. And other good places, too, but BBC, I’m looking at you right now. Continue reading Yum Center bound? Dine at BBC first
Can a dining decision be political? You bet! When nightly news shows horrifying images of immigrant parents ripped from their families while partisans shout for a border wall, it’s time to call B.S. The best way I know to do that is to take my dining business to local restaurants run by Latino neighbors, such as the spectacularly good La Lupita in Clarksville.
And while I’m there, happily noshing, I want to thank the owners and servers and tell them I’m glad they’re here: “Me gusta que tu eres mi vecina,” I’ll say in fractured Spanglish, reaching out with a few words in their language. “I’m happy that you are my neighbor.”
Which came first: The pizza or the bread? A trip out to Anchorage to visit the excellent MozzaPi might recalibrate your thinking on this not-so-simple question. Continue reading MozzaPi brings bread maker’s art to remarkable pizza
“Whiskey” or “whisky”? What’s the difference? For Chef Edward Lee, the “e” option was the way to go for his new liquor bar and diner, Whiskey Dry. This makes sense, since by general practice – enshrined in The Associated Press Stylebook that guides American media editors – bourbon, rye and Irish are whiskey with an ey, while Scotch, Canadian and Japanese are whisky with a y.
But Louisville people who grew up with Old Forester whisky and Makers Mark whisky aren’t so sure about all this. Whisky or whiskey? This is the kind of whiskey-nerd discussion that would go just right with a glass or three at Whiskey Dry, Lee’s latest venture that opened in Fourth Street Live last month. Continue reading Go to Whiskey Dry for bourbon. Stay for a burger.
How is Øskar’s Slider Bar delightfully different from just about every other eatery in town? Uff da! Its light, amusing Scandinavian vibe sets it geographically and culturally apart from all the local restaurants that fake a drawl while frying chicken and simmering grits. Continue reading Øskar’s offers a delightful taste of Scandinavia
Vincenzo and Agostino Gabriele reinvented the Louisville dining scene a generation ago. Now Agostino’s sons, Carmelo and Michael Gabriele, have opened their own Italian restaurant in Germantown, named Sarino after the family nickname for another uncle, Rosario.
Will Sarino be something like Vincenzo’s Jr., then? I’m going to say no. But that’s no slam. Sarino is delightful in its own right, but it is as different from Vincenzo’s as millennials are different from baby boomers and as different as downtown is from Germantown. Continue reading Appealing Sarino carries Vincenzo’s DNA, but it’s no clone
When I hear news that a restaurant has decided to make big changes, I worry. Over the years we’ve seen more than a few popular establishments decide to reinvent themselves in some significant way. Remember them? Nope, me either. That’s because changing courses in the middle of the stream too often begins a sad slide downward into the place where memories go to die.
So I fretted a bit, just about this time last year, when Eiderdown’s owners told the beloved Germantown restaurant’s social-media followers that they were closing for a couple of weeks to make some changes. Continue reading Eiderdown, back to its Germantown roots, remains a delight
Well, 2018 sure came in with a “Brrrr!” The temperature didn’t rise above freezing for a week, and relief took its sweet time coming. When the air makes my face hurt, my instinct is to keep the doors shut and hole up at home with the thermostat cranked up to high.
When hunger and cabin fever set in, though, and the urge to get out in the world becomes irresistible, I can hardly think of a better cold-weather destination than the friendly confines of a cozy bar and grill that takes its commitment to good food as seriously as its beverages. Continue reading Cozy lunches at Old Louisville Tavern and bar Vetti warm our icy bones
