2010 Year in Review

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.

Just back from lunch at Papalino's and they were PACKED.
While waiting and talking with Allen, I was told that he had known that another article was coming out but he had no idea that it was going to be an endorsement of this latitude. I eat lunch there quite a bit and while it can get busy, I've never seen anything like it was today. After seeing the paper this morning, he called in extra staff to deal with the expected crush and they seemed to be handling everything quite in stride. I only waited a little longer than I normally do for my slice.
The quality and amount of product they put out of that little space with only a double stack brick oven amazes me. And I'm an old pizza guy from the way back.
While not an obvious choice for many, I do think it's a well deserved honor that was bestowed on them from the C-J.

It really does work for me.

The product fills a niche that was previously lacking.

The product is handmade/artisan.

Smoking duck in house, along with making sausage in house has got to be out of the norm for most pizza places. I personally preferred the smoked tomatoes, but hey.

There's a lot of passion for what they do and care put into the product. Remember back in the first few days they were open and ran out of pizza dough? Instead of slapping something together that was sub-par, they closed early. "We're out of dough. It can't be rushed." I respect that attitude.

And important to me, it's approachable from a budget standpoint. Sure there are great things going on in Louisville's restaurants, but I don't have the budget to experience a some of them. I enjoy them vicariously through member posts. But Papalino's pizza? Hey I can afford that whenever I want it!

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

Sir Churchill's.

And it had actually been in that location longer than all other businesses combined...

[Robin Garr]

What would the Forum choose as the Restaurant of the Year?

That's my point, really. The scene is too diverse, and the hot new entries too interesting, to compare them fairly and declare one "Restaurant of the Year." Or did he mean NEW Restaurant of the Year? Even that wasn't really clear to me.

I'll likely come up with a few thoughts about the year's restaurant trends and heavy hitters to publish in LEO and HotBytes next week. I hope to make a little more of a contribution than the CJ has done with this, and I've got this forum to thank for a lot of the input that will make me look smart. (Please keep it coming, by the way!)

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?

In Two words:

Blind Pig


Deb

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.

Well how dare you! Kidding.
I'm still here, and as far as heresy goes, I have not missed an event and although we do get some complaints, we get a great deal of compliments as well.
We are an arena, so we do need the game day staples such as hot dogs (Boars Head All Beef), Hamburgers (Certified Angus and custom made bun from Klostermans), but we also have some great items such as the Louisville Hot Brown Dog, Burgoo Poutine, Hot Brown Bites, The French Onion Burger, Cheese Steaks, Panini, on top of what we do for catering, suites, in-seat service, and Donor Rooms.
We don't have much say as far as the KFC Yum! and Papa John's products offered.
We serve 22,000 people a game and still have some kinks and systems to work out and are working tirelessly do so.
Specific issues are appreciated so I know how to plan my attack to correct those issues.

Chef Sean thank you for taking the time to come on the boards with us and give us some info about the food offerings available at the YUM! Center. (I do love a good dog!) Thanks too for reminding us that serving 22,000 people in one night has its on sort of problems and special circumstances. And I thought working St. Patrick's Day at Flaherty's was rough!

It really does work for me.

The product fills a niche that was previously lacking.

The product is handmade/artisan.

Smoking duck in house, along with making sausage in house has got to be out of the norm for most pizza places. I personally preferred the smoked tomatoes, but hey.

There's a lot of passion for what they do and care put into the product. Remember back in the first few days they were open and ran out of pizza dough? Instead of slapping something together that was sub-par, they closed early. "We're out of dough. It can't be rushed." I respect that attitude.

And important to me, it's approachable from a budget standpoint. Sure there are great things going on in Louisville's restaurants, but I don't have the budget to experience a some of them. I enjoy them vicariously through member posts. But Papalino's pizza? Hey I can afford that whenever I want it!

+1 Well said!

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.

Well how dare you! Kidding.

Hey. Good on ya Chef. I like your style.

Are we talkin'

heresy

or

hearsay?

Just curious.

Are we talkin'

heresy

or

hearsay?

Just curious.

We're talking whatever word my spell checker put in there

In Two words:

Blind Pig


Deb

Are we talkin'

heresy

or

hearsay?

Just curious.

I just type them like I see them!
Thank Steve P., you got me in trouble.

Are we talkin'

heresy

or

hearsay?

Just curious.

I just type them like I see them!
Thank Steve P., you got me introuble.

...Yikes. Sure didn't mean to.