I can’t be the only one who’s noticed that Louisville keeps making the national and international news lately for its chefs, restaurants and foodie scene. Maybe I’m just noticing more because we cut the cable umbilical at home a couple of months ago, but I don’t really think so – a lot of these recent articles and mentions are in other media besides television. In the last six weeks alone, it’s as if the national culinary media were astronomers discovering Planet Louisville for the first time, orbiting along deliciously at the other end of their telescopes.
Continue reading Critical mass
Tom+Chee does it on a donut … or not
What doesn’t go better on a donut?
As I write this, I am still faintly aquiver with the sensory memory of a childhood pleasure, the s’more — that classic combination of crisp, slightly sweet graham cracker set with a couple squares of Hershey bar, topped with the melty, sugary, caramelized joy of a fire-roasted marshmallow just hot enough to melt the milky chocolate … and then, the pièce de résistance, the crème de la crème, all this goodness squished between halves of a sizzling, seductively greasy grilled donut. Mmmmm, dooooonuts.
I bet you think I’m at the State Fair.
Continue reading Tom+Chee does it on a donut … or not
Pick your avatar at Dragon King’s Daughter
Maybe this is just my wacky imagination talking, but I’ve always thought Dragon King’s Daughter sounded like a good name for a really intense online role-playing game.
It would be a game full of samurai warrior avatars, of course, but it would have to have moustachio’d bandidos too, as DKD (as its fans abbreviate it) manages to fit both Japanese and Mexican flavors — and a lot more, too — into a single menu, and somehow it works.
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Whatever you think it means, Mojito does tapas right
Who doesn’t like a table full of tapas? These days, when just about every eatery from diners and dives to classy upscale joints offers small plates to tickle the taste buds, tapas are just about everywhere.
But that word may not mean quite what you think it means. Continue reading Whatever you think it means, Mojito does tapas right
Bazo’s shows off the fine art of the fish taco
Gather ’round, youngsters, and I’ll tell you about a time when fish tacos were unknown in our town.
It wasn’t all that long ago, really — as recently as the ’90s — when the idea of putting fish on a taco pretty much struck everyone as weird and unappetizing. Or so it seemed to everyone who hadn’t tasted the original at taco shacks on Mexico’s Pacific Coast beaches, or at Rubio’s in Old Town San Diego, anyway.
But that was before Bazo’s arrived in town with a more than credible version of Rubio’s original, and suddenly the idea of putting crunchy, golden-brown and delicious nuggets of fried white fish on a soft corn tortilla with shredded cabbage and spicy white crema didn’t seem so strange anymore. Continue reading Bazo’s shows off the fine art of the fish taco
Troubleshootin’
A couple of weeks ago, a new sheriff rode into town: Eric Flack, WAVE 3 Troubleshooter. Mr. Flack spent most of an afternoon (at least!) gathering the information for a regular expose of the seedy underbelly of local food truck sanitation practices. The shocking footage was shot at multiple locations including a three-tub wash station at a temporarily-licensed mobile vendor – not an actual food truck with a permanent annual certification. Again, this was not a food truck; it was a guy with a two-week temporary permit, a travel trailer and a canopy tent.
Continue reading Troubleshootin’
If Manny doesn’t feed your spirit, Merle will
It’s noisy, casual and fun. Located in a historic building in a historic neighborhood, its food and music and liquor celebrate the folk culture of Bakersfield, gritty capital of the south end of California’s agricultural Central Valley, where Chicano and Okie ways met and mingled in a zesty ethnic stew.
You think I’m talking about The Silver Dollar, right? Not so fast, bubbeleh. This is Manny & Merle on Market Street, the latest venture of Tony Palombino, the paterfamilias of Louisville’s popular Boombozz pizza chain and incubator poppa of a dozen restaurant concepts, some of which flew while others fell not far from the nest.
Continue reading If Manny doesn’t feed your spirit, Merle will
Vietnamese and American flavors meet and mingle at Four Sisters
I learned in grade school that America was a melting pot, a vast cultural amalgam made up of gifts from national and ethnic groups around the world, molten into sturdy steel to which every group contributed its special strength and character. I thought that was pretty cool back then, and I still do.
But upon more mature reflection, living and dining in a modern Louisville that’s far more diverse than the white-bread city where I grew up, I think maybe it’s even more accurate to describe us as a cooking pot, into which each generation of new immigrants has added appetizing ingredients to build an amazing national stew.
Continue reading Vietnamese and American flavors meet and mingle at Four Sisters
The Game’s afoot, and so is the veggie burger
“Wake up! Wake up! Come on! Come on! The Game is afoot!”
WTF?
There I was, enjoying a restorative after-work power-nap, and here’s Mary shaking me awake with some kind of weird Holmes-and-Watson shtick.
“GAME!” she yelled. “We’ve gotta get over to Game while we can still get a table!”
Continue reading The Game’s afoot, and so is the veggie burger
At Lolita’s, it’s all about the avocado burrito
Lolita’s Tacos, a bright spot in the culinary landscape of Poplar Level Road near the Watterson, is a great place for lunch, but it’s a good idea to show up early. The other day, the tiny eatery’s handful of tables were already filling up by 11:30 a.m. Many of the diners, it seemed, had come on pilgrimage to get Lolita’s trademark favorite, the avocado burrito.
Continue reading At Lolita’s, it’s all about the avocado burrito