Category Archives: BY LOCATION

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, LEO's Eats, Pacific Rim, World Food

Chik’n & Mi gives the noble bird an Asian spin

There’s something lovably gritty about the stretch of urban Louisville along Lower Brownsboro Road in Clifton that some call “LowBrow,” and we’re okay with that. Take that well-worn restaurant building that sits up on the bank across from Kroger. Home to a dozen short-lived spots over the past couple of decades, it started life as a Pizza Hut sometime back in the ‘70s. You know the place: It’s one of the city’s most storied “restaurant graveyards.”

But now a new arrival has upped the ante significantly … Continue reading Chik’n & Mi gives the noble bird an Asian spin →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, LEO's Eats, Pacific Rim, QuickBytes, World Food

Mirin gets ramen right

About a half-mile away from Chik’n & Mi, in the heart of Clifton, the guys at Mirin get ramen right. I needn’t repeat my recent glowing review (Jan. 11, 2017), but news of lunch hours and an expanded menu drew me back for a revisit the other day. I still love it just as hard. Continue reading Mirin gets ramen right →

$$$$ Luxury ($80 and up), Bistros, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, LEO's Eats, New and noteworthy

Fork & Barrel’s warm vibe surrounds fine, pricey fare

When a restaurant launches in the springtime in Louisville, the owner invariably faces a difficult decision: Rush to open the doors before Derby season? Or take it easy and get all your culinary ducks in a row before opening up more gently in the post-Derby calm?

The issues involved in this decision are not trivial. Opening in time for Derby may pay off, but it poses challenges, too. If things go poorly, the train wreck happens in front of a critical audience.

So, props to Fork & Barrel’s owners, Chef Geoffrey Heyde and his wife, Emily, who risked opening on busy Frankfort Avenue just a few weeks before the race, following a quick but stylish remake of the space that had long housed Basa Modern Vietnamese. Continue reading Fork & Barrel’s warm vibe surrounds fine, pricey fare →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Italian (and Pizza), LEO's Eats, Southern Indiana

Parlour offers a cozy oasis for bridge walkers and everyone

Have you strolled, jogged or biked across the Big Four walking bridge yet? Who hasn’t? According to the Waterfront Development Corp., about 1,500,000 people enjoy the mile-long bridge between Louisville and Jeffersonville, Ind., every year. Reopening the abandoned, rusting 1895 railroad bridge as a linear public park has proven to be a great idea.

And now, thanks to another great idea, it’s even better. Step off the Indiana end, and what to your wondering eyes should appear, directly across Jeffersonville’s Pearl Street from the foot of the bridge ramp, but a beautifully restored, 181-year-old mansion and extensive gardens, now revealed as Parlour, an inviting pizzeria and beer garden. Continue reading Parlour offers a cozy oasis for bridge walkers and everyone →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), BBQ, Burgers & Down-Home, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, LEO's Eats, Pubs, Brew Pubs, GastroPubs

Grind Burger Kitchen: not cheap, but worth it

We all love hamburgers, don’t we? During a thoroughly satisfying lunch at Grind Burger Kitchen the other day, I found myself thinking existentially about the burger. What exactly is a hamburger, anyway? The Oxford American Dictionary gives us the basics: “A round patty of ground beef, fried or grilled and typically served on a bun or roll and garnished with various condiments.” Continue reading Grind Burger Kitchen: not cheap, but worth it →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), LEO's Eats, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, Vegetarian/Vegan, World Food

We celebrate and highly recommend the Indian joys of Tikka House

I’m pretty sure I have told you before that I love Indian food. Why do I love it? Let me count the ways: It brings bold, bright flavors, that may be as fiery as the gates of hell or as mild as a baby’s kiss, whichever way you like it. Continue reading We celebrate and highly recommend the Indian joys of Tikka House →

$ Budget (under $30), Breakfast and lunch spots, sandwich spots, LEO's Eats, Soul Food, West End

Go west for meat-and-three at Irma Dee’s

We’ve got a great idea to restore vibrant commerce to Louisville’s West End, and it doesn’t have anything to do with Walmart or a hip food park.

No, our plan is much simpler: We start by erasing that infamous and wholly imaginary wall along Ninth Street. We go to the West End. We make friends. Then we give our business to the local institutions that are already serving the community with pride.

I can’t think of a better place to begin than Irma Dee’s, a charming, bright little cafe that opened a few weeks ago on a main street in the city’s Parkland neighborhood. Continue reading Go west for meat-and-three at Irma Dee’s →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, LEO's Eats, Vegetarian/Vegan, World Food

Funmi’s favors us with Nigerian flavors

What do Americans know about Nigeria? Not much, to be frank, and sadly enough, a lot of what it isn’t good. Beyond Internet scammers with wacky schemes and Boko Haram terrorists, what do we know?

The most populous country in Africa, whose Yoruba culture goes back more than 1,000 years, and one of the world’s top producers of oil, Nigeria boasts coastal cities with glittering office towers and luxury living for the 1 percent. On the other hand, about 70 percent of Nigerians live in extreme poverty.

In other words, it sounds a little bit like Trump’s America! But let’s not go there today. Let’s focus instead on the warm and friendly people of a tropical nation with a hearty cuisine that’s well worth discovering. Continue reading Funmi’s favors us with Nigerian flavors →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown, LEO's Eats, World Food

Arepas y mas! Nahyla’s brings us Venezuelan delights

Our immigrant neighbors have taught us to love tacos. They’ve introduced us to gorditas, and roti, chapatis and naan, bao and banh mi and pitas and lavash and much, much more; and for all these carb-loaded delights we are much in their debt.

Now say hello to the Venezuelan arepa, yet another appealing way to enclose something good to eat within a tasty wrapper, a hand-held treat that long pre-dates the invention of Lord John Montagu, fourth Earl of Sandwich. Continue reading Arepas y mas! Nahyla’s brings us Venezuelan delights →