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
Category Archives: Commentary
Robin Garr’s musings about food and restaurant matters that don’t fit neatly into the “review” category.
Allergies vs. “Allergies”
At the suggestion of a chef friend, I recently began viewing the Netflix six-episode docuseries “Rotten.” It’s a very well-executed look at the food supply chain and the crime and corruption which lie within. Episode Two is titled “The Peanut Problem.” It examines the recent sharp rise of peanut allergies in the last decade or so. Continue reading Allergies vs. “Allergies”
Sin
Happy New Year, everyone! Time for us all to purge ourselves of our bad eating and exercise habits and be healthful again for a couple of weeks. Join a gym. Buy a blender and start making smoothies with chia seeds and spinach. Swear off ranch dressing and swear off red-velvet waffles. Consume only “lite” beer. Buy the olive oil version of your favorite mayonnaise. Continue reading Sin
All aboard on Mi Sueño Cuban Express
For a few brief, joyous moments of federal sanity last year, it seemed we were going to be friends with Cuba again. Thanks, Obama! But now the new boss has taken Cuba off the table for now. Thanks a lot, Donnie.
But if we can’t easily go to Cuba, it seems that Cuba is coming to Louisville. Cuban immigration to Louisville accelerated so fast in the past decade that the local diaspora has attracted national media attention. Continue reading All aboard on Mi Sueño Cuban Express
Recipe Schme-cipe
My long-suffering fiancée works in an office of seven people, including three vegetarians. The other night I was re-creating a Crockpot vegetarian green bean dish that I had made for last year’s office Thanksgiving. They were a big hit even with the meat-eaters. I had to work really hard to make them rich in flavor and mouthfeel for everyone to enjoy, and I remembered just what I had put in them before. Naturally I hadn’t written anything down. I just used instinct and memory to make them again. Continue reading Recipe Schme-cipe
Tandoori Fusion masters the science of fusion
When I first heard about Tandoori Fusion, the new Indian restaurant way out in the East End across the way from Costco, my imagination leapt up. I know that the tandoor, the iconic Indian clay oven, can reach temperatures upward of 900ºF, a searing fire that does something magical to meats and flatbreads too.
But Tandoori Fusion? Can these people possibly have mustered nuclear fusion, the fierce energy that lights up H-bombs and the Sun itself? Crazy! That would make some remarkable tandoori food, all right, and it would be wicked fast.
Nope. Continue reading Tandoori Fusion masters the science of fusion
The House-Made Tale
Almost anyone who enjoys dining out has a whole range of places they enjoy, from fast food chains to casual stand-alone restaurants to (if cash flow permits), the occasional splurge at a high-end fine dining establishment. If you’re a reasonable person, your expectations of what gets brought into each restaurant pre-made, versus what’s made from scratch, should be on a sliding scale. Continue reading The House-Made Tale
The Highwire of Ordering
A chef or kitchen manager has to juggle their many other daily tasks and also order fresh products and dry goods and front-of-the-house supplies. Sometimes deliveries don’t go as planned. Then it’s up to that person who’s in charge of ordering to call their purveyors and ask for corrections that will (hopefully) arrive in time to make service happen successfully. Continue reading The Highwire of Ordering
The Hands of a Cook
Do you have a relative or close friend who works in a restaurant? Have you ever looked closely at their hands and forearms? Continue reading The Hands of a Cook
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s … SuperChefs!
Holy pancakes and waffles, Batman! This place has got a bat-ton of food, piled as high as Gotham’s towers! With great power comes great responsibility, and SuperChefs’ latest and most impressive location meets that standard and then some. Continue reading Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s … SuperChefs!