Hillbilly Tea

One of my friends cant stop talking about this place.. Surely someone on hotbytes has the inside scoop? The menu looks AWESOME. Wish my hours allowed for more breakfast times !

Hillbilly Tea
120 s 1st street
"a tea cafe in the heart of downtown louisville, serving up our own brand of fresh crop organic teas & Appalachian cuisine from chef Arpi....come on by for a mug of tea, yall!"

http://www.hillbillytea.com/hiyall.html

I think one of the owners is also associated Proof On Main? If so - he's pretty cool. Haven't been there yet, but it should be a destination...

I think one of the owners is also associated Proof On Main? If so - he's pretty cool. Haven't been there yet, but it should be a destination...

Jackie- check out the menu. it looks soooooooo you.

All over it - thanks for the reminder.

Carter? Is Carter involved? That sounds right...

Went for lunch once. Very interesting and enjoyable flavors. The only knock was that they plates were small and I am not sure about the small plate offerings for a downtown lunch crowd. Good as a light lunch option. I believe I ordered the billy box which contained a sandwich, small side, cookie, and a tea of your choice. I did not receive my cookie and did not feel compelled to request it. The iced tea was tasty.

[Robin Garr]

Okay, I'm just going to say it, and then everyone can berate me: I am really put off by the name.

It's not that I've got anything against country folk (as long as they don't plan to cast me in the role of the city boy in Deliverance ), but the whole shtick just leads me to expect something like Cracker Barrel or the (defunct?) Po' Folks, complete with fake hillbilly accents, corn pone and boiled greens, and shelves loaded with redneck tschotskes.

Help me out here, folks!

Consider yourself berated! My kinfolk are hillbillys!


In all seriousness, I take much greater issue with restaurant names that mimic big cities or catchy concepts, or just really don't seem to have any reason to call themselves what they do for any reason other than needing a name. I have zero problem with the Hillbilly bill and wouldn't have considered it if you hadn't mentioned it.

1 vote for Hillbilly.

[Robin Garr]

Consider yourself berated! My kinfolk are hillbillys!

D'oh!

In all seriousness, back, Jackie, what I should have said is that I don't see how the name fits the small-plates concept. Does he have small plates of hog jowl and collards?

, but the whole shtick just leads me to expect something like Cracker Barrel or the (defunct?) Po' Folks, complete with fake hillbilly accents, corn pone and boiled greens, and shelves loaded with redneck tschotskes.

Having been there I can assure you that it would surely exceed your expectations from that standpoint. One of the diners in my party ordered a sandwich that sounded excellent on the menu. They replaced the sandwich bun with a biscuit to go along with the whole hillbilly schtick. He took one bite of the sandwich and the bisuit fell apart. He did say that it tasted good though.

Consider yourself berated! My kinfolk are hillbillys!

D'oh!

In all seriousness, back, Jackie, what I should have said is that I don't see how the name fits the small-plates concept. Does he have small plates of hog jowl and collards?

Good point. I haven't been there so I feel so underqualified to comment much further, BUT, I bet I'll have a good argument once I go.

As a preemptive:

I think that as long the exterior facade is not misleading (and posting a menu in a window is always a good idea) then a naming convention that strums a hefty percentage of our population's heart strings is not in poor taste, but rather an acknowlegement of the management's personal embrace of our community.

And really - ain't a lot of hillbillys in the downtown area, so this may just make some people feel closer to home. Even sans greens and corn bread, sub tea and crumpets.

[Robin Garr]

Good point. I haven't been there so I feel so underqualified to comment much further, BUT, I bet I'll have a good argument once I go.

I'll go too! Maybe we should have a forum offline!

Not a name I would have picked...I love tea and love breakfast more, but will be a hard sell to get me in there. Being from Appalachia, not really sure about the cuisine...though most dinner tables at home are done family style but smaller portions so can see where the small plate idea comes in.

Don't pick a name apart. When you are trying to put forth a concept and a business plan it can be soooo tough. I've been excited about it since I read about it in ConsumingLouisville, and being from Fancy Farm I didn't take it as insulting at all. And lemme tell you, I'm pretty sensitive on any redneck assumptions. That being said, I haven't been yet.
Not that western KY is hillbilly, by any means, but we get plenty of the stereotypical assumptions.We would probably be low country.

I love the concept. Great marketing. Of course I'm partial to names that mislead a bit. They could have called it Arpad's, after the chef. I like it. I have not been but if they can Walk the Walk then... yahoooo!

Wow what a cool website and great looking menu! I'm there soon. I find the name strangely appealing.