Category Archives: underSlideshowEntries

$ Budget (under $30), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, Bistros, underSlideshowEntries

East End, South End, where’s the North End?

Ever since North End Cafe opened in Clifton nearly a decade ago, the name of the place seemed a little odd to me. When I grew up in Louisville, we sorted our town into East End, South End and West End, and back in those Baby Boom days of Elvis, tail fins and ducktails, those were the urban ends of the city, not the suburbs. There was not much out there but farms, as far as we knew.

So the arrival in 2003 of this comfortable, casual bistro in Clifton made little geographical sense to me. What’s a North End? Someplace over in Indiana? Nope, it’s right there on lower Frankfort Avenue, inner end of what we used to call the East End.
Continue reading East End, South End, where’s the North End? →

News announcements, underSlideshowEntries

It’s fish fry time!

Yes, we know Louisville is the inland epicenter for fried white fish at any time of year, but consumption ramps up further during Lent, when many Roman Catholic churches and a few Episcopal churches offer festive, fun fish dinners on Fridays.

The fishy fun begins Friday! Check a Catholic church near you, or click the Archdiocese of Louisville website, archlou.org, which in past years has published a canonical list during Lent.

I’m heading out to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Anchorage (1206 Maple Lane, stlukesanchorage.org) though, where my buddies in the church’s men’s group, the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, will be frying fish — and more — Fridays from 6-8 p.m. through the end of March.

Want something a little more fancy than a fish sandwich? Try their sautéed tilapia filet with white wine sauce over a bed of wild rice accompanied by roasted vegetables with a balsamic reduction. A fish sandwich with two sides, hushpuppies and a drink is only $7.75. A half pound of boiled shrimp with cocktail sauce is $7.50. The tilapia dinner with a drink is $9.75.

$ Budget (under $30), Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, underSlideshowEntries, World Food

The small stuff punks Taco Punk

Life’s little frustrating moments: You’re watching an earnest worker trying to put together your lunch. He fumbles. She slips. You ask for this. He gives you that. Oops, a fresh bit just hit the floor. You’re glad you’re watching, deeply suspicious that if the deed had gone unobserved, the five-second rule would have come into play.

This is taking longer than it should, and things don’t get better. You want to offer advice. Then you want to walk around the end of the counter and help. Continue reading The small stuff punks Taco Punk →

$ Budget (under $30), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, underSlideshowEntries, World Food

Kashmir keeps on keeping on

Back in the day, trendy new eateries like the Bristol and Myra’s fired up a generation of Louisville foodies with the revelation that fine dining could be about more than white tablecloths, surf-and-turf and fancy Italian cuisine.

But it didn’t take long for us to become blasé. Even as the city’s dining revolution burst all around us, with still-standing landmarks like Equus, 610 Magnolia and Le Relais, we were soon whining for more. “Get us Greek food,” we ranted. “We want a real Jewish deli! And Indian food! We need an Indian restaurant!”
Continue reading Kashmir keeps on keeping on →

$ Budget (under $30), Breakfast and lunch spots, sandwich spots, South End, underSlideshowEntries

Diner delights at Frontier on Dixie

What’s a diner? This question would be easy to answer in New York, New Jersey, and across much of the Northeastern U.S., where diners abound. In Louisville, not so much. There’s a fine line between a diner and a family restaurant.

If it’s located in an old railroad dining car or a building made to look like one, it’s definitely a diner; but this is by no means a necessity, and in fact I can’t think of any railroad-style diners in or around this town. (If you know of one, please let me know.)
Continue reading Diner delights at Frontier on Dixie →

St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, underSlideshowEntries, World Food

Cuba and cacharros at Havana Rumba

What’s so Cuban about the front of a ’58 Chevy? Simple: You’ll likely find more American cars from the ’50s still running and on the road in Cuba than anywhere else on Earth. Thanks to the trade embargo that has existed between the U.S. and Cuban governments since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, Cubans may only buy and sell cars that were already on the road when Castro came to power. Continue reading Cuba and cacharros at Havana Rumba →

$$$$ Luxury ($80 and up), BBQ, Burgers & Down-Home, Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown, underSlideshowEntries, White tablecloth, deluxe

Z’s and a lesson in steakhouse economics

Let’s consider the economics of steak. Hungry for a sizzling rare boneless strip? Meijer had USDA choice for $7.99 a pound this week. (Kroger had flatiron, a chunk of chuck, for just $5.99 a pound, but let’s keep things upscale with strip or rib eye.) Bring it home, slap it on the grill, add a potato and a salad, and you’ve got steak dinner for two for $10. Such a deal.

Now let’s tinker with this scenario. Continue reading Z’s and a lesson in steakhouse economics →

$ Budget (under $30), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, underSlideshowEntries, World Food

Ramsi’s: It’s 24, 24, 24 restaurants in one!

Remember those old commercials for Certs? “It’s a breath mint!” “It’s a candy mint!” “It’s two, two, two mints in one!” And then there was the goofy spoof from the gang at “Saturday Night Live”: “It’s a floor wax!” “It’s a dessert topping!” I think the lesson most of us ultimately drew from this is that a product that tries to be two things in one ends up doing neither very well.

And Ramsi’s Café on the World, I regret to say, is kind of like that, too.
Continue reading Ramsi’s: It’s 24, 24, 24 restaurants in one! →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, underSlideshowEntries

Wiltshire is thriving on Market

Let’s welcome the Voice-Tribune’s move to NuLu late in 2011 with a word of praise for another long-time St. Matthews institution that’s thriving there. The classy bistro Wiltshire on Market is a direct descendant of Susan Hershberg’s much-loved Wiltshire Pantry, which got its start on Wiltshire Avenue in St. Matthews.

Its always appealing menu is based on American culinary traditions with international touches, and a strong emphasis on fresh, local produce and meat. Wiltshire opened on Market in April 2009, so it’s practically an institution by the fast-moving standard of its trendy neighborhood. Continue reading Wiltshire is thriving on Market →