All posts by Robin Garr

$$$$ Luxury ($60 and up), BBQ, Burgers, Steaks & Down-Home, Commentary, LEO's Eats, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

So long, Artesano. Welcome Steak & Bourbon!

I’m not going to lie about this: I miss Artesano. It was a favorite. This does not mean that I don’t like Steak & Bourbon, its recent successor under the same management. But steakhouses are a dime a dozen around here. Serious Spanish tapas eateries are thin on the ground, so the loss of a favorite is a significant hit.

All my whining won’t bring Artesano back, I know, so let’s move on. We dropped in to Steak & Bourbon with a group of friends the other night and had a fine time. Continue reading So long, Artesano. Welcome Steak & Bourbon! →

$$ Modest ($20-$40), Commentary, Ethnic & Eclectic, LEO's Eats, Pacific Rim & Other Asian, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

Simply Thai comforts us with flavor and spice

When you need comfort food, nothing else will do. When you’re feeling down, pulling up to a plate full of comfort may be the best thing you can do for yourself. So it was for me last week when I had to say good-bye to my beloved cat Spike, a ginger-color furball buddy who’d been my special friend and constant companion for more than 17 years. It was either ugly-cry or fill up on comfort food, so I decided to do both.

But here’s the funny thing: When I needed comfort food, I realized that comfort for me does not come from the nurturing culinary memories of a Louisville childhood. No, my culinary comfort needs are filled with the bright, potent flavors of Southern and Southeastern Asia. Make mine Indian, Vietnamese, Indonesian or Thai, and I can feel the tension and sadness quietly draining away.

I hadn’t been to Simply Thai in St. Matthews for quite a while, so it felt like the perfect destination for a bittersweet yet consoling dinner in memory of Spike. Continue reading Simply Thai comforts us with flavor and spice →

Eats Tweet

LIBA Buy Local Fair Part 2 is June 8!

BuyLocal2LIBA Buy Local Fair Part 2.0
Saturday, June 8 4-7 p.m.
Louisville Slugger Field, Hall of Fame, 401 E. Main St.
FREE ADMISSION

Louisville City FC game to follow at 7pm, $15 tickets will be available from LIBA.

Plenty of street parking available, or Slugger’s lot ($10 after 5 p.m.)

Many of you know that our original Buy Local Fair (May 19), was cut short by high winds and sporadic rain. (Sincere thanks and appreciation for all of our members, volunteers and patrons who made it out that day!) After numerous conversations with the National Weather Service, we were hopeful the weather would pass us by, but alas! Mother Nature had other plans and we closed halfway through. Now we have unfinished business, and we want to make good!

Join us for a 3 hour event featuring what everyone comes for at the Fair: LOCAL BUSINESSES! We’ll be indoors this time in the Hall of Fame at Slugger Field.

* SHOP with a variety of local businesses – from handmade jewelry to furniture to clothing and much more.
* Visit our SILENT AUCTION to check out over 130 amazing products from our local businesses. (New – see items and start bidding NOW! Need not be present to win.)
* We also have TICKETS available for the Louisville City FC vs. Loudoun United FC soccer game that follows at 7pm. Just $15 per ticket, purchase here! (Usual walk up rate is $21.)
#BuyLocalFair #BuyLocalAuction

$$ Modest ($20-$40), Commentary, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, LEO's Eats, New and noteworthy, Seafood & Water's Edge

We are Hooked on Frankfort

For many decades before the first pizza came to Louisville in the 1950s or the first real taquerias arrived in the 1990s, this town has had a love affair with seafood and fish.

It wasn’t long after the Civil War when Mazzoni’s started shipping fresh oysters up from the Gulf in railroad cars filled with ice; fried fish couldn’t have taken much longer in a city with a large Catholic population expected to consume fish on Fridays. Mike Linnig and his family were selling fish sandwiches out of their produce stand on Cane Run Road as early as the late 1920s; the first Kingfish restaurant greeted the dawn of the Baby Boom in 1948.

Nowadays there’s a source of fried fish just about everywhere you look, and the latest entry is a good one, too: Please say hello to Hooked on Frankfort. Continue reading We are Hooked on Frankfort →

Commentary

Louisville Cafe India brings Indian delights

Once upon a time, not all that many years ago, the closest Indian restaurant to Louisville was in Cincinnati. I know, because I used to make that trip as often as I could. Indeed, as recently as the turn of the millennium there were still only about three Indian eateries in town.

But those days of deprivation are past! The recent arrival of Louisville Cafe India, popped up in the Middletown quarters abruptly vacated by Peking City Bistro last winter, pushes the metro’s count of Indian restaurants past a dozen, all of them on the Kentucky side of the river. Get with it, Hoosiers!

I was already feeling pumped by the arrival of Shreeji Indian Vegetarian Street Food on Hurstbourne last winter, so when I learned that Louisville Cafe India also features a substantial selection of Indian street fare – and more substantial entrees from many Indian regions as well – it didn’t take me long to race over there. Continue reading Louisville Cafe India brings Indian delights →

$$ Modest ($20-$40), Commentary, Italian (and Pizza), LEO's Eats, Pubs, Brew Pubs, GastroPubs, Seafood & Water's Edge, Sports bar, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

Come to Sal’s for the pizza, stay for the fish

I must have passed by Sal’s Pizza & Sports Pub in Lyndon a hundred times without ever being motivated to stop in. This was a mistake. In retrospect I really miss all the good meals that I might have enjoyed there.

Don’t be like me. Go, soon. You’ll like it. Continue reading Come to Sal’s for the pizza, stay for the fish →