Category Archives: Commentary

Robin Garr’s musings about food and restaurant matters that don’t fit neatly into the “review” category.

$ Budget (under $30), Commentary, Hikes Point, Pacific Rim, World Food

Indian home cooking at Little India Café

risotto cakes

I’d like to tell you about a cozy new place where dining is much like being invited into an Indian family’s home for dinner.

Pop bustles about while Junior sets the table and keeps up a stream of friendly chatter. Mom’s in the kitchen with a clatter of pans and spoons, and wonderful smells come wafting out. Plates bearing aromatic, home-cooked Indian goodies soon start appearing on the table, and the whole family smiles, awaiting your thumbs-up.

That’s pretty much the scene at Little India Café.
Continue reading Indian home cooking at Little India Café →

$ Budget (under $30), Commentary, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, World Food

La Colombiana offers up South American treats

food on plate
Bandeja Paisa at La Columbiana

LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes

Our city is blessed with Latino treats. In addition to a flotilla of taquerias, we’ve got landmarks like Bruce Ucán’s Mayan Café with its Mayan fare from Yucatan and Guatemala, and Anthony Lamas’ Seviche with its Nuevo Latino smorgasbord of goodies from Sonora to Tierra del Fuego.

So why do we remain cursed with a widespread attitude among diners that South of the Border food consists of tacos, burritos and guacamole all the way down?

The cuisines of the Western Hemisphere, from Mexico through Central America and down through South America, are as rich and diverse as, well, the cuisines of our 50 states.

Last month, we gained another new flavor of Hispanic America as La Colombiana — the region’s first Colombian restaurant — opened in Lyndon in the shopping center quarters vacated by FireFresh Barbecue.
Continue reading La Colombiana offers up South American treats →

$ Budget (under $30), Commentary, Pubs, Brew Pubs, GastroPubs, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

Molly Malone’s alive, alive-oh in St. Matthews’ fair city

mussels, red sauce, white plate

Think of the name “Molly Malone” and get an instant “earworm,” the tune that sticks in your head and will not go away. “Cockles and mussels, alive, alive-oh” indeed!

In Louisville, however, Molly Malone gains quick recognition as one of the region’s many amiable Irish pubs. Continue reading Molly Malone’s alive, alive-oh in St. Matthews’ fair city →

$ Budget (under $30), Bistros, Commentary, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown

Good eats among the antiques at Michele’s On Goss

eggs Benedict
Michelle’s Eggs Benedict

LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes

Early in April, Michele Brinke took over as owner of the restaurant in the Goss Avenue Antique Mall, renaming it from Olivia’s to Michele’s On Goss. Chef Travis Hall moved on to focus on his school nutrition business, and Brinke is now joined by Sous Chef Philip Hess.

Brinke, who among other things joined her husband, Bob, as co-chef of the short-lived but excellent Chef’s Table in Old Louisville and worked at Highland Fish Market in Middletown, brings plenty of experience to this sizable space. She already has put her stamp on the menu and the service at this lunch and brunch-only eatery.
Continue reading Good eats among the antiques at Michele’s On Goss →

$$$ Upscale ( $50 - $80), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, Commentary, Pacific Rim

Wasabiya serves creative sushi, but not without a few flaws

sushi roll

All right, who ordered all this raw fish? At the rate things are going, the city’s Bardstown-Baxter strip is going to have to change its nickname from restaurant row to something like … well, how does “The Boulevard of Bistros and Sushi Bars” sound?
Continue reading Wasabiya serves creative sushi, but not without a few flaws →

Commentary

Nobody knows the changes I’ve seen … on the eats beat

A look at 20 years of the Louisville dining scene

Mayan Gypsy
Mayan Gypsy

LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes

Ah, nostalgia. There’s hardly a better way to get a room full of foodies chattering, in real time or Internet time, than to start a conversation about the evolution, development and changes of Louisville’s dining scene.

Scratch a food lover, find a memory bank full of stories about great meals past, real and imagined, along with a few stories about dining disasters. Are things just as good as they used to be, or are they even better? Grab a dish from your favorite restaurant, fill your glass with a tasty beverage, and let’s talk.

This week, celebrating the 20th birthday of LEO Weekly, we’re looking specifically at Louisville’s eats beat for the past 20 years, from 1990 to now.
Continue reading Nobody knows the changes I’ve seen … on the eats beat →