$ Budget (under $30), A RESTAURANT LISTING..., Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, World Food

Tuning up our taste buds at Zaytún

Zaytun

LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Want a fried whitefish sandwich on rye that’s as good as you’ll find in this fish-loving town? Want a gyros that’s bigger than your head, piled high with excellent Greek-style grilled beef and lamb, so big you really need to eat it with knife and fork?

Never before has one been able to enjoy such disparate ethnic goodies at a single table in Louisville.

Let’s hail the arrival of Zaytún Mediterranean Grill, a small, casual but attractive eatery that’s packing in crowds for lunch and dinner at the small Highlands spot that once housed Andrew’s, a forgettable diner.

Continue reading Tuning up our taste buds at Zaytún →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), A RESTAURANT LISTING..., Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, Pubs, Brew Pubs, GastroPubs

Browning’s returns to Slugger Field

 

LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
By Guest Critic Kevin Gibson

Mussels at Brownings

Browning’s is back. The brewpub in Slugger Field, with its upscale sister restaurant Park Place on Main, had abruptly closed back in October. Although Browning’s continued brewing craft beer for outside sales, Louisville Bats fans were left high and dry.

Now Chef Anoosh Shariat, backed by investors, has put up nearly a half-million dollars to revamp the restaurant and revise its menu. Browning’s reopened May 12. The Park Place space is available for private parties.

Continue reading Browning’s returns to Slugger Field →

Commentary

Community Farm Alliance rally against proposed farm rules

News Release: Join CFA and Allied Organizations for a Protest Rally! Tell USDA to STOP N.A.I.S! 

Come to Louisville to show your support of Family Farmers and Healthy Food! Friday, May 22, members of Community Farm Alliance and allied organizations will be speaking out against the USDA’s proposed National Animal Identification System.

Our goal is to have 100 people present to tell USDA why NAIS is harmful to family farmers, sustainable healthy foods, and our local food economy. YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED! COME JOIN US AS WE PROTEST N.A.I.S!

News release, discussion on Louisville Restaurants Forum
$$$ Upscale ( $50 - $80), Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, World Food

Let’s get Social at 732 … What? I can’t hear you!

732 Social

LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com

As soon as I read about 732 Social coming to East Market Street, I knew I was going to love it. It would be as urban as urban could get, chic and trendy yet “green” as grass, and it would spit in the face of the recession, boldly stepping out where a string of lovable but short-lived eateries have failed.

Here’s the scenario: Brothers Steven and Michael Ton of Basa join Chef Jayson Lewellyn, late of Jeff Ruby’s. They present quality fare – lots of small plates, and some large ones, too – that goes beyond mere fusion to blend the flavors of Europe, the Americas and Asia. They set it forth in the certifiably trendy Green Building, making adaptive reuse of well-worn barn wood and subtle tones, of course, to keep it close to the earth.

And, as the name suggests, they sought to build a consciously “social” environment, with tightly spaced tables and a community vibe that would encourage diners to converse with their neighbors and maybe even share bites or make new friends.
Continue reading Let’s get Social at 732 … What? I can’t hear you! →

Industry Standard

Hey – it’s your dinner!

So you’re out with friends for a celebratory meal, or perhaps just a regular meal, and – even though the menu’s obviously in English – you’re stymied. Parts of it seem to be Greek to you, and I don’t mean the part that says “hummus.” Hmmm, you think. I wonder what’s in a Bordelaise sauce? At this point, some folks whip out their iPhones and Google like mad. But don’t isolate yourself from the table conversation to do research – after all, you’re there to enjoy the company of your companions. Ask your server!
Continue reading Hey – it’s your dinner! →

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

Tiny Simply Thai packs ’em in

Shrimp Pad Thai at Simply Thai

LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Does size matter? Some of the Metro’s tiniest restaurants rank among its most cozy and attractive. From this assertion I do not exclude New Albany’s iconic Little Chef, a 10-seat diner so small that it once wore wheels; or, for that matter, the trendy, crowded, noisy and compact new 732 Social on East Market Street, about which we’ll be telling you more anon.

This week, though, we turn to another Lilliputian favorite, Simply Thai, housed in the freestanding building at the corner of Wallace and Wilmington avenues in St. Matthews.

Succeeding a short-lived barbecue joint and a forgettable Chinese fast-food eatery, Simply Thai crams about eight tables into a small space, with a couple more patio tables out front.
Continue reading Tiny Simply Thai packs ’em in →

$ Budget (under $30), Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, World Food

Ketchup, globalization and Pakistani fare

Mutton curry at Omar

LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com

The smiling gentleman forked a sizzling dish of bhaji in my direction. It sizzled gently, wafting wonderful aromas noseward: sweet, caramelized onion and an elusive mix of spices.

This is ethnic-foodie heaven: Omar Fast Food Restaurant, a new eatery featuring the fare of Pakistan, a South Asian nation that most of us have heretofore been more likely to encounter on the front page than on our dinner plate.

I took the plate hungrily.

“Ketchup?” the gent inquired, offering a fistful of red foil envelopes of Hunt’s finest.
Continue reading Ketchup, globalization and Pakistani fare →

$$$ Upscale ( $50 - $80), Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown, Pacific Rim

Sake Blue is on a roll – lots of rolls

ecuador sushi roll
LEO photo by Ron Jasin.
LEO’s Eats with
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Not so long ago – well, back in the early ’80s – the only place in town to get sushi was a downtown diner, where a Japanese woman came in on Thursdays to produce a special sushi lunch for a small but ardent corps of cognoscenti.

A generation or so later, more than 20 eats emporia provide Japanese fare across the metro area, most of them boasting good to excellent sushi bars. You can even buy sushi boxes at local grocery stores.

Just about everybody in town, or every sushi lover anyway, has a favorite, and a roster of top spots (Kansai, Sake Blue, Raw Sushi Lounge, Jarfi’s Bistro and Z’s Fusion) showed off their wares last month at the annual Sushi in the City gala. The all-you-can-eat event and competition at the Henry Clay was for the benefit of the Family Scholar House of Louisville.

New restaurants carried off top honors, with a judging panel rating the entry from Z’s Fusion as Sushi of the Year. The audience, however, followed another favorite, voting the “People’s Choice” award to the city’s newest Japanese restaurant, Sake Blue.
Continue reading Sake Blue is on a roll – lots of rolls →

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