Rootie’s Sports Bar on Westport Road doesn’t look like anything special — just another sports bar, with lots of TVs and a few pool tables.
But owner Marty Stein knows a thing or two about the classic Buffalo wing. He and the original Rootie’s location hail from Buffalo. He’s been making Buffalo wings for more than 30 years, having bounced from upstate New York to South Florida and now to Louisville, with stops on “The Today Show” and “Regis and Kathie Lee” along the way.
Continue reading Rootie’s wings are the real deal. Really.
Category Archives: Guest columnist
Essays, reports and commentary by special guest writers.
Cleavage Wars: Hooters vs. Tilted Kilt
Well, well, well — Hooters has some competition in its previously uncontested milieu. You know: laid-back environment, pub grub, cold beer, multiple TVs ablaze with sports. Oh yeah, and cleavage. Lots of cleavage.
After hearing the buzz about the Tilted Kilt, 6201 Dutchmans Lane (the former Ernesto’s building, Oldenburg before that), I considered checking it out. But hey, Hooters is like an old friend; I didn’t want to be disloyal.
Continue reading Cleavage Wars: Hooters vs. Tilted Kilt
Unmasking the two faces of Zanzabar
By night, Zanzabar is a hipster hangout, a music venue that attracts local and touring artists alike, and it offers a varied dinner and late-night menu, along with a pretty fair beer list. By day, Zanzabar is a mild-mannered purveyor of boxed lunches and “the lunch line” — a one-price, one-stop, cafeteria-style alter-identity that offers all-American, down-home goodness at a decent price.
Is it just a coincidence that there is a Batman comic book lurking behind the horseshoe-shaped bar?
Continue reading Unmasking the two faces of Zanzabar
Cricket’s Café adds flavor to Sunny Side
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You want fries with that? Eh. I’ll admit I often save a little time and eat a chain burger or corporate taco. But I know there are alternatives out there if I need them.
Over in Sellersburg, Cricket’s Café offers such an option.
Continue reading Cricket’s Café adds flavor to Sunny Side
Café Mimosa returns
By Kevin Gibson
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
The familiar logo on the former Lentini’s reads “Café Mimosa,” but the sandwich board out front says it all: “We open now!”
A fire destroyed Café Mimosa’s former location — along with its partner Egg Roll Machine — in January. Owner Phat Le vowed to reopen; the former Lentini’s made sense since, well, he already owned it.
The new Mimosa, replacing recent tenant Jarfi’s, seems more upscale than the old, but food and prices are much the same.
Continue reading Café Mimosa returns
Tequila Factory manufactures fine Mexican chow
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Thank goodness it’s not another faux Irish pub.
Tequila Factory Bar and Grill is the latest tenant in the revolving-door location at 917 Baxter Ave., the former home of @tmosphere, Bazo’s and two or three iterations of Nio’s, among other short-lived concepts.
Continue reading Tequila Factory manufactures fine Mexican chow
Another reason to love El Tarasco
I love El Tarasco’s St. Matthew’s property. I go there for lunch several times a month with my friend and business associate Jerry, and we’re never let down — when it comes to quality Mexican at a great price, it’s hard to beat. The chicken tacos are ridiculously good.
Continue reading Another reason to love El Tarasco
Fried chicken? Falafels? Captain Pepper Jack’s mixes it up
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
(By Paige Moore-Heavin)
When my friend Lynn suggested Captain Pepper Jack’s Aero Bistro for girls’ night out, I was a little confused. This place, which opened near Bowman Field in May, was new to me. “It’s part Southern American and part Mediterranean,” she said. Well, that’s an odd combination. But, ever the foodie, I was willing to give this culinary mash-up a try.
Continue reading Fried chicken? Falafels? Captain Pepper Jack’s mixes it up
Industry Standard: Behind the Kitchen Door: Part II
In my last column, we visited the restaurant kitchen that lies behind the dining room access door and found it to be bright, hot and noisy. But who’s cooking your food?
Georges Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935) simplified the elaborate and ornate kitchen brigade first popularized by Antoine Careme, one of the codifiers of French haute cuisine. The 21st century kitchen brigade has been even further distilled, personnel-wise. Who’s cooking your food? A little bit of everyone. Let’s look at the Brigade de Cuisine in the modern restaurant kitchen, shall we?
Continue reading Industry Standard: Behind the Kitchen Door: Part II
Industry Standard: Behind the Kitchen Door: Part I
Even if you’ve never worked in a restaurant, you’ve probably found yourself contemplating the kitchen door, wondering: What exactly is back there? How many people? How roomy is it? You have a right to be curious: They’re making your food back there.
Well, follow me. But I warn you: The kitchen in a working restaurant bears little resemblance to standard, shiny FoodTV kitchens or those “set kitchens” on the latest foodie reality TV offerings. Restaurant kitchen doors mark boundaries both geographic and symbolic, and they always lead into a totally different world from the dining room, whether the latter was cool and serene, hip and trendy, or hushed and formal. That’s all behind us now; here — put this apron on.
Continue reading Industry Standard: Behind the Kitchen Door: Part I