Robin Garr’s musings about food and restaurant matters that don’t fit neatly into the “review” category.
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
A look at 20 years of the Louisville dining scene
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| 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
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| Doner plate at Instanbul Palace |
Voice-Tribune review by LouisvilleHotBytes
Louisville’s first Turkish restaurant has settled down in the East End, as Istanbul Palace, a popular spot in Lexington, has now moved to our town.
If you reckon you might enjoy Turkish food because you love turkey on Thanksgiving, you may want to re-think that: Despite the apparent coincidence of names, the turkey does not come to us from Turkey with a capital T. It’s a North American bird, most likely named by early settlers based on what they thought they heard the American Indians say.
Turkish food, to the casual observer, might seem to resemble Greek food, but I’d be careful about that, too: Turkey and Greece, both of which have been major world powers in their time, have a long record of rivalry, and sadly that relationship has had its rocky periods.
Continue reading Istanbul Palace introduces Turkish fare
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Just about everybody in Louisville talks about how much we enjoy good old-fashioned Italian-American comfort food, pasta loaded with tomato sauce with garlic bread on the side and gulps of rustic red wine to wash it all down.
Continue reading DiFabio’s dishes up Italian comfort fare
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| Mussels at Bank Street Brewhouse |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
We arrived at Bank Street Brewhouse on a beautiful late-spring afternoon. The temperature was in the balmy upper 70s, the breezes were gentle, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
I looked longingly at the four round patio tables out front and whispered to my bride how frustrating it is that the outdoor dining section has become the de facto smoking section for many Metro eateries.
The server must have overheard me. “Those tables are no-smoking,” she said with a smile. “Take your pick.”
Continue reading Lots to like about Bank Street Brewhouse
So, another Derby has come and gone. To the world outside Derby City, the “Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports” is, at most, a couple hours of viewing enjoyment on a spring Saturday afternoon. To Louisvillians, of course, it’s much more: a two-week extravaganza with a celebratory feel; a chance to glimpse celebrities from around the globe; short, lazy days at the office and lots of early business closings; an excuse to acquire an elaborate hat; and a reason to buy up half the supply of fresh mint in the northern quadrant of the country.
Continue reading Well done, good and faithful servants
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| Breakfast plate at Queen of Sheba |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
Let’s face it: Breakfast can be as boring as, well, a bowl of oatmeal. Even such treats as ham and eggs and crispy bacon just don’t get one’s motor running in the morning anymore. Mexican desayuno at Zapata’s Corner or migas and breakfast tacos at North End Café? Been there, done that. Even the rolling carts of Chinese snacks at Jade Palace’s dim sum seem so familiar now.
Not that any of these breakfast or brunch options are bad, mind you, but if they no longer bring the exciting shock of the new, perhaps it’s time to wheel over to Queen of Sheba on a Sunday to check out an Ethiopian breakfast.
Continue reading Breakfast is finger food at Queen of Sheba
Say hello to Texicans BBQ Pitt in Crestwood, one of the most recent arrivals in our local smorgasbord of smoked meat and a tasty addition indeed.
Continue reading Texicans is smokin’ in Crestwood
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| The Slugger Sandwich at the ballpark |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
It’s hard to comprehend that Louisville Slugger Field hosted its first game 10 years ago this month. Our “new” ballpark has been open for a decade. During that time, we’ve seen a few pennant-winning teams and a couple that didn’t do so well.
Sadly for foodies who like to enjoy an interesting dining experience along with a game, concessions have generally been, well, a little boring. Peanuts and Cracker Jacks, burgers and dogs, brats and Italian sausage, nachos and Papa John’s pizza, with ice cream to sweeten the mix.
At the start of the 2010 season, however, we spotted a handful of new food items that have potential to turn the ballpark into a downscale bistro.
Continue reading Baseball’s back! Eater up!
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