I love El Tarasco’s St. Matthew’s property. I go there for lunch several times a month with my friend and business associate Jerry, and we’re never let down — when it comes to quality Mexican at a great price, it’s hard to beat. The chicken tacos are ridiculously good.
Continue reading Another reason to love El Tarasco
Category Archives: St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs
Mikato brings Japanese flair to old Napa River space
If you think of a Japanese restaurant, sushi may cross your mind, assuming you’re a reasonably adventurous diner. Not so adventurous? Then the fun of Japanese slice-and-dice chefs showing off their utensil-tossing techniques at hibachi tables may ring your gong.
Continue reading Mikato brings Japanese flair to old Napa River space
The eponymous pastry seals the deal at Danish Express
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LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
You can, and probably do, call it a Danish pastry, but its roots lie in Vienna. Nevertheless, the Danes have made this rich and delicious pastry their own, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a better one in the Old Country than you can enjoy right here in Louisville at Danish Express.
This quaint St. Matthews storefront occupies a cozy space with big plate-glass windows that make up the entire front wall, facing east to bring in bright sunlight in the morning.
It’s open from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. daily (except Sunday), offering breakfast throughout and lunch at midday. The breakfast menu – including but not limited to the rich, oversize Danish – makes it one of the city’s top spots to break a fast. At lunchtime, it’s still a decent place for a quick meal, but facing much sterner competition, it’s not quite as close to the front of the pack.
Continue reading The eponymous pastry seals the deal at Danish Express
Classy Equus drops prices and tablecloths but keeps high style
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LouisvilleHotBytes.com in The Voice-Tribune
Okay, who wants organ meat? Internal organs, that is, livers, kidneys, hearts and even more unmentionable selections.
All together now: “Eeeeuuuuwwww!”
But wait! People around the world have been enjoying organ meats for millennia, and those who shun them on the basis of the “eeuuww” factor are missing something good.
This is one of the many reasons I love dining with my wife, Mary, and our good friend Lucinda. They’re adventurous foodies, and showed it the other night when we spotted sweetbreads on the menu at Equus.
“I’m having that,” Lucinda said with a happy smile. “Can we share?” asked Mary. Me, too.
What’s a sweetbread? It isn’t bread, and it’s not a dessert. It’s a calf’s thymus gland, or perhaps a bit of his pancreas. Vegetarians please look away.
Continue reading Classy Equus drops prices and tablecloths but keeps high style
Wathen’s Kentucky Bistro bounces back
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LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
Everybody loves a parade? Maybe. Let’s say that most people love most parades. But the procession of broken dreams that has recently passed through the St. Matthews space that once was home to Rick’s? That’s a parade not so easy to enjoy.
For the historical record, let’s retrace the genealogy of this spot that once housed the offices of the then-Voice of St. Matthews: Rick Dissell established the original Rick’s around 1980, and earned his popularity the old-fashioned way, with a 17-year run in that location.
Continue reading Wathen’s Kentucky Bistro bounces back
Tiny Simply Thai packs ’em in
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LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
Does size matter? Some of the Metro’s tiniest restaurants rank among its most cozy and attractive. From this assertion I do not exclude New Albany’s iconic Little Chef, a 10-seat diner so small that it once wore wheels; or, for that matter, the trendy, crowded, noisy and compact new 732 Social on East Market Street, about which we’ll be telling you more anon.
This week, though, we turn to another Lilliputian favorite, Simply Thai, housed in the freestanding building at the corner of Wallace and Wilmington avenues in St. Matthews.
Succeeding a short-lived barbecue joint and a forgettable Chinese fast-food eatery, Simply Thai crams about eight tables into a small space, with a couple more patio tables out front.
Continue reading Tiny Simply Thai packs ’em in
Let’s line up for breakfast at Meridian Café
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LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
(Meridian Café, Maido, Les Relais, Dem Bones)
Louisville has always been a breakfast-loving town, it seems, and citizens of Derby City have always had our morning favorites.
From Canary Cottage back in our grandparents’ time to the Baby Boomers’ favorite, Lynn’s Paradise Café, and on to such modern attractions as the lovably urban Toast on Market and Wild Eggs (which just opened a second shop in Westport Village), we’re accustomed to queuing up and waiting, happily and patiently, for weekend breakfast or brunch.
You might find me in line at any of those spots on any given weekend. But you’re even more likely to find me at my top breakfast favorite, Meridian Café in St. Matthews. I honestly cannot understand why Meridian, which always has a cozy crowd of regulars, hasn’t developed the kind of cult following that prompts supplicants to line up outside the door.
Continue reading Let’s line up for breakfast at Meridian Café
Recession-busting dining, cheap but fine
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| Bazo’s, which recently moved to new quarters off Dupont Circle, serves one of the city’s best fish tacos. Photo by Robin Garr |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
(Bazo’s, Caffe Classico, J. Gumbo’s, Stan’s)
OK, everybody listen up. I’ve told you this before, and chances are you’re going to hear it again: There’s a recession on.
Yes, a recession, and a lot of us are hurting. We’re cutting back on luxuries and hoping we won’t have to cut back on necessities.
For those of us who love food and drink and dining out, we’re whipsawed: It’s harder to justify dropping a pile of bucks on a big evening out, so fine dining may be one of the first indulgences to drop off the budget. But this decision puts a hurtin’ on Louisville’s local, independent restaurant community, the Louisville Originals and Keep Louisville Weirds that make our city an exceptional place to dine for its size.
Continue reading Recession-busting dining, cheap but fine
Ready for the chicken feet challenge?
Don’t be shy, take the challenge – grab hold of Jade Palace’s chicken feet and don’t let go. Chicken feet aren’t much different than chicken wings, right? Continue reading Ready for the chicken feet challenge?
Roll out the (taco) wagon!
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| A taco dinner at home from Tacos Toreados. Photos by Robin Garr |
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
East Enders who’ve been jealous of their Buechel and Fern Creek neighbors over Las Gorditas, the Mexico City-style taco wagon that pulls up weekend evenings in the Eastland Shopping Center (LEO Weekly, May 28), can now relax: They have their own taco truck, Tacos Toreados, where the amiable proprietor Juan Deleon offers authentic delights served out the window of a wagon parked in front of Choi’s Asian Food Market in Lyndon.
Continue reading Roll out the (taco) wagon!