Commentary

Italian postcard: Real pizza!

After two weeks as a wine judge and traveling wine writer, I’ve been dining very well indeed at some of the best eateries in Northern Italy’s Lombardy and Veneto regions. Not that there’s anything wrong with that: It’s a hard job, but somebody has to do it.

But on the eve of my flight home, I was almost desperately ready for something simple, earthy and divine: Pizza, of course, from the land of pizza, and if the Verona area isn’t quite as close to the mother lode of pizza as, say, Naples, it’s a lot closer than Louisville. Continue reading Italian postcard: Real pizza! →

$ Budget (under $30), BBQ, Burgers & Down-Home, Northeast Metro

Something old, something new at Norton Commons

Karem's
Karem’s in Norton Commons occupies a brand-new, three-story red-brick storefront that’s made to look a lot like an old one. Photo by Robin Garr

(Karem’s Grill & Pub, Shady Lane Café
Voice-Tribune, March 29, 2007)

One of the more unusual suburban developments in recent memory, Norton Commons – billed as a “traditional neighborhood development” or “TND” – brings a touch of nostalgia to Louisville’s outer suburbs.

It incorporates acres of parklike green space surrounding a squared-off grid of residential blocks made to resemble an old-fashioned urban neighborhood, with sturdy brick houses lined up side-by-side, most of them equipped with front porches where folks can come out to sit a spell and talk with the neighbors.

And just as in grandpa’s day, a short stroll (no need to get out the horseless carriage) will take you down to the quaint town square, with brand-new, three-story red-brick storefronts made to look a lot like old ones.
Continue reading Something old, something new at Norton Commons →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

Built like a Brix House Special

Bar at Brix
Brix Wine Bar, on Lagrange Road, is an attractive, worthy addition to the suburbs. Photos by Robin Garr.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes

(Brix Wine Bar, Diamante)

As soon as I saw the name of Brix Wine Bar, I knew I had to try it.

Brix – pronounced “bricks,” not the Frenchified “bree” – is a serious techno-wine word, a vineyard term for the level of sugar in wine grapes, a measure of ripeness at harvest. The higher the brix, the riper the grapes, the more sugar, the greater potential alcohol.

Only a real wine geek could come up with an oenophiliac name like that. It’s not like calling your wine bar “Merlot” or something.
Continue reading Built like a Brix House Special →

$ Budget (under $30), Commentary, Seafood & Water's Edge, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

Yummy fried fish is no penance

St. Augustine's fish dinner
St. Augustine’s Catholic Church is well known for its Friday fish fries during Lent. The fish is good – you can choose baked cod, fried cod (above), whiting or buffalo – and some of the sides are excellent. Try the cheese grits, which sub pimento cheese for cheddar. Photos by Robin Garr.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes
(St. Augustine’s fish fry, Stan’s Fish Sandwich, KFC Fish Snacker)

It’s Lent again, the liturgical season when many people undertake modest symbolic sacrifices such as eating fish on Fridays. Crunchy, golden-brown, delicious, sizzling fried fish: You call that penance?

In Louisville, we don’t reserve fish for Lent. Most of us are crazy for seafood at any time of year, and that’s been so for generations, way back to the postwar era – post-Civil War, that is – when L&N express trains would rush fresh oysters on ice up from the Gulf to oyster bars like the still-extant Mazzoni’s.
Continue reading Yummy fried fish is no penance →

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

Critic yells ‘beer me’ as suds go upscale

Mussel soup
Bistro New Albany and New Albanian Brewing Co. teamed up for an “Extreme Belgian” dinner that paired Belgian beers with various dishes, such as this succulent mussel soup. Photos by Robin Garr.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes
(Extreme Belgian at Bistro New Albany; CarlyRae’s)

If you don’t think there’s any class distinction between wine and beer, you might consider whether you’ve even seen a drunk slouch into a bar and yell, “Wine me!” Beer, let’s face it, owns a downscale, blue-collar image that contrasts with wine’s perceived position as the drink the beautiful people sip.

But need this be so? In an age when artisanal brewpubs and microbreweries abound and the term “quality American beer” is no longer an oxymoron, it’s arguable that beer – fine, crafted beer made in a wide variety of styles – deserves as much connoisseurish attention as wine enthusiasts are accustomed to lavishing on their grape juice.
Continue reading Critic yells ‘beer me’ as suds go upscale →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown

Mimi’s: Popular chain lands on Hurstbourne

Mimi's
Mimi’s occupies the renovated former quarters of Don Pablo’s on Hurstbourne. Photo by Robin Garr

(Voice-Tribune, March 8, 2007)

When it comes to dining out, I’m usually inclined to look for a well-run locally owned and operated eatery, where the chances are that the person who has to meet the payroll is the same individual who cooks your dinner or greets you at the door.

In the practical reality of today’s corporate world, however, franchise and chain restaurants abound; in the suburbs, it’s fair to say that chain eateries significantly outnumber the locals. Drive the length of Hurstbourne, for instance, and once you’re past Tony Boombozz, the elegant Limestone and the Bristol, you’ve pretty much exhausted your independent-owner options.

But let’s face it: Bean counters and quarterly balance sheets to the contrary notwithstanding, the chains must be doing something right, as these eateries generally pack in crowds of seemingly happy customers. Continue reading Mimi’s: Popular chain lands on Hurstbourne →

BY PRICE FOR TWO, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Italian (and Pizza), QuickBytes, South End, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

NO-ni and more wacky pizzas

Danny Mac's pizzas
A couple of pies from Danny Mac’s: At left, the wacky bacon chicken ranch with a base of ranch dressing in lieu of tomato sauce. At right, a more traditional version with sausage, onions and peppers. Photo by Robin Garr.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes
(Cafe Lou Lou, Primo, Tony BoomBozz, California Pizza Kitchen and Danny Mac’s)

Pizza fundamentalists, not unlike the other kind of fundamentalists, insist that there is only one true way. Any variation on the strict Neapolitan tradition – save possibly for a select few authorized New York City variations – is not merely blasphemous but perverted. Let the congregation answer: “Amen!”
Continue reading NO-ni and more wacky pizzas →

Commentary

G3 – A Great Bite: Lush and exotic Maido

Maido

(By Michael Tierney. Republished with permission from G3 Illustrated)

I grew up in a meat ‘n’ potatoes family. We never ate rice, not even Rice-a-Roni. Rice, we assumed, was reserved for rich families and exotic cultures. Perhaps this explains my fascination with Japanese food … the rice, the chopsticks … it seems so highbrow. So with my love for meat and potatoes, and a longing for things lush and exotic, I recently dined at Maido on Frankfort Avenue in Clifton.
Continue reading G3 – A Great Bite: Lush and exotic Maido →

News announcements

Oakroom chefs play with their food. Lucky us

Duane Nutter
Oakroom chef Duane Nutter: Photos courtesy of the Oakroom.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes

The writer Calvin Trillin once famously observed that the quality of the food in restaurants tends to be inversely proportional to the elevation of the eatery. In other words, stay away from building-top restaurants with a view.

Many traveling foodies in the United States would propose another reliable rule: Steer clear of hotel restaurants, where you’ll likely get boring, overpriced food fashioned to take advantage of a captive audience of tourist families who’d really rather not go out.

But this simple rule – the one about hotels, I mean – doesn’t work in Louisville, where for a quarter of a century now, the Seelbach Hotel’s Oakroom has gone from strength to strength. Continue reading Oakroom chefs play with their food. Lucky us →

$ Budget (under $30), Seafood & Water's Edge, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

More Friday fish at Seafood Connection

Play video
Click the image link to watch a 1-minute video visit to Seafood Connection on a busy Friday in Lent.

Just about every fish-sandwich spot and seafood eatery in town is jammed on Fridays during Lent, and one of my favorites, Seafood Connection in St. Matthews, is certainly no exception.

It’s a casual spot, with a small 10-seat lunch counter within a fine fish shop, but the quality of Chef Mike Hungerford’s fare makes it worth a special trip for fish sandwiches, fish tacos, lobster rolls, crab cakes, even a salmon “Reuben” and more.

We dropped by today for a fish sandwich, a bowl of clam chowder, and this quick video tour.

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