Category Archives: Bistros

Noosh Nosh satisfies at any time of day

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Here is the eternal question about dining out: Do we want to go someplace excellent but pricey, or shall we hit an eatery with great affordable fare?

Thanks to the wit and wisdom of Chef Anoosh Shariat, you can jump in the car and hold that decision until you swing into your parking place. Continue reading Noosh Nosh satisfies at any time of day

Pints & Union, a London pub in New Albany

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Let’s head over to New Albany for a London pub experience at Pints & Union! It’s the real deal: They’ve got great beers, ales, porters and stouts! They’ve got that dark and cozy British pub vibe! They’ve got great fish and chips! And they’ve got Indian tikka!

Wait! What?

Yes, you heard that right: The most characteristic British pub-style dish is not the fish and chips that I can hear you assuming, but chicken tikka, the spicy chicken curry dish that Indian immigrants brought to Britain and shared with the world. Continue reading Pints & Union, a London pub in New Albany

We dine well at a proper distance on Selena’s patio

I’ve never been tempted to sample fugu, the Japanese pufferfish whose internal organs are filled with poison so powerful that even a speck left in your sashimi by a careless chef can drop you dead after a few horrifying hours of pain. Plenty of Japanese gourmands will pay upwards of $200 for a fugu meal, but not me.

Why bring this up? Because the idea of sitting down for a meal at a local restaurant during this pandemic felt way too much like bellying up to a fugu bar. I needed to think it over before sitting down to something that’s sounds like fun but that could kill you.

And yet we did it anyway, settling in on the pretty, shady and very properly distanced patio at Selena’s at Willow Lake Tavern this week. We had a good meal and a good time, too, albeit against a backdrop of nervous unease perhaps similar to the emotions that fugu aficionados must feel. Continue reading We dine well at a proper distance on Selena’s patio

Carry out your Guinness, and dinner too, at Irish Rover

Some people crave potato chips or chocolate. The other day I started craving Guinness stout. The more I thought about that dark, malty, bitter-chocolate beer with its creamy head so thick that you could float a farthing on it, the more I wanted a pint.

Thanks to Kentucky’s newly enlightened alcohol laws, a call to the Irish Rover put that right, and got us a delicious Irish dinner to enjoy with it too. Continue reading Carry out your Guinness, and dinner too, at Irish Rover

Soft shell crab tacos lure us to Red Hog

It all started, as things so often do, on social media. I was browsing Instagram, tapping through a lot of the local restaurants that I follow, when a simple white-on-black text image caught my eye.

Taco Tuesday,” read the post from Red Hog Artisan Butcher. And then the clincher: “Fried Soft Shell Crab Tacos!Continue reading Soft shell crab tacos lure us to Red Hog

Agave & Rye brings a new generation of flavor

OK, Boomer, buh-bye. Yo, Millennial, come on in! That’s the sound of generational change on the north end of the Baxter Avenue strip, as the classy Bittner’s furniture and upscale fare of the defunct Ward 426 makes way for the bright street murals and fancy tacos of Agave & Rye.

Ward 426, a venture of former Jack Fry’s Chef Shawn Ward and the late Dean Corbett, held on for a good five-year run after supplanting the Brewery, a popular bar. But perhaps upscale fare and quiet class weren’t an ideal match for Baxter Avenue, while street art and what they call “chef-inspired” tacos fit right in. Continue reading Agave & Rye brings a new generation of flavor

Chef changes keep Mesh on tasty track

As smoothly as a runner receiving the baton in a fast relay, new hands have taken charge of the kitchen at Mesh restaurant without missing a step. If you’re looking for casual modern elegance for holiday-season dining, Mesh should definitely be on your list. Continue reading Chef changes keep Mesh on tasty track

However you pronounce SOU, we sure like it.

SOU might mean “South.” It could represent “soul.” Yet the proper way to pronounce the name of this new Plainview-area eatery is not “sow” or “soo” but “So-you.” Intentional ambiguity seems to lie at the heart of this upscale dining room in a thoroughly renovated former Skyline Chili parlor, and that’s all right. Continue reading However you pronounce SOU, we sure like it.