LouisvilleHotBytes (May 20, 2012)
By Antonia Lindauer Grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of soup: the classic combination you grew up with. Done adequately, it’s a comforting duo that fills you up and cures what ails you. Taken to the next level, with super-fresh ingredients and creative flavor combinations, it can be downright...Read more
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LEOs Eats with Robin Garr (May 2, 2012)
The buzzing gallery and nightspot zone along East Market Street that the PR-meisters wish we would call “NuLu” has become so crowded lately that, as Yogi said, nobody goes there anymore. Of course, this is not true. In fact, thousands of people joyously cram the nabe in pursuit of...Read more
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VOICE-TRIBUNE Review by Robin Garr (April 26, 2012)
It’s been a quite a few years now since a couple of Louisville’s favorite neighborhoods sprouted so many eateries that we dubbed them “Restaurant Rows.” Bardstown Road arguably came first, starting with the Bristol in the 1970s, quickly joined by Jack Fry’s, Cafe Metro, Lilly’s and many more. Frankfort...Read more
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INDUSTRY STANDARD by Marsha Lynch (April 25, 2012)
There’s a meme that echoes throughout the restaurant industry: a sense of urgency. Great cooks and servers have a “sense of urgency” — even when there’s no emergency. I think the first time I heard the phrase, I was watching a Food Network show where several cooks were trying...Read more
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LouisvilleHotBytes (April 19, 2012)
Preview by Deb Hall This is a report on a pre-opening media tasting. La Coop opens to the public on Tuesday, April 24. The latest addition to the East Market corridor – La Coop-Bistro A Vins – aims for the welcoming ambience of a neighborhood French bistro, and succeeds...Read more
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LEOs Eats with Robin Garr (April 18, 2012)
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, my father came home one day and announced, “Kids, we’re going to Chicago this weekend, and we’re going to a new kind of restaurant. It has the most amazing salads on a giant buffet, and you can walk right...Read more
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VOICE-TRIBUNE Review by Robin Garr (April 12, 2012)
Just about everyone knows what an omelet is, and the difference between “easy over” and “sunnyside-up” is a mystery to only a few. As Louisville’s dining scene has grown and our restaurant roster become diverse, we’ve learned more and more. Marinara or alfredo? Easy. Corn or flour tortilla? Ditto!...Read more
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LEOs Eats with Robin Garr (April 11, 2012)
Catching up with a bunch of items that have piled up in my critic’s notebook, let’s take a quick trip around the world on a dinner plate, stopping off at a trio of worthy spots for tastes of the Mediterranean, Korea and a Philadelphia treat — a surprisingly fetching...Read more
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LEOs Eats with Robin Garr (April 4, 2012)
The blue and white logo on the western side of Decca’s 136-year-old building in NuLu may be painted to look weathered and old, but this popular spot is actually one of the hottest new tickets in its rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. But it would be a mistake to think of...Read more
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VOICE-TRIBUNE Review by Robin Garr (April 1, 2012)
You would think that everyone in town knows that Caffe Classico is far more than just another Frankfort Avenue coffee shop by now. After all, I’ve probably told about 80 percent of you personally! But for whatever reason this Clifton jewel remains undiscovered, at least by quite a few,...Read more
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LEOs Eats with Robin Garr (March 28, 2012)
It’s getting harder and harder to be a food snob around this town. Years ago, it was easy to complain about all the good things we couldn’t get to eat here. Real Mexican? Ethnic Chinese? Sushi? Thai? Back in the bad old days, Louisvillians who liked to complain about...Read more
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INDUSTRY STANDARD by Marsha Lynch (March 28, 2012)
I remember with pleasure and deep gratitude the first time I was paid a sincere compliment in a professional kitchen. As a recent culinary-school graduate, I was working a very busy pantry shift in a downtown restaurant on a “show night.” (A “show night” means there are one or...Read more
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LEOs Eats with Robin Garr (March 21, 2012)
Even if you don’t have much experience with Korean food, you’ll find it easy to like, especially if you try it at an eatery as amiable as Charim. For the most part, Korean dishes won’t seem unfamiliar to anyone who enjoys the varied cuisines of Asia. Some of its...Read more
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LEOs Eats with Robin Garr (March 14, 2012)
Volare, oh oh … Cantare, oh oh oh oh … Let’s fly way up to the clouds … With Dean Martin’s classic rendition of the pop Italian ballad firmly planted in our ears, let’s talk about Volare and how it fits into the pantheon of Louisville’s top Italian tables....Read more
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VOICE-TRIBUNE Review by Robin Garr (March 8, 2012)
Ever since North End Cafe opened in Clifton nearly a decade ago, the name of the place seemed a little odd to me. When I grew up in Louisville, we sorted our town into East End, South End and West End, and back in those Baby Boom days of...Read more
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LEOs Eats with Robin Garr (March 7, 2012)
“I went to Oriental House for lunch the other day, and we had a really good Chinese meal that didn’t cost us an arm and a leg.” This statement would have been perfectly grammatical, and factual, in 1960, and it still is. Oriental House, whose ornate Chinese-style building has...Read more
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INDUSTRY STANDARD by Marsha Lynch (February 29, 2012)
You absolutely love good food and love dining out. Perhaps you’re preparing for semi-retirement. Maybe you worked in a restaurant when you were younger (or do so now). You have some money saved, or somehow miraculously have a funding source — a backer, a fan, a parent — someone...Read more
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Louisville Hot Bytes (February 22, 2012)
Yes, we know Louisville is the inland epicenter for fried white fish at any time of year, but consumption ramps up further during Lent, when many Roman Catholic churches and a few Episcopal churches offer festive, fun fish dinners on Fridays. The fishy fun begins Friday! Check a Catholic...Read more
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LEOs Eats with Robin Garr (February 22, 2012)
Life’s little frustrating moments: You’re watching an earnest worker trying to put together your lunch. He fumbles. She slips. You ask for this. He gives you that. Oops, a fresh bit just hit the floor. You’re glad you’re watching, deeply suspicious that if the deed had gone unobserved, the...Read more
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LEOs Eats with Robin Garr (February 15, 2012)
Back in the day, trendy new eateries like the Bristol and Myra’s fired up a generation of Louisville foodies with the revelation that fine dining could be about more than white tablecloths, surf-and-turf and fancy Italian cuisine. But it didn’t take long for us to become blasé. Even as...Read more
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VOICE-TRIBUNE Review by Robin Garr (February 9, 2012)
What’s a diner? This question would be easy to answer in New York, New Jersey, and across much of the Northeastern U.S., where diners abound. In Louisville, not so much. There’s a fine line between a diner and a family restaurant. If it’s located in an old railroad dining...Read more
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