LEO's Eats with Robin Garr
Eiderdown’s Abratna Brew with Marksbury Farm bratwurst.
I won’t deny that being a restaurant critic is fun, but it’s hard work also. And there is one truly significant downside: When duty calls you to eat out someplace new every week, it’s not easy to return to dine casually at places that make you happy.
Nevertheless, there’s a handful, or maybe two, of local eateries that please me enough - and, frankly, are affordable enough - that I’m likely to drop in now and then even when I’m not wearing my food-critic’s chapeau.
One of those is Eiderdown.
Always comfortable, always welcoming, Eiderdown is as hip as massive beards, random piercings and spectacularly artful tattoos. But humanity in all its forms and preferences is welcome there, even those of us unpierced and unadorned.
One of the first sit-down restaurants in the new Germantown renaissance, Eiderdown opened in 2010, a hopeful venture by the folks who’d been shaking up previously un-hip Germantown with the popular tavern Nachbar. In a historic urban neighborhood better known for the blue-collar culinary delights of Check’s and the sadly departed Germantown Cafe and Flabby’s, Eiderdown started a new wave of hip, gastropubby goodies.
Eiderdown occupies a historic red-brick corner store that’s deeply rooted in Germantown, and the unassuming decor of its long, arrow high-ceiling room evokes the feeling of an earlier time, too, with its exposed brick walls and heavy, rustic wooden tables lined up in a row. A long, comfortable bar runs the length of the room.
There’s a short but well-chosen wine list and a selection of creative cocktails, but in respect of the community’s beer-drinking Germanic heritage, Eiderdown’s beer program stands out, with a good bottle selection and nearly two dozen taps - most housing craft beers, many of them local.
Eiderdown’s menu, which the owners call European-inspired comfort food,” is updated frequently to take advantage of local seasonal produce, but favorites - including the addictive duck-fat popcorn ($5) are always available, and local meat and cheese producers get preference and a menu shout-out. ...
Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/?p=5668
See this column also in LEO Weekly:
http://www.leoweekly.com/2016/08/eiderd ... -us-happy/
Eiderdown
983 Goss Ave.
290-2390
http://eiderdown-gtown.com
https://facebook.com/983Germantown
Robin Garr’s rating: 88 points
Mostly neighborhood places. Caffe Classico, Blue Dog, Heine Bros., Con Huevos ... Seviche for a blowout ... DakShin ... Coals Pizza ... I could go on.