$ Budget (under $30), Breakfast and lunch spots, sandwich spots, Commentary, Guest columnist, Northeast Metro, underSlideshowEntries

Verbena could make Grandpa proud

burritos

Verbena Café is one of those places that always seems to smell like home. For Mike Cortino, the smell is likely a reminder of much more.

Mike and his wife, Laurie, opened Verbena in Norton Commons this past autumn. They based Verbena’s fare on dishes served in restaurants founded by Mike’s grandfather and operated by his family back in the 1960s in Chicago. Verbena specializes in omelets, crepes, pancakes, waffles and eggs Benedict, and offers sandwiches, entrées and salads for the lunch crowd.
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$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, underSlideshowEntries

Meeting mozzarella again for the first time at Mozz

Burrata Caprese at Mozz
Burrata Caprese at Mozz. Photo: Ron Jasin

If your idea of mozzarella is bland shreds in a plastic bag from the supermarket, or pale, stringy cheese pulling away from the top of your pizza like bubble gum, you’ll want to reset your expectations before dining at Mozz.

This new, upscale and trendy Italian eatery landed this month in the Cobalt Building that once housed Primo. The name means “mozzarella,” and mozz’ is what they do.

We’re talking real, fresh mozzarella, like fior di Latte (“flower of the milk”), cheese that’s delicate, sweet and silken, made in-house with fresh, hormone-free milk from locavore cows; a far cry from the Styrofoam stuff in the supermarket bag.
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World Food

Think locally, eat globally: ethnic markets in Louisville

If you’re an adventurous “foodie” who loves to cook and gets as much of a kick out of touring the world on your dinner table as I do, then your grocery list probably looks something like mine: A weird blend of the familiar (chicken, milk, peanut butter) and the unusual (Gai lan, Daikon and Chayote).

Did he say Gai lan, Daikon and Chayote?
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$ Budget (under $30), Commentary, Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown, Pacific Rim, underSlideshowEntries

We celebrate Diwali and diversity at Bombay Grill

One of the biggest and best changes I’ve seen in our town over a Baby Boomer’s lifetime in Louisville has been the surprising ethnic and cultural diversity that has blossomed here over a generation. As outgoing Mayor Jerry Abramson likes to point out, more than half of our city’s population growth nowadays takes the form of new residents arriving from other countries. Youngsters in Jefferson County public schools speak more than 80 different languages at home, and Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus, among others, gather peacefully in their own places of worship.

It’s quite a change for a city that as recently as the ’60s boasted two Chinese restaurants and a “Mexican” eatery that specialized in greasy chili.
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$ Budget (under $30), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, Coffee Shops & Desserts, Commentary, Germantown, Southern Indiana, underSlideshowEntries

In search of the city’s best doughnuts

Donuts at Nord's

Who doesn’t like doughnuts? There’s something comforting about these fried spheres of goodness with a hole in the middle, and most doughnut lovers have strong opinions on the subject.

Louisville boasts many local bakeries and doughnut joints. But not all doughnuts (or, if you prefer, “donuts”) are created equal, so I set out to try a random sample of five locals to see how they compared.
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$ Budget (under $30), BBQ, Burgers & Down-Home, Breakfast and lunch spots, sandwich spots, Commentary, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, underSlideshowEntries

For a good country-fried steak, go to Goose Creek Diner

country fried steak
Country fried steak at Goose Creek Diner

I wouldn’t want to say that my food preferences are those of a city boy, but let’s put it this way: In years of dining at my parents’ table, I never realized grits were served with breakfast until I ran into this odd practice elsewhere. And I was a fully grown adult before my first encounter with country-fried steak.
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$ Budget (under $30), Commentary, Guest columnist, Southern Indiana, underSlideshowEntries, World Food

At Cluckers, it’s all about chicken — and the sauces

My friend Joe’s face flushed to a deep crimson, and his eyes welled with moisture.

“I can’t even describe how my mouth feels right now,” Joe said after devouring 10 Cluckin’ Inferno Wings at Cluckers, a new chicken-centric bar and grill in New Albany. He later added: “I’m hurting.”
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$ Budget (under $30), Bistros, Commentary, Germantown, underSlideshowEntries

Double down in Germantown at Eiderdown

Country Ham, fried egg on pugliesi
Eiderdown’s Kentucky Country Ham Sandwich. LEO photo by Ron Jasin.
Edelweiss, Edelweiss,
Every morning you greet me …

No, wait, dammit! Rewind! I meant “Eiderdown,” sorry. Edelweiss is an Alpine flower, small and white. Eiderdown is soft, warm down from the breast feathers of the female eider duck, which famously plucks down from her chest to line her nest and keep her eggs and infant duckies safe and warm.
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