Robin Garr's LOUISVILLE Restaurant Reviews

82	Goose Creek Diner 2923 Goose Creek Road (502) 339-8070 Web: http://www.GCDiner.com

A game of musical chairs - or maybe musical restaurants - has brought a noteworthy new dining option to the commercial strip along Goose Creek near Westport Road in eastern suburbia.

Pay attention now, because this gets a little complicated: Cafe Jopa closed its doors early this year. Wick's Pizza's suburban eatery soon moved into the vacated Jopa property from its smaller quarters next door. And finally, Goose Creek Diner opened in late May where Wick's used to be.

Got that straight? It's worth remembering, because Goose Creek Diner brings a welcome new option to the neighborhood. Under the domain of owner/chef Dawn Lenox, a graduate of the culinary program at Louisville's Sullivan University, it offers old-fashioned comfort food, as the name "diner" suggests. But - in a sort of suburban echo of the popular Lynn's Paradise Cafe without the studied funkiness of Lynn's, it adds a taste of gourmet-style high tone to the down-home eats.

The good-size dining room has been stripped of its pizzeria origins in favor of simple decor that stands somewhere between diner and bistro. You enter past a short serving bar and a diner-style glass case with appetizing samples of the homemade pies and desserts revolving on a multilevel carousel. The dining area is hard-edged and bright, with sunny windows, off-white walls decorated with a few colorful prints, and undraped black tables with small but sturdy black chairs. Comfortable booths around the sides are upholstered in bright primary colors, and attractive heavy flatware comes wrapped in oversize white paper napkins.

The diner-style menu features an array of home-style delights. About 10 starters and salads are $1.95 (for a house salad or iceberg lettuce salad) to $4.95 (for the chef's salad with ham and turkey or a fried-onion loaf). An extensive sandwich menu offers 15 selections from $4.45 (for a jumbo dog) to $6.95 (for a Delta-style shrimp po'boy). Sandwiches are available on your choice of four breads with any of five cheeses.

Sixteen main courses (subdivided into "Entrees," which come with a salad, one side dish and fresh bread) and "House Specials," served with salad) range from $5.45 (for "all you can eat" white beans with ham and johnny cakes) to $14.95 (for a 12-ounce New York strip steak). Included are such diner favorites as grilled beef liver and onions ($7.95), country fried steak with cream gravy ($7.95) and Grandma's pot pie ($6.95), along with an occasional non-traditional item (vegetable stir-fry with fried rice, $6.45).

Our lunch started with a complimentary basket of bread including warm yeast rolls and addictive little corn muffins with whipped butter.

Fried green tomatoes ($3.95) are the diner's signature dish, and a shared order demonstrated why: Expert preparation and a generous portion made an appetizer treat. Five green-tomato slices, thick and tart-sweet, were cloaked in a beautiful deep-fried crust, crisp and crunchy with a hint of sweetness. It was served with a ration of field greens and something called "Creek Sauce" that turns up on many dishes here. A thick and creamy concoction, it looked a bit like Thousand Island dressing but tasted much better, redolent of herbs and laced with a surprising but not unpleasant jolt of hot peppers.

Fried chicken ($7.45 for a breast quarter) was excellent, and the accompanying collard greens were just as they should be, long-cooked and touched with a vinegary tang to set off their natural earthy flavor. A baked sweet potato (a special of the day) was fair, dusted with an unexpected hint of cinnamon and a bit underdone at the center.

Mom's meat loaf ($6.45) was a thick and meaty slice, dense and flavorful, pretty much like Mom used to make, topped with a ketchup-based sauce that I would just as soon have had served on the side. It was accompanied with a mound of mashed potatoes studded with bits of green and white onion and fragments of red-potato skin. Too rich and creamy to be good for you, probably, but too delicious to pass by, even if the thick, yellowish "poultry gravy" was forgettable. I cleaned my plate. Green beans were fine, too, in the old-fashioned country style, simmered for hours with onions and bacon.

A hearty lunch for two came to a reasonable $21.52, plus a $3.48 tip. $$

(August 2002)