What would I like to see happen in the local restaurant industry this year? It’s a no-brainer: We need more street food options.
Continue reading My Louisville food industry wish for ’11: Street food!
We chew on the year in eats
It’s been a decent year in Louisville dining, as most years are in this burg where we love our food and drink. A few regrettable losses have been balanced by a squadron of appetizing new arrivals. New and old, Louisville’s restaurants seem to be holding their own in the face of ongoing economic hard times.
Let’s take a quick, hungry look at some of my favorite restaurant arrivals of the past year:
GASTROPUBBERY
What in the heck is a gastropub? Bank Street Brewhouse previewed the genre with its 2009 arrival in New Albany (415 Bank St., 812-725-9585). The top new spot of 2010: The Blind Pig in Butchertown (1078 E. Washington St., 618-0600), which lured The New York Times to town to check out its snout-to-tail homage to pork. Village Anchor Pub & Roost (11507 Park Road, 708-1850), Anchorage’s memorable new gastropub, packs them in by dishing out “comfort food with a twist.” Eiderdown (983 Goss Ave., 290-2390) fits the niche with German-Southern cuisine and well-chosen libations. Dish on Market (434 W. Market St., 315-0669) earns a spot in this category, too, particularly after lunch, when its menu changes to an array of small plates.
PIZZA
Did someone say pizza? New pizzerias have been popping up all over. Chef Allen Rosenberg’s Papalino’s NY Pizzeria (947 Baxter Ave., 749-8525) puts together a mighty fine New York-style pie with creative flair. Other recent arrivals include Naked Pizza (135 Breckenridge Lane, 410-2211), where they make it healthy; DiOrio’s Pizza & Pub (310 Wallace Ave., 618-3424); and Danny Mac’s, now sharing space with Amvets Post 9 (1567 S. Shelby St., 635-7994). Watch out for Coals Artisan Pizza and its Brooklyn-style coal oven, coming to the Vogue complex.
NEW FAVES
There’s no theme here. Some of these spots are ethnic. I like ethnic. Others are down-home, and I like that, too. (Listed alphabetically.)
• DiFabio’s Casapela (2311 Frankfort Ave., 891-0411)
• El Rumbon Cuban Trailer (210-9087)
• Hillbilly Tea (120 S. First St., 587-7350)
• Istanbul Palace (2840 Goose Creek Road, 425-6060)
• Joe Davola’s (901 Barret Ave., 690-5377)
• La Colombiana (808 Lyndon Lane, Suite 105, 742-1179)
• Little India Café (3099 Breckenridge Lane, Suite 101, 479-3353)
• Michele’s on Goss (946 Goss Ave., 409-5909)
• Mozz Mozzarella Bar & Enoteca (445 E. Market St., 690-6699)
• Mr. Pollo Restaurant (3606 1/2 Klondike Lane, 618-2280)
• Peking City Bistro (12412 Shelbyville Road, 253-6777)
• Wild Ginger Sushi Bistro (1700 Bardstown Road, 384-9252)
• Zen Tea House (2246 Frankfort Ave., 618-0878)
WATCH OUT FOR . . .
Perhaps the biggest new deal is Majid Ghawami’s Majid’s, a major reworking of the Chenoweth Square space that hasn’t found a solid tenant since Rick’s moved out. Ghawami, who will keep one foot in Volare and the other here, turning over Saffron’s to a new proprietor, promises a mix of American small plates and the cuisine of the Persian Empire. The bar’s open now; the dining room is coming soon.
We’ve also got our eyes on the aforementioned Coals Pizza, Hammerheads (821 Swan St., 365-1112) and, later this year, the Comfy Cow’s arrival in the steam-cleaned and power-washed Genny’s. Watch out for Gary’s on Spring, Harvest on Market and NA Exchange in New Albany in the new year.
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La Colombiana offers a different South of the Border cuisine
A few weeks ago my brother, Matt, was in town visiting from his home and work in Lima, Peru, and I figured it would make sense to take him with his fluent Spanish to an ethnic restaurant where we could put his language skills to work.
So off we went to La Colombiana, a fairly new eatery in Lyndon that features, as the name suggests, the cuisine of Colombia, a Latino nation on the north end of South America.
As it turned out, no special language skills were needed: The charming and competent service at La Colombiana speaks English perfectly. But my brother and our server still had a great time chatting in Español, and Mary, Matt and I enjoyed an exceptional, affordable dinner for three.
Continue reading La Colombiana offers a different South of the Border cuisine
Dining like an ‘Iron Chef’ judge at 610 Magnolia
By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
I’ve always been a big fan of “Iron Chef,” both the Japanese original and the American imitation it spawned.
Some find its campy concept over the top, with the wacky über-rich Chairman in his Kitchen Stadium yelling “Allez Cuisine!” in bad French, but just about every foodie I know can see past the yuks to the serious competitive restaurant-chef cookery.
After an hour of an intense, timed cooking competition, in which the competitors make the best use of the week’s secret ingredient, comes the best part of the show: when the chefs bring their finished dishes forward to a panel of judges, a group that on the original show invariably included a food critic plus such skilled experts as a movie starlet, perhaps a Japanese athlete, sometimes a member of the Japanese parliament.
How I wished I could have been up there at the table sampling all those amazing, creative dishes.
So when Chef Edward Lee of Louisville’s 610 Magnolia turned up on “Iron Chef America” last month, taking on Iron Chef Jose Garces in an offal battle featuring “tongue and cheek,” and Lee won, I realized I could get a similar effect right here at home by presenting myself for a dinner of Lee’s inspired cooking. Continue reading Dining like an ‘Iron Chef’ judge at 610 Magnolia
Wild Ginger fills Metro’s space with sushi, Asian fusion
If you get out to the Pacific Northwest at all, you’re probably familiar with Wild Ginger, the regional restaurant phenomenon that has captured Seattle foodies’ attention with its Southeast Asian fusion cuisine.
And if you do, your eyes may have popped wide open when the signs advertising a new spot called Wild Ginger went up on the former Café Metro’s doors in the autumn of 2010. Could it be?
Well … no. Continue reading Wild Ginger fills Metro’s space with sushi, Asian fusion
DiOrio’s joins St. Matthews’ growing Pizza Town
Continue reading DiOrio’s joins St. Matthews’ growing Pizza Town
A thigh and a wing for Captain Ahab?
I’ve long been a fan of Moby Dick. The local mini-chain with the cartoon whale logo may look fast-foodish, but they’ve been frying quality cod for nearly 45 years, and they know how to do it right. But the news of a recent addition at the Moby Dick in St. Matthews (4848 Shelbyville Road, near Whole Foods) made my head snap back. Fried chicken?
Continue reading A thigh and a wing for Captain Ahab?