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This archived review dates from 2007 or before. Use SEARCH above to find all recent reviews.
And better still, not all of the action is on the Kentucky side. Southern Indiana's waterfront is fairly bursting out with new activity, from the lovely Falls of the Ohio State Park to the spruced-up riverfront parks in New Albany, Clarksville and Jeffersonvillle. Not to mention, of course, the burgeoning row of new and re-invented restaurants opposite downtown Louisville that offer food and spectacular views of the river and the city's skyline. One of the newest and friendliest is Jimmy's on the River Bar and Grill. A bit removed from the heart of the action, it's perched high above Jeff's Riverside Drive at Spring Street, just east of the old Big Four railroad bridge. Its big front windows do afford a pretty view of the river and, on the far side, the green parkland east of downtown Louisville, but you have to crane your neck and peer back through the bridges to catch a glimpse of the skyline. It's a new building, square red-brick with a red, white and green awning out front. At a glance it looks a lot like a franchise operation - maybe a Fazoli's or Applebee's. In fact, it's independent and local, with a hospitable atmosphere that seems quite family-oriented even though a pair of busy bars, one on each floor, hint at a more adult environment. Upstairs (where kids aren't permitted later in the evening) the bar dominates; it's a rather smoky environment indoors, with fresh air available on an outdoor deck with a river view, available when weather permits. Downstairs, a more family-style atmosphere prevails in the big, bright dining room. A bar spans the back of the room; the rest is packed with sturdy knotty-pine tables and booths with maroon padded car-seat-style benches. A few sailboat paintings, an oversize set of longhorns behind the bar, and four televisions scattered around the room complete the basic family-dining decor. There's no non-smoking area, but the room seemed well-ventilated, with a squadron of rapidly twirling fans, so other people's fumes weren't much of an issue even though quite a few of our neighbors were indulging. Despite the bar scene, the servers don't push you to choose alcoholic drinks, offering soft drinks or tea ($1.29) or fruit juices ($1.95) rather than assuming you want a beer. I was in the mood, though, so I went for a Guinness in the tall black can with the "thingie" inside that makes the can produce a creamy head of that patented foam that you can float a farthing on. The bar also offers a small collection of mass-market wines and a startling collection of mixed drinks, some with funny names, like Thunder over Louisville ("a lot like a hurricane without the wind"), The Hoosier ("Since nobody knows what this is, we can pretty much make whatever we want.") The Cardinal is red with raspberry liqueur; The Wildcat is blue, of course. Don't ask. This place is definitely into drinks mixology here, and some of the cocktails have semi-risque names that function as a rough IQ test: If you laugh, you fail. The menu, as you would expect, features affordable bar food and munchies, heavy on the frying, don't spare the salt. A dozen appetizers range from $2.50 (for Jimmy's salsa and chips) to $5.95 (for "Load 'em Up Nachos" with everything). A "Mambo Combo" is $4.95 for a selection of chicken fingers, fried mushrooms and fried mozzarella. I'm impressed with the concept of the "Veggie Diet Spoiler" ($3.95). As the menu coaxes, "Spoil yourself, you have been so good, a tasty little treat when you want to cheat, your choice of fried cauliflower or [fried] zucchini served with piquant sauce, nobody's looking." The menu's "Lighter Side" offers another 10 "little things" from house salad or soup du jour ($2.50) to blackend tuna salad ($6.95). Eighteen burgers, sandwiches, dogs and deli, all served with potato chips, are $3.25 (for a Jimmy dog) or $3.75 (for a bratwurst on rye) to $6.25 (for chicken Cordon "blue," grilled or fried chicken breast with ham and melted swiss. You can add fries, onion rings or a pasta salad to your dinner for another 99 cents. Finally, fried shrimp, clams, fish or chicken, with choice of fries, rings or pasta salad, are $5.50 (for shrimp or clams) to $6.95 (for a cod, shrimp and clam sampler). That threesome caught my fancy, and I went whole hog, adding the onion ring option to get myself a full plate of fried goodies. It was a more than generous portion - don't even think about the calories - but to its credit, everything was competently fried, crisp, sizzling hot and grease-free. The cod was a remarkably geometric portion, a rectangular piece of fish exactly the size of a Palm Pilot, perched on a mound of smallish shrimp and a sizable pile of clams. The fish may have been pre-frozen, but it tasted fresh and mild. The clams were excellent, flavorful and juicy. The shrimp were crisp, but they didn't have a lot of flavor. The onion rings, on the other hand, were exceptional. Not just a vehicle for breading, these were thick, sweet slabs of fresh white onion, nicely coated with a crisp, golden fried crust and definitely a candidate if they ever have a contest for Best of Louisville Onion Rings. The tartar sauce and cocktail sauce came in plastic tubs, and both were fine. The cocktail sauce was sweet but tangy with a light whiff of horseradish. The tartar sauce appeared homemade and was exceptional, creamy and rich, with a distinct texture and flavor from the pickle relish used as an ingredient. My wife, who didn't bring an appetite, was satisfied with fresh but rather thin iced tea ($1.29) and a house Caesar salad ($2.95) as her entree. It was a simple, basic Caesar made with mostly fresh, crisp romaine (save for one unfortunate wilted bit), topped rather than tossed with a thick, creamy dressing, with finely grated mild Parmesan and crisp herbed croutons out of the box. Not bad. One heavy and one light dinner came to an affordable $16, plus a $3 tip for friendly, attentive but not intrusive service. From the host to the server, in fact, the service stands out at Jimmy's. The folks who work there really seem to want to make you feel at home, and that's a plus. $$
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** Jimmy's on the River