How many have closed?

Oh how I will miss Ferd's....You could smell the garlic wafting out of that place for miles!

A nice little Italian place? easy , here's two - Melillo's and Come Back Inn.

I personally feel that rumors have no place here. I also post on other forums and some actually disallow rumors. Robin is a bit slack about such activity. I know he cannot police every post, but maybe a new rule needs to be invoked. In these days a mere rumor could shut down a local.

I think Rumors are fine here as long as they're posted as Rumors and not as fact. Rumors are not always negative, sometimes they're positive like a new restaurant opening etc. The rumor above was presented as a rumor and we rapidly got the truth. To me that's much better than letting the rumor fester in the shadows.

Thanks for the support, Mark, and I did try to obviously present it as a rumor. I didn't mean to ignite a fire-storm, and I was absolutely hoping it was a rumor, as Asiatique is one of my favorites (and an easy walk from home). Thanks for clearing it up so promptly, Peng, and glad my friend was mistaken.

On a more general note, I don't see a problem with asking questions about rumors, with the caveat, as Mark said, that they be presented as exactly that. This forum provides a lot of information about the local scene, and part of that is, IMHO, clearing up any rumors that might be out there. I don't see any purpose in a rule barring "rumors." Moreover, there is a distinct difference in posting as I did, where I asked if anyone had information that could clear up said rumor, and only stating "I heard Restaurant X is closing," without asking whether the information is accurate or not.

[Robin Garr]

I didn't mean to ignite a fire-storm

Don't worry, you didn't. My statement stands. With all respect to Doogy as a forum member, if I ever want his advice on forum policy, I'll ask for it.

On a more general note, I don't see a problem with asking questions about rumors, with the caveat, as Mark said, that they be presented as exactly that. This forum provides a lot of information about the local scene, and part of that is, IMHO, clearing up any rumors that might be out there. I don't see any purpose in a rule barring "rumors." Moreover, there is a distinct difference in posting as I did, where I asked if anyone had information that could clear up said rumor, and only stating "I heard Restaurant X is closing," without asking whether the information is accurate or not.

I couldn't agree more. If the purpose of this forum is to share information about dining in Louisville, then questions regarding rumors are going to crop up. Now if the forum was merely a championing of local dining, then a ban against rumors would make sense.

FWIW, Robin's censorship concerning such information seems to be consistent and effective.

Lentini's (and their offspring that never got off the ground -- nor deserved to),

Rock Wall

Did anyone mention Azaleas? My husband at there for our first and second anniversary. We loved it.

Pepper Shaker

Shudder.

Im having a traumatic roach flashback.

Did anyone mention Azaleas? My husband at there for our first and second anniversary. We loved it.

Azaleas closing was a shame. They should never have changed their menu. Their wine down Wednesday's were a great event.

I can't believe nothing else has gone into that location. I remember some chatter on here months ago about a new tenant, but I guess it never materialized.

on the plus side of the Azalea's coin, we gained Varanese -yum

I wonder how many of these closings were actually do the economy and how many were due to other reasons? We all know several that were actually for other reasons such as the expiration of a lease, ownership change, change of cuisine (Harper's -> Amerigo) etc. What's everybody think, 80% due to the economy the rest for other reasons?

Azalea's Wine down Wednesdays was a Meat Market!

[Robin Garr]

What's everybody think, 80% due to the economy the rest for other reasons?

My gut is that it's closer to 50-50, Mark, and that - much like 9/11 - the economy is most likely to pick off restaurants that were relatively marginal already. I don't mean to be hurtful, but an awful lot of the recent closings were anticipated (Bim was talking about having opened a high-end place too early on East Market for years, and even with Jay's excellent cooking, Park Place was a dead restaurant walking before Anoosh left last year. Azalea made absurd management decisions that drove away its core audience, and so it goes.

Now, this is not happy stuff. Nobody likes to see any local restaurant lose, and if the economy tanks further, the problems are going to move up the food chain.

Bottom line, I've said it again and again. For all of us who love Louisville's unique local restaurants, we need to make a serious effort to get out there and support them. And if the economy is hurting us too, it's still worth the effort to get out as often as we can. Even if we can only afford apps, a glass of wine and a dessert, taking up a table and spending a few bucks can't hurt. And don't cut back on the tip!

I recalled reading that restaurants in general had a huge failure rate. Apparently that's a myth, according to this article. Still, the study found that about one in four restaurants close or change ownership within their first year of business. Over three years, that number rises to three in five. It would be interesting to see the numbers for Louisville.

It makes sense to think that people go out less during bad economic times, but I think they just scale down in their dining out habits. Thus McDonalds stock has been faring moderately well compared with the rest of the stock market. I would hope that this applies to some of the smaller, reasonably priced local restaurants as well. Up here I work in the commercial district and still see decent sized lunch lines at the sandwich shops around town.

Up here in Maine the lobstermen have been hurting bad, what with the rise in fuel costs and a softened demand for their produce. As a result, our governor has started a "buy local lobster" campaign. I saw a sign at a local pound advertising live lobsters for $2.99 a pound (the average lobster you get in a restaurant is 1.5-2 pounds), so the bugs are a good deal right now.

i'm curious to see how many new restaurants have opened in comparison to the recent closings