Brendon's Catch 23

Don't know if anyone else has had the opportunity to try this place yet, but we ate there the other night and thought it was fantastic. I would say easily the best seafood restaurant in Louisville and one of the best restaurants period.

We were with a larger group and tried probably half the food on the menu. The chilean sea bass was melt-in-your-mouth good, the crab cakes were stuffed with crab, the tuna seasoned perfectly and cooked rare, shrimp and grits amazing...literally everything we tried was outstanding. Even the sides were great.

Anyway just wanted to see if anyone else had a similar experience. Of if you have not been, i would recommend giving it a try.

How did this restaurant slip under the radar? When I first looked up the address I feared it was in 4th Street live and that's why I hadn't heard about it or bothered with it but a quick Google map search showed it's not. Louisville has needed a good seafood restaurant and by looking at the menu it looks like this may fit the bill! Any idea how long it's been open?

[Robin Garr]

How did this restaurant slip under the radar?

It's been on the radar for a few months, actually, but not a large blip.

Check these search results ...
search.php?keywords=brendon

How did this restaurant slip under the radar? When I first looked up the address I feared it was in 4th Street live and that's why I hadn't heard about it or bothered with it but a quick Google map search showed it's not. Louisville has needed a good seafood restaurant and by looking at the menu it looks like this may fit the bill! Any idea how long it's been open?

Its at the bottom of the Embassy Suites just right outside of 4th Street live. There are not really any big signs or anything, you could easily miss it even driving right by it. That said, it is VERY nice inside, you can tell they spent a lot of money on the interior, but the atmosphere was also casual, plenty of people in jeans and shorts. Also some people dressed up though.

They told us the seafood is flown in fresh daily and the menu is printed daily based on what catch they get. Fairly pricey but worth it.

I had heard of it several times, just never bothered to really check out what it actually was until we were invited to go there. Will 100% be going back.

Is this an independent or corporate restaurant? It wasn't clear on their website.

Pretty sure its independent but I'm not sure how local it is.

[Robin Garr]

Pretty sure its independent but I'm not sure how local it is.

Thinking out loud, a lot of hotel chains create an independent identity for their in-hotel dining room, which gives it a local feel, but run it with a corporate sensibility, with budget decisions from the home office. I'm thinking of the Marriott's model here ... perhaps that's what we have with Brendon's? They do seem to be getting good reviews right now, so there's that. I'm thinking I might wait a few months for it to settle in before reviewing, though.

Having talked to one of their employees the other day (I unfortunately still haven't actually tried the restaurant), my understanding is it is fully independent. Also heard the same -- no seafood more than 24 hours from the water. As to whether any of that is true, who knows. Hoping to try it sometime in the next month or two.

[Robin Garr]

no seafood more than 24 hours from the water.

In Louisville with its UPS hub and the long-term presence of quality distributors like Bluefin, that doesn't really make anybody stand out. Hell, places like Mazzoni's did it with Gulf oysters and refrigerator cars on L&N express trains back in the 1860s.

no seafood more than 24 hours from the water.

In Louisville with its UPS hub and the long-term presence of quality distributors like Bluefin, that doesn't really make anybody stand out. Hell, places like Mazzoni's did it with Gulf oysters and refrigerator cars on L&N express trains back in the 1860s.

We're all simple hillbillies here, Robin. The idea of any fish that isn't cat should blow our minds. Just like getting a big chef from New York to come down and open a restaurant here will lend legitimacy to our tobacco-based food industry.

no seafood more than 24 hours from the water.

In Louisville with its UPS hub and the long-term presence of quality distributors like Bluefin, that doesn't really make anybody stand out. Hell, places like Mazzoni's did it with Gulf oysters and refrigerator cars on L&N express trains back in the 1860s.

I dunno, Robin. I've had a lot of fish in Louisville that I'm pretty sure, if you check under the breading (stop over-breading your fish, please! It's for people who hate the taste of fish.... unless it's fish and chips, I guess), actually has "SYSCO" stamped on it somewhere, and has been sitting in a box for at least a good decade. I am the first to admit I'm a seafood snob -- that is, I don't mind if you sell me junk fried cod, but pretend it's "fresh" and I'm going to get pretty picky -- but there are really only a few restaurants whose fish ever tastes close to "just out of the water", IMO.

[Robin Garr]

I dunno, Robin. I've had a lot of fish in Louisville that I'm pretty sure, if you check under the breading (stop over-breading your fish, please! It's for people who hate the taste of fish.... unless it's fish and chips, I guess), actually has "SYSCO" stamped on it somewhere, and has been sitting in a box for at least a good decade. I am the first to admit I'm a seafood snob -- that is, I don't mind if you sell me junk fried cod, but pretend it's "fresh" and I'm going to get pretty picky -- but there are really only a few restaurants whose fish ever tastes close to "just out of the water", IMO.

Well, sure, in a dog-eat-dog world, some people are going to go for the least common denominator. But that's not what I'm saying. My point, which I think is different, is that quality, 24-hours-from-the-water seafood is not a novelty here, and these guys aren't the only ones doing it. We have a system of transportation and vendors available for the good guys who want to use it, and Brendon's hasn't brought us anything novel or unprecedented.

I dunno, Robin. I've had a lot of fish in Louisville that I'm pretty sure, if you check under the breading (stop over-breading your fish, please! It's for people who hate the taste of fish.... unless it's fish and chips, I guess), actually has "SYSCO" stamped on it somewhere, and has been sitting in a box for at least a good decade. I am the first to admit I'm a seafood snob -- that is, I don't mind if you sell me junk fried cod, but pretend it's "fresh" and I'm going to get pretty picky -- but there are really only a few restaurants whose fish ever tastes close to "just out of the water", IMO.

Well, sure, in a dog-eat-dog world, some people are going to go for the least common denominator. But that's not what I'm saying. My point, which I think is different, is that quality, 24-hours-from-the-water seafood is not a novelty here, and these guys aren't the only ones doing it. We have a system of transportation and vendors available for the good guys who want to use it, and Brendon's hasn't brought us anything novel or unprecedented.

We'll see. I still haven't had it, so it's possible it's actually really overpriced Sysco snacks.

My wife and I dined here recently for an anniversary dinner and came away very impressed. We are not restaurant experts by any means but have dined at a good amount of higher end restaurants and definitely prefer the local establishments. Can't really tell you how local this place is but the food and service were both excellent.

A simple open table reservation and a note that this would by our 12 yr anniversary is all it took. We were greeted at the host stand by two suited gentlemen and after a confirmation of the reservation name we were quickly congratulated by our anniversary and led to our table. Again the host mentioning the year to my wife and congratulations again. We were introduced to our server and given time to peruse the wine options. Attention to detail was very evident.

Our server offered some suggestions and we settled on a bottle of sauvignon blanc knowing seafood was what we were there for. It was brought out and described fully with presentation in mind. We ordered a starter of goat cheese bruschetta on grilled sour dough. It soon arrived on a small cutting board that included a cylinder slice of spreadable goat cheese, some kalamata olives and a small 8oz mason jar of tomato basil relish with about 5 slices of crispy grilled sourdough bread. It was very tasty and quickly devoured.

My wife ordered a grilled salmon panzanella salad. Salmon was cooked well and not dry and sat above a bed of baby spinach and basil salad. Also present was goat cheese, kalamata olives, tomato and house made croutons. I ordered the grilled sea bass that came on a bed of sweet potato and corn succotash with small pieces of bacon. the sea bass was crusty on the outside, flaky and moist on the outside. So yummy. Both were quite delicious. Two small corn bread muffins also arrived separately just before our entrees had arrived.

Overall, this isn't sysco offerings and service was very good although they weren't really busy as it was more early evening. We really appreciated the personal touches and attention to detail they offered. Sure we could do the appetizer at home easily for much cheaper but the entrees and service made this for us. We really wanted to try so much more and will have to find a reason to go back soon. Bill came to about $130.

We ended the evening with after dinner drinks at Ei8ht Up at the outside rooftop bar a block away and after taking a closer look of what they offered and talking to a few others we were happy we chose Brendon's Catch 23 over Ei8ht Up for dinner. The latter looks to be more of an ambience location and staff appeared overwhelmed. Just from a quick glance and talking to other patrons.

[Robin Garr]

Thanks for the thorough and helpful review, Brian! Just FYI, the reason the pic won't display is its size - the forum won't show an attachment larger than about 800x800 pixels. You can click and look at it, though.