All right, who ordered all this raw fish? At the rate things are going, the city’s Bardstown-Baxter strip is going to have to change its nickname from restaurant row to something like … well, how does “The Boulevard of Bistros and Sushi Bars” sound?
Continue reading Wasabiya serves creative sushi, but not without a few flaws
Voice-Tribune review by Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes
Thailand’s tropical shores, forests and mountains are home to beautiful orchids, making this beautiful tropical flower all but the unofficial symbol of this ancient Southeast Asian kingdom.
Hailing Thailand’s symbolic flower in its name, Louisville’s Thai Orchid arrived last year when Sala Thai departed Jeffersontown’s Stony Brook for a downtown location (now sadly defunct).
Continue reading Thai Orchids bloom in Stony Brook
More than 30 years after the first wave of Vietnamese immigrants came to Louisville, these refugees and their children and grandchildren have moved into the mainstream of community life.
Much like our Latino, Bosnian, Senegalese and other immigrant neighbors, these refugees of war brought Louisville a gift that delights both our hearts and our tummies. Our Vietnamese community has made a significant contribution to the cityscape in the form of inviting Vietnamese restaurants and groceries. Continue reading Café Thuy Van: Vietnamese off the beaten path
Foodies, food lovers and food geeks who’ve been around town for a while will recall the happy shock that comes with the discovery of an ethnic spot that stands out from the pack: A new arrival with food preparation and style that hint at something special going on in the kitchen.
So it was with Vietnam Kitchen, almost a generation ago now, around the same time as the Mayan Gypsy truck went land-based with its first bricks-and-mortar location. More recently, we’ve seen it with Saffron’s for Iranian and Red Pepper for hardcore authentic Chinese.
In each case, the food, the mood and the service — but especially the food — signal that this place is, well, different.
Now welcome another ethnic standout, TanThai Cuisine of Thailand. Continue reading TanThai sets new standard in Thai food
By Kevin Gibson
LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes
The familiar logo on the former Lentini’s reads “Café Mimosa,” but the sandwich board out front says it all: “We open now!”
A fire destroyed Café Mimosa’s former location — along with its partner Egg Roll Machine — in January. Owner Phat Le vowed to reopen; the former Lentini’s made sense since, well, he already owned it.
The new Mimosa, replacing recent tenant Jarfi’s, seems more upscale than the old, but food and prices are much the same.
Continue reading Café Mimosa returns
With all due respect, the Fern Creek neighborhood has long been the kind of place where “ethnic” means barbecue or diner fare.
But the arrival last year of Sake Blue, one of the region’s top Japanese restaurants, changed that metric forever. Now add Thai to the mix with the opening of True Thai in the Glenmary Plaza shopping center just beyond the Snyder.
Continue reading Thai comes to Fern Creek
“I just can’t do sushi,” my Facebook friend Suzie in Arkansas posted. “It’s the redneck in me.”
Maybe. But even the most ardent sushi-hater could be rehabilitated at Dragon King’s Daughter, where Toki Masabuchi puts an international twist on the creative sushi delights that have built her a loyal following at Maido Essential Japanese in Clifton.
Continue reading Dragon King’s Daughter gives sushi a new twist
If you think of a Japanese restaurant, sushi may cross your mind, assuming you’re a reasonably adventurous diner. Not so adventurous? Then the fun of Japanese slice-and-dice chefs showing off their utensil-tossing techniques at hibachi tables may ring your gong.
Continue reading Mikato brings Japanese flair to old Napa River space
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LEO’s Eats with LouisvilleHotBytes.com
Does size matter? Some of the Metro’s tiniest restaurants rank among its most cozy and attractive. From this assertion I do not exclude New Albany’s iconic Little Chef, a 10-seat diner so small that it once wore wheels; or, for that matter, the trendy, crowded, noisy and compact new 732 Social on East Market Street, about which we’ll be telling you more anon.
This week, though, we turn to another Lilliputian favorite, Simply Thai, housed in the freestanding building at the corner of Wallace and Wilmington avenues in St. Matthews.
Succeeding a short-lived barbecue joint and a forgettable Chinese fast-food eatery, Simply Thai crams about eight tables into a small space, with a couple more patio tables out front.
Continue reading Tiny Simply Thai packs ’em in
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
Not so long ago – well, back in the early ’80s – the only place in town to get sushi was a downtown diner, where a Japanese woman came in on Thursdays to produce a special sushi lunch for a small but ardent corps of cognoscenti.
A generation or so later, more than 20 eats emporia provide Japanese fare across the metro area, most of them boasting good to excellent sushi bars. You can even buy sushi boxes at local grocery stores.
Just about everybody in town, or every sushi lover anyway, has a favorite, and a roster of top spots (Kansai, Sake Blue, Raw Sushi Lounge, Jarfi’s Bistro and Z’s Fusion) showed off their wares last month at the annual Sushi in the City gala. The all-you-can-eat event and competition at the Henry Clay was for the benefit of the Family Scholar House of Louisville.
New restaurants carried off top honors, with a judging panel rating the entry from Z’s Fusion as Sushi of the Year. The audience, however, followed another favorite, voting the “People’s Choice” award to the city’s newest Japanese restaurant, Sake Blue.
Continue reading Sake Blue is on a roll – lots of rolls
