8 Up (VERY) Early Impressions

First and foremost, many thanks to my old friend Len Stevens for inviting us to 8 Up's soft opening event earlier this week. This is a venue that Louisville has needed for a long time. Now, I am going to break down the evening by my big three in criteria:

1) Venue

Situated on the 8th floor of the new Hilton Gardens Inn at 4th & Chestnut, the valet greets you and you don't have to worry about dealing with a downtown garage (KUDOS). There is an express elevator the whisks you to the 8th floor to a true downtown experience. The décor is chic, elegant, and intimate. A more informal lounge area is right off the elevator lobby, and the formal dining room (where we dined) is down the hall a bit. The view from the dining room is spectacular with twilight/nighttime views of the city. A very relaxing space. Sound abatement is premium, as dinner conversation was able to be maintained without strain. The kitchen area is open and it was a fun "show" to watch the chef train on unfamiliar dishes as the evening progressed. Additionally, we had opportunity to speak with Chef and chat a bit about his ideal. I've a feeling the best is yet to come.

2) Service

Spot On!!!! We were greeted by the first host at the elevator door and escorted to the dining room. At the dining room, we were escorted to our table. A long, very comfortable banquet lines one long wall with a variety of 2 & 4 top tables (first minor complaint, tables are very close together and make it difficult for really proper service---waiter/captain needed to creatively manipulate/navigate). Captains handled basic water and clearing needs. The waiter (Thaddeus) was friendly, knowledgeable and informative. If he wasn't sure about anything. Now, this brings on my second minor complaint, which I attributive to the early hour that we dined, I felt that I was in a fish bowl and all the 'at ease' staff was looking for things to do. On a positive note, if I had a question of any sort, I had an answer very quickly.

3) The Food

A very eclectic and changeable menu. I started with a "Butternut Squash Bisque & Lobster Salad"...Now, the presentation of this was unique and fun. A carefully molded form of chilled lobster was placed in a bowl, and presented to the guest. Then, a perfectly heated bisque is added at the table to the bowl. The result is a play on the tongue of heat and cold and delicious. My second course was a pasta with lamb sausage that was filling and perfect on top of my first course.

My dinner companion started with the chef's take on Mac & Cheese (panko, bacon, and various spices), then follow up with the flank steak. Both dishes got kudos and quickly disappeared for sight.

Dessert was an apple crisp for me which was served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to the side. My guests was the chocolate torte, which was HUGE, and more like a large brownie on steroids. He couldn't finish it (an unusual feat) it was so big.

The pricing on the menu is very much in line with other places in town, and I anticipate that dinner for two, with wine service, could hit the $100 mark, with the appropriate tip for excellent service (which we had in spades).

Summary------

We will be back. The do have the usual bugs to work out. That is to be expected.

I do want to go and try the lounge area, which has a more casual feel and menu, plus in warm weather they have an enormous terrace area that promise to be the place for an evening libation.

My thoughts, copied and pasted from invite thread:

One word....wow.

There quite simply isnt another space like it currently in Louisville. Very reminiscent of an upscale Westin lounge and restaurant or something I would have encountered in Manhattan. With the hotel and that restaurant/lounge anchoring the corner of 4th and Chestnut, 4th street along that block is going to explode.
I could definitely see a CVS going in to support out of town guests in need of a snack, a bottle of wine, toiletries or a prescription refill, or even better maybe a locally owned version of what we refer to in New York as bodegas (corner stores). And possibly a couple of lunch spots and or clothing retailers.

Layout:
The lounge and main bar were open with plenty of seating both at the bar and at surrounding couches and nooks. The outdoor space while still being finished looks to be as big if not bigger than the indoor area and will be the hot place to be come spring. Additionally there is a private room off the lounge that could be used for birthdays, small corporate or office events, any type of intimate private celebration and was a very cool addition.
I didnt get a chance to speak with the event manager so I dont know if there is an additional charge for the room or if you simply need to guarantee a certain of spending on food and drink to use it..

The dining room was also very nicely appointed with a smoky intimate look to it. Again very cosmopolitan in nature. It was also broken up a bit so talking quietly at your table wont be hard to do as the walls will block having to compete with everyone else chatting as well. It also has a private dining room available for parties or functions.

Staff:
You could tell they had opening night jitters and were nervous but were already on the ball. You can definitely see Len's training and hand in this. Our server Sarah knew the menu, knew the drinks and was able to quickly and professionally handle everything we needed. The bartender even made custom lemonade for my daughter when she ordered it, we didnt ask for or expect this. But needless to say my daughter was very surprised and pleased.

Food:
My daughter and I ate on the lounge side since I thought the brick oven pizza would appeal to her. She had a goat cheese pizza with rustic bacon and sauteed leeks. It was perfectly done. The crust was the right balance of being able to hold all the toppings without becoming chewy. I had the fried chicken sliders and an order of pommes frites. And it filled me up.
The menu for the main restaurants was divided into small, medium and large plates. The prices for the large plates topped out around mid-twenties and the dishes in all three groups looked awesome. They are doing a crispy smoked spanish octopus that I can not wait to dig into. They also had an excellent looking dessert menu which included pumpkin cheesecake that I cant wait to go back and try!

According to Len the full opening is Monday and we will very likely be there.

Like Bill, Laura and I also took advantage of Len's gracious offer and had dinner at 8up last night. We also aid in the dining room and certainly agree with all of Bill's comments about it. The noise level is loud but certainly not excessive, you can have a conversation with others at your table without having to shout! The waitstaff is obviously well-trained (any that we talked you came from other fine dining restaurants locally) and new the menu very well. They also appeared to be pretty much over the opening-night jitters that Doug referred to in his post yesterday. They certainly do have to weave and bob around each other and patrons while serving the tables because of the limited space between tables.

The food itself was marvelous! Once we were seated we were presented with pimento cheese hushpuppies as a Amuse-Buse, we could've taken a plate of those for a meal! We had scallops as our appetizers, it's an order of 2 very large scallops cooked perfectly. Laura had the Short Ribs which were a generous portion of tender meat complemented with braised heirloom carrots and a very nice gravy. I had the Hanger Steak which was served au pouvoir, it was cooked perfectly and a wonderful piece of meat. We had Brussels sprouts and garlic mashed potatoes for sides, both of which were excellent renditions of the dish. Dessert selection was also very nice and we ended up having a butterscotch pudding dish which was a perfect topping for the dinner. Overall there menu is small but certainly offers something that everyone will enjoy. The small medium and large sections (there actually also is an extra large section) that Doug mentioned previously actually are the appetizer section (small), medium which are salads and some small entrées and large which are the normal entrées. The extra large selections are designed for 2 people to split, we saw them presented to several tables around us and they were certainly huge and looks very nice.

This sounds like a place we need to try soon.

From Doug's review..."I could definitely see a CVS going in to support out of town guests in need of a snack, a bottle of wine, toiletries or a prescription refill, or even better maybe a locally owned version of what we refer to in New York as bodegas (corner stores)." For better or worse (as a lifelong Louisvillian I say "worse") the CVS that has been at Fourth Street Live since its birth as the Galleria is moving to the first floor of what to me will always be known as the Stewart's Department Store building at the corner of Fourth and Muhammad Ali. I think a locally-owned bodega would have thrived...but now we'll never know.

We loved L&n and are happy to see Len Stevens back! However, they have a DJ for entertainment in a town that is filled with gifted musicians.

This sounds like a place we need to try soon.

From Doug's review..."I could definitely see a CVS going in to support out of town guests in need of a snack, a bottle of wine, toiletries or a prescription refill, or even better maybe a locally owned version of what we refer to in New York as bodegas (corner stores)." For better or worse (as a lifelong Louisvillian I say "worse") the CVS that has been at Fourth Street Live since its birth as the Galleria is moving to the first floor of what to me will always be known as the Stewart's Department Store building at the corner of Fourth and Muhammad Ali. I think a locally-owned bodega would have thrived...but now we'll never know.

That CVS that was in 4th St Live moved to 4th and Ali months ago. There actually is a bodega about a block down 4th Ave but believe me, the CVS is preferable.

Wow! Wow! Wonderful! Anoosh & I had the pleasure of a couple of free hours last night, and am so glad we took the time to go visit Len @ 8 Up...
After a tour of what will be "the outdoor space to be in Louisville" when finished-- I admit to major rooftop patio envy,,, and 2 kitchens , plus an incredible wood fired pizza oven,,, we decided to dine in the more upscale, quiet side of 8 up.
Great service from Thadius,,, and they were gracious in serving 2 vegetarians...
Heirloom Beet Salad, Root veggie salad, entrees of a variety of grilled vegetables including brussel sprouts, parsnips, heirloom carrots, and a few others that I forgot in my delight of the meal..

Dessert was amazing ---- Salted Butterscotch pudding w pistachios , whipped cream and an apple crisp w/ comfy cow ice cream.... I woke up having a craving to go back today...

They have a variety of private room configurations for meetings/ private dinners... One of the nifty touches are the different colored lights on the floor in front of the restrooms... Red for occupied,,,white for open... what a great idea!

We look forward to going back w/ friends soon!

Wow! Wow! Wonderful! Anoosh & I had the pleasure of a couple of free hours last night, and am so glad we took the time to go visit Len @ 8 Up...

Were you the six or so top sitting next to us?

I took my wife and daughter last night for dinner on the full restaurant side.

Impressions:
1. Again service was courteous and impeccable. Some of the best service we have received in the six years of living and dining in Louisville.
2. The food some of the best I have eaten in town.
My wife ordered the mussels, and quite frankly they were the largest, plumbest mussels I had ever laid eyes on. Seriously giant succulent monsters. And then she and my daughter split the lobster mac and cheese....while trying to beat back my spoon as I kept sneaking bites of my own.
I ordered the salted octopus to start with, and will say this is one of the top three best dishes I have eaten in Louisville. The octopus was done perfectly with a slight char on the outside. For dinner I had the short ribs with creamed spinach, which were amazing!

Price: Friday night my daughter and I went to Eddie Merlot's for dinner, and for just the two of us dinner was $140 with tip. In comparison dinner last night for the three of us was just $112 with tip, and we ordered more food and were happier with the meal.

My dear foodies you guys are seriously missing out! Go see Len and check this place out now!

http://www.8uplouisville.com/

Edit: And Len I know last night I mentioned your website. And you said you had one. This morning I tried Googling it again. It didnt appear anywhere in the search returns. It did give me your twitter page which led me to your actual website.
Whoever is doing the media and marketing needs to get on that.

We are planning on going there for my 40th birthday. Excited.

Stopped by for a look after having dined in St Mathews with an out-of-town guest. Wow---swank, panache, and whatever else. The outdoor space will be prime real estate in the coming months. It's just all around impressive. I look forward to trying their wood oven pizza.