By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
I really wanted to enjoy an al fresco lunch last Saturday. Conditions were perfect. Spring’s green had grown into a summery green canopy, and mild weather had finally shown up after a long, cool spring.
Then I heard an annoyed yell from the other room. Mary had just checked the weather forecast! Midday temperatures in the upper 50s, partly cloudy, with steady north winds and gusts to 24 mph?
Continue reading Naive’s patio offers comfort on a chilly dayBy Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
One of the many memorable immigrant stories in Louisville culinary history wrapped up last month when Chef Anoosh Shariat concluded a 30-year career in local kitchens, retiring from his namesake Anoosh Bistro. Over a year earlier, Shariat had trimmed his workload by selling his other popular East End eatery, Noosh Nosh.
New management at both establishments was quick to assure a wary public that no major changes would be forthcoming at either of the restaurants, which are situated just across a parking lot from each other at Brownsboro Center.
Continue reading Anoosh has left the building, but Noosh Nosh keeps up the paceBy Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
I love pizza. You know that. I consider it one of nature’s most perfect foods, a balanced and nutritious blend of fat, protein, and mmm, mmm. carbs in a delicious meal on a plate that you can eat with your fingers or, if you must, knife and fork.
I’m so fond of this treat from Naples by way of New York City, widely modified across the United States and made indisputably our own, that I could review it every week if only my editors would let me.
But lately, it seems, I’ve been striking out on pizza just often enough to make me wonder if my tastes are changing or if pizza is.
Continue reading Looking for Mr. Goodpizza: The PostBy Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
Here’s the thing you should probably understand about the five restaurants that line the walls of cavernous Village Market in Paristown: This is a place to have fun and grab a bite and a drink and enjoy music, and that’s a good thing.
Just don’t expect a destination dining experience. That’s my conclusion after a Saturday visit and stops for a bite at each of the five eateries and a long look at its extensive bar.
Continue reading Fun, music, and five local eateries at The Village MarketBy Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
Kathmandu: Even the sound of the name of Nepal’s historic capital, gateway to the Himalayas, evokes feelings of romance and exotic travel. The bustling, noisy city of 850,000 lies in a green valley at 4,500 feet above sea level. It’s not even as high as Denver, but on a clear day you can see Mount Everest from historic Durbar Square in the old city, home to seven Unesco World Heritage sites.
Want to go? It will take you maybe 26 hours including layover time to get to Kathmandu from here. The price? Don’t even ask.
But here’s an easy workaround: Head to Kathmandu Kitchen on Old Bardstown Road in Buechel, and you can enjoy a fantastic Nepalese meal without all the hassle of international travel.
Continue reading Kathmandu Kitchen: A taste of NepalBy Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
You probably didn’t even notice that I didn’t bother to talk about fried fish for Lent this year. Everyone else was doing it, it seemed, including our pals at LEO Weekly, so why add another voice to the chorus?
Plus, to be frank, with more than one-fourth of Americans now describing their religious affiliation as “nothing in particular,” and no more than one-tenth of the remaining religiously affiliated strictly observing abstinence from meat during Lent, it felt like the pressure was off.
On the other hand …
Continue reading It doesn’t have to be Lent to enjoy Sharks SeafoodBy Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
Here’s a good way to start a noisy debate among Louisville food lovers: Ask for opinions on where to get the best bagel in town. Want to kick it up another notch? Ask you can even get a bialy hereabouts.
What’s a bialy? See what I mean? A lot of us have so little exposure to this rarely seen cousin to the bagel that we’re not even sure what it is.
More about that shortly. First, though, let’s put our hands together and welcome our town’s latest bagel shop: Born2Bagel, which opened last autumn in a Middletown shopping-strip storefront at the corner of Shelbyville Road and Blankenbaker Parkway.
Continue reading Born2Bagel and lox and bialys, oh my!By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
It’s easy to run out of superlatives when we’re talking about the barbecue at Four Pegs in Germantown.
What?
Continue reading Four Pegs scores with smoky wings, ribs, and … jackfruit!?By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
It was a chilly, cloudy Saturday morning in January. The temperature was hovering around 37º. Even so, the sidewalk tables in front of Frankfort Avenue’s beloved Blue Dog Bakery & Café were filling up just the same, hungry travelers clad in parkas and mittens, eagerly awaiting a steaming coffee drink and pastry treat.
Inside Blue Dog’s warm, cozy space was jammed with more eager supplicants. Counter service would begin any moment, and they were ready.
“It’s always like this,” Blue Dog’s new owner Libbie Ackerman Loeser said with a smile.
Continue reading Blue Dog’s new owner keeps on keeping onBy Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com
I felt pretty sad last month when I read El Mundo’s social-media post announcing management’s decision to “put the original, quirky, tiny Frankfort Avenue location on pause until the Spring.”
The good news was that El Mundo’s newer, larger Highlands shop, which opened during the Covid-19 pandemic, remains open. It has expanded service to seven days a week, and recently launched an impressive Saturday, Sunday, and Monday brunch.
Continue reading El Mundo’s new brunch warms and satisfies
