Robin Garr’s musings about food and restaurant matters that don’t fit neatly into the “review” category.
By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
Well, here we are. It’s 2024, another year has gone into the history books. We’re at that annual point when we talk about New Year’s resolutions (and how quickly we break them).
This is also when we fondly remember that jolly old Roman deity Janus. whose name gave us “January” because he bears a face on both sides of his head: One to look forward and one to look back.
Continue reading Here come 2024’s restaurant trends, like ‘em or not!By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
What? another year has gone by already!? How in the heck did that even happen?
We’re another year away from the Covid-19 pandemic that came out of nowhere to scare the hell out of us, and we’ve become so blasé that only a tiny fraction of Americans have even bothered to get the updated and curated 2023-2024 vaccine. (It’s your call, but I’ve got mine.)
Moreover, a year later, the restaurant industry continues to grapple with business issues that the pandemic brought into clear sight …
Continue reading Whoa, 2023! What was the big hurry?By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
Today: Cloudy, gradually becoming overcast, with a high near 34. Gusty and variable winds, with rain, sleet, and snow showers through the period.
That’s the kind of dismal forecast that just shouts “Louisville Winter!” Blustery weather like thismakes me crave warm, consoling comfort food … and a warm, consoling comfort restaurant to enjoy it in.
Continue reading C-c-c-cold? Crank up the warmth at favorite eateriesBy Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
Restaurant food is delicious. We all know that. This is why we love to eat out. But is it healthy? Well …Chances are that your wondrous repast is loaded with butter, weighed down with carbs, blown up into portion sizes big enough for three. Hell, that’s what makes it so good!
But sometimes, perhaps after looking at the scales or eyeing our next health checkup, we wonder: Is there any way to enjoy restaurant fare without setting out on a slow path to an early demise?
Well, maybe.
Continue reading Healthy dining out? Yes, it is possibleHomelessness – or houselessness, as many advocates prefer to call it since even a tent is still a person’s home – is an ongoing crisis.
The Coalition for the Homeless declared homelessness “one of the most pressing crises facing Louisville today” in a 2021 report that found 10,640 people without housing in the city in 2021.
Continue reading Feed Louisville’s food rescue growsBy Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
The abrupt recent closing of the beloved local restaurant Come Back Inn came as another worrisome note in what feels like an ongoing dirge for our fretful food-loving community: Who’s next? Is Louisville’s fame as a dining destination fading away in the post-pandemic age’s hard times? Continue reading Hard times come a’knockin’ at our door
LEO Weekly’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards went public this week. LEO staff tallied all the votes submitted by readers in scores of categories, and in this week’s edition let everyone know who you think is the cream of the crop in each category. Continue reading LEO Weekly 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards plus my picks: Choi’s and V-Grits
By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
Here’s an existential question about the art of the food critic: Should a restaurant review stick to the simple basics of food, mood, and service? Or does a review gain texture and meaning by bringing in a broader range of history, culture, culinary arts and other trips down fascinating rabbit holes?
If you follow my food writing at all, you won’t have much trouble finding me sitting unobtrusively at a dinner table behind Door No. Two. I love those culinary rabbit holes, and I suspect it shows. Continue reading More thoughts from the critic’s table
By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
If you’ve long harbored a wish to go viral on social media but didn’t know where to start, here’s a modest proposal: Speak of your undying love for pizza topped with pineapple … and anchovies.
That should do it, and if it costs you a few lost friends and followers, well, that’s the price of fame.
What is it about pizza that makes it such a natural topic for conversation and even debate? Continue reading We just can’t stop talking about pizza
By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
Refusing to eat a disgusting dish may be one of the first things that we as humans can do to claim our individual agency, our right to yell “No!”
“It’s broccoli, dear.” “I say it’s spinach, and I say the hell with it.” Carl Ross’ classic 1928 New Yorker cartoon captured the concept perfectly. We don’t like it. We say the hell with it. And more often than not, that childhood response evolves into a lifelong aversion.
Until it doesn’t. Continue reading Overcoming food aversions, restaurant-style
