This may seem a topic better suited for Halloween than the dead of icy winter coming up on Fat Tuesday, but hey, let’s talk about “haunted” restaurant locations. Local foodies quickly learn about these venues that seem to labor under a curse, housing one short-lived restaurant failure after another. Continue reading Can Riviera Maya exorcise a haunted venue?
We wrestle and win at El Taco Luchador
Okay, Taco Luchador, we get the “taco” part. But what the heck is a “luchador”?
Simple, señoras y señores! The luchador is a skilled artisan, a practitioner of lucha libre (“free fight”), the manly art of self-defense. In other words, luchadores are Mexican pro wrestlers. But trust me on this, lucha libre makes the overweight, steroid-pumped thespians of the WWE look like a bunch of slow-moving sissies. Continue reading We wrestle and win at El Taco Luchador
Exchange Pub + Kitchen, a Pillar of Its Community
How good is Exchange Pub + Kitchen? Why, it’s a Pillar of its community.
I mean that literally: This month the popular spot in New Albany’s buzzing downtown dining scene won one of the city’s Pillar Awards, which recognize contributors to downtown restoration and renovation. Exchange Pub won the Horizon Award, honoring co-owners Ian and Nikki Hall for their 2012 move from the Grant Line Road area into the historic 1875-era Shrader Stables building downtown, the New Albany Tribune reported.
Continue reading Exchange Pub + Kitchen, a Pillar of Its Community
Ginza glitters, but ultimately disappoints
As the signature upscale shopping district in Tokyo, Ginza is a landmark akin to Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, Miraflores in Lima or Chicago’s purportedly magnificent Michigan Avenue. Which suggests that Ginza Asian Bistro, a newish suburban eatery in Louisville, has set itself to a mighty high standard with its choice of moniker.
When you first step through the door of this flashy spot on Shelbyville Road near Hurstbourne, with its pools of translucent blue, green and red lights marking out space on the ceilings and walls, lots of mirrors and an oversize lighted fish tank, you might feel a flash of high color and high tech that could make you think, “Ginza, yeah!” Continue reading Ginza glitters, but ultimately disappoints
Jet’s Takes Off With Detroit-Style Pizza
If there was ever any doubt that pizza has truly become an all-American treat, it was surely put to rest with Pizzagate this week, when New York City’s new mayor Bill de Blasio provoked screams of outrage when he attacked a gooey pie at a Gotham pizzeria with – the horror – a knife and fork. “Blasphemy! No one would ever do such a thing in Italy,” the angry hordes shrieked.
Actually, that’s not really true. Continue reading Jet’s Takes Off With Detroit-Style Pizza
Learn your French tastefully at Louis Le Français
All right, boys and girls, it’s time for our French lesson!
First, let’s review: “Bonjour” … “Merci!” … “S’il vous plaît” … “Je voudrais un verre de vin rouge.”
Continue reading Learn your French tastefully at Louis Le Français
Napa River Grill’s Sunday brunch is eggs-actly delicious
Today, let us consider the incredible egg: a gift of nature that’s supremely edible when we handle it right, but when it’s raw or overcooked, not so much.
You see, eggs coagulate, a process the American Egg Board explains as “the denaturation of protein, which is when proteins lose their native, water-soluble structure and become insoluble. … The change of state — from liquid to solid or semi-solid, known as coagulation or gelation — results when the egg protein structure is altered from its native form by whipping or heating, or both.”
Yeah, right, OK, so what? Well, as it happens, this process can be both a blessing and a curse for those who love eggs and the chefs who cook them. Continue reading Napa River Grill’s Sunday brunch is eggs-actly delicious
A Year of Delight in Memorable Dishes
Ho hum, it’s New Year’s Day, or mighty close to it, anyway. Shall we do another boring end-of-the-year wrap-up on the Louisville eats beat?
Hmm. NuLu, NuLu, Nulu, small plates, locavore, snout-to-tail, Food Network, tapas, noisy, trendy, comfort food. Naah. Been there, done that, over and over again.
Let’s try something a little different! To mark the cosmic calendar’s flipping over to 2014, I thought it might be fun to look back at some of the dishes I’ve enjoyed over the past year in restaurant reviews – along with a couple more picked off in casual dining expeditions over the holidays. Continue reading A Year of Delight in Memorable Dishes
What’s up, Chef? Next year’s food trends are old stuff here
Is this town trendy or what? For foodies, I mean. I understand Louisville has the reputation as a place where the latest fashion trends arrive five years after they’re oh-so dead in New York.
But when it comes to food, if the National Restaurant Association’s 2014 Culinary Forecast is any guide, we’re not only on top of most national eats trends but we also have already seen a few of them crest, surf over the top and fall back. Continue reading What’s up, Chef? Next year’s food trends are old stuff here
That’s what I said
January: In an attempt to choose a catchy title for my column about the closing of Lynn’s, I found that each of the fantastic puns I came up with had already been used elsewhere. Note to self: Don’t ever try to fit the word “cornbread” into a Lady Gaga lyric again.
February: Last February, I rambled a bit about the European horsemeat controversy. Continue reading That’s what I said