Portland? West End? CJ muddles Over The 9 review

[Robin Garr]

What am I missing here? I looked this over 3 times and never saw the words "West End." How can one conflate something that is never even mentioned?

James, I think that's the point: "West End" was not mentioned. You are correct. But it should have been. The statement, "Ninth Street has been the red line restaurateurs and diners were loath to cross. ... It’s a street that literally and figuratively divided Louisville," is not about Portland. It's about race, segregation and white flight. But having made that point, she went on to talk about Portland.

As for the rest, we'll again have to respectfully disagree. This site is for the discussion of food, drink and dining in Louisville, and that includes critical commentary on food media. The CJ does it poorly - it does most things poorly because of chain ownership that demands 27 percent ROI, and that deserves critical analysis, particularly, for us, food coverage.

I won't do Eater-style snide, at least not intentionally. But I think it's fair to open up discussion of the media's wins and losses in food reporting, whether it be the Courier-Journal or, for that matter, the defunct Eater. (And, as you see, I may respond, but I'm not censoring your alternative view.)

What am I missing here? I looked this over 3 times and never saw the words "West End." How can one conflate something that is never even mentioned?

James, I think that's the point: "West End" was not mentioned. You are correct. But it should have been. The statement, "Ninth Street has been the red line restaurateurs and diners were loath to cross. ... It’s a street that literally and figuratively divided Louisville," is not about Portland. It's about race, segregation and white flight. But having made that point, she went on to talk about Portland.

As for the rest, we'll again have to respectfully disagree. This site is for the discussion of food, drink and dining in Louisville, and that includes critical commentary on food media. The CJ does it poorly - it does most things poorly because of chain ownership that demands 27 percent ROI, and that deserves critical analysis, particularly, for us, food coverage.

I won't do Eater-style snide, at least not intentionally. But I think it's fair to open up discussion of the media's wins and losses in food reporting, whether it be the Courier-Journal or, for that matter, the defunct Eater. (And, as you see, I may respond, but I'm not censoring your alternative view.)

Robin,
That's what its all about--honest discussion between people with real names. That's why I enjoy the site, besides the wealth of info shared here..........my opinion was expressed, your's followed, and that's about all we need.

Other than too much info about her friends, I thought the LEO review was relatively entertaining. She made a valid point; there have been several gourmet burger places pop up in the past year or so. I'm also of the mind that there's no such thing as bad publicity. The Taco Punk review from a few years back probably gave them at least another year of life.

Straight up, the Leo review was possibly the worst review I have ever read, really rivals the meandering musings of the CJ- ironically one of the most readable to date for Over The 9. Having eaten there, I will say there is a shocking amount of lamb and the menu is slightly confused for the area, but it is tasty. I also had the fortune of judging the most recent chef throw down at Garage bar and Griffin won hands down with his delicious food. I personally had a come to jesus for all my rumblings with his past associations and he was more than gracious; I refuse

(added on) to shy away from criticizing proliferation of shitty food. We are the hub.of franchise, but we are better than that.

associations and he was more than gracious; I refuse
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I do have quite a bit of lamb on the menu: lamb bacon, lamb burger, lamb lardon, lamb meatball, lamb fat aioli.... I'm with you.

Over the 9's kitchen started as a small plate concept. There were no burgers, no sandwiches. Just small plates. Shortly after we opened, the company's other restaurant, Fieldhaus (New Albany), was in need of change. I ventured over, and transformed the menu from what it was to a gourmet burger joint. Things got strange, when, shortly thereafter, a transition from Fieldhaus to newly acquired Brownies went wrong, as the building we had our sights on for the new fieldhaus had several glaring issues.

Long story short, Fieldhaus is searching for a new location, the burger builds from that menu made their way to Over the 9, we added a few sandwiches, opened for lunch, retained all of the employees who put their lives on hold to come work for me, and subsequently saw a huge rise in business. Over the 9 was never supposed to be a full service, lunch and dinner place.

The goal was to facilitate tastings for Falls City, Old 502, and offer quality food. Once we realized there was a call for more, we provided more, and I started working on a new menu. Our new menu, which focuses mainly on house fermentation, house cured meats (both of which take a lot of time) and standard "pub grub", presented with another level of execution, debuts November 3rd.

This has been carefully planned. We opened the doors. We got people in the door. We made an audible (not planned). We immediately started working on a game plan. Culmination comes soon, though, as we have shown in our 4 months of operation, we will adapt and evolve.

I was entertained reading the Leo review, also.

There was always the on- going argument at LEO that just because you CAN say it (" ...and no body can stop me/us! Nah nah nah nah nah nah!) doesn't mean you should say it. Nor does it mean it'll be print worthy copy. I found the LEO piece dry, lifeless and unwelcoming . Maybe she could have done better but her heart/head weren't in the right place. Personally I wouldn't throw Over The 9 out of bed for eating crackers therein.

(Sorry. My sexual memory fails me and I think I will leave the innuendos others.)

Robin, you're good at what you do, and I love this site. But you have an axe to grind regarding the C-J and Nancy Miller. You just have to throw in a dig, or chime in with a dig on every review.

I think that's because Ms. Miller has been, ahem, less than stellar as a food reviewer. Every review I've read of hers so far has been dig-worthy, and Robin has been polite with his comments, because some of the reviews he's linked to have been hot garbage.

From reading this site for a long time, I can see the administrator doesn't seem to care for any other food critic reviews that I've seen. Marty Rosen was good but not according to this site's admin.

I have eaten at Over the 9, and I like it a lot. I got the primanti and a hamburger another time. It's a nice space with good beer, and it's fun to watch stuff get bottled through the window. I'm sure I'll have some happy hours there, and am looking forward to/fearing the scotch egg. I am glad to see it in the neighborhood, whatever you may call it.

On the subject of reviews, I thought the CJ one was unobjectionable, but the LEO one was distracting and had weird mistakes, like shear for sheer, pitch hitter for pinch hitter, and it's for its. So overall I give that LEO writer a measly 3 stars out of 4 (am I doing this right?)

[Robin Garr]

So overall I give that LEO writer a measly 3 stars out of 4 (am I doing this right?)

Well done! I give you 4 1/2 stars as a writer reviewer.

From reading this site for a long time, I can see the administrator doesn't seem to care for any other food critic reviews that I've seen. Marty Rosen was good but not according to this site's admin.

I can't speak for any of the other reviewers, but Robin's comments on Nancy Miller aren't even close to harsh enough, in my opinion. She has jumped into the top 3 of my least favorite writers in any medium, ever. She does not seem to understand the purpose of restaurant reviews, doesn't bother to understand what the purpose of a restaurant is, makes incredibly odd choices, feels the need to insert her opinions about a wide variety of matters unrelated to the restaurant in each review, talks directly to the potential reader (chastising them!) in her review, and, though I'm supposed to "let this one go" at this point (nope), feels the need to denigrate a place, or perhaps just its clientele, over someone breastfeeding.

Her Shenanigans review was the last one I've bothered to read. When she gets around to reviewing Dominos and complains that the decor is not 4 star, that it's not true New York Style pizza, that the sausage is not handmade, and that someone waiting for a pizza there was picking her nose, I'll assume that the trolling has finally been completed.

The CJ does it poorly - it does most things poorly because of chain ownership that demands 27 percent ROI, and that deserves critical analysis, particularly, for us, food coverage.

They'd kill for 8% ROI.