What style of restaurant does this town need?

[........Robin you sir are a true OG.

Okay, I'll bite. Odd Gent? Old Geezer? Oriental Ginger? Old Gangsta? Naw, couldn't be that ...

Actually, Original Gangsta.

I've eaten at some lame diners too, but there are good ones.

Personally, If it were my diner, it would be a hybrid of Waffle House, Cracker Barell and a drugstore soda fountain, with scratch made foods of better quality. It certainly doesn't have to be hipster, highbrow or frou frou.

Great explanation You probably need to mix in a little bit of Shady Lane cafe also. What I put the menu from on the previous page (page 4) has pretty much the menu I I think about for one. They were not however open 24 hours. There is however restaurant owned by the same family that is open 24 hours but IMHO its menu doesn't = diner.

Personally, If it were my diner, it would be a hybrid of Waffle House, Cracker Barell and a drugstore soda fountain, with scratch made foods of better quality.

Ya know Dan, the Cafe/Diner space adjacent to Stoplight Liquors on River Rd is available...fully furnished and ready to go....1800sf. $2000 a month plus (I think) $500 a month "equipment rental". Go for it.

It certainly doesn't have to be hipster, highbrow or frou frou.

Good...because if it's any of those, I ain't going...Nahhh, wait a minute...I take that back, I'd do the Hipster diner, that way you could play "I spy a hipster" with your dining partner. "Issssss your hipster wearing a vintage John Deere T-shirt and sporting a nose ring" ???

Sadly, sometimes the simplest and most comforting foods are the hardest to execute well. Particularly when it becomes an issue of expense.

Dano, you forget we a now living in the age of the $13 (local-grass-fed-beef-no-less) Cheesebuger. Damn the torpedoes and screw the expense...plate up those micro-greens.

Damn the torpedoes

Sorry.....first thing that came to mind....

Louisville needs an awesome seafood centric joint or two that is beyond fried fish.
Capt's Quarters, okay, but not quite there.
Kingfish, Mike Linnig's etc, uninspiring to say the most.


Fine dining seafood......If Indy can do it, so can we!
i.e. http://www.theoceanaire.com/Home.aspx

Also, a bar/seafood joint would be nice too;
(I know, I posted this on some other thread)
If Atlanta can do it, so can we;
http://spondivits.net/

NYC style deli for sure. Also NYC/Philly Italian a la Batali, Bastianich, Vetri. And while I'm on an east coast tear, how about a real Philly cheese steak and a hoagie. I know I've moved to the mid west when someone asks me if I want mayo on my sub. Ugh!

Count me in on the deli vote, Jewish, NY style or otherwise, though I do think Stevens & Stevens does a really good job. It's no Manny's though.

Surprised there haven't been more people on the "we need some decent Italian" note. Sorry, but this town blows for both Italian and Italian-American.

For my money the Burger Boy works for me when I want diner food. Twig & Leaf - nope. C'mon, how hard is it to make a decent fried egg? I'll hit Waffle House before I go to Twig & Leaf. And Shady Lane isn't what I'd call a diner, but if I want a griddled burger or a club sandwich and I'm in the East End, they're the ticket.

One thing I have not seen mentioned is affordable & casual, but inventive contemporary American food. This spot was in my neighborhood in Chicago and was off the hook outstanding all day every day:

http://lulacafe.com/

I have had Mexican here that works for me. Nothing on the scale of any of the Bayless or Bayless-graduates spots I sued to go to in Chicago, but for down and dirty tacos, there's spots. I like Sierra Tarasca out on Shepherdsville Rd. Haven't found the real deal Birria yet, but I'm sure it's here.

I think there's some work to be done here on the brewpub scene, southside of the river. I like ATG a lot, but they haven't hit a homerun with me yet, foodwise. BBC is good, if a bit unimaginative. Cumberland seems to have hit a bad patch lately. Nothing on the scale of Kuma's or Goose Island's brewpub though.

I know I'll get beat up for this here, but I have to say, with the exception of two spots, I consider myself in a pizza wasteland.

http://lulacafe.com/

$9.00 Oatmeal? They better spoon feed me AND wipe my chin.

Surprised there haven't been more people on the "we need some decent Italian" note. Sorry, but this town blows for both Italian and Italian-American.

I wouldn't say blows, but I get your point. You can usually find what your looking for, but there are some gaps, and every neighborhood doesn't have a place.

One thing I have not seen mentioned is affordable & casual, but inventive contemporary American food. This spot was in my neighborhood in Chicago and was off the hook outstanding all day every day:

http://lulacafe.com/

Let's see...
Varanese. Lilly's. Bourbons Bistro. Majid's. Avalon. 60 West. Equus/Jack's. Jack Fry's. Bistro 301. L&N.

Fine dining seafood......If Indy can do it, so can we!

Z's Oyster Bar?

[Robin Garr]

Fine dining seafood......If Indy can do it, so can we!

Z's Oyster Bar?

Seviche? Even Mitchell's?

One thing I have not seen mentioned is affordable & casual, but inventive contemporary American food. This spot was in my neighborhood in Chicago and was off the hook outstanding all day every day:

http://lulacafe.com/

Let's see...
Varanese. Lilly's. Bourbons Bistro. Majid's. Avalon. 60 West. Equus/Jack's. Jack Fry's. Bistro 301. L&N.

Steve, while those places you mentioned have good food they don't meet the criteria that Ken included because they don't serve food all day every day. As a matter of fact they just serve food for dinner, but not breakfast, brunch or lunch. This puts them in a completely different category. That being said the prices at Lula Cafe seem ridiculous it a lot of cases! For example two eggs prepared any way for $8.00 or a six course vegetarian dinner for $45.00? Yes I know it's Chicago but it's not exactly how the miracle mile where the tourists hang out!

I know I'll get beat up for this here, but I have to say, with the exception of two spots, I consider myself in a pizza wasteland.

I'm not sure what city you consider to have a better pizza scene than Louisville and I certainly would like to hear what two spots you like! Louisville has the most varied pizza scene I've ever seen in a city with at least a couple of places serving excellent pizza in about any style you can mention and we have a couple of our own styles. I'm not even going to start listing the number of good pizza places we have because it's so long.

Steve, while those places you mentioned have good food they don't meet the criteria that Ken included because they don't serve food all day every day. As a matter of fact they just serve food for dinner, but not breakfast, brunch or lunch. This puts them in a completely different category. That being said the prices at Lula Cafe seem ridiculous it a lot of cases! For example two eggs prepared any way for $8.00 or a six course vegetarian dinner for $45.00? Yes I know it's Chicago but it's not exactly how the miracle mile where the tourists hang out!

Let's just pair them up with Toast, Vebana, Wild Eggs, and Lynn's then!


And I shoulda mentioned North End Cafe.

[Let's see...
Varanese. Lilly's. Bourbons Bistro. Majid's. Avalon. 60 West. Equus/Jack's. Jack Fry's. Bistro 301. L&N.

Steve the problem with these is they aren't really casual or "affordable".

Ken, see my first post in this thread. I'm with you. We need more "American" restaurants that take on the chains head on. There souldn't be a line at Chili's or Cheesecake Factory or wherever. The problem is it's not like a family can roll up on Chili's see an hour wait and say, "hey, the wait is too long here let's just head over to Limestone". Limestone is a great place, but does everyone see how that doen't work? Am I alone on this? Now if there were a Baxter Station (I just use them as an example because I like it) right around the corner...that's a different story...that works.