Why not invite a vegetarian friend to join you for barbecue today?
No, I’m not suggesting you torment your carniphobic buddies with plates of deliciously smoked and sauced animal flesh. Feast BBQ, newly arrived in the growing foodie scene that is downtown New Albany, offers a better option, more diverse and inclusive by half: You can get your smoky, saucy protein in the form of pulled pork, brisket, pulled chicken or … tofu!
Continue reading Meat, meet not-meat at New Albany’s Feast BBQ
I know this is hard to believe, but a couple of generations back, when our parents and even our grandparents were young, a road trip took some planning. There were no Interstate highways and nothing like McDonald’s, Wendy’s or Burger King. What was a hungry traveler to do in those days of winding two-lane highways and no familiar burger logos glowing in the distance? As it happens, though it may have taken longer to get to your destination, but our forbears arguably enjoyed a finer, tastier and better quality of road food in those days gone by.
Continue reading Road food road trip in Southern Indiana!
Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, also known as Shakertown, may be my No. 1 favorite spot for a quick getaway road trip with a quiet, calm and peaceful rest at the destination. And, by no means least, good things to eat.
Continue reading Peace, calm and good eats at Shaker Village
Think globally, eat locally: I can hardly think of a better place to do both of these things than Palermo Viejo, Louisville’s only Argentine restaurant and a perennial favorite among ethnic eateries.
Continue reading Back home again in Argentina at Palermo Viejo
Who doesn’t like eating locally grown food? It’s fresh, it’s healthy, it’s more or less off the industrial agri-business grid, and maybe best of all, it tastes really, really good.
Dining “locavore” is trendy, too, if being in on the hippest big thing is important to you.
But allow me to suggest that there’s something more important: Dining locally supports your local farmer. Continue reading Dining doesn’t get more local than brunch at Harvest
Imagine, if you will, a high school reunion. A seemingly ordinary reunion, perhaps 25 years after you graduated and left town for new challenges. You return, eager to see old friends again. Hey, Jack hasn’t changed a bit! Trent and Joanie got married, gained a few pounds as they slouched into middle age. Ronnie is bald!
And then, across the room, a tall, slender form appears. It’s Lizzie! The cheerleader you had a crush on. She must be a beauty still. You walk over to say hello. She turns, smiles and … oh.
Continue reading How is Le Relais like a high-school reunion?
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
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,” 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
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
