Monthly Archives: March 2006

New and noteworthy, News announcements

LouisvilleHotBytes in LEO

LEOA brand new look for LEO’s dining reports
Notice something different in your weekly LEO? Wednesday, April 12, we launched LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with LouisvilleHotBytes, a new look in the local alternative weekly’s dining, food and drink reporting that’s a team effort in more ways than one.

The boundary between print media and the Internet begins to blur as we undertake this venture, with Louisville journalist Robin Garr in charge of a team of food-savvy writers – including familiar faces from both LEO and LouisvilleHotBytes – who’ll provide bold, incisive and unabashedly opinionated “blog-style” commentary, in print and online, about good things to eat and drink in the Metro and where to find them.
Continue reading LouisvilleHotBytes in LEO →

Commentary

Maturing Volare’s star shines bright

Volare

Sunday seafood brunch is a Lucullan feast

When Volare popped up on Frankfort Avenue the summer before last, I gave it a warm if somewhat mixed review, placing it somewhere between the ’50s-style Italian-American vibe of Lentini’s and the more upscale Northern Italian ambience of Vincenzo’s. It lost some ratings points for unfulfilled pretentiousness and good-but-could-be-better food and service, but I marked it as a place to be watched and with room to grow.

Quite a bit has changed since then: A Chicago-based partner has moved on, the affable Majid Ghavami, popular proprietor of Saffron’s and a veteran of front-of-the-house years at the old Casa Grisanti and Vincenzo’s, has moved in as a partner and maitre d’, and Chef Dallas McGarrity (hey, at least there’s a vowel on the end of his name) has grown from good to better with a little experience under his toque.

Volare just recently added an expansive, seafood-rich Sunday brunch to its offerings, and an indulgent sampling today left me persuaded that this place is now offering Mr. Ghavami’s former employer, the other Big V, a serious run for its money as the city’s top Italian table.
Continue reading Maturing Volare’s star shines bright →

Commentary, New and noteworthy

Danielle’s is sweet in more ways than one

Danielle's

There’s a lot to like about Danielle’s, one of a cluster of hot new spots that’s opened around town this month. Sweet! I’d like it even better, though, if only “sweet” wasn’t an adequate one-word description for just about everything on the bill of fare. More about that anon.

Danielle’s Chef Allan Rosenberg is young, but he’s on a fast trajectory. Trained in New York under iconic chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Daniel Boulud, he served as chef de cuisine under one of Louisville’s top chefs, Anoosh Shariat, at Park Place on Main. Now he’s opened his own establishment, and it’s looking good.

Danielle’s fits in to the Frankfort Avenue scene with a genteel, upscale casual vibe, tasteful burgundy and cream walls and discreet modern art, that reflects more of a Baby Boomer sensibility than the chef’s 20-something status. Continue reading Danielle’s is sweet in more ways than one →

Commentary

Proof proves out

Proof on Main

First, a rant: I’ve always thought there’s something kind of needy and pathetic about the way that Louisville looks to New York to validate the things we do here. Bring in a speaker from the Big Apple to make your fund-raiser a success; punch your chef’s ticket by jetting off to Gotham to cook dinner at Beard House. Get a review in The New Yorker or a mention in The New York Times, or choose a New York architect for your landmark building … if it doesn’t earn a New York stamp of approval, we seem to think, it must not be worth much.

So naturally it comes as no surprise that the strong New York connections of the city’s hottest new item – Proof on Main – have dominated the early buzz and almost fawning media coverage about this stylish new spot on West Main Street, our neighborhood that’s often, and accurately, compared with New York’s SoHo for its impressive collection of historic cast-iron storefronts.

For the record, yes, we know Proof on Main is managed by a prominent New York restaurant firm, Drew Nieporent’s Myriad Group, the folks who operate such culinary Manhattan landmarks as Tribeca Grill, Nobu and Montrachet.
Continue reading Proof proves out →