Italian Restaurants in the 'ville

Well, there's Le Relais, and then there's Mimi's on Hurstbourne. {snort}[/quote]

Robin- be careful snorting- the wine might go up your nose.
Of course I was refering to Le Relais which I love, but wouldn't a moderately priced Bistro be a boon to Louisville? I'm sitting here drooling as I think what I might put on the menu: Salad w/chicken livers, Salade Lyonnaise, Skate w/ Brown Butter, Pot au Feu, Coq au Vin, well, you get the idea.
I've not heard of Mimi's, but evidentally I am not missing much.
C'est la vie.

[Robin Garr]

wouldn't a moderately priced Bistro be a boon to Louisville? I'm sitting here drooling as I think what I might put on the menu: Salad w/chicken livers, Salade Lyonnaise, Skate w/ Brown Butter, Pot au Feu, Coq au Vin, well, you get the idea.

Of course it would! I'd join the hordes packing the place every night. A few years ago, by the way, Le Beaujolais on Dundee came pretty close. I wasn't as whelmed by it as some, mainly I guess because I reviewed it based on two visits shortly after returning home from two weeks in Avignon, Chateauneauf-du-Pape and Provence, but hey. It was damn good for Louisville, even if one of their regular specials was, um, ossobuco.

I've not heard of Mimi's, but evidentally I am not missing much.
C'est la vie.

You can say that twice. Mimi's is a chain eatery on Hurstbourne, a property of Bob Evans. My review experiences there were not good. Sullen service and forgettable but surprisingly pricey fare, in an atmosphere that somewhat resembles Le Train Bleu in the Gare de Lyon, only rendered in plastic.

Having grown up among Sicilian and Neapolitan-Americans I think we have a long way to go in quality and authenticity. The average St. Joseph's Day altar in New Orleans had better Italian-American food than most of our local Italian restaurants. That's not to say that they aren't good, just that they can get better. I'm pretty sure that even in the area of pizza we don't quite have it right. Even Primo's falls short IMO. Nonetheless, I am firmly in the camp saying you cannot have too many restaurants trying to create Italian food. Also, I like Robin's classification system. As for the French/Italian restaurant disparity, I think a lot of that results from the relative cost of the ingredients. Italian-American fare uses more basic (cheaper) ingredients than authentic French food. Maybe a real brasserie with soupe au pistou, celeri remoulade, pate de campagne and steak frites would fly.

You can say that twice. Mimi's is a chain eatery on Hurstbourne, a property of Bob Evans. My review experiences there were not good. Sullen service and forgettable but surprisingly pricey fare, in an atmosphere that somewhat resembles Le Train Bleu in the Gare de Lyon, only rendered in plastic.

Lovely.

[Robin Garr]

Lovely.

If you want a 30-second vicarious trip through the environment at Mimi's, you might enjoy <b>this short video</b> that I posted a while back.

If I ever had considered trying Mimi's, that ended any thoughts of it. Dark, cramped, loud and giant ketchup bottles on the table. If I hadn't already know, I would have guessed it was a concept from a mediocre chain environment.

Well, that video was good for a big guffaw. I can't stop shaking my head in disbelief. I'm sending it to a friend in Chinon, I'm sure I'll be able to hear her scream across the pond.
What is the french for catsup?
Oh- perhaps we shouldn't use words like that on this forum.
(Don't get me wrong, I love catsup, just not in this context.)

[Robin Garr]

What is the french for catsup?

<i>La sauce rouge l'Americaine</i>.

We've got the chains producing <i>faux</i> Americanized Italian (Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill), we've got chains serving more upscale Americanized "Northern Italian" (Carrabbas and Amerigo)

,

Robin
I think Carrabba's is more of southern /Sicilian style of Italian.

Joe

[Robin Garr]

I think Carrabba's is more of southern /Sicilian style of Italian.

I'm going to respectfully quibble with that just a little, Joe, just for the fun of yakking about food. I agree that Carrabba's will fill you up with red-sauced pasta, which certainly has its roots in Sicily and Calabria, but I'd argue that to that extent it's more immigrant Italian-American than old country. I don't see any swordfish with raisins and capers on the menu, or even any <i>arancini</i>.

But I do see a whole section on the menu called "from the grill," and to me that bespeaks <i>faux</i> Tuscan, as does their top-of-the-menu steak filet, er, <I>Fiorentina</i>.

I actually like Carrabba's and gave it a friendly review and mid-range rating on LouisvilleHotBytes. But I can't really concur in a "Southern Italian" moniker - even Buca di Beppo probably comes closer to that, although it, too, draws its tomato-sauced inspiration more from Ellis Island than the Isle of Capri.

Chef Clancy has done outstanding French two years running at our Bastille Day beer dinners.

See, it CAN be done. Even in New Albany.

Chef Clancy has done outstanding French two years running at our Bastille Day beer dinners.

See, it CAN be done. Even in New Albany.

The menu looked wonderful- and I would have attended but I was out of town that weekend. And there is nothing wrong with New Albany, I helped start a theater company there many, many years ago.

Well, there's always next year -- for Bastille Day (and theater?).

I think Carrabba's is more of southern /Sicilian style of Italian.

I'm going to respectfully quibble with that just a little, Joe, just for the fun of yakking about food. I agree that Carrabba's will fill you up with red-sauced pasta, which certainly has its roots in Sicily and Calabria, but I'd argue that to that extent it's more immigrant Italian-American than old country. I don't see any swordfish with raisins and capers on the menu, or even any <i>arancini</i>.

But I do see a whole section on the menu called "from the grill," and to me that bespeaks <i>faux</i> Tuscan, as does their top-of-the-menu steak filet, er, <I>Fiorentina</i>.

I actually like Carrabba's and gave it a friendly review and mid-range rating on LouisvilleHotBytes. But I can't really concur in a "Southern Italian" moniker - even Buca di Beppo probably comes closer to that, although it, too, draws its tomato-sauced inspiration more from Ellis Island than the Isle of Capri.

see, that is the problem with trying to ascribe a regional style of cooking on an Italian-American restaurant. Because these restaurants borrow dishes from all over Italy and meld those with american ingredients and cooking styles, they can never be faithful to a single region. That is why Italian-American has really become its own unique category of cuisine. For example, the classic spaghetti and meatballs is an American creation. Italians would never eat their spaghetti with their meatballs. Instead, they would cook their meatballs in a savory red sauce. The sauce would be served with spaghetti as a first course, and the meatballs would be served a the main or secondo course. In America during the industrial revolution through the post WW II economic revival, the typical american worker did not have time to indulge in multi-course meals. So, Italian immigrants began serving the meatballs and the pasta together in the same course. Pasta went from being a first course served before the meat or fish, to a main course itself.
This amalgamation of regional cuisines from Italy with american foods and methods of cooking that we know as Italian-American cuisine is easily seen in the restaurants of the The Hill in St Louis. There the Italian immigrant population was a mix of Sicilians and northern Italians. The restaurants that opened offered a mix of the two styles of cooking. These have been blended to the point where they lost their regional identity. That's not a bad thing. I like Italian-American food. I like Carraba's. The chicken parmigiana there is really good, but it is almost as American as apple pie.

I love the Hill!!!