Entertaining a World-Class Mixologist who works with this years James Beard 'Best Chef' Winner is no small task.
In my opinion, Louisville's restaurant scene tends to be focused upon three radial focii that move towards each other constantly. Bardstown Rd, Frankfort Ave and Market St. Not that there isn't some fun stuff happening outside these areas, but that these are the big three concentrations.
Three days, three areas:
Day One- Seviche. After swimming all day, we really didn't have it in us for a crawl, so I stuck with one of the best. I could have easily taken her to Asiatique, Jack Fry's or Lilly's but Chef Lamas, Madi and crew are close to my heart. They have one of those menus where everything looks so good, I always have a tough time deciding. Wonderful service and atmosphere- I always love sitting in the window to people watch. We would pick up Bardstown Rd the next day...
Day Two- Bardstown to Frankfort Rds. We began late-lunch with a quick Guiness at Mulvaney's Beer Garden. We then segued to a tasty little lunch at Hearts and Soy. The Pho, incredible. My only complaint about the Singaporean Noodles was that I wanted more (a tough conundrum, I know.)
After a quick cat-nap, we began at Bourbon's Bistro for some appertifs. Jeff Shaw is always a highly entertaining bartender and she had a ball 'making her Chicago friends jealous' by taking some pics of their rarefied Willet selections. I wanted to try some of the new chef's offerings, but we had a plan...
Bistro 1860- they have done awesome! This one is definitely a winner. Her, a Minnervois. Me a Trebbiano Blend. Chef Crouch has done a fantastic job with this, to the point where she wanted to take a menu back to Chef Kahan. It's a great build-out as well...
Silver Dollar- Nightcap. We enjoyed their hand-selected Henry McKenna and the wonderful hospitality of Larry Rice, Susie Hoyte and Skip Padgett. We were a bunch of peas in the pod, so to speak. I really enjoy what they are doing there and the rockabilly music was fun and not overwhelming, as many have reported.
Day Three- Market. We met Justin and Jennifer Hammond at St Charles Exchange for a classic cocktail. Delicious as always and our bartender (also nicknamed 'Skippy') was a lot of fun.
Milkwood- Dinner. What can I say? I'm digging on what Edward Lee and Co. are doing there. Stacie Stewart and Hope Clark were awesomeness. I loved my Jalisco and all of the food was exceptional. At $38, the Duck for Two is well-recommended. I should also say that any wine selected by Len Stevens is a winner. 'Nope, I don't need to taste it- I know it's incredible.' And it was.
A quick tour through 21c (sans the Proof goodness, maybe next time) rounded this night off...
Day Four (the bonus round)- I had Aidan and at my physician's counsel, I am trying to sneak more red meat into his diet for the iron. That begs a fine hamburger, so we stopped by WW Cousins. It was close to the hotel and it is a Louisville Tradition and kid-friendly. As good as it always is- and he had a blast!
As I was seeing her off, I kind of laughed to myself thinking we could do this quite often here in Louisville...
We simply scratched the surface.
