Fontleroy's: The buzz builds

[Robin Garr]

Fontleroy's: The buzz builds

LEO's Eats with Robin Garr

The steak-and-egg burger at Fontleroy's


To hear the buzz emanating from the local foodie blogosphere you might think that the newborn Fontleroy's represents the second coming of Chef Georges Auguste Escoffier or somebody.

They've got a point, too. There is a lot to like about Fontleroy's. It's Chef Allan Rosenberg's latest venture, and he's cheffed a string of winners with a relentless focus on food quality and creative preparation. Service is very strong. And our own Marsha ("Industry Standard") Lynch whomps up some excellent desserts. It's in a great Bardstown Road location, and it's fun.

But let's have a reality check on the buzz machine: Yes, this little eatery has a lot going for it. It has a lot of potential. But it's young. It's new. It's really good, but it's a little early to declare it the next big thing. It takes a while to work the kinks out of even the finest startup; and the smartest chefs - I'm pretty sure that Rosenberg belongs in this group - know that there's always room for improvement. They don't just open the doors and then sit back and wait for applause.

They've put a lot of effort and no small expense into converting the former Uncle Maddio's space into something more stylish. The shiny new white subway tile, though, prompted Mary to snark that it looks like a McDonald's. Our friend Anne, who is not usually known for snark, doubled down on that, adding, "It looked like McDonalds went to TJ Maxx and got a sparkly cheap new dress."

The tile walls plus marble tile flooring, large glass windows, undraped wood-look tables and not overly comfortable metal chairs make for a hard-edged environment that bounces sound around. "I couldn't hear you guys across the table without leaning in and cocking my ears," Anne said. I think our friend Don said something like that, too, but I couldn't make it out.

On the plus side, the menu is short but well-chosen, save for a shortage of vegetarian and vegan options unusual for the hip Highlands scene. Careful attention is given to quality, mostly local ingredients; indeed, food prep and quality in general is four-star, and I'd expect no less from a chef of Rosenberg's skills. Marsha's desserts were as memorable as we expected, and service from industry veteran Patrick K. was friendly, courteous and professional.

So, yes, there's a lot to like. Go. You'll be happy. Expect excellent food and service and a thoughful, if short, drinks program, all at surprisingly fair prices for the neighborhood. But don't expect a Michelin-starred gastronomic temple, because that would be silly. ...


Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/?p=5392

See this column also in LEO Weekly:
http://www.leoweekly.com/2015/10/fontle ... zz-builds/

Fontleroy's
2011 Grinstead Drive
882-2507
Facebook: http://bit.ly/Fontleroys
Robin Garr's rating: 90 points

Wow, Robin, it's almost as if you were channeling my experience. My wife and I ate there Monday night and we liked it and will likely return. However, we too noticed the same elements that detracted from the dinner. We felt like we were meant to be party to a conversation that was practically on the other side of the dining area. Let's just say that sound abatement is NOT on the menu. We, too, found a heavy hand with the salt shaker. This was true of all three dishes we sampled: Fried green tomatoes, burger, and, oddly enough, the bacon and egg salad. The latter seemed to have course, flaked salt liberally scattered throughout. I enjoyed all three dishes, but would appreciate it if they dialed the salt back a bit. My wife is more heavy-salt averse than I am, so I know she would appreciate it.
Still, I don't want to sound overly negative and I look forward to returning, probably for lunch because that sloppy-dog is screaming at me. Our service was excellent, and Marsha's peanut butter pie was outstanding. Almost as good as our benchmark--Missy's from Lexington. Oh, and that burger shot straight to the top of my "gourmet" burger list. Man, the gooey egg, perfectly crisped bacon and caramalized onion are a winning combination, even if just a tad thirst-inducing.

Still don't understand how these "high level" restaurateurs will spend all this money on a business, building, marketing...

...yet can't put together a simple website w/ menu.

Facebook doesn't count.


Drives me nuts. #rant

[Robin Garr]

...yet can't put together a simple website w/ menu.

Facebook doesn't count.


Drives me nuts. #rant

Sorry about the nutsiness, but I'm afraid that train has left the station. I know of a lot of institutions - not just restaurants - who find that the majority of their online traffic now comes in through the Facebook page, not the web. (I agree that having both is optimal, but I suspect that part of the deal is that a Facebook page is easy to do in-house, while people feel that they can't do a good website on their own and end up paying bucks for a hack job that the developer won't keep updated.)

Still don't understand how these "high level" restaurateurs will spend all this money on a business, building, marketing...

...yet can't put together a simple website w/ menu.

Facebook doesn't count.


Drives me nuts. #rant

That's certainly one of my pet peeves also! In addition, it's gotten so many restaurants don't post their menus any place, they think just posting pictures is sufficient. I do know about you but it's hard to tell what many of these dishes are without a menu, the pictures may look great but....

Still don't understand how these "high level" restaurateurs will spend all this money on a business, building, marketing...

...yet can't put together a simple website w/ menu.

Facebook doesn't count.


Drives me nuts. #rant

While the curmudgeon in me agrees (I actually scream, "Why do you not having a *%($*$# website or menu" about once a month) , it's generally not worth the expenditure or time. A Facebook page and a few additions to Google and Bing tend to take care of that completely for you. And the Facebook business pages, from experience, are incredibly easy to do, and free.

Putting together a simple website using Wix is so easy and free, there's literally no excuse.
It took me a little over an hour to put this one for the On Tapp Dairy.
http://www.ontappdairy.com

Putting together a simple website using Wix is so easy and free, there's literally no excuse.
It took me a little over an hour to put this one for the On Tapp Dairy.
http://www.ontappdairy.com

I went to look at it, and got a blank page.

Putting together a simple website using Wix is so easy and free, there's literally no excuse.
It took me a little over an hour to put this one for the On Tapp Dairy.
http://www.ontappdairy.com

I went to look at it, and got a blank page.

It Worked Fine for Me. Nice looking website especially considering how long it took to develop.

Still don't understand how these "high level" restaurateurs will spend all this money on a business, building, marketing...

...yet can't put together a simple website w/ menu.

Facebook doesn't count.


Drives me nuts. #rant

Totally agree.
and as someone that relies on websites and menus before I drive 20 miles into town I can tell you from experience that Face Book does NOT hack it. Not by a long shot. And if you think you are covering your needs with a Face Book account then you are loosing business. Or perhaps it could work if restaurants would load their info on it properly. I have gone to FaceBook pages for some very popular restaurants looking for simple things like hours of operation, do they take reservations, are they opened holidays, Thanksgiving , map, a menu, vegetarian options, a phone number to come away with 30 photos of a restaurant's latest menu addition (pretty!) but no menu. I can see a zillion posts from friends and patrons that have dined there (and raved about it ) but never know exactly where "there" is. Questions like "are you opened on Sundays ? Is it lunch, brunch or buffet?" Or even a phone number so that I can call.

Went back to previous posts and checked out the ontappdairy.com site. Perfect! All you need. In fact I forwarded to some folks that were inquiring about organic meats and dairy. So simple. I did not have to scroll back through weeks and weeks of postings or sort through dozens of photos hoping one of them was a map.

The hardest part of marketing is to get someone's attention in the first place. And in Louisville's extremely competitive dining arena that's hard. So if you do get their attention you are foolish to not maximize that time/opportunity by answering as many of their questions about your restaurant as possible. If you don't, you risk loosing them to someone that will take the time.

Yes yes. Dead horse here.

Thinking I might be behind the times or unfair with my last rant I checked some popular restaurants that rely on FaceBook instead of a website. I DID find hours of operations for MOST days but no mention of holiday hours or even openings. Some did post photos of their menus but they were illedgeable on my iPad. ( more than 200,000,000 iPads sold in the US alone so not like it's a Beta system. I'm not the only one relying on an iPad.) No mention as to yes/no for reservations. Found one map that might as well been of the globe. (Showed one named street so could have been almost anywhere.) That's 4 very basic and needed pieces of info missing.

Again, I don't sell websites, I don't design web sites but I do rely on them. And I am not alone.

I apologize for high jacking this thread.

Putting together a simple website using Wix is so easy and free, there's literally no excuse.
It took me a little over an hour to put this one for the On Tapp Dairy.
http://www.ontappdairy.com

I went to look at it, and got a blank page.

Two different computers running Chrome: blank page

Tablet (Android): nice web page

??????

[Robin Garr]

I went to look at it, and got a blank page. ...

Two different computers running Chrome: blank page

Tablet (Android): nice web page

??????

Just for the record, I have no problem seeing it with Chrome on my iMac (OS X El Capitan, fully updated version of Chrome) or on iPad Air or iPhone 6+.

It looks a little funky on the iPhone, though and somewhat so on the iPad. It looks like Wix is trying for "responsive" design to fit screens but it's buggy.

Meanwhile, I like their Facebook page a lot.
https://www.facebook.com/On-Tapp-Dairy- ... /timeline/

Having had to help two different people create a Wix site for their businesses (they gave up and went to Wordpress, before giving up there, too), I would remind people that you will never go broke underestimating the technological competence of the average person. But I agree with you entirely that it seems exceedingly easy to me, but there are many people for whom even the most basic "technological" things are tough. And yes, both peoples' companies already had Facebook pages -- likely in large part because out of either choice or necessity, the people doing it are already completely familiar with the Facebook interface.

Also worth pointing out that Facebook Pages are really easy to create and manage even from a telephone -- Wix, WordPress, et. al., not so much. Also, with Facebook, you're getting a far better integrated "visitors" platform (which you can sort of do with Wix/WP with Google Analytics, but it gets more complicated). You have a review section pre-built and included, without needing to add widgets as you do on DIY sites. You also have a much, much larger audience than you will get from the "general web." The "social" side is also included by default, without having to, again, add widgets (which will inevitably go right back to your Facebook or Instagram page) in a rather convoluted way. It also includes event management. And Facebook has the ability to advertise and reach a targeted demographic, though I find it to be not so great a value proposition, already built in. You also have an instant messaging platform built there by default directly to your customers (and, in reality, for younger customers, can actually call them directly from your Facebook page -- no phone required!). Additionally, you don't need to pay for "professional" or web hosting fees for any advanced features, nor have to pay for your own domain name, nor worry about renewing it or re-registering it. Again, all of this is _by default_, with no additional action required.

In short, WIX and WordPress pages are the equivalent, in the "easiest parts to do" of posters or menus. Facebook functions, for better or worse, as a fully integrated website platform for people.

None of these, IMO, are a replacement for a professionally done website, but I think that's an unlikely topic in many cases, given the low profit margins in the restaurant industry, and how expensive good web design (not to be conflated with "that guy who only charges $30 an hr and has no idea what he's doing) is.