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

$$ Modest ($30-$50), BBQ, Burgers & Down-Home, Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown

The Yankees’ loss is our … hey!

Slugger Field
We’re great fans of the Louisville Bats and thoroughly smitten by Slugger Field, but we’ve found ballpark food service consistently disappointing on Centerplate’s watch. Photo by Robin Garr.

LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Centerplate Inc., the South Carolina-based arena and ballpark catering company, has been getting a rough ride lately, with the New York Yankees dumping the company as Yankee Stadium concessionaire after a 40-year ride, and its shares plunging on Wall Street in the wake of blows ranging from financial bad news to a discrimination lawsuit by a Yankees’ bartender.

But Centerplate still rides high in the Derby City, where it not only sells us our hot dogs, peanuts and Cracker Jack in Slugger Field and Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium but is slated to be concessionaire in the controversial downtown sports arena, and also recently emerged as operator of the new Wolfgang Puck Express, an upscale fast-food emporium in downtown’s Kentucky International Convention Center.

Does New York know something that Louisville is missing? Continue reading The Yankees’ loss is our … hey! →

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

Puck chain brings a taste of California downtown

Photo of Wolfgang Puck Express from outside
Photos by Robin Garr.

(Wolfgang Puck Express, Voice-Tribune, Mar. 13, 2008)

Wolfgang Puck, the smiling, round-faced Austrian-turned-Californian with the Schwarzenegger accent, has finally arrived in Louisville.

Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that Puck’s fast-casual dining chain has arrived: The 80th unit of his Wolfgang Puck Express opened recently in the Kentucky International Convention Center, but you’re no more likely to find Puck building pizzas here than you are to run into Col. Harland Sanders frying chicken at your neighborhood KFC.
Continue reading Puck chain brings a taste of California downtown →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Baxter, Bardstown, Highlands, Bistros

Incredible Dave’s: Flawed Inspiration

Photo in Incredible Dave's
Chuck E. Cheese on steroids: If you’re unfamiliar with the Incredible Dave’s concept, imagine a Chuck E. Cheese on steroids, and with a bar. While the concept carries a touch of inspired brilliance, in practice there are flaws. Photo by Nicole Pullen.

Leo EATS with guest columnist Kevin Gibson.

Incredible Dave’s is a fantastic world of sound and color; the kind of place that makes children’s eyes nearly pop out of their heads when they walk in.

“Oh … my … gosh,” one girl, who looked about 7, said recently upon entering with her younger brother and parents.

My girlfriend Jen and I went to Incredible Dave’s, which opened last month on Westport Road in the site of a former Kroger store, on a recent Saturday around 4 p.m. We had hoped to beat the dinner rush, but the place was packed. Packed. For an establishment that had been open only a few weeks at that point, it was quite impressive to see.

If you’re unfamiliar with the restaurant’s concept, imagine a Chuck E. Cheese on steroids, and with a bar. Incredible Dave’s is kind of a Dave & Buster’s that caters to families, giving the adults a chance to dine, enjoy an adult beverage or two and watch the ballgame on big screens while the kids blow their minds on arcade games, bowling, Xbox and Wii lounges, and plenty more.

Continue reading Incredible Dave’s: Flawed Inspiration →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Downtown, NuLu and Butchertown, Italian (and Pizza)

Treat your sweetie on the cheap: Share!

Halibut at Primo
Primo’s Ippoglosso di Ligure, mild white fish poached in olive oil with basil, is influenced by the cuisines of the Liguria region around Genoa. Photo by Robin Garr.

LEO’s Eats with Louisville HotBytes

Here’s a cheeky way to treat your sweetie to a Valentine’s Day dinner (or other romantic occasion) at a fancy restaurant, enjoying an expansive meal while keeping the price under control: Share dinner.

I’m talking serious sharing here, the kind you would only want to undertake in the company of someone close enough that you don’t object to taking food from the same plate.

This approach need not be cheap or sleazy, and any good restaurateur will gladly accommodate you in your plan. We tried it the other night at Primo, one of my favorite restaurants.
Continue reading Treat your sweetie on the cheap: Share! →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

60 West Bistro & Martini Bar

BBC
The 5-year-old Cafe Emilie reinvented itself with a new name and image as 60 West Bistro and Martini Bar.

Cafe Emilie, the comfortable eatery in the Burdorf Center (the former Bacon’s department store in St. Matthews) has won quite a few fans – including me – since it started out as a simple lunch spot just over five years ago. We’ve watched it mature into a cozy neighborhood bistro and bar through a couple of chef and staff changes, and it has earned its popularity the old-fashioned way.
Continue reading 60 West Bistro & Martini Bar →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Italian (and Pizza), Southern Indiana

Take that short drive to Stratto’s

Jerome Pope
Jerome Pope is now the chef at Stratto’s in Clarksville. Look for his new menu after the first of the year. LEO Photo by Nicole Pullen.

LEO’s Eats with Louisville HotBytes

If you’ve been meaning to check out some Southern Indiana dining spots but worried that it’s a little too far, consider this: It took me just 11 minutes to drive from my house in Crescent Hill to Stratto’s in Clarksville on a rainy Saturday night.

OK, maybe I couldn’t have made it that fast during a weekday rush hour, but it’s still a quicker trip for me than a ride out to The Summit or Brownsboro Crossing in endless suburbia.

What’s more, the comfortable historic-house setting and hearty Italian-accented comfort food at Stratto’s makes it well worth the short trip across the finally repainted Kennedy Bridge.
Continue reading Take that short drive to Stratto’s →

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

Seviche comes to the East End

Crispy fish at Seviche
Seviche’s crispy fish was a deep-fried red snapper about a foot long, served head and tail on, set in swimming position atop a bed of subtly flavored macadamia-nut rice. Photo by Robin Garr.

(Seviche – A Latin Bistro, Voice-Tribune, Nov. 29, 2007)

When Anthony Lamas’s son, Ethan Diego, turned 4, Lamas and his wife, Samantha, made the same decision as a lot of young parents before them: They moved from the Highlands to the East End, seeking a quiet, suburban setting with good schools for the youngsters.

It wasn’t long before Lamas made another important decision: With the strong encouragement of his wife and his father-in-law, Dr. Bruce Gaddie – longtime Oldham County residents – he brought his workplace out to the suburbs, too.

Lamas, chef and owner of Louisville’s immensely popular Seviche – A Latin Restaurant – now presides over two restaurants, having opened Seviche – A Latin Bistro last month in the quarters vacated by the short-lived Cutting Board on Goose Creek Road.

With the exception of locally owned and operated Limestone on North Hurstbourne, Lamas said he was startled to discover how much the East End’s fine-dining scene has been dominated by corporate chain eateries.

The arrival of the new Seviche, though, coupled with Equus chef-owner Dean Corbett’s planned opening of Corbett’s An American Place in Brownsboro Crossing on Dec. 15 and Napa River Grill’s planned move from Dupont Circle to Westport Village early next year, may signal a coming tide.
Continue reading Seviche comes to the East End →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

True grits and more at 211 Clover

Shrimp and grits
211 Clover offers a fancy version of shrimp and grits, a Southern specialty. LEO Photo by Nicole Pullen.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes
(Brunch at 211 Clover Lane)BZZZZT! Sorry, Bubba. This hearty Southern comfort food comes to us direct from South Carolina’s Low Country around Charleston. Continue reading True grits and more at 211 Clover →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Frankfort Ave., Clifton, Crescent Hill, Pacific Rim

Maido: Not just another sushi bar

Maido
Maido Essential Japanese is Louisville’s only example of “izakaya” dining, a combination of pub, sake bar and eatery. Pictured are owners Jim and Toki Masubuchi Huie. LEO Photo by Nicole Pullen.

LEO’s Eat ‘n’ Blog with Louisville HotBytes
(Maido Essential Japanese)

Here’s a dining critic’s dilemma: I live in Crescent Hill, so I drive past Maido Essential Japanese often. Every time I do, I look over and feel a warm, loving feeling pass over me as I think, “I love that place.” Yet, because duty calls me to dine somewhere different every week, I rarely get to come back to Maido and other favorites … and that’s just wrong.

So it was to my great delight that I turned over a calendar page the other day and saw that enough time had passed since Maido’s 2004 opening to justify a return trip. Hai!

Maido, it should be noted, is Japanese, but it is not just another sushi bar. In fact, it’s not a sushi bar at all, although sushi is made in the kitchen. It’s something much more interesting: Louisville’s only example (and one of the few between the coasts) of “izakaya” dining, a combination of pub, sake bar and eatery that’s beloved by “sararimen” (“salary-men” or business workers) in Japan’s second city, Osaka, and the Kansai region around it.
Continue reading Maido: Not just another sushi bar →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Bistros, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

Always popular Rick’s

Rick's

(Rick’s Ferrari Grille, Voice-Tribune, Oct. 11, 2007)

According to long-established wisdom, one good way to detect an excellent Chinese restaurant is to look for the places where Chinese people eat. In much the same way, a happy, diverse mosaic of American diners generally signals an excellent American restaurant.

And so it is with Rick’s Ferrari Grille, an established St. Matthews tradition that rarely fails to attract a crowd.

After a series of moves over the years, restaurateur Rick Dissell has been back in his original Chenoweth Square location for 2 1/2 years now, and it looks like he’s back to stay. Continue reading Always popular Rick’s →