Category Archives: Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, LEO's Eats, underSlideshowEntries

Kentucky’s nectar and fine fare lift Bourbons Bistro

With apologies to Bulwer-Lytton, it really was a dark and stormy night. Rain pounded down. Thunder rolled and lightning flashed — and smartphones throughout the dim room flashed red, pink and green, too, as diners nervously checked the weather radar.

Suddenly a rumbling, clanking roar rang out! It sounded just like a freight train! A tornado? Well, no. It really was the sound of a freight train. This is a thing that just happens when you’re dining out along Frankfort Avenue. Continue reading Kentucky’s nectar and fine fare lift Bourbons Bistro →

$ Budget (under $30), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, Breakfast and lunch spots, sandwich spots, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Germantown, Northeast Metro, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, underSlideshowEntries

Where will we go for brunch now that Lynn’s is closed?

At least a few million megabytes of social media and a wastebasket full of old-media newsprint have surely been spilled over the recent startling and sudden demise of Lynn’s Paradise Cafe.

I don’t see much point in adding more to that flood, other than to note that we may yet be hearing more about the weird tipping and servers-vs.-management dispute that broke into public view a few days before proprietor Lynn Winter yanked the keys out of the restaurant’s ignition and shut ’er down.

But let’s not get into the who, what, when, where and why of all that right now. A larger question looms: “Where in the heck can we go for Sunday brunch now that Lynn’s is gone?”

Continue reading Where will we go for brunch now that Lynn’s is closed? →

$ Budget (under $30), Breakfast and lunch spots, sandwich spots, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, New and noteworthy, QuickBytes, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, underSlideshowEntries

SuperChefs Builds Memorable Breakfast

(SuperChefs is now at 307 Wallace Avenue in St. Matthews, 896-8008; facebook.com/SuperChefsBreakfast on Facebook.)

Every now and then you’ll encounter an idea so simple, yet so brilliant, that you’ll suck in your breath and think, “Wow! I wish I had thought of that!” And when such a bright idea concerns breakfast, it’s hard to see how things could get any better than that.

So say hello to SuperChefs Breakfast, and a big tip of the old fedora to innovators Darnell Ferguson and Ryan Bryson, who came up with a creative way to jump from an award-winning culinary-school career to running their own restaurant, without all the capital expenses and costs and deal-making that such an entrepreneurial effort usually requires.
Continue reading SuperChefs Builds Memorable Breakfast →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, underSlideshowEntries

Bistro 1860: a paradise for foodies, just not a wine geek bar

What the heck is a wine geek? A wine geek loves wine, can carry on an extended conversation about the stuff, knows a little about how it’s made, and plans trips around winery visits. He rejects labels like “snob” or even “connoisseur,” though, preferring to be recognized for a hobbyist’s passion. She loves wine, but understands that, after all, it’s really just grape juice — delicious, adult grape juice that goes great with food but is best taken in moderate doses. Continue reading Bistro 1860: a paradise for foodies, just not a wine geek bar →

$$$$ Luxury ($80 and up), BBQ, Burgers & Down-Home, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, LEO's Eats, underSlideshowEntries

Pat’s Steak House is a retro diorama of good eats

Imagine, if you will, a really excellent, life-like diorama, one of those fascinating museum displays that you’ll find in New York’s Museum of Natural History or Chicago’s Field Museum. It’s a large, almost life-size three-dimensional display that re-creates a historical scene, freezing a moment in time for our intrigued inspection.
Continue reading Pat’s Steak House is a retro diorama of good eats →

$ Budget (under $30), A RESTAURANT LISTING..., Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Mexican, Cuban, Caribbean, underSlideshowEntries

Ramiro’s Cantina backs curb appeal with decent Mexican chow

Before we break to the food, let’s devote a moment or two to the appreciation of modern American folk art. Seriously, now, work with me on this. Visualize, if you will, Edward Hopper’s 1942 painting “Nighthawks,” three anonymous figures and a short-order cook seen through the plate-glass windows of a spartan diner on an empty city street very late at night.
Continue reading Ramiro’s Cantina backs curb appeal with decent Mexican chow →

$$$ Upscale ( $50 - $80), Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Italian (and Pizza), LEO's Eats, underSlideshowEntries

DiFabio’s offers fine, family-style Italian

“Casapela.” Utter this word slowly, with Mediterranean rhythm, assonant and mellifluous, “Cah-sa-PEH-laaaah,” and it sounds as Italian as Tony Bennett crooning “Arrivederci, Roma.” But plug it into Google Translate or ask a friendly Italian what “Casapela” means, exactly, and you come up with nothing. Zero, zip, even, well, niente.
Continue reading DiFabio’s offers fine, family-style Italian →

$$$ Upscale ( $50 - $80), Bistros, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, LEO's Eats, underSlideshowEntries

Varanese keeps up its tradition

It’s hard to believe Varanese has been around for five years now, particularly when we consider that Azalea, the popular Brownsboro Road eatery that was Chef John Varanese’s culinary home before he moved into these quarters in 2007, still remains vacant and, frankly, is looking more than a little shabby. (An Indiana-based mini-chain called “Mesh” is said to be on the way.)

Meanwhile, Varanese, who settled into his eponymous new establishment (a former service station, later Red Lounge) without missing a beat, is going strong on Frankfort Avenue.
Continue reading Varanese keeps up its tradition →

$ Budget (under $30), Breakfast and lunch spots, sandwich spots, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, underSlideshowEntries, World Food

Brownsboro Diet at SuperChef’s Breakfast and Chicago Gyros

(SuperChefs is now at 307 Wallace Avenue in St. Matthews, 896-8008; facebook.com/SuperChefsBreakfast on Facebook.)

You’ve heard of the South Beach diet. You might have tried the low-carb Atkins diet. Wannabe cave persons swear by the Paleo diet, and the wealthy are all about the Hamptons diet. There’s a trendy diet plan for just about everyone who wants to shed a few pounds in this age of high-fructose corn syrup and super-sized meals. And now, let’s put our hands together for the Brownsboro Road diet!
Continue reading Brownsboro Diet at SuperChef’s Breakfast and Chicago Gyros →

$ Budget (under $30), BBQ, Burgers & Down-Home, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Pubs, Brew Pubs, GastroPubs, underSlideshowEntries

Fine diner brunch and honky-tonk at The Silver Dollar

Yum, I love me some fine diner fare. That’s fine “diner,” now, not fine “dining,” which I like, too, but which might be a little out of place in the noisy and very casual environs of The Silver Dollar, whose retro-style sign out front blares “Whiskey By The Drink.”

]Now that I think about it, Chef Jonathan Schwartz and sous chef Dave Hawkins do an estimable job of fine cooking, too, but they keep it in the blue-collar style of Bakersfield, Calif., a dusty Central Valley town where agriculture and oil, the Dust Bowl diaspora and the Chicano diaspora meet and blend in an environment that gave birth to the Bakersfield Sound in country music and, it goes without saying, honky-tonk saloons.
Continue reading Fine diner brunch and honky-tonk at The Silver Dollar →