$ Budget (under $30), Italian (and Pizza), South End

Launch your gondola in a river of red

Tuscany
Tuscany Italian Restaurant dramatically exceeded expectations for shopping-center dining. The chef, a native of Mexico, has lived and cooked in Italy, and it shows. Photos by Robin Garr.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes

Some days I feel like authentic Italian cuisine, and nothing but the real thing will do. Some days a plate of spaghetti and meatballs seems just right. Happily, our city offers a few good options for the authentic stuff (Primo and Volare top my list), and we’re practically awash in eateries (with Melillo’s leading the pack) where you can fill up with hearty, red-sauced Italian-immigrant cuisine. Not to mention pizza.

Food snobs may diss the long-simmered, garlicky tomato-sauced stuff as inauthentic, but who doesn’t love it? Still deeply rooted in the peasant cuisine of Sicily and Calabria in Southern Italy from where so many Americans came, it has become comfort food for us all, never mind whether we have a vowel on the end of our name.

This week we travel to opposite ends of the metro region to check out two worthy recent additions. We’ve been up the river a piece in Indiana to find excellent pizza and intriguing beers at Charlestown Pizza Company, and out into the South End to discover heart-warming comfort food with a hint of a south-of-the-border accent at Tuscany Italian.
Continue reading Launch your gondola in a river of red →

$ Budget (under $30), St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, World Food

Inside story at Sahara Café

Sahara
Sahara Café chef Mavash Rubino is from Iran, and the range of Middle Eastern fare that she prepares shows a distinct Persian accent. Sahara ranks right up there with other local Persian spots. LEO Photos by Nicole Pullen.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes
(Sahara Café, Wild Eggs)

A small puzzle accompanies Sahara Café, a new Middle Eastern eatery in St. Matthews: Is it a restaurant inside a shop, or is it a shop inside a restaurant?

I think maybe it’s both. Located in the new retail building at the northeast corner of Lexington Road and Bauer Avenue, just down the street from Lotsa Pasta, its close but comfortable quarters incorporate the family-owned Sahara Café and A Small World, a gift shop featuring, they say, “handcrafted home-decor items from around the world.”
Continue reading Inside story at Sahara Café →

Commentary

Bristol challenges wine-list markup

From Robin Garr’s 30 Second Wine Advisor

For many wine lovers, one of the most frustrating things about enjoying wine from a restaurant wine list is the significant “markup” that management tacks on to the price.

While the practice varies from state to state and around the world, in most states of the U.S. restaurants routinely set the wine list price at three to four times the wholesale price they pay for a bottle. As a result, diners selecting from the list can expect to pay at least twice as much for the wine of their choice as they would for the same wine in a retail store.
Continue reading Bristol challenges wine-list markup →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Pacific Rim

We go Malaysian in the autumn heat

Satay
Whether you go for the Malaysian dishes or prowl the East on August Moon’s eclectic menu, this 20-year-old eatery remains a favorite. The chicken satay recipe comes from Chef Peng Looi’s hometown of Ipoh, Malaysia. LEO Photo by Nicole Pullen.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes
(August Moon, Festa Italiana)

When the weather forecast for the first weekend of autumn calls for high temperatures in the middle 90s, something just plain isn’t right.

What can we do about it? I’ll leave the big picture details to Al Gore, but as for me, I’ve got a plan: We’ll go with the climate flow, but gradually switch over to dining on tropical cuisines. I figure folks who live within shouting distance of the equator probably know something about eating to beat the heat.

Happily, it’s not hard to find tropical cuisines in Louisville, where warm-climate dining options range among such favorites as Vietnam Kitchen, Mayan Café, Thai Taste, Queen of Sheba, Taste of Jamaica, the recently relocated Chez Seneba and many more.

The other day, though, sitting around with the air-conditioning cranked up and nursing an appetite, I found myself craving authentic Malaysian satay. Continue reading We go Malaysian in the autumn heat →

$ Budget (under $30), West End, World Food

We take the Soul Train to Big Momma’s

When the Supreme Court axed Louisville’s long-standing school-desegregation plan this summer, an ABC News team came to town to report local reaction, and while they were here, they took their cameras to lunch at Big Momma’s Soul Kitchen and declared this tiny West End eatery “a true oasis of lovingly prepared home cooking that delivers great taste at a great price.”

That’s strong praise, so we headed west on Broadway to Shawnee Park, where Big Momma’s occupies a tiny, white-painted building just large enough for a service window and five tall stools along a short lunch counter.

Open for lunch and early dinner daily, Big Momma’s offers a lot of soul food for a little price. Each day’s menu changes slightly, but fried chicken and a few other items remain constant. A main course and two sides is $7 to $7.50; sandwiches are $3.50, mostly.

We filled up on crisp, juicy fried chicken and an oversize breaded pork chop smothered in gravy, with excellent long-simmered green beans and bacon; white beans; creamy, rich mashed potatoes; and long-cooked chunks of cabbage, all well-seasoned and flavored and prepared with obvious TLC. That’s what “soul” is all about. We dropped a good tip in the jar and left with smiles and change from a $20.

Big Momma’s Soul Kitchen
4532 W. Broadway
772-9580

$$$ Upscale ( $50 - $80), Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Italian (and Pizza)

By any name, Varanese is a winner

Varanese
Varanese – named for chef John Varanese, who’s been chef at the Cardinal Club and the late, great Azalea – opened last month in the old Red Lounge on Frankfort Avenue. The space has been completely renovated, and the food recalls Azalea. Photo by Robin Garr.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes

I was really excited when I heard about this new restaurant. Its name sounded like “Veronese.” Verona! The legendary home of Romeo and Juliet is one of my favorite cities anywhere, and Veronese food and wine rank among my favorite cuisines. If this new place was going to feature the delicious dishes of Northeastern Italy’s Veneto region, I would be a happy boy.

Duh. I wasn’t listening close enough. That’s VarAnese, not VerOnese. Never mind!

In fact, this new dining room – it opened Aug. 20 in the former Red Lounge – is named for its owner and chef, John Varanese; and that’s not a bad thing, not bad at all.
Continue reading By any name, Varanese is a winner →

$ Budget (under $30), BBQ, Burgers & Down-Home, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

Digging into the Feed Bag

The Feed Bag

(The Feed Bag Deli and Catering, Voice-Tribune, Sept. 13, 2007)

Okay, it’s not quite as hard to get into the Feed Bag as it was to gain entry to a Prohibition-era speakeasy: No one will challenge you through a peephole or insist that you prove you were invited. In fact, if you’re having a tough time finding your way to this almost-hidden St. Matthews treasure, chances are someone will offer directions with a smile.

Nevertheless, The Feed Bag isn’t exactly high-profile. First there’s the small matter of its location: Despite its Breckenridge Lane address, it’s not really visible from this or any other thoroughfare.
Continue reading Digging into the Feed Bag →

$ Budget (under $30), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, BBQ, Burgers & Down-Home, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown, South End, Southern Indiana, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

On wings of fire

Wings
Back Door wings are legendary. Have them mild, medium, hot or “Burner.” LEO Photo by Nicole Pullen.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes
(Nine fine spots for wings)

The calendar says it’s September, and just about everybody in town is fired up for the Cards vs. Cats weekend. So where are the colorful leaves, that hint of wood smoke in the air and the crisp, hazy autumn afternoons that define “football weather”?

OK, so it’s a little early for that, with temperatures still hitting the 90s and few signs of autumn around. But one constant of the season remains: Whether you’re tailgating at the stadium or planning a hearty repast for an afternoon of football on TV, it’s hard to imagine a better football snack than a mess of spicy, crispy Buffalo-style chicken wings.
Continue reading On wings of fire →

QuickBytes, World Food

Looking for the source of the Nile

Thai Taste
Thai Taste in Clifton had a full contingent staffing its WorldFest booth. From left, Ratunaporn Sangrung, Hammarach Nuangkhamma, Malai Nuangkhamma and Samorn Thanawattako. Photos by Robin Garr.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes
(Seven worthy ethnic eats)

Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

At some point during the colorful WorldFest celebration over the weekend, I started to feel a bit in common with Dr. David Livingstone, the 19th century British explorer famous for his dogged quest for the source of the Nile River in Africa’s deepest jungles.

Like Livingstone but on a much smaller scale, I spent a good bit of time and energy during the two-day event on the Belvedere in quest of The Nile.

The Nile Restaurant, that is. This mysterious reference turned up on WorldFest’s list of more than two dozen food booths run by local restaurants, social and civic groups, a worldwide array of mostly ethnic goodies that even extended to a couple of corn dog and funnel cake vendors. A Sudanese restaurant! In Louisville! Always eager to add another ethnic eating experience to my list, I made a beeline to Booth 144.
Continue reading Looking for the source of the Nile →

$ Budget (under $30), BBQ, Burgers & Down-Home, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

The quest for great ‘cue

Shane's Rib Shack

(Shane’s Rib Shack and Pig City BBQ, Voice-Tribune, Aug. 31, 2007)

For many years, when I’ve been in the East End and craved excellent barbecue, my go-to spots have been Jucy’s near Pewee Valley and Vince Staten’s in Anchorage.

Jucy’s remains a favorite, but Staten’s, sadly, has lost a step since local writer Vince Staten (co-author with the C-J’s Greg Johnson of the fine book “Real Barbecue“) moved to Tennessee and the eatery that still bears his name moved out U.S. 42 to new shopping-center quarters on the site of the old Melrose Inn in Oldham County.

While the barbecue at Vince’s (without Vince) remains acceptable, it’s no longer memorable; so I’ve been looking for some new go-to places in the neighborhood when I’ve got a hankering for smoked ribs, pulled pork, brisket and all the fixins.
Continue reading The quest for great ‘cue →

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