This time of year, I hear people musing about how restaurant employees must welcome the holidays, since many restaurants are closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. I try to chuckle politely rather than sarcastically, but it’s a challenge.
Continue reading Happy Holidays, restaurant workers
Category Archives: Commentary
Robin Garr’s musings about food and restaurant matters that don’t fit neatly into the “review” category.
We celebrate Diwali and diversity at Bombay Grill
One of the biggest and best changes I’ve seen in our town over a Baby Boomer’s lifetime in Louisville has been the surprising ethnic and cultural diversity that has blossomed here over a generation. As outgoing Mayor Jerry Abramson likes to point out, more than half of our city’s population growth nowadays takes the form of new residents arriving from other countries. Youngsters in Jefferson County public schools speak more than 80 different languages at home, and Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus, among others, gather peacefully in their own places of worship.
It’s quite a change for a city that as recently as the ’60s boasted two Chinese restaurants and a “Mexican” eatery that specialized in greasy chili.
Continue reading We celebrate Diwali and diversity at Bombay Grill
In search of the city’s best doughnuts
Who doesn’t like doughnuts? There’s something comforting about these fried spheres of goodness with a hole in the middle, and most doughnut lovers have strong opinions on the subject.
Louisville boasts many local bakeries and doughnut joints. But not all doughnuts (or, if you prefer, “donuts”) are created equal, so I set out to try a random sample of five locals to see how they compared.
Continue reading In search of the city’s best doughnuts
For a good country-fried steak, go to Goose Creek Diner
I wouldn’t want to say that my food preferences are those of a city boy, but let’s put it this way: In years of dining at my parents’ table, I never realized grits were served with breakfast until I ran into this odd practice elsewhere. And I was a fully grown adult before my first encounter with country-fried steak.
Continue reading For a good country-fried steak, go to Goose Creek Diner
At Cluckers, it’s all about chicken — and the sauces
My friend Joe’s face flushed to a deep crimson, and his eyes welled with moisture.
“I can’t even describe how my mouth feels right now,” Joe said after devouring 10 Cluckin’ Inferno Wings at Cluckers, a new chicken-centric bar and grill in New Albany. He later added: “I’m hurting.”
Continue reading At Cluckers, it’s all about chicken — and the sauces
Waiting to inhale
“Why are Louisvillians so utterly opposed to waiting for a table?”
A manager at an ultra-hot Louisville eatery recently posed this question on our local foodie forum, LouisvilleHotBytes.com. I love it when a column topic plops directly into my lap.
Continue reading Waiting to inhale
Double down in Germantown at Eiderdown
Every morning you greet me …
No, wait, dammit! Rewind! I meant “Eiderdown,” sorry. Edelweiss is an Alpine flower, small and white. Eiderdown is soft, warm down from the breast feathers of the female eider duck, which famously plucks down from her chest to line her nest and keep her eggs and infant duckies safe and warm.
Continue reading Double down in Germantown at Eiderdown
Danny Mac rocks it in new quarters
Who doesn’t know Danny Mac? If you follow local social media, you’ve surely run into this guy, who’s been selling a lot of pizza and authentic Philly-style cheesesteaks out of a storefront on Clarks Lane.
Continue reading Danny Mac rocks it in new quarters
Rootie’s wings are the real deal. Really.
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.
Surfin’ the bacon bubble at The Blind Pig
The chattering classes in the urban centers are badmouthing bacon, and I don’t want to hear it.
“We are in the midst of a bacon bubble,” The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month, and The Atlantic gleefully passed it on. “A growing number of chefs … say it’s about to pop,” snorted Journal reporter Katy McLaughlin. “Bacon had a good run, but now it has gone flabby — used too much and too often, it’s lost its novelty and coated fine dining with a ubiquitous veneer of porky grease.”
Harrumph. I’m callin’ bacon fat.
Bacon, like pizza and barbecue, is one of nature’s finest foods. Continue reading Surfin’ the bacon bubble at The Blind Pig