Okay, let’s review the geography of pizza, nature’s most nearly perfect food.
Born in Naples, Italy, it came to the United States with Italian immigrants and soon became a favorite in New York City and the urban Northeast.
Like so many other things, this deliciously cheesy, tangy, salty supper on a plate went national with the Baby Boom. And as it grew, it evolved, taking on regional differences as cities made it their own.
Continue reading Stop! In the name of Loui Loui’s Motown pizza
When DiOrio’s pizza first settled into the former home of Karem’s Meats in St. Matthews, it already seemed that this booming nightspot zone was attracting more pizzerias than it could reasonably handle … and that was before Coal’s or Mellow Mushroom came to town.
Continue reading DiOrio’s earns its place on Pizza Row
“Downtown” St. Matthews has come a long way, from the generation when it was best known for dark bars populated by portly gentlemen drinking cold beer, to the modern era that finds it chockablock with hipster bars populated by trendy young folks wearing skinny jeans and drinking specialty cocktails. I won’t even open the door to a discussion about whether this trend is beneficial or regrettable, although I’ll suggest that this opinion lies largely in the eye of the beholder.
Continue reading “It takes real bocconcini”: Mellow Mushroom takes on the locals
I would rather not over-share about this, and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t want me to do that either; so let’s just say that a few years ago, I was invited to participate in a routine diagnostic exam that’s widely recommended for Baby Boomers as we slouch through middle age. I might add that this procedure involves a form of mild anesthesia so soft and fuzzy and warmly relaxing that I’m pretty sure it would bring down SWAT teams of DEA agents in black helicopters if it wasn’t administered by medical professionals.
Bear with me here.
Continue reading We get mellow at the Mushroom
“Casapela.” Utter this word slowly, with Mediterranean rhythm, assonant and mellifluous, “Cah-sa-PEH-laaaah,” and it sounds as Italian as Tony Bennett crooning “Arrivederci, Roma.” But plug it into Google Translate or ask a friendly Italian what “Casapela” means, exactly, and you come up with nothing. Zero, zip, even, well, niente.
Continue reading DiFabio’s offers fine, family-style Italian
Ahh, pizza! I’ve long argued that this all-American Italian treat is one of nature’s most nearly perfect foods. Salty, crisp, gooey, dripping with delicious cheese and loaded with all manner of goodies, it’s a decadent snack.
Continue reading Uncle Maddio’s Wins With Pizza In A Hurry
“Volare, oh oh … Cantare, oh oh oh oh … Let’s fly way up to the clouds …” With Dean Martin’s classic rendition of the pop Italian ballad firmly planted in our ears, let’s talk about Volare and how it fits into the pantheon of Louisville’s top Italian tables.
It’s all connected, after all, and goes back to the 1970s, when, for a century or more, “Italian” food had meant the hearty, tomato-sauced American-immigrant fare that families brought through Ellis Island from Calabria and Sicily, Italy’s poverty-ridden deep south.
Continue reading Volare continues the upscale Italian tradition
If you like the way the crew at Salsarita’s, Qdoba, Quizno’s or Moe’s throws together a burrito to order, using fresh ingredients they assemble on the spot, I think you might like Uncle Maddio’s pizza, too.
Continue reading Get your pizza burrito-style at Uncle Maddio’s
Hold on a minute! Didn’t we just write about pizza last month, with a report on Frascelli’s in Crestwood?
Well, yeah.
And not that long ago, around Christmas, didn’t we review Di Orio’s, a new pizzeria in St. Matthews?
That, too.
I told you that pizza was getting to be the next really big thing. Continue reading Coals ranks high among the city’s pizzerias
Pizza! It’s what’s for lunch, and what’s for dinner too. You can even enjoy it as breakfast, cold from the fridge or reconstituted in the oven. You can make it healthy with light veggies and skimpy cheese; or you can load it up with a meat lover’s special, double down on the cheese, and give a cardiologist nightmares.
Pizza! St. Matthews is awash in pizzerias these days, and I expect that’s because its burgeoning nightspot scene has become a rival to the metro’s other busy night-life zones, and all that boozy frolicking calls for something cheesy, salty and substantial that’s available late.
Continue reading Frascelli’s offers a taste of New York in Crestwood
