The economy and the restaurant scene Before January slips completely away from us, I'd like to share a few New Year's thoughts about the state of the restaurant scene in Louisville. There's been a lot of rumor-mongering about the state of the economy and the future of the city's white-tablecloth eateries, along with persistent rumors that the terrible events of Sept. 11, 2001 were in some strange way prompting Louisvillians to stop dining out. (A local television news reporter actually tracked me down in France in quest of a comment about whether Osama & Co. were somehow responsible for the surprise closing of Zephyr Cove in June.) The rumors continue, with particular focus on Frankfort Avenue, where I keep hearing of the allegedly imminent demise of a couple of restaurant landmarks, one long-established, the other new but trendy. The long-awaited surge of traffic downtown most evenings remains an urban planner's dewy-eyed dream, and the increasing dominance of the suburbs by cookie-cutter corporate franchise eateries is troubling. And there's not much doubt that the still-soft economic recovery has a lot of people watching their dollars, particularly when it comes to fancy dining on week nights. But let's look at some numbers: My notes on the city's restaurant comings and goings during 2002 show just 17 closings - including such sad but not apparently economy-related events as the damaging December fire at Chick Inn - while I reviewed thirty new restaurants in the metro area alone, including a wave of new Thai spots and sushi bars and such upscale new hot spots as Browning's, Steam Fire & Ice, Avalon, Salsa Grill and Wellinghurst's. And for all the talk about the growing dominance of chains, only three of the 30 new arrivals - Bonefish Grill, California Pizza Kitchen and Stoney River Legendary Steaks - fell in this category. Several more good-eats places are coming soon, including two, count 'em two more Indian restaurants on Bardstown Road. What's more, quite a few of the closings quickly turned around: Blue Moon Diner & Deli closed, but a new J. Harrod's opened on the same premises. Bonsai Japanese shut its doors, but quickly reopened them nearby as Sakura Blue. Indigo Bistro & Bar was replaced by the similarly named if somewhat less exciting Indigo Casual Gourmet; and the notable loss of Zephyr Cove was at least somewhat ameliorated by the same management's continued presence at Kentucky Cove in the Kentucky Center for the Arts. Cafe Jopa was replaced by the better Goose Creek Diner. My sorrow at the loss of the only Hurstbourne-area Vietnamese eatery, Golden Phoenix, was at least partly healed by the arrival on those premises of Thai Smile 4, the city's top Thai; and the segue from Pho 777 to the even better Cafe Annie resulted in no net loss for South End Vietnamese. Chutnee Indian, which fled the limited facilities of the Louisville Galleria's Food Court, will reopen Monday, Jan. 27, at 428 W. Muhammad Ali. And Ray Parella's left its Highlands quarters but opened larger eat-in space on Frankfort Avenue, to the apparent pleasure of everyone except The Courier-Journal's critic (who disliked its black curtains). That being said, there's no silver lining to be found in the loss of Blue Parrot Grille, Chick Inn, Del Barrio, Joe's Bar-B-Q on Preston, Jupiter Grill, Spice Store Cafe (the city's only remaining South Indian spot), Tasty China, Thatsa Wrapp or Utopia Cafe. Other closings, not necessarily accompanied by much sobbing from food lovers, included Glass Onion and Le Peep. On the bright side of the ledger, let's hail the happy arrival, in addition to all those mentioned above, of Abyssinia, BadBob's Barbeque, Bazo's Baja Grill, Browning's, Café Emilie, Coco's Flamehouse, Downtown New Orleans, Greek Paradise, Kobe, Mr. Z's Kitchen, Nermana's Cuisine, Osaka, Rockwall, Sakura Blue, Sala Thai, Thai Delights, Thai Smile and Thai Taste. Even with economic worries lurking in the wings, this is hardly the description of a city whose eating scene is on the ropes. But if you care about the vibrant, diverse restaurant community that has long made Louisville an unusually good place for "foodies" to live, you can do your part: Treat yourself to dinner out now and then. Don't wait for Fridays and Saturdays to do it, and consider indulging in an occasional splurge. There's no better way to thank the people who've made this town a good place to eat than by patronizing their businesses. Food media watch Gannett Corp. being to metro journalism as Denny's is to fine dining, The Courier-Journal's restaurant coverage has suffered the same deterioration of credibility in recent years as has its local news coverage. But it could be argued that The C-J's abdication has not been an entirely bad thing, as the open field has encouraged a broader and more diverse selection of restaurant opinion than the city has ever had before. I started LouisvilleHotBytes.com in 1994, and Louisville Magazine has made significant contributions with its fine-dining reviews (until recently, mostly by veteran food critic James "Chip" Nold Jr.) and its hefty annual EATS Dining Guide (which you'll find online at http://louisville.p2ionline.com/diningGuide/). The magazine's monthly reviews are generally positive and the Dining Guide's capsules uniformly so, but it has been good to see an occasional justified zinger in recent columns where a culinary lapse has justified "telling it like it is." Dining criticism has also come to local television on at least one station, with the jovial Bob Sokoler's informative segments on WHAS-11, which are archived online at http://www.whas11.com/news/dining/index.html. Finally, the city's alternative weekly LEO has distinctly ramped up its restaurant coverage this year, moving toward the end of 2002 from a rotating group of critics of variable culinary knowledge to regular contributions from local music critic Marty Rosen as "Toque de Ville." Marty's early columns have been good ones - I've picked up a couple of good tips from him myself - and I look forward to seeing his column evolve in '03, hoping that the editors will give him the latitude to ladle out constructive criticism as well as praise. LEO's dining columns are online at http://www.louisville.com/leodining.html. A note about wine The big news for Louisville-area wine enthusiasts this year was the sale of the Party Source wine shops to Liquor Barn, a Lexington company. Ken Lewis, who had built the Party Source stores into the region's leaders for fine wine, sold the Louisville-area shops so he could focus on his Northern Kentucky properties serving the Cincinnati metro area. Happily, little has changed under the new management. The Liquor Barn stores (which, it should be noted, are advertising supporters of LouisvilleHotBytes.com) have expanded inventory at the Louisville shops, particularly in high-end Italian wines; and while prices may have crept upward on some items, they remain highly competitive. The specialty food selection has also been enhanced (although I would rather see Louisville's Blue Dog than the lackluster artisanal breads trucked up from Lexington), and for those who indulge, there's now a massive cigar humidor. In more good news for urban wine lovers, The Wine Rack opened in December at 2716 Frankfort Ave., (502) 721-9148. Small but friendly, its selection currently features mostly widely available labels, but for those who live nearby, it's a welcome option when you need a quick bottle for dinner. For more wine-store information, see our page on the city's top wine shops.
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