What’s my favorite season? Don’t ask me to choose between summer, winter, spring or fall. Baseball, football, basketball, it doesn’t matter much to me. But talk about fresh peach season, and you’ve grabbed my attention in a serious way. Continue reading ’tis the season for the perfect peach (ice cream)
Varanese keeps up its tradition
It’s hard to believe Varanese has been around for five years now, particularly when we consider that Azalea, the popular Brownsboro Road eatery that was Chef John Varanese’s culinary home before he moved into these quarters in 2007, still remains vacant and, frankly, is looking more than a little shabby. (An Indiana-based mini-chain called “Mesh” is said to be on the way.)
Meanwhile, Varanese, who settled into his eponymous new establishment (a former service station, later Red Lounge) without missing a beat, is going strong on Frankfort Avenue.
Continue reading Varanese keeps up its tradition
Taco Punk un-punk’d
A brief social media hurricane surrounded Taco Punk recently after the unofficial campus newspaper, The Louisville Cardinal, ran a sharply critical review that, among other things, found the hip NuLu hangout guilty of such high crimes as allowing a pricey Porsche to park out front, fostering gentrification and, it seemed, being imperialist 1-percenter piglets. In my Feb. 22 review, I had found it guilty of only misdemeanors: slacker service and fragile tortillas.
In the aftermath of the imperfect media storm, I decided to give them another shot, and I’m pleased to report that both issues are now well under control. Service was quick, competent and smiling, and my fresh corn tortilla was solid enough to bear its load of black beans, cheese and salsa with savoir faire. Let’s raise that rating to a thumbs-up 88. (Taco Punk, 736 E. Market St., 584-8226, tacopunk.com.)
Farm-to-table dining hiding in plain sight at Anchorage Café
“Farm-to-table,” the buzz term for restaurants that seek out and celebrate the health and humane stewardship of local produce, meat and poultry, is one of the hottest trends on the local culinary scene. From Mozz on down to Toast, Harvest, Wiltshire, Garage Bar, La Coop, Taco Punk, Decca, Mayan Cafe and Rye, you needn’t walk any farther than you can throw a Weisenberger Mill grits cake to find farm-to-table cuisine in trendy NuLu.
But one of the best of the genre, surprisingly, is almost hidden out in the leafy environs of suburban Anchorage, where Anchorage Café assembles an impressive collection of locavore small plates. Continue reading Farm-to-table dining hiding in plain sight at Anchorage Café
Let’s say “bonjour” to Louis Le Français
I know this may seem an odd thing to say about an eatery in New Albany, but it’s true: A visit to Louis Le Français comes surprisingly close to dining in France.
How authentic is it? Here’s how: I decided to give my limited language skills a workout by ordering a dish in French. Continue reading Let’s say “bonjour” to Louis Le Français
Dress up and dine well at Henry’s Place
Want to go someplace classy for dinner and you don’t mind dressing up a bit to enjoy it? Consider Henry’s Place, which arrived last month with a “business casual” dress code in tow.
“We hope the ladies will want to dress up a bit and that the gentlemen will occasionally throw on that blue blazer that’s always handy,” advises its website. Shorts, T-shirts, ball caps, torn blue jeans and flip-flops are on the no-no list: “We would really like it if you saved your blue jeans for the more casual dining spots,” the dress code rules state, warning would-be style offenders, “Patrons who are not suitably attired will be offered space in the bar area, if available.”
Continue reading Dress up and dine well at Henry’s Place
Embrace beginnings and ends
There’s a handful of movies I just cannot turn past when channel surfing: “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Gone With the Wind,” “Jaws,” “Carrie,” “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” “The Wizard of Oz,” and “War of the Worlds” (yes, the Tom Cruise version) to name a few.
Continue reading Embrace beginnings and ends
Decca earns its place in the NuLu scene
It’s hard to believe that Decca opened its doors only about three months ago. This long-awaited arrival on the NuLu scene came in with a sense of excitement, occasioned both by its setting in one of the 1870s brick buildings that long had housed Wayside Christian Mission and by the San Francisco culinary heritage of its founding team. Continue reading Decca earns its place in the NuLu scene
Elegance is made easy at St. Charles Exchange
What could be more elegant than the classy confines of a turn-of-the-century hotel bar? Turn of the last century, I mean – a scene more familiar through classic cinema than personal experience. I’m not that old!
Take Louisville’s new St. Charles Exchange, for example. Pull open the tall, heavy doors, and it’s like stepping back into another era – you suddenly hear the clop of horse hooves and the creak of buggy wheels replacing the drone of traffic on Seventh Street.
Continue reading Elegance is made easy at St. Charles Exchange
Against the Grain stands out on brewpub scene
Even in a region singularly blessed with strong local microbreweries and brewpubs, Against the Grain stands out in its relatively short life (it opened last October) as an operation seriously dedicated to the production and enjoyment of excellent beer. Continue reading Against the Grain stands out on brewpub scene