LEO's Eats with Robin Garr
Fried green tomatoes, fried okra, steamed broccoli and mashed red potatoes at Goose Creek Diner.
There's something about Goose Creek Diner that brings out the city boy in me, and not in a good way.
Don't get me wrong: I really like this place, and I had an excellent meal there with a bunch of friends the other night. But it's an odd mix - a self-proclaimed "diner" that serves Southern-style fare, and I bring some baggage to this concept that has to be unpacked before I can settle down and, well, dine.
First of all, a diner is a Northeastern thing, not a Southern thing. Its natural habitat is New York, New Jersey, maybe Connecticut or Pennsylvania. A diner in Louisville - much less points south - reminds me of the penguins at the Louisville Zoo: Fun to behold, at least for a little while, good for a few laughs, but it just ain't natural.
And then there's that whole Southern thing. I know it has become chic for hip Louisville eateries to pretend to be Southern, and for chefs who arrive from faraway places to discover an inner southern boy who they never knew resided there.
I grew up in Louisville, and I always thought the South started somewhere well away from here. Bullitt County, maybe. Or Southern Indiana. Heck, I didn't even know what grits were until I grew up and hit the road. Fried green tomatoes? What in the heck is that? All I knew about green tomatoes was that they aren't ripe. Those things will give you a tummy-ache if you don't watch out.
But I've learned better. So, when a bunch of friends suggested we gather at the Diner for dinner and go crazy on a pile of fried greens, I was all in.
"They're the best in town," my friend Lanier swore, and doggone it, she was right. ...
Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/our-c ... reek-diner
See this column also in LEO Weekly:
http://www.leoweekly.com/2015/05/our-cr ... eek-diner/
Goose Creek Diner
2923 Goose Creek Road
339-8070
http://gcdiner.com
Facebook: http://goo.gl/b3XrrE
Robin Garr's rating: 87 points
