French Village Restaurant

Anybody go here (as a child, presumably), know anyone who did or know anything about this downtown restaurant? I was reading a crumbing copy of the C-J from January 12, 1935 that had this ad buried among stories about Bruno Hauptman, Ameilia Earhart, Hitler & stories about political / business conflicts over some of FDR's New Deal programs.

4th & Broadway, according to:

http://digital.library.louisville.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/royal&CISOPTR=3622&CISOBOX=1&REC=2

That's great, so they at least lasted till 1941. That gets it closer to where someone alive today might recall it.

[Robin Garr]

Go to the U of L digital library search page,
http://digital.library.louisville.edu/c ... OOT=/royal
and plug in the word "restaurant", and you'll get 72 hits, including some other old-time places. The Vienna Restaurant on Fourth downtown, and Lugo's Pizza, which doesn't seem to be quite as old as some of the others, near U of L. The DeLuxe Eat Shop, Snider's and Kline's, none of which ring a bell in my Baby Boomer's ears, and the old Cardinal Inn on what was then the edge of the U of L campus, which I do recall, and I think a few others here will too ... you out there, Ken Wilson?

[Robin Garr]

Okay, here's an old one that I have heard of. My parents - or maybe my grandparents? - used to talk about Stebbins restaurant. Looks like a bar and grill in this picture, but something in my memory says they specialized in lobsters and steaks. Definitely before my time.

http://digital.library.louisville.edu/c ... X=1&REC=10

Okay, here's an old one that I have heard of. My parents - or maybe my grandparents? - used to talk about Stebbins restaurant. Looks like a bar and grill in this picture, but something in my memory says they specialized in lobsters and steaks. Definitely before my time.

http://digital.library.louisville.edu/c ... X=1&REC=10

Robin - I'm pretty sure that Stebbins was on the north side of Chestnut Street, between Fourth and Fifth Streets (or maybe Third and Fourth). I'm 61 and I can definitely recall the exterior - there was a lobster (neon??) hanging out front.

I recall it being on the south side closer to fourth street than fifth. It was called the Stebbins Grill. It was replaced by the first New Orleans House. The second NOH opened in the old Xanadu at Hurstbourne and Shelbyville Road, The first then closed.

I recall it being on the south side closer to fourth street than fifth. It was called the Stebbins Grill. It was replaced by the first New Orleans House. The second NOH opened in the old Xanadu at Hurstbourne and Shelbyville Road, The first then closed.

I found it via Google. It was at 412 West Chestnut. That puts it on the south side, very close to Fourth Street, as you recalled.

I'm too technically challenged to post a link, but I googled all the words "stebbins louisville chestnut restaurant" and it was the third item listed. If you click on the link you'll see what it looked like.

[Robin Garr]

Mike, let's see if this link works. It's pretty easy, really. Just select and copy the address from the original page and paste it in to your forum message. The system does the rest.
http://books.google.com/books?id=e937E2 ... &q&f=false

It's interesting to note how this underscores Louisville's long-standing status as an inland city that loves its seafood and fish ... that didn't just start with UPS but goes back as far as the oyster bars of the 1860s. We have the city's heavy German and Irish Catholic population to thank for the demand and the L&N railroad to than for express cars rushing the stuff north on ice. I do have to wonder, though, how the "fresh" fish of that era would taste to us today. Probably not bad ... an express rail trip surely took less than a day, and by the time today's air-shipped seafood actually gets on the table, the difference probably isn't significant.