A Foodie Who Has Moved From Seattle

Hello Everyone! We just recently moved to Louisville and have been excited to see what a restaurant town this is. In fact this months issue of Bon Appetit magazine named your city as one of the best "food" towns in the country. We would like to begin the process of trying your restaurants. If we wanted to try, in succession, ten restaurants that best represent Louisville, what would they be? We love everything, from Korean to French.

Welcome to Louisville Hotbytes, Maddy.

My list of ten restaurants in alphebetical order are
Baxter Station,
Equus/Jack's,
Jade Palace (for Saturday/Sunday dimsum from a cart),
Jasmine,
Limestone,
Palermo Viejo,
Saffron's (but it has a new owner with previous staff and I haven't tried that),
Seviche,
Simply Thai,
and Volare.

Any chance you could make it to Louisville on Sunday, November 14 for our Louisville Hotbytes Offline Potluck? We'd love to meet you in person.

There are so many good ones a top 10 is hard.....I will give it a go anyway trying to do one in each category

Seviche - Latin
Havana Rumba- Cuban
Limestone- Progressive Southern
Coach Lamp- New Orleans
Palermo Viejo- Argentinian
Mayan Cafe- Yuca inspired
Oakroom- Fine Dining
Le Relais- French
Avalon- American fusion
Basa- Vietnamese

Honorable Mention:
Lilly's
Corbett's
Jack Fry's
L&N
610 Magnolia
211 Clover

Sorry to any of the greats that I left off. I don't feel you can go wrong with any of them. Incidentally, I was just out in Seattle last summer. Have you ever dined at the Herbfarm?

Welcome, Maddy. My husband moved here from Seattle, as well, so I'll speak from both of our perspectives.

Jack Fry's, without a doubt, is the first place you need to visit. A true Louisville landmark. Former speakeasy, now upscale with heart.

So hard to pick the rest. I'm just going to go, and not overthink it.

Seviche.
Caffe Classico (saffron asiago cakes, eggplant parm pizza.)
Mayan Cafe.
Dragon King's Daughter.
El Mundo.
Lilly's.
Zanzabar (not only for the bar and live music, but for the bar food - pork bbq is my favorite there. Turkey burger and super chips are also notable, plus their steam table lunch.)
The Grape Leaf.
Dak Shin.

Again, welcome to Louisville, and enjoy our 4 seasons!

I know you know this already, and I feel silly about mentioning it, but Seattle is a much bigger city....

But we've got some great places that are also pretty reasonable too, by Seattle standards.

My parents and older sister live in Seattle, and so we go there at least once a year. Both are great cities, imho....

Hey. Welcome to the forum. I'm sure these nice folks have already covered the fine dining aspects of dining in L'ville...So I'll give ya the meat and potatoes and bar food run down.

Stevie's top ten list of places you should try would be:

(Wings) Rooties - no discussion necessary, just do it..
(Fish Sammich) Ignore the "Green River" stuff you'll hear about and go straight for the Lake Erie Perch Sammy at "A New Direction"
(Burger, etc) "Shady Lane". An absolute ROCK STAR of a cafe, probably my favorite lunch place in the world.
(Gumbo and all things Creole) "Selena's" A GREAT little family operated sweetspot.
(Bison Steak) "Westport General". Yum-OH...and the Hot Brown appetizer rocks too.
(BEST outdoor dining) Captains Quarters...period
(BBQ) Texicans - Hands down, again no discussion necessary. Refer all BBQ questions to moi.
(Beer) I'm going with any of the Irish places down on Bardstown, with a shout out to Cumberland.
(Bourbon) "Bourbons Bistro". Good food too, if you're into that kinda thing.
(Pizza) Papalinos...

Welcome to Louisville!
I won't repeat the many excellent restaurants mentioned above I will add a couple:

English Grille in the Brown Hotel - classic traditional restaurant along the lines of the Oakroom
Cafe Lou Lou - eclectic casual restaurant
Selena's - casual Mediterranean Creole fusion
Lynn's Paradise Cafe - a new meaning to the word funky, probably the most published restaurant in Louisville very casual. Especially good breakfast.
Peking City Bistro - a new Chinese restaurant was an excellent chef both traditional and American menus.
Proof on Main - one of the first restaurants in the new wave. Located in the 21c hotel
Z's Steakhouse and Oyster Bar - the name says it all
Havana Rhumba - again the name says it all

There are many others that no one has listed that are still excellent. Finding what you like locally is part of the fun.

Adding a couple from my list that have not been mentioned yet...

Vietnam Kitchen - obviously Vietnamese cuisine
Koreana - again, kinda obvious

For brewpub action:
In Louisville 'proper' - Bluegrass Brewing Company
In what is considered 'Kentuckiana' (probably because Indiucky just sounds kinda wrong) - New Albanian Brewing Company (amazing beer selection, and some pretty good pizza too)

Mojito - excellent place for tapas

You can't go wrong with any of the places mentioned so far...

Welcome......Louisville is Foodie heaven......

Now, I'm going to go on a bit of a leap here, and talk about Sunday brunch. One of my fav subjects:

Ramsi's
The Oak Room
Lynn's Paridise Cafe
Cunninghams
Winston's
Limestone

Now, I am sure that I've missed a few that my fellow foodies will mention, but those are my top picks.

OH, and we are having a potluck that you might want to check out on 11/14. There is a thread on here for that. It's a great opportunity to meet those of us on here, and have some WONDERFUL food.

Welcome

A few that weren't mentioned:

732 Social
Joe Davola's
Mai's Thai (Jeffersonville, IN)
The Blind Pig
Varanese

And in my opinion Louisville is a PIZZA town and we have great independent pizza joints that stretch pies with the best in the country.
I'll disagree with Steve P on the pizza end though and suggest two that are in my opinion top notch:

New Albanian Brewing Company (Grantline Road location in New Albany, IN) - best deep dish, thick crust pie in the metro, try the Upside Down

Cafe Lou Lou's potato pizza is outstanding

(we make a pretty mean pie over here in Charlestown also )

enjoy the 'ville, you're almost in the south

Welcome to THE VILLE Get used to college basketball

Off of the top of my head: These are the places I've been eating at on a semi regular basis lately...

732 Social...This is a restaurant that wouldn't be out of place in Seattle; But It's one of the best we have in Louisville....IMHO much better than Proof on Main, the place that gets all of the press.

The Blind Pig...More of the same as above but a little different

Varanese....Great place to start your foodie journey. I've never,ever had a bad meal here.
It's hard to explain....... But this would be the place I would go to if I was 35 and taking a girl out for the first time.

Pho Binh Minh....Nice place to eat some Vietnamese. Just a place different to go than the VK. BTW, I eat lunch here at least twice a week. You'll see me if you try it out!

Wagner's Pharmacy.... 4th St. Across from Churchill Downs. Sit down and order whatever soup special they have. They also serve a pretty mean breakfast.

Papalino's Pizza...The other place I eat lunch at.
I Don't Care What Anyone Else Says; It's The Best New York Style Pizza In Town.
To steal a phrase....Better Ingredients, Better Pizza!

L & N Bistro...Outstanding wine list by the glass and food that holds up to it.

Equus/Jack's...Great food, service and a little taste of what it's like to be a Louisvillan without paying a membership to a Country Club!
It will feel exclusive, but it's really not.(Note that when someone asks you what school you went to, it means High School not College)

Jeff Ruby's...Hands down, for the money, the best steakhouse in town!

NABC Bank St. Brewhouse...Another place that wouldn't feel out of place in Seattle, but the brew, food and atmosphere all come together in Downtown New Albany...(What I feel is the up and coming foodie neighborhood)

Hillbilly Tea...I haven't made it there yet myself , but I've heard from good sources that it's the SH&#T

I'll add:

Wiltshire on Market...a gem that deserves more attention http://wiltshirepantry.com/wiltshire-on-market/
Corbett's....about as good as it can get http://www.corbettsrestaurant.com/content/
Jack's/Equus...the comfort food version of Corbett's http://www.equusrestaurant.com/
Asiatique...Fusion http://www.asiatiquerestaurant.com/
Rivue...a great view of the city and excellant food http://www.rivue.com/

These are just some add on's to the prior posts...given the fabulous list, you can't go wrong.

Hi my wife Anne and I lived in Olympia for a while. While there is much we miss about the Northwest, Kentucky has a lot to offer as well. Ill throw out a few “cheap eats” ideas.

Food trailers..Gordita trailer in Eastland shopping mall Fri eve thru Sun or the EL Rumba Cuban trailer that frequents the Oxmoor area car dealerships

Pizza…Papalinos or Charlestown Pizza

American/Italian style(red gravy) food…Comeback Inn either location

Greasy burger…Ollie’s Trolley or Burger Boy

Gyros…Bosna-Mak or Zaytun

Cheap Asian…Vietnam Kitchen or Pho Bah Min

Subs…Nuclear sub from Corner Kitchen

Mexican…La tapatia preston hwy (really, hands down the best)

Hotdog…Lonnies in St Matts.

Maybe just a bit more expense than my other suggestions(not much though) but Erikas on Hurstborne has some of the better German food around town.


Beer…Bank Street New Albany(get the frites)or the Tap Room clay and main 2.25 pints Thursday(no food)

Seattle...?? You'll be needing some coffee as well!! I'd put Sunergoes and Heine Bros at the top of that list. (like Peets only smaller)

Well it seems you have more than enough great suggestions that'll keep you busy for a while. I'll just say "Welcome to Louisville, enjoy yourself!" and "Come back and visit us on line often!"