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Just about everybody in Louisville talks about how much we enjoy good old-fashioned Italian-American comfort food, pasta loaded with tomato sauce with garlic bread on the side and gulps of rustic red wine to wash it all down.
Continue reading DiFabio’s dishes up Italian comfort fare
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| Vegan chili dog. Photo: Robin Garr |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
Speaking of creative eateries, Conez & Coneyz may be one of the smallest dining venues on Frankfort Avenue, but it’s also one of the most eager to please.
When the owners chose to set up a hot-dog stand last year near the epicenter of an urban neighborhood rich in recovering hippies and seminary students (occasionally both embodied in the same person), they weren’t all that surprised to hear an instant demand for a vegetarian dawg.
Ultimately, they sourced two dogs that weren’t merely vegetarian but vegan: a Loma Linda brand item that turns to textured vegetable prote for almost-sausage flavor; and a Vegi-Dog made by Cedar Lake that’s all-grain protein. One chilly afternoon, I tried the Loma Linda as a chilidog, topped with vegetarian chili and chopped onions.
Continue reading No animals were harmed in making this chili dog
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| The Reuben at Diamond Café |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
As a veteran of food and wine online since well before Al Gore played his small role in the invention of the Internet, I’ve been following the development of social media from the start.
But here’s something new: Mark down Diamond Café as the first local spot I’m aware of that went viral on Facebook before word-of-mouth spread news of its arrival in Clifton Heights.
Diamond (“D&C Diamond Café,” per its business card) quietly replaced Taste of Jamaica a few months ago. When I spotted the café’s Facebook fan page the other day, bearing the slogan “fine dining at an affordable price,” it had already gathered more than 900 followers.
Continue reading Diamond Café: A Facebook phenom scores in the real world
New happenings at Caffe Classico and The Comfy Cow
With visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads, and neither a kerchief nor a stocking cap in sight, a long winter’s nap has been the furthest thing from Mamma’s, er, Mary’s and my heads as the holiday season draws near.
We’re obligate foodies, we’re ready for eats, and we see no conflict between celebrating Christmas the old-fashioned way, with joyous services on Christmas morning, followed by a late lunch, making the trek over the creek and through the woods to Vietnam Kitchen. It’s a perennial favorite among the many Asian eateries that remain open on Christmas Day.
Continue reading Who put these foodie sugar plums in my stocking?
The leaves on our big, old magnolia tree were rattling eerily, and the skies were a dismal gray. The icy wind cut through my parka as if it were a throwback baseball shirt.
The first day of winter may not arrive until Monday morning, but it already feels a lot like winter around here, and last week I had a powerful lust for comfort food in a cozy setting. I posted queries on the LouisvilleHotBytes Forum and my Facebook page and found lots of friends with similar hankerings. These foodie buddies quickly racked up a score of good ideas.
Continue reading Irish Rover’s hearty fare warms a winter night
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LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
(REVIEWED: A.J.’s Gyro Café; It’s All Greek To Me)
Let’s get one thing clear: The Greek word “gyros” is a singular noun. Like other similar Greek words that occasionally appear in English — kudos, logos, ethos — you don’t delete the final “s” if you’re having only one. A “gyro” is a kind of helicopter.
The menu at a new Greek-style eatery in Southern Indiana provides us a clear, simple overview: “Gyros is singular.”
Continue reading One gyros, two gyros, many gyros
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LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
(LEO photo by Ron Jasin)
Early in August, Chef Amber McCool announced “a new path” for the popular Patron Restaurant, involving a move to a still-undisclosed location at an uncertain time. In the meantime, the restaurant at the corner of Frankfort Avenue and Cannons Lane would continue catering and wholesale operations as well as “calendared events.”
That calendar, it seems, has been full, with food and music events on Wednesdays (Kim Sorise’s “Wax on Wednesdays,” with 12-inch LPs and 12-inch pizzas), many Fridays (“Burger Night” with music, burgers and brews), and a tasty menu-based brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.
My wife and I didn’t really have food in mind when we drove past the Patron early on a recent Sunday afternoon, but the sight of a jammed parking lot lured us in. Sure enough, the place was slammed with happy brunchers, but it took a minute or two for us to be seated.
Continue reading The Patron won’t go away, and we’re glad
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LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
(Five Guys, Home Run, Conez and Coneyz)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Conez and Coneys is now closed.
For all the talk of market indicators and the rebounding Dow and yada yada yada, you and I know there’s still a recession going on. And so, apparently, do a lot of Louisville’s restaurateurs.
I’ve reported recently on the ways some of the city’s top-tier eateries are responding to tightened consumer spending with menu-price reductions. Small-plates restaurants, always popular, are on the rise.
And, in a time when the economy and other things that go bump in the night look scary, many of us crave cheap, hearty and, yes, fatty comfort food. New spots that specialize in economical edibles such as hamburgers and hot dogs are springing up all over.
Continue reading Burgers, dogs and cones, oh my!
Where is it written that eggs must be reserved for breakfast? In my culinary Day Timer, an omelet makes a splendid date for dinner. Scrambled eggs go down well anytime. And bacon! There’s no hour of the day or night when the thought of smoky, salty bacon won’t inspire a hunger pang.
Continue reading Breakfast, tapas? Have it your way at North End
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Pugliese “Pug” roll at Blue Dog Bakery, a great stop for morning breads, pastries and coffee. There’s a full lunch menu, and it goes without saying that Baker Bob Hancock’s artisan breads are the best in the region. But it’s generally the “pug” roll and lattes that bring us out just about every Saturday morning.
Blue Dog Café and Bakery
2868 Frankfort Ave.
(502) 899-9800
