Restaurants Missed

[Robin Garr]

It was interesting to see how many miss Primo's! I'm curious....why do you miss it and how often did you eat there?

Great atmosphere, serious authentic Italian regional cookery, serious Italian wine list, super bar, wood oven, Bim Deitrich. Because of my reviewing, I can't get back to most upscale restaurants as often as I like. But I made an exception and went to Primo often because I loved it. No other local Italian restaurant did what Primo did, before or since: Studied, carefully replicated regional cuisine from all sections of Italy, with wines well-chosen to match the regions and the fare.

OK...I'll REALLY show my age.

I grew up in Shively. In the early-to-mid 1960's, after church on Sunday we usually went to Leonhart's, a small storefront location near the intersection of Dixie Highway and Seventh Street Road. It was owned and run by two sisters. To this day I mourn the loss of their fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, and homemade pies.

Best home made biscuits I ever tasted outside my grandmother's kitchen.

Rubino's (Dutchman's/Dupont version)
Hearthstone Tavern
Por Que No
Kim's Asian grill (Frankfort Version)
LaPaloma / Azalea (Azalea most)
Harper's
Whatever the name of the seafood place across from Vogue in the late 70's - early 80's

[Robin Garr]

Whatever the name of the seafood place across from Vogue in the late 70's - early 80's

Boston Fish Market! Yesssss!!!

I recognize a lot of the names mentioned here, and even though I don't necessarily miss them all, I do remember some of the more obscure ones like The Kings' Table(a cafeteria smorgasbord sorta place, in the south end, my grandfather liked).

Another one I saw mentioned that I remember by name but never visited was Top of the Tower. I can't imagine their food being as terrific as the views probably were(atop the monolithic 1st Nat'l Bank bldg. on Main.

Yet another mention I recognized was Sixth Avenue. I remember that one eventually became a Bravo's. I thought the Bravo Pitino in Lexington's Victorian Square was nicer.

Just down the street from Bravo's was Charlie's Restaurant, which became a Rax(which I think I miss more than Charlie's), and now houses Los Aztecas.

One I have never seen mentioned is Pegasus. This was a restaurant on Story Ave. in Butchertown, around 1993/94ish. The building now houses an events company. I remember they wanted to become a microbrew-pub, like the Silo, which was the trailblazer, but they just never were able to do it.

Whatever the name of the seafood place across from Vogue in the late 70's - early 80's

Boston Fish Market! Yesssss!!!

That's it. Thank you, always drives me crazy that I can't remember the name.

Whatever the name of the seafood place across from Vogue in the late 70's - early 80's

Miss the Vogue more than the restaurants. Forgot about St. Matt's Seafood being next door.

http://americanclassicimages.com/Defaul ... ctID=27766

Scroll down the link to see the pic.

Just down the street from Bravo's was Charlie's Restaurant, which became a Rax(which I think I miss more than Charlie's), and now houses Los Aztecas.

One I have never seen mentioned is Pegasus. This was a restaurant on Story Ave. in Butchertown, around 1993/94ish. The building now houses an events company. I remember they wanted to become a microbrew-pub, like the Silo, which was the trailblazer, but they just never were able to do it.

Funny you mention Charlie's. Charlie's was actually the pioneer in modern brewing in Louisville as they were the first to have a Federal brewers permit after Falls City closed. I brewed a couple batches there on my homebrew equipment and it was sold as Charlie's Cream Ale. The beer was a Sierra Nevada Pale ale clone I designed, right down to yeast I cultured out of a bottle of SNPA.

Pegasus was a restaurant that leased space from what was to become the new Oertel's 92 brewery. The brewery never opened, Pegasus was machine gunned with horrible reviews, both died on the vine. FYI, Oertel's 92 beer was being contract brewed and sold in Louisville for a brief period leading up to the demise of the Oertel's 92 micro concept. The beer was brewed by Jos. Huber Brewing Company in Monroe, WI who coincidentally was brewing Falls City Beer as well.

[Robin Garr]

One I have never seen mentioned is Pegasus. This was a restaurant on Story Ave. in Butchertown, around 1993/94ish. ...

Pegasus was a restaurant that leased space from what was to become the new Oertel's 92 brewery. The brewery never opened, Pegasus was machine gunned with horrible reviews, ...

Dang! We were living in NYC then, and I missed the whole train wreck. I'm thinking, though, were there any reviews other than the CJ then? LEO would have been around for only a year or two, and I'm thinking they didn't start reviews for the first few years. Was Ronni Lundy still the CJ reviewer, or had Riegler already taken over at that point? In other words, was there more than one review?

Funny you mention Charlie's. Charlie's was actually the pioneer in modern brewing in Louisville as they were the first to have a Federal brewers permit after Falls City closed. I brewed a couple batches there on my homebrew equipment and it was sold as Charlie's Cream Ale. The beer was a Sierra Nevada Pale ale clone I designed, right down to yeast I cultured out of a bottle of SNPA.

Pegasus was a restaurant that leased space from what was to become the new Oertel's 92 brewery. The brewery never opened, Pegasus was machine gunned with horrible reviews, both died on the vine. FYI, Oertel's 92 beer was being contract brewed and sold in Louisville for a brief period leading up to the demise of the Oertel's 92 micro concept. The beer was brewed by Jos. Huber Brewing Company in Monroe, WI who coincidentally was brewing Falls City Beer as well.

I don't remember Charlie's brewing beer on site, but I was too young in those days to notice, I guess. As far as Pegasus goes, I know crickets were usually chiping when I walked in the place, but the food wasn't bad. I chalked it up to a bad location. The old dirty Min's which became the Sugar Doe, and then became the King Pin, was not a great location either, but I did my best to support it.

Dang! We were living in NYC then, and I missed the whole train wreck. I'm thinking, though, were there any reviews other than the CJ then? LEO would have been around for only a year or two, and I'm thinking they didn't start reviews for the first few years. Was Ronni Lundy still the CJ reviewer, or had Riegler already taken over at that point? In other words, was there more than one review?

Ronni Lundy was probably doing the reviewing at that point. I don't remember any bad reviews. It just seemed like people didn't know about the place, and the internet wasn't really what is nowadays as far as getting the word out, good or bad.

[Robin Garr]

Ronni Lundy was probably doing the reviewing at that point. I don't remember any bad reviews. It just seemed like people didn't know about the place, and the internet wasn't really what is nowadays as far as getting the word out, good or bad.

Yeah, I think Mosaic was created by 1992 but maybe didn't get ported to Windows and Mac until a year or two later, so WWW as we now know it just wasn't happening. (We put this site and our wine site online early in 1994, but I don't think it would have even been possible in 1992.

Just down the street from Bravo's was Charlie's Restaurant, which became a Rax(which I think I miss more than Charlie's), and now houses Los Aztecas.

And before it was Charlies (or, maybe, after) wasn't it also the New York Steak Exchange? (I vividly remember the obsolete stock certifates for defunct companies set in the plactic coated tops of the tables, but not so vivid a recollection of the location.)

i'm sure i missed its mention, but shouldn't every one of us (who have been around long enough) list Casa Grisanti??

[Robin Garr]

i'm sure i missed its mention, but shouldn't every one of us (who have been around long enough) list Casa Grisanti??

I think we owe Casa Grisanti a lot for having trained and set on their careers a strong core of Louisville's restaurant community to this day. That's major.

I was never as big a fan of Casa itself, though. Maybe it's because I'm old enough to remember it as a nice family Italian place - with a drive-through pizza window! - and so I saw its evolution into something higher-end as overly pretentious and a shade too smarmy. It reminded me more of blue-collar New Jersey on a big night out that of Italy.

OK, there are two that I've pullout out of the "Way Back" Machine......Blue Boar in the St. Matthew's mall, and Canary Cottege. Both harken back to when I was a wee lad, and the days of my great-grandmother. She adored the cottege.

Oh, Dan, some where I have uncovered the dressing recipe for Boston Fish Market's slaw......when i dig it out again, I'll make you a copy.