Monthly Archives: July 2010

$ Budget (under $30), Commentary, Pacific Rim, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

Umai Zushi impresses with bountiful sushi spread

sashimi on late
Five nigiri-zushi and two maki-zushi rolls at Umai Zushi

Voice-Tribune review by LouisvilleHotBytes

I love Asian food, and I’m a big fan of many of the East End’s excellent Chinese restaurants, including such quality eateries as Oriental House, Jade Palace, Jasmine, Liang’s and the new Peking City Bistro.

I’m less whelmed with storefront chopsticks houses and all-you-can-eat Chinese buffets, though. Not that they won’t fill me up when I’m cravin’ Asian, but to be quite frank, they’re all pretty much the same.

Until now, that is.

The arrival of Umai Zushi Buffet near the outer stretches of Westport Road introduces a new variable to the Asian buffet equation: In addition to the usual Chinese suspects, it offers a bounty of king crab legs and, from the cuisine of Japan, more than 40 sushi and sashimi goodies.

It’s pretty good sushi, too, I’m pleased to report.
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$ Budget (under $30), Chinese, Commentary, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

A truly authentic experience at Peking City Bistro

chinese food on plate

“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” Not merely the intro line of the original Japanese “Iron Chef,” this fundamental hypothesis goes back to the French gourmet Anthelme Brillat-Savarin’s 1825 gastronomic essay, “Physiology of Taste.”

If Brillat-Savarin had examined my dinner at Peking City Bistro, he might have concluded I am a pregnant Chinese woman, a revelation that would come as a considerable surprise to both my mother and my wife.

Intrigued? Pull up a chair, and I’ll tell you the story.
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$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, Commentary, Outside the city, Pubs, Brew Pubs, GastroPubs

Village Anchor Pub takes roost

fried chicken on plate

Got milk? Or a Nike swoosh? How about “comfort food with a twist”?

Indeed, what kind of wacky restaurant concept might we expect from one of the nation’s top corporate-relations experts — a man who’s run campaigns for such iconic enterprises as the American dairy industry and Nike — when he comes back home and turns restaurateur?

That would be Anchorage resident Kevin Grangier, former sole owner of award-winning CarryOn Communications Inc. of Los Angeles, New York and … St. Matthews.
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$ Budget (under $30), Commentary, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Italian (and Pizza)

Boombozz has come a long way, baby

pizza

If you’ve noticed a little restaurant do-si-do around the corner of Frankfort Avenue and Cannon’s Lane, here’s the story: After Chef Amber McCool closed her Patron restaurant (destined for eventual reopening downtown, McCool has promised her fans), in the spring of w010 the old Boombozz Pizza moved down the block into the Patron’s old quarters.
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Industry Standard

A condiment conundrum

I hate it when servers bring me something and try to pass it off as something else entirely, don’t you? Earlier this week, my boyfriend, John, and I were trying out a newish spot in the Highlands. On initial reconnaissance at a new place, I like to find out if the cook can actually, you know, cook, before I trust him to feed me offal or prepare some deadly poisonous blowfish sushi. So we ordered burgers and frites … but like the culinary magpie I am, I was distracted by something shiny that caught my eye from the other page of the menu. Artichoke aioli, it said — and like the magpie, I had to make it mine.
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$ Budget (under $30), Commentary, Hikes Point, Pacific Rim, World Food

Indian home cooking at Little India Café

risotto cakes

I’d like to tell you about a cozy new place where dining is much like being invited into an Indian family’s home for dinner.

Pop bustles about while Junior sets the table and keeps up a stream of friendly chatter. Mom’s in the kitchen with a clatter of pans and spoons, and wonderful smells come wafting out. Plates bearing aromatic, home-cooked Indian goodies soon start appearing on the table, and the whole family smiles, awaiting your thumbs-up.

That’s pretty much the scene at Little India Café.
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