$$ Modest ($30-$50), St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, underSlideshowEntries, World Food

Eclectic Majid’s adds Sunday brunch

Venison meatloaf at Majid's
Venison meatloaf at Majid's
When I last spoke of Majid’s, not long after its opening in Chenoweth Square last winter, I told you about its appealing, globe-spanning cuisine and the multiple options that the diner enjoys in this sprawling, three-room venue, with your choice of elegant dinners in the dining room or creative small plates in the bar; or a lighter, lower-price experience at lunch.

Now the hospitable proprietor Majid Ghavami offers another option: Majid’s is now open on Sundays for brunch from 11:30 a.m. through 2:30 p.m. Those who wish an adult beverage may want to delay their arrival until 1-ish. We felt no such constraints and popped in before noon, enjoying dark coffee and fresh iced tea with our meal.

Now, let’s make one thing clear: This is not one of those gigantic, all-you-can-eat buffets. Not that there’s anything the matter with that, but Majid’s — like 211 Clover, another classy St. Matthews spot — takes the menu brunch route, offering a special brunch menu with a dozen stylish, even elegant brunch plates from Executive Chef Charles Reed’s kitchen.

Brunch dishes range in price from $11 (for smoked salmon and a bagel) to $18 (for steak and eggs, grilled beef tenderloin with eggs as you like them). There are plenty of hearty breakfast dishes (three eggs your way or three-egg omelets, buttermilk pancakes or French toast, all $12), and a good choice of lunch-type options for those who prefer to put morning behind them (venison meat loaf, $15, or lemon sole stuffed with crab and ricotta, $17).

Order your brunch dish, and before you know it goodies start showing up on your table. In addition to your main-course choice, brunch includes a chef de cuisine bakery plate (this day featuring a rich blueberry coffeecake and Danish pastry dough wrapped around blueberries), and a fresh fruit cup (an artful ration of watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew melon balls dropped into a wine glass with a few blueberries, and a wedge of lime perched on the edge of the glass. Use it: A tart squeeze of lime really kicked up the flavors of the fresh, juicy fruit).

Most brunch dishes also come plated with the house potatoes — on this occasion, split roasted fingerlings — and the vegetable of the day, in our case a tender slab of roasted butternut squash and several crisp-tender asparagus spears.

Mary’s choice, the venison meat loaf ($15) was a brick-size slab of ground meat mixed with carrot brunoise, plated on a rich brown-onion gravy and served with the aforementioned veggies and potatoes.

My pick, huevos rancheros ($14), was as flavorful a rendition as I’ve had in Mexican restaurants. Two soft-fried eggs (my choice, you can have them your way) were served atop a chewy corn tortilla and topped with a bit of melted yellow cheese, sauced with a green-chile salsa and served with savory pinto beans and light Mexican-style rice. A halved, broiled jalapeño served as decor. “Watch it,” the friendly server warned.

Dessert, lemon mascarpone cheesecake ($8) was beautifully plated and tasted as good as it looked. It’s gluten-free, Majid said, creamy and tart-sweet on a crushed walnut crust, decorated with a surprising touch of cinnamon chutney and a dark, sugar-dusted homemade chocolate cookie.

An indulgent brunch for two came to a very fair $43.99, and courteous and not overbearing service earned a $10 tip.

Brunch at Majid’s St. Matthews
3930 Chenoweth Square
618-2222
www.majidstmatthews.com

$ Budget (under $30), A RESTAURANT LISTING..., Commentary, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, underSlideshowEntries, World Food

Addis Bar & Grill offers tastes of Ethiopia and more

Ethiopia is a historic East African country that most Americans probably don’t know much about, save perhaps for sad images of hungry children suffering from famines in that troubled region.

But Ethiopia is worth getting to know. The only country in Africa that largely escaped colonialism, it boasts a proud heritage as a monarchy with roots extending back more than 2,500 years. It has been a Christian center since missionaries from Carthage planted a church in the third century. Haile Selassie, its emperor from 1930 until 1974, is known not only for his long, stable reign, but for having been declared the second coming by the Rastafari, for whom ganja, perhaps not coincidentally, is a sacrament.

Fortunately, no ganja is required for the enjoyment of Ethiopian food; and we have a new place to enjoy it with the recent arrival downtown of Addis Bar & Grill, named after Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.

Addis, formerly Lunchbox, has had a name transplant to highlight the Ethiopian aspect of its eclectic cuisine. It appears to be a popular spot for downtown workers on a quick lunch break, doing a very heavy takeout and eat-in business on a recent weekday, and even the bar seemed to be selling a lot of Bud and Bud Light to workers whose job situation permits such midday indulgence.

The venue is attractive, bright and clean, tomato-sauce red with accents of cream, heavy blonde wood tables and comfortable chairs, paper napkins and plastic service ware.

I can’t briefly describe the scene any more effectively than the folks at Addis do themselves, in lovably accented Ethiopian English on their Website: “Addis grill is the vegetarian paradise, and our appetizer such as our hummus, Kabobs, freshly grilled Fajita or Burritos, curries and Ethiopian vegetarian are the most admired dishes, that why we become the second busy lunch place in few months.”

Sounds good to me! We met our pal Jerry, who works nearby, and settled in for a hearty, affordable lunch.

As you may have discerned from the reference to burritos and fajitas, the bill of fare here extends well beyond Ethiopian. In fact, at first glance, Middle Eastern dishes such as hummus with pita ($3.25), stuffed grape leaves ($4.35), tabbouleh ($4.25) and a falafel wrap ($4.95) seem to dominate the lunch menu, not to mention those burritos and fajitas (mostly $5.35) and a chicken quesadilla ($7.95). Obligate gringos can satisfy themselves, too, with such simple fare as a burger ($5.95 with or without cheese), a fried fish sandwich on a hoagie bun ($5.95): a Philly cheesesteak ($6.25), and a steak sandwich ($6.50).

A list of more expansive Mediterranean and American main courses are $12.95 (For chicken kabob with rice, hummus, pitas and salad) to $23.95 (for the Addis Special for two, including a skewer of shish kabob, another of chicken kabob, two ground-meat kufta kabobs, rice and salad).

You’ve got to drill down to the bottom of the menu to find the serious Ethiopian fare, though, but it’s well worth the dig: Colorful and prepared well, these dishes are delicious and offer a filling meal for prices that are still more than fair.

Ethiopian vegetarian entrees are all $7.95, all come served on thin, spongy injera bread, and include Misir Wot (lentil stew), Kil Alicha (split peas), Gomen Wot (sauteed collards) and Atkilt (fresh veggie stew). A combo of all four is $10 at dinner time, $7.95 at lunch.

Prefer something more meatful? Ten carnivorous choices are $9.50 (for Doro Wot, spicy chicken-drumstick stew with fiery berbere sauce and a boiled egg, an Ethiopian tradition) to $13.99 (for Kitfo, hand-chopped lean beef, fired up with spices and customarily served “mitmita.” raw or lightly cooked. If the idea of Ethiopian steak tartare doesn’t appeal, they’ll cook it to your preference. Lamb dishes, Yebeg Wot and Yebet Alicha, are $12.95, or you can pick a three-way meat wot (stew) combo for $14 for one, $25 for two. Pescavores might go for Ye-Assa Tibs ($11.95), cubed marinated fish sauteed with onion, tomato, pepper and garlic.

Mary’s choice, Kufta Kabob ($7.25) brought her three football-shaped, tender beef meatballs – one more than the menu had promised – lightly flavored with onions and spice and served with a pool of creamy hummus, a ration of excellent basmati rice, pickles, tomato and a simple side salad topped with crunchies that appear to be squares of fried pita.

Jerry asked for chicken kabob but got chicken curry instead, a small language-barrier issue that didn’t bother him at all. The replacement dish was delicious: A generous bowl of tender, boneless chicken chunks swimming in a savory bath of thick brown onion sauce with the distinctive hot-and-spicy flavor of berbere.

I was delighted with my Ethiopian veggie combo, a bright assembly of red and green lentil stews, fine-chopped collards and onions and a yellow grain, neatly arranged on an oversize injera round and three more rolls of the spongy bread for eating with the fingers, Ethiopian-style. Don’t mind if I do!

A filling lunch for three, with two fresh iced teas and a diet cola, was a very reasonable $26.26, plus a $6 tip.

Addis Bar & Grill
109 S. Fourth St.
581-1011
www.addisgrill.com
Rating: 85

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Times are changin’ at Marketplace

In the spring of 1958, when Thomas Merton had his epiphany at what was then the corner of Fourth and Walnut in downtown Louisville, Fourth Street was a happening place. Crowds of businessmen in suits and fedoras and moms shopping in their best dresses scurried around the Starks Building and landmark Louisville department stores Stewart’s and Kaufman-Straus.
Continue reading Times are changin’ at Marketplace →

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Westport General Store rewards a short road trip

hot brown appetizer
The Hot Brown. PHOTO: Robin Garr
Last week when we got back from a summer trip to Florida’s Space Coast, it took me about 25 minutes to drive home from the airport to Crescent Hill in rush-hour traffic. The week before that, when we drove out to Westport General Store for dinner, the scenic trip required only about five minutes more.

This mere half-hour trek through the meadows, farms, forests and tract mansions of northern Oldham County is well worth it — the reward at the end of the road is an exceptional meal that matches, or surpasses, just about anything you’d find in the city.

Chef David Clancy is back at the helm, and that’s good news. The combination of Clancy’s kitchen crew with Westport’s amiable proprietor, Will Crawford, makes this a destination that would be worth an even longer trip.

Westport bustled in its early years, when it was a steamboat stop upriver from Louisville, and Westport General Store still has a bit of the look and feel of a rural village’s favorite gathering place, although there’s a stylish bistro overlay. Local bands and musical groups often perform here. “Like” its Facebook page (on.fb.me/westportgen) to keep up.

Crawford describes the restaurant’s culinary style as “upscale Southern cuisine,” and that’s fair; props also to his commitment to use local produce, meats and poultry to support his community and local farmers whenever possible.

Signature dishes include a local bison steak (market price), produced just down the road at Goshen’s Kentucky Bison Co., grilled to order with “smashed” potato and seasonable farm vegetables; and “red eye” shrimp ($15.95) wrapped in country ham from Shelby County’s Finchville Farms, served with Weisenberger Mill stone-ground grits and fresh collards.

A half-dozen main courses mostly sell in the range of $14.95 to $16.95. Vegetarians are well served by a trio of well-crafted dishes including a tomato-topped farfalle pasta ($12.95), vegan black-eyed pea stew ($10.95) and a chipotle black bean “burger” ($6.95). Sandwiches top out at $8.95 for the bison burger or fried fish sandwich, crafted from an 8-ounce fillet of cod. A sizable selection of appetizers, soups and salads are mostly $5 or thereabouts; and the kiddos are well taken care of with a children’s menu of simple, child-friendly dishes under $5.

Adult beverages are available, too: Westport General Store was the first restaurant to take advantage of Oldham County’s entry into the 20th century early in the 21st with “moist” laws allowing liquor sales in restaurants. Now it offers a short but respectable selection of beers, wines and bar service.

We started a recent meal with a shared appetizer order of Baby Hot Browns ($6.95), a spiral of thick-sliced toast points cloaked in a thick, cheesy Mornay and topped with plenty of crisp bits of locavore bacon and diced fresh tomatoes. It was garnished with a pretty sprig of large, fresh sage. Appetizer? Hah! It was delicious but filling, a hearty way to start a meal.

Mary ordered the vegetarian pasta pomodoro ($12.95), farfalle (bow-tie) pasta with a subtle tomato and sun-dried tomato sauce — no heavy red “gravy” here, but plenty of garlic — garnished with thin-sliced basil chiffonade and two fresh basil leaves.

My dinner choice, the aforementioned red-eye shrimp, suited me just fine: A row of plump, tender shrimp were blanketed under squares of Finchville’s finest and painted with a dark, reddish-brown, sweet-tangy barbecue sauce. The contrasting textures and flavors hit the spot, and a bed of creamy Weisenberger Mill grits and mild-flavored collards made for a country-style meal fit for a city boy.

A shared portion of a first-rate blackberry cobbler made with seasonal fruit under chunks of pastry crust ended the meal on a high note, and the affordable tab, $48.55 for two, left plenty of change to cover gas for the short trip out. Polished service earned a $10 tip.

As Crawford famously warns, don’t count on MapQuest, Google Maps or even your trusty GPS to get you there. Westport may be a historic village with roots all the way back to the 1780s, but these modern resources can’t find it.

Technology is hardly needed, though: Simply head out U.S. 42, through Prospect, into Oldham County, then pass Goshen and Skylight until you see a gigantic radio tower piercing the clouds on your left. Just before the tower, turn left on KY 524 and drive down the scenic, winding forest road until you reach Westport. The restaurant will be the brown building on the right with the veranda and, most of the time, a crowded parking lot out front.

Westport General Store
7008 Highway 524
222-4626
www.westportgeneralstore.com
Rating: 87

$ Budget (under $30), A RESTAURANT LISTING..., Italian (and Pizza), St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, underSlideshowEntries

Coals ranks high among the city’s pizzerias

Hold on a minute! Didn’t we just write about pizza last month, with a report on Frascelli’s in Crestwood?

Well, yeah.

And not that long ago, around Christmas, didn’t we review Di Orio’s, a new pizzeria in St. Matthews?

That, too.

I told you that pizza was getting to be the next really big thing. Continue reading Coals ranks high among the city’s pizzerias →

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Road trip to Rick’s White Light pays off in good eats

I settled in, craving a po’boy, and asked the gent behind the counter what seemed like a simple question: “This month doesn’t have an ‘R’ in it. How are the oysters?” The raspy-voiced guy in the ball cap shot me a grin. “Are you kidding? You’re thinking about Gulf oysters. These are from Chesapeake Bay, and they’re good all year ’round.”
Continue reading Road trip to Rick’s White Light pays off in good eats →

$ Budget (under $30), Pubs, Brew Pubs, GastroPubs, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, underSlideshowEntries

AP Crafters crafts fine fare at Westport Village

AP Pub burger
I have to confess that I was uncertain about Westport Village at first. Sure, the aging Camelot shopping center was due for replacement. But as Camelot’s modern replacement rose on the site, its offbeat architecture looked funny, somehow, prompting wisecracks about sets at a Universal Studios theme park. Moreover, the choice of several national franchise operations among early tenants didn’t inspire my confidence.

But what a difference a few years make! Over the past three years or so, Westport Village has evolved into a new and desirable kind of suburban center, its hard edges softened by landscaping and its character shaped by the mostly local independent businesses that now dominate its roster: Wild Eggs, Boombozz, Napa River Grill, Westport Whiskey & Wine, Hiko-A-Mon, Jade Palace, Heine Bros., the Comfy Cow and many more.

With frequent parades, picnics, concerts and other events, Westport Village has become a virtual center of its community.

And now Tony Palombino, papa of the growing Boombozz pizza mini-chain, has upped things another notch with AP Crafters, a new eatery that fills the sizable vacant space left by the departure of Indigo Joe’s, a link in a 50-unit sports bar chain based in Southern California.

Palombino (I can barely overcome the impulse to identify him as “Boombozz”) is as well-known for creating, incubating and spinning off new restaurant ideas that might morph into chains. For instance, he created Thatsa Wrapp, Bazo’s, Benny B’s Sandwiches and more. And now he appears to be embarked on a similar quest with AP Crafters, which has a chain-like look – in a good way – based on the currently trendy “gastropub.”

What’s a gastropub? To define it by example, Louisville’s uber-popular Blind Pig is a gastropub. So is Anchorage’s Village Anchor Pub and Roost and New Albany’s Bank Street Brewhouse. Get the idea? It’s a pub … but it pays more attention to fine food than you’ll get at your typical bar and grill.

Indeed, AP Crafters’ menu offers a wide selection of filling, appetizing burgers, bar fare and hearty comfort food. It’s all priced for a recessionary economy, too, with few of the many dishes reaching over $10 save for specialty items like mussels ($14) or Huli Huli Chick ($11), grilled chicken with Hawaiian-inspired sauce and grilled pineapple.

More than a dozen burgers top out at $10.50 for “The Double” or the Carnegie, which dresses your ground beef with an order of pastrami and Swiss. A variety of soups, salads, appetizers, sandwiches and “long platter” entrees fill out the oversize menu page, and full bar service includes a decent selection of craft beers and interesting, affordable wines.

We sampled a pair of pork “rollers” ($9), grilled, smoked pork “lollipops,” a round of tender meat attached to a bone “handle,” served with caramelized onions and sweet-tart barbecue sauce; excellent charred chicken wings ($8), good-size wings dry-rubbed with a peppery smoked-paprika mix and finished on the grill; and the signature AP Pub burger ($8.50), quality ground beef brilled rosy pink and taken upscale with applewood-smoked bacon, aged Cheddar and a tangy “zip sauce.”

Everything was well-made and ample – we brought enough leftovers home in a box to make lunch another day. Desserts looked great, too, and the warm doughnuts with caramel sauce ($4.50) have received rave reviews from LouisvilleHotBytes.com scouts. Still, if you have any room left after a fine AP Crafters meal, the Comfy Cow is, after all, just down the way.

An excellent lunch, with a Coke and iced tea, totaled $29.15 plus a $6 tip.

AP Crafters Kitchen & Bar
Westport Village
1321 Herr Lane
690-5000
Web: www.apcrafters.com
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/apcrafters

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It’s easy to ♥ this Clifton sushi spot

salmon skin sushi
Salmon skin sushi. PHOTO: RON JASIN
I have never quite understood why Lower Brownsboro Road, an avenue that traverses trendy Clifton and historic Crescent Hill on its way out to classy Mockingbird Valley, is punctuated with so many gritty and downscale shopping strips that confer a distinctly “urban” tone. But it’s a fact: Drive down the strip and count the tiny bottle shops, check-cashing stores, junk shops, gas station-convenience shops, a 24-hour diner and even a supermarket so widely, if unjustly, known as “Dirty” Kroger that even former Louisville mayor Dave Armstrong once uttered the term to me in an on-the-record interview.

It should be no surprise, then, that there’s been a quick series of short-lived eateries in the Lower Brownsboro restaurant space that shares a small parking lot with an advance payday loan shop that guards its parking spaces with dire threats of immediate towing. A Middle Eastern spot, a Jamaican eatery, an excellent soul food shop — some of them have been quite good, but I don’t see how the grim surroundings can help.

The latest tenant, however, is worth checking out. If friendly, smiling service, appealing Japanese-Korean fare and, on the day of our visit, impeccably fresh sushi count for anything, then maybe I ♥ Sushi & Teriyaki can stick.

The dining room is small but shiny and well-kept, with nary a painting or any other decor to adorn the pale beige walls; floor-to-ceiling plate-glass windows afford a view of four tiny commercial huts across the road. An L-shaped bar at the entrance has been converted into a sushi bar with a half-dozen tall stools. Wooden benches and red dinette chairs provide seating for maybe two dozen more at large tables, which are set with paper napkins and wooden chopsticks (Western cutlery is available on request).

The menu is relatively brief, but it offers plenty of choices for everyone, with an abundance of cooked dishes for those who don’t ♥ raw fish. Dinner entrees come with rice, vegetables and salad and range in price from $11 (for “chicken and chicken,” boneless bites in teriyaki glaze) to $21 (for deep-fried lobster meat in honey almond-coconut sauce, or sauteed “scallop and scallop”). As mentioned, Korean flavors turn up amid the Japanese mix, with bulgogi (Korean marinated grilled beef, $15) and kalbi (Korean marinated beef short ribs, $15) among the goodies.

The usual extensive list of sushi rolls, nigiri sushi bites and sashimi is also available, of course, many at $3.50 or $4 for nigiri, and rolls starting at $3, rising to a still reasonable $12 for some specialty rolls.

If you’re on a budget, you can enjoy filling soba or udon noodle dishes for $10 or less, and fried rice for as little as $5 for the vegetarian version. About 18 appetizers are subdivided into vegetable and meat items, and prices in the $3 to $7 range for many items would make the grazing option an easy choice. There’s a short list of beers, wines and Japanese sake, plus Japanese green tea or soft drinks to wash it all down.

We took advantage of the 11 a.m.-3 p.m. lunch menu ($7 to $10) and some sushi and were quite satisfied with food and service.

Mary picked what appeared to be a Korean-Japanese hybrid dish, bulgogi teriyaki ($9), and was happy with her oversize white platter loaded with stir-fried veggies aromatic with wok hai, the characteristic smoky scent of food fresh from a well-handled wok, and thin-sliced, soy-marinated grilled beef. A generous portion of steaming white rice came alongside, and both lunches were accompanied by steaming, “meaty” miso soup and a fresh green salad with a tangy ginger-and-citrus dressing.

I chose Combo B ($10), which consisted of a plate of Yaki Soba (more of those great, sizzling stir-fried veggies and a dash of soy flavor atop a bed of thin, vermicelli-like wheat noodles), and an order of four nigiri sushi — chef’s choice of shrimp, salmon, tuna and snapper — following as a second course. We also summoned two sushi rolls, crispy salmon skin ($6) and sweet mild yellowtail and scallion ($5).

The sushi was very good to excellent — nothing fancy, but extremely fresh fish on a Tuesday, and as everyone who has read my rants about stinky, old fish in sushi will know — I’m a strict judge of this point as being key to a sushi bar’s success.

A filling lunch for two, with some Korean bulgogi beef left over for lunch the next day, came to $33.66, a mighty light toll by sushi-bar standards. I rounded up to $40 for enthusiastic service.

I ♥ Sushi & Teriyaki
2017 Brownsboro Road
893-8226
Rating: 84

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