Short, conversational mini-reviews that report on new sightings, updates on previously reviewed restaurants or other restaurant reports that may not fit the full-scale review format.
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Pugliese “Pug” roll at Blue Dog Bakery, a great stop for morning breads, pastries and coffee. There’s a full lunch menu, and it goes without saying that Baker Bob Hancock’s artisan breads are the best in the region. But it’s generally the “pug” roll and lattes that bring us out just about every Saturday morning.
Blue Dog Café and Bakery
2868 Frankfort Ave.
(502) 899-9800
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LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
You can, and probably do, call it a Danish pastry, but its roots lie in Vienna. Nevertheless, the Danes have made this rich and delicious pastry their own, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a better one in the Old Country than you can enjoy right here in Louisville at Danish Express.
This quaint St. Matthews storefront occupies a cozy space with big plate-glass windows that make up the entire front wall, facing east to bring in bright sunlight in the morning.
It’s open from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. daily (except Sunday), offering breakfast throughout and lunch at midday. The breakfast menu – including but not limited to the rich, oversize Danish – makes it one of the city’s top spots to break a fast. At lunchtime, it’s still a decent place for a quick meal, but facing much sterner competition, it’s not quite as close to the front of the pack.
Continue reading The eponymous pastry seals the deal at Danish Express
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
(By Paige Moore-Heavin)
When my friend Lynn suggested Captain Pepper Jack’s Aero Bistro for girls’ night out, I was a little confused. This place, which opened near Bowman Field in May, was new to me. “It’s part Southern American and part Mediterranean,” she said. Well, that’s an odd combination. But, ever the foodie, I was willing to give this culinary mash-up a try.
Continue reading Fried chicken? Falafels? Captain Pepper Jack’s mixes it up
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LouisvilleHotBytes.com in The Voice-Tribune
(Published May 13, 2009)
The Highlands carry-out branch of Tony Boombozz Pizza on Bardstown Road – once the location of an urban White Castle still remembered fondly by Baby Boomers – has re-emerged after a major renovation as a splendid pizzeria and high-tech beer dispensary, the East End mini-chain’s fourth property and perhaps its most exciting yet.
Curved banks of silvery metal tubes soar over the bar to pipe down a selection of more than 20 draft beers, most imports and microbrewery beers. What’s more, the region’s only “ice bar” features artificially made “snow” blanketing a strip at the back. Want your beer ice cold? Set your mug on the icy white line.
Continue reading High-tech bar, award-winning fare lift Boombozz Taphouse
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LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
So we’re walking down Baxter just north of Highland Avenue, well into the city’s club zone, and suddenly a new hanging sign catches my eye.
“BUNZ,” it reads, like a hip-hop interpretation of a bread store specializing in … naw, can’t be. We swerved into the tiny quarters that had previously housed Omar’s Gyros and found a spiffy new shop specializing in hamburgers – fat, dense and beefy burgers, mounted, of course, on exceptional buns. Er, bunz.
Located just across the street from Derby City Dogs and a block or so north from the new Highlands branch of Lonnie’s Taste of Chicago, another hot-dog store, this recent arrival would seem to mark a new high-water mark for restaurant specialization in the neighborhood.
Continue reading Great Bunz, loaded with splendid burgers
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| LEO photo by Ron Jasin |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
In the Old West, a throwdown was an invitation to come out and fight.
In modern culinary times, resurrected by Food Network’s popular Chef Bobby Flay, a throwdown has become something decidedly more civilized, but still with plenty of posturing and inflated claims.
Cooking throwdowns are a frequent occurrence among the foodies, chefs and restaurateurs whose online personas hang around the LouisvilleHotBytes.com Restaurants Forum.
Last week, the biggest throwdown yet brought chefs from 13 area restaurants together at Captain’s Quarters for a shrimp-and-grits throwdown, a competitive cooking event that attracted a capacity crowd of 250 spectators and raised nearly $5,000 for Families for Effective Autism Treatment (FEAT).
Continue reading Shrimp and grits throwdown!
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| Las Gorditas’ fresh fare includes two tacos, carnitas and lengua, and a gordita. |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
In Mexico City, a sprawling metropolis of 20 million souls, you’ll find a taco stand on just about every corner.
In Louisville, not so much.
But the good news, as Louisville’s small but thriving Latino community grows, is that it’s now possible to enjoy a Mexico City-style experience at a taco wagon or two around town.
One of the best, a relatively recent arrival, rolls into the parking lot at Eastland Shopping Center (where Buechel meets Fern Creek on Bardstown Road) just about every weekend evening.
Continue reading That’s not a gordita. This is a gordita
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| BJ’s: a 30-year-old Southern California chain, has expanded to Louisville with the launch of a large and very well capitalized brewhouse at Oxmoor Center. Photos by Robin Garr. |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
(BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse; BBC Tap Room)
Inquire about the American Pale Ale (aka “APA”) at Louisville’s BBC Tap Room, and you’ll get a virtual education in this classic American beer style: Made with Special Pale, Caramunich, Flaked Barley, and Special B malts and bittered with Centennial and Willamette hops, it’s a rich, copper colored ale with a full-bodied bitter hops flavor supported by generous amounts of malt.
Ask the same question about the APA at the new BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse in Oxmoor, and you may hear something like what a friendly server told me: “It’s a light beer. Well, one of our lighter beers.” She paused, then grinned conspiratorially. “They train us not to tell people it’s ‘bitter’.”
Continue reading We Tappa Keg at BJ’s & The BBC Tap Room
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Ann’s by the River in Jeffersonville lives up to its tag line: “Home-cooked food like Grandma used to prepare for Sunday dinner.” LEO photos by Ben Schneider. |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
With guest writer Kevin Gibson
Winter is dragging its feet as it slouches on into springtime, and the closing years of the Bush economy are scaring us all as they slouch toward the dustbin of history. We’ve seen some sad restaurant closings (worst case: The lamentable loss of The Jazz Factory), and we fear that other Louisville Originals and Louisville original restaurants and nightspots might not be doing as well as we could wish.
As Derby season nears and brings smiles back to the metro landscape, we’ll be coming forth with some strong buy recommendations for local dining – and supporting the local businesses that provide it.
Today, let’s talk comfort … affordable comfort … Continue reading Simple comfort
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
Back over on the Louisville side, we were feeling the need for a little affordable comfort, too. I keep talking about hitting The Grape Leaf, a popular Clifton spot, for dinner, but until I get around to that, lunch seemed like a mighty good idea. Grape Leaf is generally crowded at noon, and service is sociable, friendly but not particularly quick. No matter, if you’re not in a hurry. The Middle Eastern food is worth the wait.
Continue reading Wrapping it up in The Grape Leaf