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| Crowds packed the preview grand opening of the new Napa River Grill, which left Dupont Square for Westport Village. Photo by Robin Garr. |
Napa River Grill moved last week from its longtime location in Dupont Square, opening June 16 as an anchor restaurant in the fast-growing Westport Village complex.
We took a quick peek on opening night without stopping to dine, amid a crowd so large and happy it was hard to make out the details. Continue reading Napa River Grill settles in at Westport Village
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| If you’re in the mood for a more casual experience, the rear patio at Le Relais is more laid-back and offers a bonus: It overlooks the runway and hangars, so you can watch small planes come and go. Photo by Robin Garr. |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com, with Guest Critic Paige Moore-Heavin
Le Relais consistently ranks among my top five restaurants in Louisville, and on any given night, it can make the top one. Yet a lot of people are wary of experiencing this great dining room. Some fear it will be too expensive. Others sweat the potential embarrassment of being unable to read a fancy French menu.
There’s no need for concern, says LouisvilleHotBytes correspondent Paige Moore-Heavin, who recently checked out Le Relais and found the price doable (especially if you go for the special-deal prix fixe menu) and the friendly attitude entirely bilingual. Here’s her report:
Continue reading French Flying: Le Relais soars
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| Mazzoni’s, the 125-year-old Louisville tradition, is still going strong in its new Middletown digs. The fried oysters should not be missed. Photo by Robin Garr. |
Mazzoni’s, the 125-year-old Louisville tradition, moved out to Middletown from its longtime quarters on Taylorsville Road earlier this year. I wandered out the other day for a couple deep-fried delights and found its new shopping center quarters virtually indistinguishable from the old, complete with the trademark 27-foot-long walnut serving bar (which dates all the way back to its old downtown location) and gallery of old Louisville pictures on the walls.
Continue reading No need to roll your own at Mazzoni’s
Centuries ago, long before “small plates” became trendy and before the Spanish came up with the idea of placing a little dish with a snack on top of their Sherry glasses to keep the fruit flies out of their wine, the Chinese realized that a procession of small plates bearing bite-sized snacks would be a civilized way to while away a convivial meal.
Continue reading Dim Sum touch our hearts
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| Macca’s Florida Seafood Grill & Bar holds down a prime spot in the Westport Village center. Outside seating, clean restrooms and a full bar, with plenty of scurrying employees wearing matching attire, put Macca’s squarely in the upscale-casual realm. Photo by Robin Garr. |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com, with Guest Critic Kevin Gibson
If Macca’s Florida Seafood Grill & Bar, with its clean, corporate, angular design and requisite marine-centric décor, looks like it could be part of a chain, that’s probably more than coincidental – this sleek, family-friendly restaurant was originally going to be an R.J. Gator’s franchise, but corporate expansion plans by the Florida-based restaurant chain got put on the back burner, reportedly for economic reasons.
Continue reading Unchained Macca’s delights at Westport Village
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| North End Café’s migas are the Tex-Mex breakfast of champions. Photo by Robin Garr. |
Looking for a tasty Tex-Mex breakfast? One of my favorites comes from North End Café, a popular eatery renowned for its breakfast but not often counted among the city’s destinations for Border Country cuisine.
North End’s expansive breakfast menu features more than two-dozen goodies, including such traditional items as biscuits and gravy ($4.75), steak and eggs ($11.99), or even a warm bowl of oatmeal ($4.79). Some dishes add creative touches – you can get your biscuits, for example, with the option of vegetarian mushroom gravy; and French toast ($5.49) gets a subtle touch from the addition of orange spice flavors.
Down at the bottom of the menu you’ll find a tasty Tex-Mex snack: Continue reading Make mine migas at North End Café
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| Las Gorditas’ fresh fare includes two tacos, carnitas and lengua, and a gordita. |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
In Mexico City, a sprawling metropolis of 20 million souls, you’ll find a taco stand on just about every corner.
In Louisville, not so much.
But the good news, as Louisville’s small but thriving Latino community grows, is that it’s now possible to enjoy a Mexico City-style experience at a taco wagon or two around town.
One of the best, a relatively recent arrival, rolls into the parking lot at Eastland Shopping Center (where Buechel meets Fern Creek on Bardstown Road) just about every weekend evening.
Continue reading That’s not a gordita. This is a gordita
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| Market Street Fish House in New Albany. Photo by Robin Garr. |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
I went across the Ohio to New Albany last week and had me a big old batch of fried oysters, and they were fine, even though the month of May doesn’t have an “R” in it.
Happily, the old wisdom about avoiding oysters from the end of Aprrrril through the first of Septemberrrr has pretty much been repealed, allowing aficionados of the tasty bivalve to enjoy them year-round.
What’s the story? The old R Rule stemmed from two issues, one related to health and the other to enjoyment.
Continue reading Why did the foodie cross the river?
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| Kentucky Bar-B-Cue’s BLT sandwich. Photo by Robin Garr. |
Bearing in mind Columnist Marsha Lynch’s dissertation last week on selecting the special menu item at local indie eateries, I took her advice and tried a truly offbeat special last week at Kentucky Bar-B-Cue Co.
This relatively new outfit, located in the drafty, homey old Clifton saloon that used to house Café Lou Lou, now sports a new coat of red interior paint and a gallery of beer signs. It’s the latest home of the smoked-meat establishment formerly known as Bourbon Brothers BBQ.
Continue reading Turbo-charged BLT at KY BBQ Co
Serving up simple, affordable down-home fare since 1929, the Cottage Inn is one of Louisville’s oldest eateries in continuous operation. It trails Mazzoni’s (1884); but unlike the peripatetic home of the rolled oyster, which has moved repeatedly and only settled down in its new Middletown quarters this year, the Cottage Inn has remained in its original home. Kaelin’s didn’t come along until 1934, and I’m having a hard time thinking of another contender.
Continue reading Something special at the Cottage Inn