I realized the other day that Ash Wednesday and Lent are coming up, so this is the season when Louisville food writers are supposed to talk about fried fish … and all the Friday fish fries at Catholic (and a few Episcopal) churches around town.
Wednesday was also National Pizza Day!
This was a challenge. Like just about everyone in Louisville, I love fried fish. But I love pizza too. Could I do both?
It’s hard to believe that Louisville got its first sushi bar, of sorts, as recently as the middle 1980s. (It’s also hard to believe that I’ve been writing about food and drink for that long, but that’s another story for another day.)
Back when Louisville had its first taste of locally-made sushi, served over a Fourth Street drug-store lunch counter on Thursdays only, the idea of sushi was a bit divisive. A few of us yelled “Yay!” A substantial percentage responded, “Yuk! Raw fish!”
Tell me about favorite desserts and sweet treats for the holidays: What have you got? If you celebrated Hanukkah in your household, you’ve enjoyed such deliciousness as hamentaschen, jelly donuts, and all manner of fried sweets. Christmas brings a wealth of sugary delights, from gingerbread cookies and Yule log cakes to the ubiquitous fruitcake and whatever the hell sugar plums are.
But wait! Where’s the ice cream? Yes, knocking back a pint of frozen cream can bring down your core temperature, but inside a warm and cozy house, in front of a fireplace, ice cream can be a festive treat. Continue reading Ice cream for Christmas because why not?→
Imagine yourself with a burrito on your plate. A hefty El Compadre burrito from Taco Choza, that’s a good one. Are you getting hungry? I sure am! Lift it, feel its weight, admire the tasty char marks on its textured wheaten surface. Mmm, mmm, good.
This is what I love about a burrito: When you bite through that tasty flour-tortilla wrapper, your first mouthful incorporates a collection of goodies. With Taco Choza’s signature El Compadre that’s going to be meat, reddish-tinted Mexican rice, two kinds of beans, some salad greens, a dash of pico de gallo, a taste of guacamole, a bit of sour cream, a drizzle of queso, all coming together in one symphonic gulp. Continue reading Taco Choza’s burrito is bigger than your sled. Well, almost.→
I’ve been a big fan of Jade Palace’s dim sum ever since the late 1980s, when this popular eatery in what is now Westport Village introduced Louisville to these tasty, bite-size Chinese snacks.
But the other day I had a pandemic-related revelation: In these days when many of us are wary about dining indoors at a crowded restaurant: Dim sum makes a great takeout alternative. In fact, Jade Palace is closed to dining in during the pandemic, but it does offer takeout, curbside pickup, and delivery. Continue reading Jade Palace’s dim sum makes great takeout→
One of the great pleasures of sushi for me is the opportunity to sit down at the sushi bar, admire the artfully arranged rows of beautifully cut seafood and fish, and talk with the chef about what’s interesting and good.
But I have to be honest: During the pandemic, the idea of joining a few neighbors and a chef or two in such close quarters does not appeal, not even with masks and social distancing in play.
If you’ve been wondering about the odd name of that new gourmet-style hamburger joint in the Vogue Center, wonder no longer: The Hebrew plural ending “-im” on the English word “Burger,” yields “BurgerIM,” a crafty way to make a common word a trademark.
We brought home a bunch of burgerim, er, burgers, the other day and found them estimable, particularly considering the double whammy that the franchise owners have had to face during their first months in business. Continue reading BurgerIM fights off challenges to bring the burgers→
If you haven’t been watching Padma Lakshmi’s new series, Taste the Nation, on Hulu, you really should start. The host of Bravo’s popular Top Chef moves to something completely different with this series that focuses on food culture in America through the eyes and taste buds of immigrant communities.
In Episode 1, “Burritos on the Border,” she covered restaurants and tortillas and immigration and politics in El Paso, Texas, and its neighbor Juarez, Mexico. The program was fascinating, and it made me crave tacos so hard that we headed straight for MexA Steak Tacos the very next day. Continue reading MexA Taco deliciously satisfies our Mexican-food crave→
We had been getting along pretty well without dining out since the pandemic got real last month, but someone in this house has been feeling a serious crave for that Louisville tradition, fried fish on rye.
Sounds reasonable. Let’s get some fish! But where?
As it turns out, quite a few local favorites are offering this local fave for takeout or curb service: The Fish House, Chik’n & Mi, Four Pegs, Hooked on Frankfort, Royals Hot Chicken, Joellas. I’m sure there are plenty more, but I already had my mind set on a favorite: Moby Dick. Continue reading Moby Dick’s drive-through satisfies fishy crave→
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