Following up on last week’s report on Cake Flour, the yummy new organic bakery on East Market: LouisvilleHotBytes forumite Andrea Essenpreiss is building quite a reputation for herself in La Grange and Oldham County – and quickly spilling over into Louisville – with her recently established business, Q&A Sweet Treats.
Continue reading Q&A Sweet Treats: Outrageously good
Ask a Mexican, ask a Norteamericano: Buenos Dias Café es muy sabroso
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| The Desayuno Hondureño at Buenos Dias Café features two eggs as you like them, a mound of spicy beef strips, Honduran refried red beans, fresh avocado, fried plantains and strips of mild queso bianco Mexican cheese. Breakfast of campeones! Photos by Robin Garr |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
If your idea of Mexican food is shaped by Taco Bell or Don Pablo’s, it’s time you tie your taste buds into something auténtico. Real Mexican food sports colorful flavors that aren’t just spicy but tickle your tongue like a mariachi band rattles your ears.
In recent years, we’ve told you about quite a few new taquerias and roticerias brought to town by Louisville’s growing Latino community; just about every new arrival has added gustatory excitement to the regional mix. We thought we had pretty much hit the top of the ladder when a lovable, Mexico City-style taco and gordita trailer, Las Gorditas, rolled up recently in Fern Creek’s Eastland Shopping Center (LEO Weekly, May 28).
But there’s more. Out on another edge of the metro area, in a strip center just off I-65 where Hamburg Pike meets the mysteriously monikered Charlestown–N.A. Pike, the tiny but lovable Buenos Dias Café – open since March but attended with zero publicity – raises the bar another notch.
Continue reading Ask a Mexican, ask a Norteamericano: Buenos Dias Café es muy sabroso
Industry Standard: Behind the Kitchen Door: Part II
In my last column, we visited the restaurant kitchen that lies behind the dining room access door and found it to be bright, hot and noisy. But who’s cooking your food?
Georges Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935) simplified the elaborate and ornate kitchen brigade first popularized by Antoine Careme, one of the codifiers of French haute cuisine. The 21st century kitchen brigade has been even further distilled, personnel-wise. Who’s cooking your food? A little bit of everyone. Let’s look at the Brigade de Cuisine in the modern restaurant kitchen, shall we?
Continue reading Industry Standard: Behind the Kitchen Door: Part II
Say konnichiwa to Asahi, St. Matthews’ neighborhood sushi bar
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| Chef Yong Bong Tak has made Asahi a worthy addition to St. Matthews. The extensive menu includes more than 100 sushi options, including the “Hawaiian Roll” (across the top) and two pairs of nigiri sushi (bottom) – yellowtail (hamachi) on the left and mackerel (saba) on the right. Photos by Robin Garr |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
If the rate that new Japanese restaurants and sushi bars are coming to town these days continues unabated, I’ve calculated that by May 18, 2021, there should be an individual sushi bar for every citizen of the Derby City.
I’ve reviewed enough new local sushi spots in recent months that I’m starting to wonder if we should dub this column “LEO Weekly’s sushi report.” We’ve heralded the arrival of the high-tone hiko-A-mon in Westport Village; the family-style Hanabi out in Prospect; and the tiny but excellent Oishii Sushi in the Highlands.
Now welcome Asahi Japanese. Continue reading Say konnichiwa to Asahi, St. Matthews’ neighborhood sushi bar
Industry Standard: Behind the Kitchen Door: Part I
Even if you’ve never worked in a restaurant, you’ve probably found yourself contemplating the kitchen door, wondering: What exactly is back there? How many people? How roomy is it? You have a right to be curious: They’re making your food back there.
Well, follow me. But I warn you: The kitchen in a working restaurant bears little resemblance to standard, shiny FoodTV kitchens or those “set kitchens” on the latest foodie reality TV offerings. Restaurant kitchen doors mark boundaries both geographic and symbolic, and they always lead into a totally different world from the dining room, whether the latter was cool and serene, hip and trendy, or hushed and formal. That’s all behind us now; here — put this apron on.
Continue reading Industry Standard: Behind the Kitchen Door: Part I
Caffe Perusa is a secret that can’t be kept
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| Caffe Perusa’s “A Study of Oysters” features oysters prepared in six different ways, from a traditional oyster dressing to crispy with rosemary barbecue sauce. LEO photos by Jane Mattingly |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com; Guest Critic Kevin Gibson
Walking into Caffe Perusa is a bit of a shock – it’s true that Louisville has a diverse and reputable fine-dining scene, but to find something like this in a strip mall is unexpected.
The wood floors, impeccable décor and crystal-adorned table settings in the main dining area are set off by a perimeter lined with booths that feature white Roman ionic columns and circular arches, set against accents of gold and red. The two-level, 10,000-square-foot restaurant also has four private dining rooms and a wine cellar that holds 10,000 bottles. Outside seating is being developed and should be open in a few weeks.
Continue reading Caffe Perusa is a secret that can’t be kept
Jarfi’s finds a new home in former Lentini’s
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| Jarfi’s menu has changed a bit (it’s always evolving), but what is truly new here is the atmosphere. The fare ranges from that of a French-style bistro to a sushi bar. LEO photos by Jane Mattingly |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com; Guest Critic Kevin Gibson
Jarfi’s Bistro relocated from the Kentucky Center to the former Lentini’s Little Italy location on Bardstown Road in April. While it seems an odd metamorphosis for a place that, for more than 40 years, was Louisville’s epicenter of authentic Italian dining, Jeff Jarfi’s stylish international bistro is right at home in its new digs.
Jarfi’s menu has changed a bit (it’s always evolving), but what is truly new here is the atmosphere – whereas Lentini’s was upscale and old-world sophisticated, the new Jarfi’s is colorful, vibrant and ethnically diverse. Under one roof, diners can encounter a French-style bistro, a Moroccan lounge, a sushi bar, traditional formal dining and a Times Square-themed dining hall.
Continue reading Jarfi’s finds a new home in former Lentini’s
Corbett’s joins the region’s top tables
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| Housed in the 150-year-old farmhouse that was originally home to the Von Allmen dairy operation, Corbett’s “An American Place” opened in the winter, joining the ranks of the region’s top tables. Photo by Robin Garr. |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
Chef Dean Corbett, who made his mark on the Louisville food scene with his excellent restaurant Equus in St. Matthews, has created one of the most outstanding restaurants in the region with this latest venture. Corbett’s “An American Place” opened in the winter in the far-east end of Jefferson County, in the growing Brownsboro Crossing shopping center east of the Snyder Freeway. It has already joined the ranks of the region’s top tables.
Housed in the 150-year-old farmhouse that was originally home to the Von Allmen dairy operation, Corbett’s has been renovated from cellar to ceiling, the gracious lines of a prosperous country estate now girded with every high-tech restaurant bell and whistle imaginable, from special air-conditioning for the comfort of chefs on the hot stations to a 21st century television system that allows, among other things, guests in the private “chef’s room” to interact with kitchen staff while their dinner is being prepared ($150 per person) and later receive a souvenir DVD recording of the experience.
Continue reading Corbett’s joins the region’s top tables
We eat with our fingers, tastefully
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| Ethiopian restaurant Queen of Sheba recently moved into the old Mazzoni’s building across from Bowman Field. Photo by Robin Garr. |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
“Don’t eat with your fingers!” This nugget of parental advice is known to just about every child. It’s an integral part of the process of growing up with good manners.
From time to time, though, there’s a certain pleasure in casting aside knives and forks and diving right in. This casual approach works with fried chicken, for instance. Or the appropriately named finger sandwiches. Or a rack of juicy ribs. Just bring plenty of napkins.
Aficionados of ethnic food know another finger-food delight that, with a bit of experience, can actually be consumed with a degree of delicacy in a white-tablecloth setting. We’re talking about Ethiopian fare, an East African alternative that may currently be enjoyed at two local eateries.
Both Blue Nile and Queen of Sheba serve Ethiopian food in the traditional style, all dishes spread out on a large, communal plate lined with thin, spongy injera bread, with more of the bread served in rolls that replace our Western knives and forks.
Continue reading We eat with our fingers, tastefully
Napa River Grill settles in at Westport Village
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| Crowds packed the preview grand opening of the new Napa River Grill, which left Dupont Square for Westport Village. Photo by Robin Garr. |
Napa River Grill moved last week from its longtime location in Dupont Square, opening June 16 as an anchor restaurant in the fast-growing Westport Village complex.
We took a quick peek on opening night without stopping to dine, amid a crowd so large and happy it was hard to make out the details. Continue reading Napa River Grill settles in at Westport Village