Reports on Artesano! (Combined threads)

[Robin Garr]

Here’s news about Artesano from Fernando Martinez, the creative proprietor of Mussel & Burger Bar, Cena, Guaca Mole, El Taco Lucador and a bunch of other great places past, present and to come.

Artesano, featuring creative takes on Spanish tapas, will open in two to three months in the old AP Crafters space in Westport Village. Fernando sounds excited about it, and so am I! Architectural renderings to follow, Fernando says. I'll post them when I get them.

We think this is going to be our best concept so far. This is a project by us and our partner Todd Wellemeyer, the space was designed by Design+Plus a local architect firm.

We'll have a tapas bar with open kitchen and a brick oven, full bar with a draft system for beers and draft cocktails. We'll also have four communal tables.

We have an amazing team opening Artesano: Rick Moir will be the GM, Mark Ford (former St. Charles Exchange) will the Executive Chef; Shelly Yoder (former Corbetts) will be the be the Exexutive Sous chef.

The menu is all Spanish tapas with only one side, call "Platos Para Compartir" (“Plates for sharing”) that will be bigger portions to share, like our Chuleton De Buy - 24-ounce bone-in Rib-Eye with truffle chimichurri and brick-oven olive oil roasted potatoes), etc.

Our paellas, like a lot of the other items in the menu, will be cooked in the brick oven. There will be personal size paellas for one, or enough for two to share, and they will only take 15 minurwa in our oven, so no waiting will be needed. Also the Spanish octopus will be cooked in the oven.

Opening should around 60 to 90 days from next Monday, including 2 weeks of soft pre-opening. At the beginning we'll only open for dinner 6 night a week; then we'll open for lunch six days a week. Later we plan to open on Sundays for dinner and brunch featuring a all you can drink Sangria Bar with seasonal sangrias.

We are really, really excited about this one.

Fernando

I'm excited too! Sounds amazing!!

This place in this location will rock! Cannot wait!

I didn't think I could be more excited than I was when I heard you were opening this concept but after reading your post I can hardly wait!
Unbelievable is all I can say!

Sounds like this is going to be another great Gem in the Louisville dining scene! Of course we've grown to expect that from Fernando. Originally, I thought this was going to be much like Mojitos but now it seems is going to be very different and extremely exciting. I only wish that the location had better parking, parking in that corner was a problem in the past and with the crowd that will be visiting this restaurant I'm sure it will be much worse!

Sounds awesome, can't wait to try it!

We went to the soft opening of Artesamo Tuesday evening. They certainly done a major job remodeling it and it really looks fantastic. I can't even begin to describe the food choices because I would murder the spelling of most of them. Everything we had with fantastic but several of them really stood out. The Dates stuffed with Goat Cheese and wrapped in Bacon that we had for appetizers were heavenly and we actually ended up with a 2nd order of them. The cheese and meat boards were also very good. Fernando also stopped by the table and recommended that we try the Beef Cheeks and we certainly were glad we did! They were extremely tender and flavorful. The desserts we had were also great, I'm not sure who their desert chef is but they are also doing a great job. Pricing looks pretty reasonable, comparable to Mojitos +/-. They have a good-sized wine list most of which is quite reasonably priced, we had a very nice Chilean Pinot that was priced at $30/bottle and it was excellent.

They officially opened next Monday, serving dinner only for a while but eventually they will start serving lunch and dinner 7 days per week and they will have a brunch on Sundays. Fernando also mentioned that right now M&B downtown is only open for lunch at the present time but again will be going to lunch and dinner 7 days a week.

It also looks like they did a great job raiding CQ for help. Our waitress was from there and she said that there were 3 or 4 of them who had come from there as well as the GM. Tito, Fernando's son is also going to be at the restaurant most of the time.

Definitely a restaurant to put on your list of places to try!!

My wife came home from Vegas last night (yes, Southwest is back moving, and the plane was almost a half hour early!), and enroute home we decided to avoid the crowds and go to Artisano early.

We had no trouble getting seated (5:45), and as stated before the space is beautiful; you would never recognize it as the old AP Crafters! There are multiple seating levels (sofas through high-tops) for relaxing, eating, drinking, et al, and each is comfortable with good lighting (subdued, but bright enough to read a menu easily!). In warmer weather it will be a wonderful place to eat outside, with additional tables both in the old patio area and around the side of the building.

While it was packed and bustling by the time we left, and obviously busy with ambient noise, at least where we were sitting (in a corner banquette by a window) we could talk softly and actually hear ourselves!

We started with the recommended Bourbon special drink (with lemon and orange marmalade!) – it sure went down easy, and the flavor combination was inspired. With it we ordered the chicken skewers, grilled and served with a tzatziki-like yoghurt sauce over a piece of toast (useful for scooping up the sauce at the end). It was some of the most tender chicken I'd ever had in my life!

For "main" dishes, we had the strip steak with blue cheese, and the roasted squash with Marcona almonds. The combination of flavors in the two dishes were unusual, but blended perfectly both within the dishes and between the dishes. Each was cooked flawlessly and brought out from the kitchen exactly when perfect.

Unfortunately, we had gone in wanting a very light dinner, and had to exert extreme restraint to avoid over-ordering. I finally gave in, and ordered the stuffed dates Mark had for an appetizer as our dessert; the sweet fruit combined with a honey-based sauce and cheese stuffing provided a cheesecake-like finish, and the bacon wrapping gave a slight salty tang to end the evening!

As our kids live in Chicago, we spend a good part of the year there, and across the street from our apartment is a high rated Spanish tapas restaurant (Emilio's). While it is more "traditional" in that all dishes are true small plates, if Artisano were to move next door they literally would destroy Emilio's: Artisano has an unusual attention to detail, a greater variety of dishes, more complex (in a good way) dishes, a nicer front-of-house staff (Kelly, our waitress, had just the right amount of friendliness and professionalism, and was a knowledgeable salesperson, while the runners also demonstrated knowledge of the product), all at an affordable price point.

We will be back!

(BTW, it seemed to me that several of the larger plates - and even an appetizer or two - were very reminiscent of dishes we had enjoyed at The Place Downstairs. Nothing bad, just a good way to recycle!)

Thanks for pointing out the similarities to "The Place Downstairs" I thought the same thing we were there but forgot to put it in my post. Glad you enjoyed the Dates!

Do they have anything vegetarian on the menu?

[Robin Garr]

Do they have anything vegetarian on the menu?

Soni, looking at menus posted on their Facebook page, not too much, but there are at least one paella and one small-plate involving Sheltowee Farm mushrooms and no meat, poultry or fish. They're not vegan, though ... Manchego cheese.

I expect they'd modify dishes on request, but in terms of the actual printed menu, the answer is, "yes, a couple, but not a lot."

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=640181106119078

The roasted cauliflower dish is hearty and delicious.

[Robin Garr]

artesano-menu2.jpg

Artesano Menu, No. 2.

(141.76 KiB) Not downloaded yet

artesano-menu1.jpg

Artesano Menu, No. 1.

(68.55 KiB) Not downloaded yet

[Robin Garr]

Robin, you may want to combine this thread with
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=23559,
which has a couple of reviews from last week

Darn! I didn't notice that. "Combining" threads in PhpBB is a little sketchy, Andrew. I'm tempted, but I sure don't want a stray byte to lose either thread. Maybe better to leave your link to tie them together?

Went again last night - second time in a week! This time there were four of us, and we didn't repeat a dish from last time, but again each was better than the last.

For information, we got there around 5:50, and it was pretty empty (opens at 5:00). When we left, at 7:15, there was a 45 minute wait. I'd suggest going early or late, although with the patio and bar area having a bourbon at the bar while you wait certainly is a viable option!

Also, four of us had one drink apiece, and we split six or seven dishes, were pretty full, and the bill (after tax before tip) was $102. They have some dishes "meant for sharing" - 24 oz steak, whole fish, etc. - but we did not have those.

I'm not going to go over all of the dishes we had this time, as I've come to the conclusion that you can't go wrong whatever you order!