When I go to a Japanese restaurant, I generally love to pull right up to the sushi bar. I can hardly imagine a more immersive entry into the world of Japanese cuisine than sitting right across the tale from the sushi chefs, with the striking colors of beautiful fresh fish and other edible delights lined up in perfect rows between you. Continue reading Foodies may happily graze at hiko-A-mon
Category Archives: LEO’s Eats
Wild Eggs maintains its eggy goodness
Can a great independent restaurant remain great when it evolves into a corporate chain? This favorite topic for foodie debate plays out time and again, just about any time a favorite eatery opens a second location, and then a third. Continue reading Wild Eggs maintains its eggy goodness
ROC rocks Italian food and drink
Some of Louisville’s favorite restaurants have their roots in other cities. Consider Selena’s, for instance, which came up from Tampa almost a decade ago. Or Jeff Ruby’s, which added Louisville to its thriving Cincinnati metro operation; or even Vincenzo’s, which can trace its roots to the Hill in St. Louis.
Now let’s put our hands together for ROC, an elegant eatery that owners Rocco and Stacy Cadolini pretty much loaded on a moving truck in Manhattan’s Tribeca and unpacked in Louisville’s Highlands last month. Continue reading ROC rocks Italian food and drink
Street food in the South End: Á-Châu
Who doesn’t love street food? I sure do! Give me a corn dog, or maybe a big slice of New York City pizza that I can fold over and carry down the street, and I’m a happy boy.
So naturally I was delighted to discover a recent South End arrival, Á-Châu, which bears the magical words “Vietnamese Street Food” in big letters over the front door. Continue reading Street food in the South End: Á-Châu
Street food in the South End: Cocoberry Pops
I couldn’t leave the South End without checking another new spot, Cocoberry Pops, another street-food eatery that offers just one thing – a very good thing – Gourmet-style popsicles based on Mexican paletas. Continue reading Street food in the South End: Cocoberry Pops
Las Gorditas adds a full restaurant, and we’re glad.
Is there any culture, anywhere, that does not delight in the joys of wrapping carbohydrates around protein or vegetables and eating it out of hand? From the humble sandwich to empanada, kreplach, pita and Asian bao, among many more, I can’t think of any cuisine that doesn’t boast some kind of portable meal like this. Continue reading Las Gorditas adds a full restaurant, and we’re glad.
Chik’n & Mi gives the noble bird an Asian spin
There’s something lovably gritty about the stretch of urban Louisville along Lower Brownsboro Road in Clifton that some call “LowBrow,” and we’re okay with that. Take that well-worn restaurant building that sits up on the bank across from Kroger. Home to a dozen short-lived spots over the past couple of decades, it started life as a Pizza Hut sometime back in the ‘70s. You know the place: It’s one of the city’s most storied “restaurant graveyards.”
But now a new arrival has upped the ante significantly … Continue reading Chik’n & Mi gives the noble bird an Asian spin
Mirin gets ramen right
About a half-mile away from Chik’n & Mi, in the heart of Clifton, the guys at Mirin get ramen right. I needn’t repeat my recent glowing review (Jan. 11, 2017), but news of lunch hours and an expanded menu drew me back for a revisit the other day. I still love it just as hard. Continue reading Mirin gets ramen right
Fork & Barrel’s warm vibe surrounds fine, pricey fare
When a restaurant launches in the springtime in Louisville, the owner invariably faces a difficult decision: Rush to open the doors before Derby season? Or take it easy and get all your culinary ducks in a row before opening up more gently in the post-Derby calm?
The issues involved in this decision are not trivial. Opening in time for Derby may pay off, but it poses challenges, too. If things go poorly, the train wreck happens in front of a critical audience.
So, props to Fork & Barrel’s owners, Chef Geoffrey Heyde and his wife, Emily, who risked opening on busy Frankfort Avenue just a few weeks before the race, following a quick but stylish remake of the space that had long housed Basa Modern Vietnamese. Continue reading Fork & Barrel’s warm vibe surrounds fine, pricey fare
Parlour offers a cozy oasis for bridge walkers and everyone
Have you strolled, jogged or biked across the Big Four walking bridge yet? Who hasn’t? According to the Waterfront Development Corp., about 1,500,000 people enjoy the mile-long bridge between Louisville and Jeffersonville, Ind., every year. Reopening the abandoned, rusting 1895 railroad bridge as a linear public park has proven to be a great idea.
And now, thanks to another great idea, it’s even better. Step off the Indiana end, and what to your wondering eyes should appear, directly across Jeffersonville’s Pearl Street from the foot of the bridge ramp, but a beautifully restored, 181-year-old mansion and extensive gardens, now revealed as Parlour, an inviting pizzeria and beer garden. Continue reading Parlour offers a cozy oasis for bridge walkers and everyone