LEO's Eats with Robin Garr
That Dan Sandwich at Toonerville Deli
In this food-loving city full of food-fascinated folks, there must be a thousand food bloggers, freelancers and journalists. My friend Dana is one, and she does it well. So I was truly honored when Dana asked if I'd help mentor her 12-year-old cousin, Amber, visiting from Michigan, who wants to be a food writer, too.
How could I say no? I was delighted for a chance to help guide this bright, eager tween toward the fascinating world of eating, drinking and telling people about it.
Why not take Amber to lunch, talk about the tricks of the food-scribe's trade, and invite her to help write a review?
Amber thought that was a great idea, so we blasted off for Toonerville Deli, where proprietor, Dan Borsch, had recently written to let me know that his place is serving fine sandwiches. Borsch hope I'd check it out, and that sounded good to me! I love me some good sandwiches, and I admired Dan's adoption of a classic old Louisville meme. Fontaine Fox's cartoon, Toonerville Trolley, which ran in the Louisville newspapers a century ago, and later inspired the the faux trolleys on tires that run in the Trolley Hops.
Toonerville Deli's Old Louisville storefront offers straightforward deli fare, mostly sandwiches, priced from $6 to $13, plus soup and salad options. Around midday it segues from deli to pizzeria, fully transforming into the Old Louisville Pizza Co. by dinner time.
Hey! Let's let Amber tell us about it. She wrote her review on a tight deadline on her own tablet within an hour after lunch:
Amber wrote:Today I went to Toonerville Deli with my cousin, Dana McMahan, and food critic, Robin Garr. It was a great experience to meet a food critic since I want to be one when I grow up. Also it was nice to come to Kentucky for a week and try a new deli.
I thought the deli itself was extremely interesting. I loved the walls with their menu in chalk styled writing. I also liked the marble tables. They didn't rock back and forth like other places I've been to. Their wooden chairs were very simple, and comfortable at the same time. And the temperature in ToonerVille Deli wasn't too cold, but not as hot as it was outside. It was a nice temperature to get out of the humidity. I noticed the customers were very casual, which I liked as well.
I don't think I could have said it any better myself. Good work, Amber!
We placed our orders and chatted for a while. Dana and I tried to answer her thoughtful questions, and offered her a few suggestions about the food-scribe's trade ...
Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/?p=5341
See this column also in LEO Weekly:
http://www.leoweekly.com/2015/08/we-men ... ille-deli/
Toonerville Deli
1201 S. First St.
635-6960
Facebook.com/Toonervilledeli
Robin Garr's rating: 82 points
