Three years ago two interesting new locally owned fast-casual eateries came to town, and I loved them both: Con Huevos set a new standard with its delicious, chef-driven Mexican breakfast and lunch. Joella’s first introduced us to Nashville-style hot chicken, a feisty genre that might remind you of Indi’s hot fried chicken but that’s really not the same.
Let’s tear down that wall, the imaginary one along Ninth Street that some people think separates our West End neighbors from the rest of us. I can’t think of a better time than Derby season to do it, and I’ve got a great destination in mind: Roof Top Grill, a friendly eatery that turns out some of the best Jamaican food around. Continue reading Discover the Jamaican joys of Roof Top Grill→
I love labneh, the thick, tangy, strained-yogurt cheese of the Eastern Mediterranean. It was a treat to get a dab of labneh, dotted with pumpkin seeds, atop a risotto at Marketplace last week, but a bite only made me want more. So we headed over to the highly regarded Aladdin’s Cafe in New Albany the other day, where you can get the stuff in a sandwich or on a plate.
We had such a good time checking out Main Street last week that we decided to hit the other end of downtown for dinner at Marketplace. Hmm. This block is different.
Walk down Fourth Street toward Broadway on a quiet evening when there’s nothing playing at the Palace, Mercury Ballroom or the Brown Theatre, and you may not meet another human being. Until you get to Marketplace Restaurant, anyway. Continue reading Even on a quiet night, Marketplace rocks→
Say what you will about the Yum Center – and I say it looks like the offspring of an unnatural union between a toaster oven and an ink-jet copier – you have to give it credit for helping foster a boom in good places to eat in its Main Street neighborhood. Like Bluegrass Brewing Company. And other good places, too, but BBC, I’m looking at you right now. Continue reading Yum Center bound? Dine at BBC first→
Can a dining decision be political? You bet! When nightly news shows horrifying images of immigrant parents ripped from their families while partisans shout for a border wall, it’s time to call B.S. The best way I know to do that is to take my dining business to local restaurants run by Latino neighbors, such as the spectacularly good La Lupita in Clarksville.
And while I’m there, happily noshing, I want to thank the owners and servers and tell them I’m glad they’re here: “Me gusta que tu eres mi vecina,” I’ll say in fractured Spanglish, reaching out with a few words in their language. “I’m happy that you are my neighbor.”
How is Øskar’s Slider Bar delightfully different from just about every other eatery in town? Uff da! Its light, amusing Scandinavian vibe sets it geographically and culturally apart from all the local restaurants that fake a drawl while frying chicken and simmering grits. Continue reading Øskar’s offers a delightful taste of Scandinavia→
Vincenzo and Agostino Gabriele reinvented the Louisville dining scene a generation ago. Now Agostino’s sons, Carmelo and Michael Gabriele, have opened their own Italian restaurant in Germantown, named Sarino after the family nickname for another uncle, Rosario.
Will Sarino be something like Vincenzo’s Jr., then? I’m going to say no. But that’s no slam. Sarino is delightful in its own right, but it is as different from Vincenzo’s as millennials are different from baby boomers and as different as downtown is from Germantown. Continue reading Appealing Sarino carries Vincenzo’s DNA, but it’s no clone→
It seems as if Porcini just got here. It seems as if Porcini has been here forever. The truth, as usual, lies between these extremes, but one thing is certain: The years have flown since I first sat down to a fine Italian dinner at this comfortable Frankfort Avenue landmark. Continue reading Porcini’s landmark status is well and fully earned→
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