Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day . . . a.k.a Amateur Night in the restaurant biz. Anyone aware of restaurants that do a great job on this evening?

I just received an email announcement about a very nice Valentine's Day dinner at Proof on Main. Four courses of Chef Paley's terrific food in a special V-Day Menu.

sadly, I will be starting a trial on Thursday so no fancy dinner for me that night.

[Robin Garr]

Valentine's Day . . . a.k.a Amateur Night in the restaurant biz. Anyone aware of restaurants that do a great job on this evening?

Not much specific help here, but in general I recommend against serious dining out on Valentine's, Derby Day or Mother's Day, the "Amateur Night" trio in Louisville, as far as I can tell.

That being said, generally speaking the best places do the best job under tough circumstances, so Le Relais certainly ought to do better than most on Amateur Night. Where things really fall apart is when eateries get greedy and try to cram in more tables and more customers than they can handle in order to maximize returns on a special evening.

My last time dining out on V-Day was a debacle. I ordered a bottle of wine, and the server came back to tell me they were out of it. Ok. So I ordered another. Same thing. I ordered another. Same thing. After about 5-6 bottles, I finally asked him to find out what they did have. It was hilarious.

I have never been, but I seem to recall several people raving about Melillo's Valentine's special dinner....

Valentine's Day . . . a.k.a Amateur Night in the restaurant biz. Anyone aware of restaurants that do a great job on this evening?

Ya know, it is my experience that Valentine's Day is the easiest busy day of the year for anyone working it. All of the parties are little deuces and not rushing a thing. The hardest part for the guest is getting the reservation. Once there, they are given the best of everything in an atmosphere of whispers and roses.

I've started a running list of Valentine's Day events/specials. If you know of any I should add to the list please let me know.

And to get to the original question of this post, I've heard White Castle does a nice job with their Valentine's Day special.

Last year we went to the Intermezzo Cafe at Actor's Theatre for dinner and a cabaret show featuring Sarah Stivers. It looks like they're doing it again this year: Intermezzo Cafe - An Evening in Paris

We actually went several days before Valentines Day, so it wasn't berserk. We enjoyed it.

Hey Ron, by the way, we went Napa River Grill last weekend, and I ordered the "Bistro Steak". It turns out bistro steak is another name for hanger steak, which is something I think you look for in restaurants. NRG's version wasn't as good as L&N's version when I had it there. NRG still hasn't moved to the new place (it is a move - not a second location - right??)

[Robin Garr]

NRG still hasn't moved to the new place (it is a move - not a second location - right??)

Correct. It will move <i>from</i> Dupont Square <i>to</i> a new building in Westport Village. Firm word now is that the move will not take place until after Derby, though, according to the owner, J.D. Rothberg, who told me that when I was phone-interviewing him yesterday about the KRA Restaurateur of the Year award. He said they'd rather go through Derby on the old, familiar ground than try to handle Derby craziness and new-location craziness all at the same time.

Check the CJ friday 2/1/08 for a list of restaurants and V-day specials. They called us today about what we are doing.

Oops. Must be next Friday.

great article from CBS News detailing tips for Valentine's Day....everything from finding a date, to making dinner reservations, to finding the perfect gift....to choosing the right wine. Some of the website names are just plain hilarious (and hopefully not offensive to some). Hope this helps!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/ ... 8709.shtml