G3 – A Great Bite: Lush and exotic Maido

March 7, 2007 LouisvilleHotBytes

(By Michael Tierney. Republished with permission from G3 Illustrated)

I grew up in a meat ‘n’ potatoes family. We never ate rice, not even Rice-a-Roni. Rice, we assumed, was reserved for rich families and exotic cultures. Perhaps this explains my fascination with Japanese food … the rice, the chopsticks … it seems so highbrow. So with my love for meat and potatoes, and a longing for things lush and exotic, I recently dined at Maido on Frankfort Avenue in Clifton.
Continue reading G3 – A Great Bite: Lush and exotic Maido →

News announcements

Oakroom chefs play with their food. Lucky us

March 2, 2007 LouisvilleHotBytes

Oakroom chef Duane Nutter: Photos courtesy of the Oakroom.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes

The writer Calvin Trillin once famously observed that the quality of the food in restaurants tends to be inversely proportional to the elevation of the eatery. In other words, stay away from building-top restaurants with a view.

Many traveling foodies in the United States would propose another reliable rule: Steer clear of hotel restaurants, where you’ll likely get boring, overpriced food fashioned to take advantage of a captive audience of tourist families who’d really rather not go out.

But this simple rule – the one about hotels, I mean – doesn’t work in Louisville, where for a quarter of a century now, the Seelbach Hotel’s Oakroom has gone from strength to strength. Continue reading Oakroom chefs play with their food. Lucky us →

$ Budget (under $30), Seafood & Water's Edge, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

More Friday fish at Seafood Connection

February 23, 2007 LouisvilleHotBytes

Click the image link to watch a 1-minute video visit to Seafood Connection on a busy Friday in Lent.

Just about every fish-sandwich spot and seafood eatery in town is jammed on Fridays during Lent, and one of my favorites, Seafood Connection in St. Matthews, is certainly no exception.

It’s a casual spot, with a small 10-seat lunch counter within a fine fish shop, but the quality of Chef Mike Hungerford’s fare makes it worth a special trip for fish sandwiches, fish tacos, lobster rolls, crab cakes, even a salmon “Reuben” and more.

We dropped by today for a fish sandwich, a bowl of clam chowder, and this quick video tour.

$ Budget (under $30), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, Pacific Rim, South End

Hot, hotter, hottest

February 21, 2007 LouisvilleHotBytes

Chile flakes paint Vietnam Kitchen’s Gào xào ca ry cay (green chicken curry) a pointillist’s palette of fiery red. It is as hot as the furnaces of Hades. Photo by Robin Garr.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes
(Thai Smile 5, Sala Thai, Vietnam Kitchen)

A man like me who eats and drinks for a living really needs to be serious about exercise, and I’m not talking about namby-pamby exercises like golf or light jogging, where you barely break a sweat.

No, to survive in the professional dining game, you need to work out until you’re breathing hard, dripping sweat, red in the face, nose running and virtually screaming with the pain of it all. No pain, no gain, after all.

Happily, I’ve discovered an appealing way to achieve this state without having to work out: Simply include in your diet a minimum daily requirement of fiery food. Continue reading Hot, hotter, hottest →

Commentary, QuickBytes

And now to cool off …

February 21, 2007 LouisvilleHotBytes

Palapa Azul brand Mexican-style sweet-corn ice cream is very strange … and strangely addictive. Photo by Robin Garr.

Aficionados of the primal fire know there’s no better antidote for that chile-pepper burn than a cooling dairy treat. Milk and cream will neutralize the capsaicins (chile oils), while beer, tea or water merely wash them around your mouth, delivering the heat to all the nooks and crannies that it hadn’t previously reached.

Once I’m on a chile high, there’s no better way to ratchet it down gently than a bowl of ice cream. Continue reading And now to cool off … →

$ Budget (under $30), Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill

Kingfish on Fridays

February 20, 2007 LouisvilleHotBytes

Hearts of oak: Faux Olde Englishe and whimsical nautical decor provide the River Road Kingfish an atmosphere surprisingly reminiscent of the Galt House. Photo by Robin Garr.

Fat Tuesday is inexorably followed by Ash Wednesday and 40 days of Lent; and even for those of us who don’t religiously adhere to the custom of fast and abstinence, enjoying a platter of sizzling fried fish is a tradition of the season that’s easy to indulge in.

The other night, rushing the season a bit, we wandered over to the Kingfish restaurant near the foot of Zorn Avenue (3021 River Road, [502] 895-0544) for a pre-Lent preview at one of Louisville’s most enduring fish restaurants, a chain founded in 1948 and named, believe it or not, after a character on the then-popular Amos and Andy radio show.
Continue reading Kingfish on Fridays →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Coffee Shops & Desserts

A video tour of Caffè Classico

February 19, 2007 LouisvilleHotBytes

Click the image link to watch a 2-minute video tour of Caffè Classico

In a town that’s virtually awash with fine artisan coffee shops, it’s hard to declare a single favorite among so many good ones. I’m such a regular at Heine Bros. on Frankfort that the baristas all know just how I like my latte; I love the commitment to handmade quality at Sunergos in Germantown and the new Jackson’s Organic on Lexington Road and Blue Mountain on East Main; and there’s a lot to like at Day’s, Highland Coffee and many more.

But if you put together quality and mood and add a point or two for excellent food and a good wine list as a serious option for those evening hours when coffee doesn’t seem quite right but a glass of vino does, it’s hard to beat Caffe Classico on style points. Continue reading A video tour of Caffè Classico →

$ Budget (under $30), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown, World Food

Fat Tuesday Valentine at Joe’s OK Bayou

February 14, 2007 LouisvilleHotBytes

Nothing says “I love you”: like a plate of gumbo, jambalaya and fried crawfish tails from Joe’s OK Bayou. Dig in! Photo by Robin Garr.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes
(Joe’s OK Bayou, Ramsi’s Cafe on the World)

It’s a long way from the Louisiana bayou country to the shopping centers that are rapidly replacing forests and fields on New Albany’s far north side, but once you step into Joe’s OK Bayou, the distance seems to disappear. Or some of it, anyway.

Like its Kentucky-side counterpart in Plainview, this relatively new edition of Joe’s (it opened the autumn before last) turns bland shopping-center space into a modest replica of a Cajun-country saloon. The walls are painted to resemble a fishing shack surrounded by cypress trees and subtropical birds. Zydeco music in the background and glowing Abita beer signs complete the Acadian ambience, and the food does a reasonably good job of evoking the bayou country, too. Continue reading Fat Tuesday Valentine at Joe’s OK Bayou →

News announcements

A peek at Food & Dining magazine

February 11, 2007 LouisvilleHotBytes

The Winter 2007 edition of our sister publication, Food & Dining Louisville Edition, the city’s leading print publication about food and drink, is now available at news stands and by subscription.

To give you a little taste of what Food & Dining is all about, we’ve placed its Contents Page online. It includes brief descriptions of all this quarter’s articles, including feature stories on pizza, seafood, Frankfort Avenue eateries and much, much more, with outstanding food photography by Dan Dry.

We hope this sample will inspire you to subscribe, a deal that’s a no-brainer for food lovers, since an $18 annual subscription will earn you back an $18 restaurant gift certificate; add $6 and get two years, or a subscription for a friend.

Taste a free sample of Food & Dining

QuickBytes

Valentine treats

February 9, 2007 LouisvilleHotBytes

At Vincenzo’s, Chef Agostino Gabriele’s raspberry cream in heart-shaped puff-pastry topped with dark chocolate awaits Valentine’s Day diners. Photo by Robin Garr.

Valentine’s Day is coming up Wednesday, and if you’re thinking about treating your sweetie to something special for dinner but haven’t already made reservations, you’d better hop to it: Valentine’s Day ranks right up there with Mother’s Day and Derby Weekend among the busiest nights of the year for restaurants in Louisville.

From romantic special menus at Westport General Store, Old Stone Inn, Melillo’s, Nios at 917, Bistro New Albany, Vincenzo’s and L&N Wine Bar and many more, to heart-shaped pizzas at Bearno’s and Papa Murphy’s and a take-out or delivery Valentine pizza treat to celebrate at home from Tony Boombozz Pizza & Vino, the city’s eateries are celebrating the annual day for lovers with appropriate Cupidity. Even White Castle plans a special holiday repast! But don’t delay, reservation lists are filling up. To check out many of the options, click through to the following discussions and announcements in our Louisville Restaurants Forum:
Continue reading Valentine treats →

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