Category Archives: Voice-Tribune review

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Pacific Rim, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, underSlideshowEntries, Voice-Tribune review

We Meet The Buddha on The Road at Saigon Café

Does the Buddha daydream?

As the ancient story is told, more than 2,500 years ago when Siddharta Gautama experienced his awakening, his six years of meditation and study provided him with sudden vast insight into the meaning of life. Thus he became the Buddha, “The Awakened One,” and one of the world’s great religious traditions was born.

So meditate me this: Does an Awakened One sleep? Probably not. What would be the point? But surely the Buddha daydreams, for what is daydreaming, after all, but random meditation?

Buddha’s Daydream! It’s a Zen koan, and it’s a dish at Saigon Cafe in St. Matthews. Continue reading We Meet The Buddha on The Road at Saigon Café →

$ Budget (under $30), Mexican, Cuban, Caribbean, Outside the city, QuickBytes, underSlideshowEntries, Voice-Tribune review

Dashboard Dining With Latin flavor At Gara Empanadas

Wow! I’ve got to tell you about the cozy little place where we ate on a trip out to Oldham County the other day.

It was a small space, intimate but surprisingly comfortable as we sat surrounded by walls of glass that let in plenty of sunlight and the suburban view. The colors were muted, almost spartan, wsoft upholstery and crisp edges in shades of gray. The seating was most comfortable of all, form-fitting and even adjustable; and we could take our pick among scores of entertainment channels. Really, about the only downside I could see was the the big steering wheel in my lap that made it kind of hard to get at my food.

Yep, we were dashboard dining! Continue reading Dashboard Dining With Latin flavor At Gara Empanadas →

$$$ Upscale ( $50 - $80), Italian (and Pizza), St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, underSlideshowEntries, Voice-Tribune review

Times change, Martini Italian Bistro carries on

“Oh, times, oh customs.” as the ancient Roman philosopher-politician Marcus Tullius Cicero said. (Well, okay, actually, Cicero said “O tempora O mores” in the original Latin, but that’s another story for another day.) Cicero’s ringing phrase tells us, simply, that as time passes, things change. Continue reading Times change, Martini Italian Bistro carries on →

$ Budget (under $30), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, Italian (and Pizza), St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, underSlideshowEntries, Voice-Tribune review

Papalino’s Settles in at Springhurst

After nearly four years serving its gigantic New York-style pizza and other goodies to hungry hordes on the Baxter Avenue night-life strip, Papalino’s NY Pizzeria opened its second location in the somewhat less frenzied environs of the sprawling Springhurst center out in the East End.
Continue reading Papalino’s Settles in at Springhurst →

$ Budget (under $30), BBQ, Burgers & Down-Home, QuickBytes, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, underSlideshowEntries, Voice-Tribune review

Bluegrass Burgers: Virtuous, Local and Delicious

Mmm, who doesn’t love a hamburger? Hot, juicy, dripping with … um … greasy fat? Let’s get real: burgers appeal to something primal in most of us, but that seductive call can lead us down a path that goes directly to excess calories, unhealthy fat and … well, let’s not even talk about the hormones, the antibiotics, the e. coli or the stench of inhumane stewardship that surrounds industrial feedlot beef.

Why, the not-so-innocent burger’s unsavory reputation has reached the point that even multinational giant McDonald’s was recently caught warning its own employees against overdoing the chain’s trademark product. Continue reading Bluegrass Burgers: Virtuous, Local and Delicious →

$$$ Upscale ( $50 - $80), Bistros, Pubs, Brew Pubs, GastroPubs, Southern Indiana, underSlideshowEntries, Voice-Tribune review

Exchange Pub + Kitchen, a Pillar of Its Community

How good is Exchange Pub + Kitchen? Why, it’s a Pillar of its community.

I mean that literally: This month the popular spot in New Albany’s buzzing downtown dining scene won one of the city’s Pillar Awards, which recognize contributors to downtown restoration and renovation. Exchange Pub won the Horizon Award, honoring co-owners Ian and Nikki Hall for their 2012 move from the Grant Line Road area into the historic 1875-era Shrader Stables building downtown, the New Albany Tribune reported.
Continue reading Exchange Pub + Kitchen, a Pillar of Its Community →

$ Budget (under $30), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, Hikes Point, Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown, Italian (and Pizza), QuickBytes, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, underSlideshowEntries, Voice-Tribune review

Jet’s Takes Off With Detroit-Style Pizza

If there was ever any doubt that pizza has truly become an all-American treat, it was surely put to rest with Pizzagate this week, when New York City’s new mayor Bill de Blasio provoked screams of outrage when he attacked a gooey pie at a Gotham pizzeria with – the horror – a knife and fork. “Blasphemy! No one would ever do such a thing in Italy,” the angry hordes shrieked.

Actually, that’s not really true. Continue reading Jet’s Takes Off With Detroit-Style Pizza →

Commentary, underSlideshowEntries, Voice-Tribune review

A Year of Delight in Memorable Dishes

Ho hum, it’s New Year’s Day, or mighty close to it, anyway. Shall we do another boring end-of-the-year wrap-up on the Louisville eats beat?

Hmm. NuLu, NuLu, Nulu, small plates, locavore, snout-to-tail, Food Network, tapas, noisy, trendy, comfort food. Naah. Been there, done that, over and over again.

Let’s try something a little different! To mark the cosmic calendar’s flipping over to 2014, I thought it might be fun to look back at some of the dishes I’ve enjoyed over the past year in restaurant reviews – along with a couple more picked off in casual dining expeditions over the holidays. Continue reading A Year of Delight in Memorable Dishes →

$ Budget (under $30), Breakfast and lunch spots, sandwich spots, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, QuickBytes, underSlideshowEntries, Vegetarian/Vegan, Voice-Tribune review

Take a healthy, tasty break at Earth Friends Cafe

’Tis the season … no, I’m not talking about that season. ’Tis the season for spectacular over-eating, indulging ourselves a the delicious risk of life and health because, well, that’s what we do at holiday time.

If you’re ready for a break, though, or plan to be later, allow me to suggest a trip to Earth Friends Cafe & Coffee Bar, where virtuous dining can also be delicious.
Continue reading Take a healthy, tasty break at Earth Friends Cafe →

$ Budget (under $30), Italian (and Pizza), QuickBytes, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, underSlideshowEntries, Voice-Tribune review

Fried pie? Boombozz fried pizza wins our applause

When I was a kid, I looked forward to road trips as an occasion for fried pie, a rare culinary treat that seemed to exist only in those exotic places where people lived among cornfields and tobacco patches and spoke in a slow drawl.

Fried pie! We never had anything like that at home. It was a pie-crust turnover, loaded with fruit filling – apple was as popular as Mom or the Flag – folded over, sealed into a fat half-moon and deep-fried until it sizzled. Hot and crisp, juicy and sweet, it was just the right size for eating out of hand. Yum!

A single fried pie probably packed 1,000 calories, but at that age I didn’t mind. Now I do, and I haven’t indulged for years, maybe decades. The other day, though, I ran across an even more tempting take on fried pie that I just couldn’t resist.
Continue reading Fried pie? Boombozz fried pizza wins our applause →