2010 Year in Review

Have not seen something like this posted yet, but about time to suggest some awards and let debate begin. I will start with some, but please add on as I am east end suburbanite and have limited knowledge of entire city dining scene.

Here goes, though, as well as some categories I will not even comment upon:

Best new arrival - Verbena Cafe - Town needs more breakfast places that are more than standard bacon and eggs fare, and Verbena delivered big-time. I personally believe every bit as good as Wild Eggs without the long wait times.

Best overall theme - YUM Center livened up downtown and although limited dining addtions to date, you can tell it is already moving in right direction. Close second is Westport Village continuing its ascent.

Worst arrival - Somewhat a contradiction from above, but YUM center food inside the arena is overpriced and pretty mediocre if you ask me. $12 taco bell/papa john combos not culinary excellence.

Saddest departure - Cannot think of specific regular place I went to that closed, but overall, a few places in Oldham County closed this year, and that is always a bummer.

Trend I noticed most at restaurants - Not sure if economy or health, but I notice a lot more people drinking water than either alcohol or soft drinks. Not a restauranteur, but interested to see if this is anecdotal on my part or it it feels true

What this town needs more of: Excellent eating town, but still not as much moderately priced, "fun" places in my opinion. For example, Chuys, though a chain, was a good start and would like more of that type of place. Also, as Chicago native, still think Pizza overall lags other places I have lived, as well as more upscale latin dining.

Restaurant look ahead for 2011: Economy seems to be improving, albeit slower than we would all like. I think downtown will see the most innovation, and anticipate some decent east end eateries to challenge the chain dominance of Hurstborne.

What say the rest of you?

What this town needs more of: mobile food venues/food trucks. If the current system in place at the health department is prohibitive, maybe the rules need to be re-visited. Give us more mobile options!

In the same vein: a permanent open-air food plaza/food court, with lots of options, perhaps in conjunction with a permanent farmer's market.

In the same vein: a permanent open-air food plaza/food court, with lots of options, perhaps in conjunction with a permanent farmer's market.

This. So much this.

Have not seen something like this posted yet, but about time to suggest some awards and let debate begin. I will start with some, but please add on as I am east end suburbanite and have limited knowledge of entire city dining scene.

Here goes, though, as well as some categories I will not even comment upon:

Best new arrival - Verbena Cafe - Town needs more breakfast places that are more than standard bacon and eggs fare, and Verbena delivered big-time. I personally believe every bit as good as Wild Eggs without the long wait times.

I have to agree with this one 110%...although from a purely selfish perspective I wish people would quit talking about it...We've never been to Wild Eggs and after "discovering" Verbena a while back I don't know that we ever will. Top notch stuff for the "Outside the Watterson" crowd.

Best overall theme - YUM Center livened up downtown and although limited dining addtions to date, you can tell it is already moving in right direction. Close second is Westport Village continuing its ascent.

Worst arrival - Somewhat a contradiction from above, but YUM center food inside the arena is overpriced and pretty mediocre if you ask me. $12 taco bell/papa john combos not culinary excellence.

Based solely on "heresy" I'd have to agree with this one as well. Despite the "How Dare You and/or Call Me if I Can Help" post from the Arena's "Executive Chef" a few weeks back, I continue to hear nothing but bad and very bad things about the food, the prices and the service at the Taj Ma Basketball.

For me the biggest thing is that for all of the hubbub about how bad the economy is, there sure were a lot of new restaurants that opened in the last year. Many appearing in locations long vacated by other restaurants.
This is hardly a complete list, but off the top of my head, all these places opened in the past year and appear to be doing quite well:
The Blind Pig
Eiderdown
Hammerheads
Hillbilly Tea
Wild Ginger
Village Anchor
Dish on Market
Majid's
Peking City Bistro
Papalino's
The Comfy Cow
Mozz

It also seems that not that many people are cutting back on eating out either. We go out to eat with great frequency and I haven't noticed many empty dining rooms.

According to the morning CJ - they just declared Papalino's "Restaurant of the Year."

Works for me.

[Robin Garr]

According to the morning CJ - they just declared Papalino's "Restaurant of the Year."

Works for me.

I just read that article. I have some thoughts, but probably had better not give voice to them.

Saddest departure for me was Mazzonis. I do regret departures of newer restaurants that we lost, but for a restaurant to have hung on as long as Mozzonis did and then die was so sad.

As far as what this city needs, IMHO is better mass transit. With some sort of mass transit more people could visit and enjoy larger parts of the city than they currently visit. Businesses wouldn't have such a hard time finding help and potential employees would have a larger scope of area in which to look to work.

What this town needs more of: mobile food venues/food trucks. If the current system in place at the health department is prohibitive, maybe the rules need to be re-visited. Give us more mobile options!

I will "THIS" this part, since Dave handled the other part.

With the hope of being told, "you need to go to X place," my hope for the new year is a sort-of-upscale bar/pub/brewpub that has tournament size pool tables and numerous dart lanes. I've been told by three not-from-Louisville people that Louisville is one of the worst dart towns they have ever been in.

I hesitate to say Louisville has a great bar scene. Too much duplication and so-so places in my book. As long as the brewpubs are still around, I'll be happy enough. I just wish we had something like Wynkoop in Denver.

Pool can be done on a at-least-not-gritty level. Can't think of anyone in Louisville trying it, though.

my hope for the new year is a sort-of-upscale bar/pub/brewpub that has tournament size pool tables and numerous dart lanes. I've been told by three not-from-Louisville people that Louisville is one of the worst dart towns they have ever been in.

Having played in dart leagues for ohhhhhhhhh....off and on about 15 years, make me the fourth person to tell you this. The only place we've found that even remotely embraces the sport is BBC in St. Matts.

my hope for the new year is a sort-of-upscale bar/pub/brewpub that has tournament size pool tables and numerous dart lanes. I've been told by three not-from-Louisville people that Louisville is one of the worst dart towns they have ever been in.

Having played in dart leagues for ohhhhhhhhh....off and on about 15 years, make me the fourth person to tell you this. The only place we've found that even remotely embraces the sport is BBC in St. Matts.

I've heard Zazoo's (western edge of St. Matthews) is the darts place in Louisville, but I don't remember that from my visits 4-5 years ago. Does Louisville have some weird liability clause scaring people away from darts? Or do places just not want to give up the floor space?

The BBC Tap Room does darts too - but no food or anything else apart from beer.

my hope for the new year is a sort-of-upscale bar/pub/brewpub that has tournament size pool tables and numerous dart lanes. I've been told by three not-from-Louisville people that Louisville is one of the worst dart towns they have ever been in.

Having played in dart leagues for ohhhhhhhhh....off and on about 15 years, make me the fourth person to tell you this. The only place we've found that even remotely embraces the sport is BBC in St. Matts.

The English Pub whose name Ive forgotten that existed in J-town for about 5 minutes had darts.

I've heard Zazoo's (western edge of St. Matthews) is the darts place in Louisville, but I don't remember that from my visits 4-5 years ago. Does Louisville have some weird liability clause scaring people away from darts? Or do places just not want to give up the floor space?

The BBC Tap Room does darts too - but no food or anything else apart from beer.

Liability ? Who knows these days. Darts are/were a really big draw in Cleveland when I lived there...at one point our league had over 350 teams, shooting out of 70 or 80 bars. The sport seemed to take a dive when they came out with those wussy plastic dart- pay as you go boards. Cornhole seems to be the new big thing these days...everywhere ya go cornhole, cornhole, cornhole.

(OK, so if I keep typing "cornhole" what kinda ads do you think Google will put on this page)

According to the morning CJ - they just declared Papalino's "Restaurant of the Year."

Works for me.

I just read that article. I have some thoughts, but probably had better not give voice to them.

Upon reading this article, I wondered what the LHB Forumites would say. I'm not out and about enough to pick one, but think Papalino's is not a crazy pick. I really like that the article emphasizes the quality of the food and preparation, not just the current buzz.
What would the Forum choose as the Restaurant of the Year?