Every now and then a new local place to eat and drink makes me exceptionally happy. Sure, I’m always glad to see any new eatery come to town. But now and then a fresh arrival delivers such pleasure in its food, drink, and mood that it makes me jump up and down in delight.
Consider, if you will, Pints & Union in downtown New Albany, the utterly lovable restaurant … er, no, beer bar? … um, no, not that, nor a brewpub either. It’s a public house, a European-style pub, then, built into the beautifully renovated shell of an 1880s-era general store that later served as a neighborhood saloon. Continue reading Good beer, good food boost Pints & Union’s cozy pub vibe→
I love The Café on Brent. I go there for lunch or breakfast – or both – about as often as I can go to any eatery that I’m not reviewing. It’s almost always crowded, and there’s a reason for that: It’s good. Continue reading The Café enjoys enduring popularity→
Say what you will about the French, they are a carnivorous people. French cuisine is full of beef, lamb, pork, chicken, fish, toutes les viandes! All the meats!
But I’m pretty sure Julia Child’s recipe box never contained a recipe for tofu. When I walk into a French restaurant, I expect a bill of fare centered on meat, poultry, and fish, because that’s how the French roll. Or cook. Continue reading Brasserie Provence takes us to France, très bon!→
I am, in modern parlance, “an old,” so I remember the unsettling scene from 1976’s “The Marathon Man” in which a Nazi war criminal, played by Laurence Olivier, repeatedly asks Dustin Hoffman “Is it safe?” while laying out dental instruments with which to torture him with. Hoffman – terrified, sweating, strapped to a chair – replies “Yes, it’s safe, it’s very safe, it’s so safe you wouldn’t believe it.” Whenever I see the blue polo shirt of a Metro Health Department inspector slip into my place of employment, my brain coughs up this scene. Continue reading Is it Safe?→
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards,” the great 19th century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once said, and Kierkegaard should have known: The founder of existentialism, he coined the word “angst.” He called out for us to live passionately, worrying more about the problem of living life than trying to fit the social order.
What’s more, Kierkegaard came from Denmark, which also gave us the great film Babette’s Feast, that deep dive into human nature that is also perhaps the greatest foodie flick ever.
There has to be a message for us here. I think it’s calling on me to take a late-summer pause in the neverending flow of reports on eateries old and new, just for this week following the philosopher’s counsel to look backward as a way to guide our journey forward. Continue reading Looking backward: A retrospective progressive dinner→
When Portage House Chef Paul Skulas jumped across the river to open Couvillion in Germantown, Chef Dallas McGarity of Fat Lamb added Portage House to his portfolio so quickly that the ovens didn’t even have time to cool down. Continue reading Fine dining with a view at Portage House→
The dragon king’s daughter, ancient Buddhist tradition tells us, was an eight-year-old female dragon who became the first woman ever to reach enlightenment. Female, young, in the form of an animal? It seemed impossible for such a creature to attain Buddhahood – and yet she did it.
There could be no more appropriate spirit animal for Toki Masabuchi, proprietor of the popular Dragon King’s Daughter restaurants on Bardstown Road and in Southern Indiana. We crossed the river recently to check out its new, larger location on New Albany’s Market Street. Continue reading Dragon King’s Daughter achieves enlightenment→
Well, let’s parse that a little: Meet the new 80/20@Kaelin’s. It’s not like the old Kaelin’s, but it’s certainly rooted in the mystique of the beloved old eatery at Speed Avenue and Newburg Road.
The original Kaelin’s was a Louisville favorite for most of the past century, family-owned from 1934 until its family owners sold the business in 2004. Owner Carl Kaelin was allegedly inspired to invent the cheeseburger on a brisk October day in 1935. Continue reading 80/20 @ Kaelin’s makes the old tradition new again→
It’s tempting, isn’t it? You’re out with a bunch of friends, or maybe with a date. A server leads you to a table; menus open. You can’t resist. You lean in and speak the magic sentence: “I know the chef.” In your imagination, this will be met with surprised, quiet gasps of pleasure. Don’t chance it. At this stage of the game, it’s a crap shoot, and so many things could go awry, it’s not worth that one moment of smug satisfaction. Continue reading I Know the Chef→
You’d think I’ve been doing this culinary critiquing long enough that I’ve been just about everywhere and tried just about everything. But the other night Anoosh Bistro delivered a first: An appetizer so fine that I couldn’t eat just one. Continue reading Anoosh Bistro’s memorable fare delights→
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