Category Archives: BY LOCATION

Baxter Station: Everyone’s neighborhood bistro

Voice-Tribune review by LouisvilleHotBytes
(published March 11, 2010)


Baxter Station’s proprietor Andrew Hutto is one of the moving forces behind the Louisville Originals restaurant group, and his eatery – a popular local spot to eat and drink since 1989 – fits the “Originals” description to a T.

No franchised chain operation this, its cozy storefront setting is one-of-a-kind, with a railroad theme, a friendly bar up front, a comfy dining room with a warm fireplace, and a rear deck with curtain walls that roll up to allow alfresco dining in good weather and roll down to hold in the heat from powerful overhead warmers on wintry days.
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This Joe Davola won’t kibosh you

sandwich
The Belligerent BLPT at Joe Davola’s

LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes

Fans of “Seinfeld” will remember “Crazy” Joe Davola as an ominous character, a violent psychotic who threatened to “put the kibosh” on people he didn’t like, which meant pretty much everyone.

So who’d name a restaurant after that scary guy? The odd shtick works for partners James Tyler and Christopher Stockton, who push the Crazy Joe concept to the ragged edge with menu names like “Belligerent BLPT,” “Psychotic Savory Roast Beef” and “Violent Veggie Meat Loaf.”
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We get scrod, and haddock too, at The Fish House

Scrod and Haddock sandwiches

So what’s a scrod? I’ll spare you the notorious Boston cabbie joke (although if you’re desperate to hear it, email me.) Anyway … scrod – or “schrod,” an older variation that’s dying out – is a foodie term that’s hard to pin down. Its definition varies depending on where you look it up.
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Warming up at Wiltshire on Market

Pork tenderloin at Wiltshire on Market

We found a parking place right in front of Wiltshire on Market on a freezing Thursday evening, negotiated rock-hard ridges of icy snow and made it to the front door still standing. As soon as we stepped inside, a welcoming warmth enveloped us and drove away the cold.

Soon the three of us were ensconced on a soft, tall banquette seat at an oddly shaped, not quite triangular table big enough for six or seven. We adjusted puffy pillows behind our backs and felt quite sybaritic indeed.
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We follow the yellow brick road to Arbor Ridge

crab cakes
Arbor Ridge’s crab cakes

LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes

Arbor Ridge’s menu is extensive and, management attests, “serves a fresh, flavorful and healthy cuisine with Californian and Mediterranean flair.” It is certainly a giant step beyond boring, although I wouldn’t rate it adventurous.
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Perfect pair: Hot Brown, meet pizza

hot brown pizza

The famous Hot Brown — allegedly fashioned as a midnight snack for Roaring Twenties revelers famished after a night of dancing in the Brown Hotel’s Crystal Ballroom — is just an open-faced sandwich of turkey, bacon and cheesy Mornay sauce. Nothing so inventive there, and it’s a cardiologist’s nightmare.

The inventive folks at BoomBozz Taphouse in the Highlands have put a new spin on the old tradition by marrying it in weird but delicious union with a pizza.
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No animals were harmed in making this chili dog

chili dog
Vegan chili dog. Photo: Robin Garr

LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes

Speaking of creative eateries, Conez & Coneyz may be one of the smallest dining venues on Frankfort Avenue, but it’s also one of the most eager to please.

When the owners chose to set up a hot-dog stand last year near the epicenter of an urban neighborhood rich in recovering hippies and seminary students (occasionally both embodied in the same person), they weren’t all that surprised to hear an instant demand for a vegetarian dawg.

Ultimately, they sourced two dogs that weren’t merely vegetarian but vegan: a Loma Linda brand item that turns to textured vegetable prote for almost-sausage flavor; and a Vegi-Dog made by Cedar Lake that’s all-grain protein. One chilly afternoon, I tried the Loma Linda as a chilidog, topped with vegetarian chili and chopped onions.
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Let’s break our fast at Zapata’s Corner

breakfast pate
Zapata’s Huevos con Chorizos

LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes

How about a little desayuno? Barring the Saturday bowl of menudo at the local taqueria, the regrettable closing of Bueños Dias Café in Jeffersonville left the area bereft of a really good Mexican breakfast … until the happy arrival of Zapata’s Corner in Middletown, refilling the space left vacant by the brief final incarnation of Mazzoni’s with a happy, colorful Latino vibe.
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