LEO's Eats with Robin Garr
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Seviche has been around for 10 years now, if we count Jicama, its predecessor in the same Highlands space, and Chef Anthony Lamas just keeps making it better and better. This sets a mighty high standard for an eatery I’ve been raving about since the start. I gave Jicama a 93-point rating in its first incarnation. Then when it reopened as Seviche in 2005, I kicked the number up to 95.
I head over there as often as I can, and I recommend Seviche highly to out-of-town visitors as one of Louisville’s best, with Latino flair that proves our city’s exciting culinary scene is about much more than fried chicken, “Southern” fare and Hot Browns.
And now Seviche has evolved again. After a brief closing to accommodate a major remake, it has expanded into part of the next-door space vacated by ear X-tacy. The new Seviche retains the comfortable upscale Latino vibe that we’ve come to know and love, but it affords a little more room to breathe even as it welcomes a larger crowd.
The amiable bar is at the center of a large, triangular room now, with show windows along two sides to allow in light by day and to afford a view of the Bardstown Road street scene at all hours. New separate rooms include a classy lounge with modern overstuffed furniture that looks comfortable enough for napping, and an elegant private room at the rear.
The look, though, is only half of the news: Lamas, too, continues to evolve. In what appears to be a calculated public relations campaign, he’s clearly looking for a place in the burgeoning national chef-celebrity scene and has won television appearances including a win on Food Network’s “Extreme Chef.”
While Seviche’s menu remains solidly “Nuevo Latino,” he is clearly trying new and innovative kitchen moves. Sous vide, for instance, the trendy ultra-low-temperature cooking technique; “deconstructed” standards presented in new ways that tickle the fancy and the palate. He’s even fooling around with liquid nitrogen to create icy, crunchy popcorn garnish for avocado ice cream, a spectacular recent special.
The menu remains Latino, with the creative chef’s touches that add “Nuevo” to the moniker; but there’s always an international accent that takes the bill of fare beyond any single ethnic description.
You’ll notice a lot of regional designations on the dishes, from California Point Reyes blue cheese to Indiana’s Capriole, and meat and poultry from Kentucky producers including Marksbury Farm and Kentucky Bison Co., and Gerber Farm in Oregon. Whether it’s locavore, or bears a heavier carbon footprint, you can count on it having been selected for quality, natural production and a relatively gentle weight on the earth.
Lamas pledges to provide only “sustainable” seafood, harvested so as to avoid using threatened species or harming the environment. To this end, he follows the guidelines of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program, a commitment that earned him the program’s “Seafood Ambassador” award.
Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/sevic ... ing-better
And in LEO Weekly:
http://leoweekly.com/dining/seviche-gro ... ing-better
Seviche, A Latin Restaurant
1538 Bardstown Road
473-8560
http://www.sevicherestaurant.com
Rating: 96