North End Cafe has just about become a Louisville institution, and it didn’t take all that long to do so. Co-owner and Chef Christopher Seckman celebrated the 10th anniversary of the original North End Cafe on lower Frankfort Avenue last spring – it’s a place of enduring popularity. Now the second North End Cafe, located at the Douglass Loop in the former Club Grotto location, appears to be going strong after a year and a half.
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Category Archives: Bistros
Vibrant Village Anchor Pub & Roost thrives in old Anchorage
When Village Anchor Pub & Roost and its companion watering hole, The Sea Hag, opened three years ago this past summer, I thought they were pretty cool. But I wondered if they would stick.
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What’s a Brix? Good chow and libations in the ‘burbs
So, what’s a Brix? Let’s ask the Intertubes!
“Degrees Brix (symbol °Bx) is the sugar content of an aqueous solution. One degree Brix is 1 gram of sucrose in 100 grams of solution and represents the strength of the solution as percentage by weight (% w/w). If the solution contains dissolved solids other than pure sucrose, then the °Bx only approximates the dissolved solid content.”
Right! I knew that! Well, I knew the gist of it, anyway. You see, “brix” is wine-geek talk of the highest order, viticultural trade jargon you don’t really need to know at all, unless you’re the boss of a vineyard. It’s the kind of word that separates insiders (who know it’s pronounced “bricks”) from the rest of us, who probably think it’s French and would say it “bree” if we thought about it at all. Continue reading What’s a Brix? Good chow and libations in the ‘burbs
Marketplace: Top Chef, No Hype
We live in the age of the chef-driven restaurant. Across the nation and around the city, chefs have become outside personalities, featured on stage, screen and TV. Louisville has been no exception to this principle, with our top chefs turning up on Food Network, competing in chefly combat and scrambling after awards, honors and, of course, sweet, profitable publicity for Louisville’s eateries and for the city.
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Nine out of nine chaplains say yes to Austin’s
Nine chaplains walked into a bar … which sounds like the lead-in to a really bad joke. It’s a true story, though. I’ve been hanging out with hospital chaplains this summer, and when a bunch of us wanted to find an affordable, decent lunch in relaxing surroundings after a long morning meeting in the East End, Austin’s emerged as a convenient and decent dining option. Continue reading Nine out of nine chaplains say yes to Austin’s
Brunch at the Bristol: The Tradition Endures
Brunch … again? Well, sure! Why not? Brunch, after all, is perhaps the most civilized of meals, a lavish repast shared with friends or family in the low-pressure environment of a favorite setting.
And when better than on those lazy, hazy days of summer Sunday afternoons. Or, now that I think of it, even summer mornings, now that Louisville has joined our Southern Indiana neighbors in permitting the sale of adult beverages with your Sunday meal beginning as early as 10 a.m. Continue reading Brunch at the Bristol: The Tradition Endures
Kentucky’s nectar and fine fare lift Bourbons Bistro
With apologies to Bulwer-Lytton, it really was a dark and stormy night. Rain pounded down. Thunder rolled and lightning flashed — and smartphones throughout the dim room flashed red, pink and green, too, as diners nervously checked the weather radar.
Suddenly a rumbling, clanking roar rang out! It sounded just like a freight train! A tornado? Well, no. It really was the sound of a freight train. This is a thing that just happens when you’re dining out along Frankfort Avenue. Continue reading Kentucky’s nectar and fine fare lift Bourbons Bistro
Equus evolves, but its character stays intact
Few of us are eager to admit we’re getting older. Every now and then, though, some sudden recognition of time’s passing steps up and smacks us in the face with a solid reality check.
Take Equus, for example: A local destination restaurant that opened just a few years ago. Well, OK, OK, it opened in 1985, but who’s counting? Not me, that’s for sure. In some ways, after all, Equus never seems to change very much.
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MilkWood Becomes A Prime Destination
For the first month or so after it opened in February, if you wanted to check out what Chef Edward Lee and his crew were doing at MilkWood, it was easy: Just wait until the play started at Actors Theatre of Louisville upstairs. The restaurant would empty out, and you could enjoy your meal in almost solitary splendor.
This trick doesn’t work so well any more. Continue reading MilkWood Becomes A Prime Destination
Sweet, Sweet Cornbread And More At Napa River Grill
How do you like your cornbread? Like Scarlett O’Hara, most Southern folk don’t give a damn for sweet cornbread. North of the Mason-Dixon, however, cornbread without a touch of sweetness seems just plain weird.
This topic came to mind the other day at Napa River Grill, where we were offered iron mini-skillets loaded with domed rounds of golden-brown cornbread topped with balls of soft butter. It was good cornbread indeed, crunchy on the surface, crumbly within, coarse-grained and sweet, sweet, sweet. You could put this on the dessert menu and call it corn cake.
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