By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Think about accessibility for disabled people in restaurants and other businesses, and you’ll probably visualize that familiar blue-and-white stick figure in a wheelchair.

That’s not too surprising. The Americans With Disabilities Act, popularly known as the ADA, passed in 1990, is a civil-rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life. Continue reading Invisible disabilities: A challenge for restaurant accessibility →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, Bistros

New Uptown Cafe, a lot like the old Uptown Cafe

August 16, 2023 Robin Garr

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

As autumn 2020 chilled into the first Covid winter, one of the hardest hits of a run of bad restaurant news came when Uptown Cafe announced that it was closing on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, seemingly ending a 35-year run as a fixture on Bardstown Road’s Restaurant Row.

Uptown was comfortable, cozy, reasonably affordable, yet stylish, more a bistro than a diner. If it wasn’t a place where everyone knew your name, at least it was a place where your face was always familiar. Continue reading New Uptown Cafe, a lot like the old Uptown Cafe →

Commentary

What’s an influencer? Is there money in it?

August 9, 2023 Robin Garr

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

I was putting on my disguise and puffing up my wig, getting ready to go review a restaurant, when a New York Times headline caught my eye: “The 21st-Century Shakedown of Restaurants.” (The Times’ headline is pictured above.)

“This isn’t a joke,” opinion essayist Karen Stabiner wrote. “This is a 21st-century shakedown. Here is how it works: An influencer walks into a restaurant to collect an evening’s worth of free food and drink, having promised to create social media content extolling the restaurant’s virtues.” Continue reading What’s an influencer? Is there money in it? →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Breakfast and lunch spots, sandwich spots, Brunch, Farm-to-table, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill

Blue Dog achieves perfection, or comes mighty close

August 2, 2023 Robin Garr

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Blue Dog Bakery celebrated a quarter-century of making great bread for Louisville’s people this year, and it’s hard for me to believe that it has been that long.

It feels as if it was only recently, but it was actually way back in 1998 that I knocked on Blue Dog’s back door in the dark hours before dawn and met owners Bob Hancock and his wife Kit Garrett. Continue reading Blue Dog achieves perfection, or comes mighty close →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), A RESTAURANT LISTING..., Charcuterie, Farm-to-table, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill

We go for the big cheese, and charcuterie too, at Harvey’s

July 19, 2023 Robin Garr

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Charcuterie. Not long ago, most of us weren’t even sure how to pronounce it. Now, says the National Restaurant Association, “Charcuterie makes the cut for 2023. A Top 3 hot menu trend and No. 1 in appetizers … charcuterie is a rising star on menus.”

Indeed, charcuterie is showing up in restaurants all over town. You can get a board on the menu at Red Hog, North of Bourbon, Mussel & Burger Bar, Monnik Beer Co., where the $21 charcuterie plate features local meats and cheeses … did I mention that charcuterie is trending? We’re even getting shops that specialize in charcuterie: Board and You in New Albany will fashion you a board to go, and so will Cultured – Cheese and Charcuterie Bar in Butchertown. Not to mention Harvey’s in Clifton, a newish spot that I’ve been meaning to check out since it opened at the end of February, when it moved into this storefront in the Clifton Lofts condo building from its former stand in the Logan Street Market. Continue reading We go for the big cheese, and charcuterie too, at Harvey’s →

Commentary

Let ‘em eat cake: the view from the judges’ table

July 12, 2023 Robin Garr

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

“Uh. Two things I don’t much like: Maraschino and Amaretto,” I whispered to fellow judge Caity DiFabio as yet another slice of cake dropped on our star-spangled table.

She nodded, and then we picked up our forks, and we were like “Whoa.” Whoever made this cake knew what to do with flavors. It was remarkable! Judge Josh Moore agreed, and the deal was sealed. Amanda and Eleanor B…’s almond maraschino cake with Amaretto had won the annual cake contest at the Crescent Hill Old Fashioned Fourth of July Picnic. Continue reading Let ‘em eat cake: the view from the judges’ table →

$$$ Upscale ( $50 - $80), Bistros, Black-owned, Breakfast and lunch spots, sandwich spots, Brunch, Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown

The early bird gets the table at House of Marigold

July 5, 2023 Robin Garr

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

“Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” Yogi Berra may or may not have said that, and if he did, he was talking about Ruggeri’s, an iconic Italian restaurant on The Hill in St. Louis.

But Yogi might as well have been talking about The House of Marigold, a stylish new restaurant out Shelbyville Road. This breakfast-and-lunch spot opened late in March and got so popular, so fast, that it took me until now to find a way to beat the crowds and get in. Continue reading The early bird gets the table at House of Marigold →

Commentary

What could possibly go wrong? Oops!

June 28, 2023 Robin Garr

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

One cold day last winter, I joined a group of friends at a popular local breakfast spot. I pulled up a chair, said down, reached for a menu, and … oops! hey now, what’s this? I’m stuck to the chair!

Sure enough, I was literally glued in place. It took an actual effort to pull up and break loose from my mooringswith an audible pop. On closer inspection, the problem became clear: A previous occupant had left a small pool of pancake syrup pooled on the seat.

Silly me for failing to look before I sat down, but still: GRRR! Continue reading What could possibly go wrong? Oops! →

$$$ Upscale ( $50 - $80), Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, Farm-to-table, Healthy fare, Vegetarian/Vegan

Creative Naive scores high on our critic’s criteria

June 21, 2023 Robin Garr

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

When I get a restaurant meal, I look for a number of things whether I’m reviewing or not, but especially if I am.
• I like a sense of design and style that doesn’t get in the way of comfort.
• I like good service. Friendly is fine. Fawning is not. And competence matters.
• I like a menu that’s clear, informative and easy to read in dim light; that lets me know what a dish is like. Extra points for naming the sources of meats and produce.
• Most of all, I like good food. Isn’t that what a restaurant is for? And “like” turns to “love” if the food isn’t just good but shows off the chef’s creativity and bold experimentation.

A recent visit to Naive Kitchen + Bar in Butchertown ticked off every one of those boxes, cementing its place among my local favorites. Continue reading Creative Naive scores high on our critic’s criteria →

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