This unapologetic foodie likes Butchertown Grocery just fine

[Robin Garr]

This unapologetic foodie likes Butchertown Grocery just fine

LEO's Eats with Robin Garr

Butchertown Grocery’s avocado tartine.


So I surfed into LEO Weekly online the other day, and hey, what’s this? Some guy is picking on Butchertown Grocery! And wait! It gets even worse! He’s hatin’ on foodies!

This all seemed very wrong, and it called for a fact check. Just as quick as that, we took our friends Bill and Margaret over to Butchertown Grocery for dinner, and you know what? Despite what that online rant had led me to believe, I couldn’t find any cultural appropriation or microagressions anywhere.

More about out meal shortly, but first, let’s take a look at that “foodie” thing. This writer is not the first person I’ve heard who finds the term offensive, but most of those who do so strike me as epic snobs. I’ll stand with the linguist and etymology expert Barry Gopnik, a contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary, who says the word has been around since the 1980s.

“A ‘foodie’ is someone who is interested in food and drink,” Gopnik wrote. “The term is a modern one, less pretentious and mostly replacing the term ‘gourmet.’”

That’s my take, too. I’d rather be a “foodie” than a “gourmet,” because it’s a simple, open and affirming moniker that welcomes everyone in without an entrance exam. That’s my position, and I’m sticking to it.

Now, let’s talk about Butchertown Grocery. We’ll begin at the end: You might think that the gift of a small brownie presented upon one’s departure in a little cardboard box tied up with silver string might not be all that memorable. You would be wrong. This seeming afterthought, consumed the next day, was a cubical shell of crisp chocolate that gave way to the bite to reveal a rich, creamy interior reminiscent of the finest fudge. Was it the best brownie I ever ate? Yes, it was that good.

Exposed brick, old wood, and undraped hard white marble tables make for an evocative if somewhat noisy environment in the prettily renovated old commercial building that originally housed Gunkel’s Grocery in the late 1800s and more recently was home to the Blind Pig. Service was on point, and the drinks program well chosen.

Mary and I were happy with a Negroni and a Campari-and-soda ($9 each), and I later summoned a glass of Sonoma-Cutrer Chardonnay ($15) to go with my meal. A bread plate featuring Blue Dog baguette and cereal bread with whipped sorghum butter kept us busy while we studied the menu, and soon dinner was on its way. ...

Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/?p=5705

You'll also find this review in LEO Weekly’s Food & Drink section today.
http://www.leoweekly.com/category/food-drink/

Butchertown Grocery  
1076 E. Washington St.
742-8315
http://butchertowngrocery.com
https://facebook.com/butchertowngrocery
Robin Garr’s rating: 86 points

I have yet to go to Butchertown Grocery. The only complaint I have heard is the price.

From your review, I find it hard to justify 130.00+ (for two) for a review of 86 points. For that price I would expect a much higher rating.

I have yet to go to Butchertown Grocery. The only complaint I have heard is the price.

From your review, I find it hard to justify 130.00+ (for two) for a review of 86 points. For that price I would expect a much higher rating.

We were there one time soon after they opened and I like you found that the prices were little high for what we were getting. It was good and some of it was certainly unique but for the price I can definitely find a better meal elsewhere.

I have yet to go to Butchertown Grocery. The only complaint I have heard is the price.

From your review, I find it hard to justify 130.00+ (for two) for a review of 86 points. For that price I would expect a much higher rating.

Yeah I can't really get behind the pricing here either. Not that I'm against spending money on a quality meal. However, when you're trying to sell a $50 burger just because and you think that any combination of toppings makes that asking price acceptable I've got to call bullshit.

[Robin Garr]

I hear you guys. It's pricey. But if you'll notice, I had two upscale reviews in two weeks (there goes the budget!) ... and spent almost exactly the same at Butchertown Grocery and at Brooklyn and the Butcher. I didn't hear any pushback on price at B&theB. Thoughts on that?

I did a prior review on Butchertown at lunch and did specifically call out the burger (and grilled cheese) pricing. And who knows, the mysterious process that leads to my numerical rating on HotBytes (not on LEO) could reflect a value equation.

But still, at dinner time, this is a hot ticket. It's busy every night, and people are clamoring to get in. I think it's a combo of mood and the bar program and Bobby Benjamin's cooking that is making that happen. It's an upscale place, and I saw a lot of Beemers and Audis parked around. I guess those people have to be fed, too.

Maybe it's just me or we've had a better experience there but I don't consider the prices that Brooklyn and the Butcher to be as high as Butchertown Grocery. Another thing that bothers me about Butchertown Grocery is that they don't publish their menu prices on their website. They wait until somebody walks in and get hit in the face with their prices. Brooklyn and the Butcher puts in their prices on the menu.

They wait until somebody walks in and get hit in the face with their prices.

Mark, I was thinking the exact same. Also, I don't really get the dinner menu choices. Besides the fact that the choices are very limited (entrees), why so many Italian dishes? Like a separate section all together.

[Robin Garr]

I don't consider the prices that Brooklyn and the Butcher to be as high as Butchertown Grocery.

Well, we had similar combinations of apps, mains, drinks and a dessert at both places, and Butchertown came out $9 more at the end of the day. At this level, I consider that lost in the static. Also, I didn't save the notes, but in the process of thinking through my overall reaction, I checked entree prices and found them comparable.

Butchertown Grocery
$132.50 and a $30 tip

Brooklyn and the Butcher
$123.93 for two plus a $30 tip

As for the no-price menu, I thought it was funny at first, but it just didn't bother me all that much. Bottom line, I know going in that it's pricey. If I'm really concerned, I can call them, I can email them, I can leave them a question on their Facebook page.

Actually, now that I look at it, the menu on the Facebook page has prices!
https://www.facebook.com/butchertowngrocery/menu

Ahhhh. The days of the $10 dinner salads are a distant memory.

Hi Robin,

I'm the author of the article you referenced this week. I look forward to speaking with you over Kyle's podcast.

I wasn't picking on Butchertown Grocery - I used them as a perfect example of a larger issue. But specific to Butchertown Grocery, I took the chef's own words in interviews and contextualized them. "With our menu, we will constantly be researching Butchertown," he told the Courier-Journal last fall. I live in this neighborhood, and while it's a "cool" part of town, it's not affluent. We don't drive beemers and Audis. $132 for dinner is not representative of the neighborhood. But even if it was, considering that the shellfish, by your own admission, was old and off is a serious problem at that price point. My bill at spots like Mayan Cafe and Jack Fry's come well under that price, and I've never dealt with freshness issues there.

Considering the hype and staggering amount of press showered by local media upon this place (The Courier-Journal alone has 60 articles mentioning the restaurant - at least a third are specific features), Butchertown Grocery is worthy of scrutiny - analysis that is warranted and fair - that I delivered to open up my thinkpiece. But we'll talk more about it this weekend

[Robin Garr]

We don't drive beemers and Audis.

Hey, Michael, looking forward to Sunday night. My reference above, not in my review, was based on the clientele's jalopies, not necessarily those of neighbors. We can talk about the rest on air!