Category Archives: $$ Modest ($30-$50)

$$ Modest ($30-$50), BBQ, Burgers & Down-Home, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill

Meat or no meat: The Smokery has you covered

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

A vegan walked into a barbecue joint. What’s the punchline?

Actually, there’s no punchline. I’m not a vegan myself. But I can see the ethos: The commercial agriculture that’s necessary to have everyone eating tasty animals is bad for the environment. It’s bad for our health. And it’s pretty obviously bad for the animals who have to be killed for our gustatory enjoyment.

For reasons such as these, growing numbers of people have gone vegan, vegetarian, or flexitarian recently, and that’s why I always try to include at least one meat-free dish in each review.

This can be a challenge, though, when I visit a new barbecue joint. Like this week, when I followed the delicious scent of hickory smoke to The Smokery, a new eatery in a small building on Frankfort Avenue in Clifton. Continue reading Meat or no meat: The Smokery has you covered →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Breakfast and lunch spots, sandwich spots, Brunch, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Mexican, Cuban, Caribbean, Northeast Metro

Con Huevos, a favorite for breakfast or lunch

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Don’t stop me if I’ve told you this before, but breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day, and I’m happy to enjoy it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

What’s more, Con Huevos is one of my favorite places for breakfast, although to my occasional sorrow, it’s open only for breakfast and lunch. If I want it for dinner, I have to get by with takeouts picked up earlier in the day. Continue reading Con Huevos, a favorite for breakfast or lunch →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Northeast Metro, Pacific Rim, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, World Food

Bahn Thai & M returns Thai flavor to Holiday Manor

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

It’s not usually difficult for a restaurant critic to learn about new eateries around our town. Either the owner or chef clues me in with an email, text, or news release, or I’ll hear about it on social media or the Louisville HotBytes forum.

Now and then, though, an appealing new place will fly under the radar until, like Columbus “discovering” America, I stumble into it myself.

So it was the other day when I rolled into Holiday Manor, planning a quick run to Kroger, when I suddenly noticed a bright new storefront sign: “Bahn Thai & M.” Continue reading Bahn Thai & M returns Thai flavor to Holiday Manor →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Pacific Rim, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs, World Food

Tasty Vietnamese fare and cool cocktails elevate District 6

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Not long after the turn of this century, I’m not sure that many of us would have predicted the rise of St. Matthews as one of the city’s most active bar and nightlife zones.

So I guess it shouldn’t surprise us that this suburban village has suddenly become a go-to zone for Asian eateries with estimable bars.

Say what? Continue reading Tasty Vietnamese fare and cool cocktails elevate District 6 →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), BBQ, Burgers & Down-Home, Germantown

Hauck’s Corner returns, dainty and all

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Last summer, 110 years after Hauck’s Handy Store opened as a neighborhood grocery on a Schnitzelburg street corner – and three years after it closed following the death at 100 of owner and patriarch George Hauck – this local landmark returned as a restaurant and bar.

In 1912 you could buy a baloney sandwich on white bread at Hauck’s and get change from a dime. Today, a century and $1 million in renovations later, you can still get something like that, but they spell it “bologna” now, and it will cost you $14.95 for a thick-cut, smoked slice perched on a brioche bun with stone-ground mustard, pimento cheese, pickles, and an over-easy egg. Continue reading Hauck’s Corner returns, dainty and all →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Italian (and Pizza)

Lupo’s pizza is tops … and that’s not all

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

I did a quick double-take when I heard that Pizza Lupo had won “Best Pizza” honors in LEO Weekly’s Reader’s Choice awards.

Not that it isn’t worthy. Lupo’s wood-fired, leopard-spotted pies with their quality toppings are a go-to for me whenever I have pizza in mind. After all, “Pizza” is the restaurant’s first name. Continue reading Lupo’s pizza is tops … and that’s not all →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, Mexican, Cuban, Caribbean, World Food

Señora Arepa serves delicious Venezuelan street food

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Covid-19 has been rough for NuLu restaurants. The pandemic has taken at least partial blame for the loss of Harvest, Rye, and most recently, Decca.

For the Martinez family’s Olé restaurant group, though, challenges create opportunities. They opened the Cuban restaurant La Bodeguita de Mamá in July 2020, early in the pandemic, in the former headquarters of Creation Gardens at 725 E. Market St.

Señora Arepa came next, opening in the spring of 2021, serving Venezuelan street food in the smaller building behind Bodeguita at 721 E. Market St., once the home of Ghislain on Market. Continue reading Señora Arepa serves delicious Venezuelan street food →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Indian, Northeast Metro, Outer East End

Tandoori Fusion offers artistic Indian creations

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Thoughts inspired by a recent meal at Louisville’s Tandoori Fusion restaurant: Fusion cuisine has been around for centuries, going back as far as Chinese restaurateurs coming up with chop suey to please western consumers in 1850s California, and maybe even to Marco Polo and his noodles.

But the concept didn’t get a name until the 1980s, when chefs like Roy Yamaguchi and Wolfgang Puck began to intentionally combine flavors from different cultures. Before long, just about everyone was chowing down on Pacific Rim cuisine and Thai pizza, and calling it “fusion.” Continue reading Tandoori Fusion offers artistic Indian creations →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Hot Chicken, Pacific Rim

We enjoy the chicken and the egg at Chik’n & Mi

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

I’m not going to say I’ve solved the ancient riddle about whether the chicken or the egg came first, but I can tell you that we enjoyed both those good things and more in a delicious brunch at Chik’n & Mi.

It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that the fare is excellent at Chik’n & Mi, as it’s the only local eatery I know of where both owners/chefs – the husband-and-wife team of Jason McCollum and Aenith Sananikone McCollum – are graduates of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Continue reading We enjoy the chicken and the egg at Chik’n & Mi →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Italian (and Pizza), Northeast Metro

MozzaPi’s pizza remains near and dear to my heart

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

I’m pretty sure I’ve told you before that pizza is one of my favorite foods. I can’t think of a one of Louisville’s 60-some pizzerias that I would flatly reject. Well, possibly some of the national chains, unless I was really hungry.

I mean, what’s not to like about pizza? It’s relatively healthy, a thin base of bread that, excepting the occasional deep-dish pie, imparts barely enough carbs to bother anyone. A layer of delicious tomato sauce, a layer of delicious cheese, some tasty meats or veggies of your liking on top … why, you’ve got all of the food groups on your plate! Continue reading MozzaPi’s pizza remains near and dear to my heart →