Category Archives: Bistros

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

Majid’s draws early applause in St. Matthews

Nearly three millennia past, before the glory that was Greece or the grandeur that was Rome, the emperor Cyrus the Great presided over the Persian Empire, extending from Eastern Europe through Southwestern Asia to northern India in the greatest empire that the world to that time had known.

Fast forward 2,700 years to modern Louisville and say hello to Majid’s, now open in St. Matthews with a new restaurant that shows considerable promise in its blend of the flavors of modern America and all the nations that made up Cyrus’s empire.
Continue reading Majid’s draws early applause in St. Matthews →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, underSlideshowEntries

Meeting mozzarella again for the first time at Mozz

Burrata Caprese at Mozz
Burrata Caprese at Mozz. Photo: Ron Jasin

If your idea of mozzarella is bland shreds in a plastic bag from the supermarket, or pale, stringy cheese pulling away from the top of your pizza like bubble gum, you’ll want to reset your expectations before dining at Mozz.

This new, upscale and trendy Italian eatery landed this month in the Cobalt Building that once housed Primo. The name means “mozzarella,” and mozz’ is what they do.

We’re talking real, fresh mozzarella, like fior di Latte (“flower of the milk”), cheese that’s delicate, sweet and silken, made in-house with fresh, hormone-free milk from locavore cows; a far cry from the Styrofoam stuff in the supermarket bag.
Continue reading Meeting mozzarella again for the first time at Mozz →

$ Budget (under $30), Bistros, Commentary, Germantown, underSlideshowEntries

Double down in Germantown at Eiderdown

Country Ham, fried egg on pugliesi
Eiderdown’s Kentucky Country Ham Sandwich. LEO photo by Ron Jasin.
Edelweiss, Edelweiss,
Every morning you greet me …

No, wait, dammit! Rewind! I meant “Eiderdown,” sorry. Edelweiss is an Alpine flower, small and white. Eiderdown is soft, warm down from the breast feathers of the female eider duck, which famously plucks down from her chest to line her nest and keep her eggs and infant duckies safe and warm.
Continue reading Double down in Germantown at Eiderdown →

$ Budget (under $30), Bistros, Commentary, Northeast Metro, underSlideshowEntries

Big Ben swings like a pendulum do

Fish tacos at Big Ben Cafe

Voice-Tribune review by LouisvilleHotBytes

England swings like a pendulum do.
Bobbies on bicycles, two by two.
Westminster Abbey, the tower of Big Ben …

Roger Miller’s memorably kitschy tune is one of those melodies that sticks in your head until you want to bang your skull on the wall to make it go away.

Louisville’s new Big Ben, happily, isn’t anything like that. But drop by during a busy lunch hour or balmy evening, and chances are you will find the place swinging.

Head for the village center of new-made-to-look-old Norton Commons, and you can hardly miss the busy scene of outdoor tables and red umbrellas set up across the front of Big Ben’s red-brick quarters. Within, it’s an independent eatery made to look a great deal like a franchise chain, a dream that I suspect the owners have in mind.
Continue reading Big Ben swings like a pendulum do →

$ Budget (under $30), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, Bistros, Commentary

The Bard’s Town plays to the crowd

LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
Eve Lee
Bardstown Road. Bard’s Town. The Bard. Bill Shakespeare! It’s surprising no one has seized the opportunity to pun upon the name of the Highlands’ main corridor until now.

With the Bard above the door and the promise of grand entertainment within, expectations run high for this new establishment at the corner of Speed Avenue.

“Curst be he who moves my bones,” warns the tombstone of Billy Shakes, and forsooth, the bones of previous occupants Big Dave’s, Judge Roy Bean’s and others back to Fat Cats remain perceptible here. However, owners Doug Schutte, Jon DeSalvo and Scot Atkinson have put a new, solid flesh on those bones. Continue reading The Bard’s Town plays to the crowd →

$$ 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.
Continue reading Village Anchor Pub takes roost →

$ Budget (under $30), Bistros, Commentary, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown

Good eats among the antiques at Michele’s On Goss

eggs Benedict
Michelle’s Eggs Benedict

LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes

Early in April, Michele Brinke took over as owner of the restaurant in the Goss Avenue Antique Mall, renaming it from Olivia’s to Michele’s On Goss. Chef Travis Hall moved on to focus on his school nutrition business, and Brinke is now joined by Sous Chef Philip Hess.

Brinke, who among other things joined her husband, Bob, as co-chef of the short-lived but excellent Chef’s Table in Old Louisville and worked at Highland Fish Market in Middletown, brings plenty of experience to this sizable space. She already has put her stamp on the menu and the service at this lunch and brunch-only eatery.
Continue reading Good eats among the antiques at Michele’s On Goss →

$ Budget (under $30), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, Bistros, Commentary

Baxter Station: Everyone’s neighborhood bistro

Voice-Tribune review by LouisvilleHotBytes
(published March 11, 2010)

Baxter Station’s proprietor Andrew Hutto is one of the moving forces behind the Louisville Originals restaurant group, and his eatery – a popular local spot to eat and drink since 1989 – fits the “Originals” description to a T.

No franchised chain operation this, its cozy storefront setting is one-of-a-kind, with a railroad theme, a friendly bar up front, a comfy dining room with a warm fireplace, and a rear deck with curtain walls that roll up to allow alfresco dining in good weather and roll down to hold in the heat from powerful overhead warmers on wintry days.
Continue reading Baxter Station: Everyone’s neighborhood bistro →

$ Budget (under $30), Bistros, Commentary, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown

Warming up at Wiltshire on Market

Pork tenderloin at Wiltshire on Market

We found a parking place right in front of Wiltshire on Market on a freezing Thursday evening, negotiated rock-hard ridges of icy snow and made it to the front door still standing. As soon as we stepped inside, a welcoming warmth enveloped us and drove away the cold.

Soon the three of us were ensconced on a soft, tall banquette seat at an oddly shaped, not quite triangular table big enough for six or seven. We adjusted puffy pillows behind our backs and felt quite sybaritic indeed.
Continue reading Warming up at Wiltshire on Market →