What's your favorite restaurant no longer around?

I'm going to name a few, beginning with Casa Grisanti for the delicious Italian food and service. My first fine dining experience.
Next is Sixth Avenue where where we enjoyed many group business dinners during their short run
Lastly I have to mention Cafe Metro, a place where, to borrow a phrase "everybody knows your name" and whose pastry chef taught me to make one of her specialties - Mocha Dacquoise. I still make it today about once a year.

Another one I just remembered, Le Gallo Rosso. I loved their lasagna. I think it was the best I ever had. They also had great desserts. And those cool salads wrapped up in a pickle slice. The atmosphere in that old building was great as well.

Once upon a time around 1965 there was an Italian restaurant/cafe/ pizza place called Joe’s Z. It was in Buchel, sat on the corner of Hikes Lane and Bardstown Rd by-pass. They sold carry out spaghetti in what looked like aluminum foil lined shoeboxes. (Not of course but the same size box). Does anybody have a recipe for their sauce or at least remember it enough to know what made it so distinctive? Ive tried every combination of Italian herbs and it’s missing one, distinct flavor I can’t identify.
Anybody?

[Robin Garr]

Carla, I remember Joe Z's by name, but from the vantage point of the Highlands where we had Calandrino's and Highland Italian (later Lentini's), Buechel looked like a place you needed a passport to reach. I don't believe we ever went to Z's, sorry. Spaghetti in a box with awesome sauce? That might have been worth a special trip!

Carla, I remember Joe Z's by name, but from the vantage point of the Highlands where we had Calandrino's and Highland Italian (later Lentini's), Buechel looked like a place you needed a passport to reach. I don't believe we ever went to Z's, sorry. Spaghetti in a box with awesome sauce? That might have been worth a special trip!

Robin, I grew up in Shively and for us, an infrequent trip to the "East End" to Lentini's or Calandrino's was a big deal. We seldom ventured east of I-65.

La Paloma, Susan Seiller's other great restaurant (the "other" is Jack Fry's).

I’ll add a deep cut, Othello’s, a restaurant/jazz club on Broadway, maybe at 3rd. I don’t miss the food (which was good) as much as the ambiance, music, and late hours — seemed like a classy oasis to take a date, maybe late 80s/early 90s. A number of places mentioned had good food, but much like the excellent Dietrich’s, Othello’s brought a different vibe to the dining scene.

There was another East Broadway place around that time, about four blocks west of Barrett, that had excellent food, went there a number of times but cannot recall the name.

[Robin Garr]

I’ll add a deep cut, Othello’s, a restaurant/jazz club on Broadway, maybe at 3rd. I don’t miss the food (which was good) as much as the ambiance, music, and late hours — seemed like a classy oasis to take a date, maybe late 80s/early 90s. A number of places mentioned had good food, but much like the excellent Dietrich’s, Othello’s brought a different vibe to the dining scene.

I remember that! Did Dean Corbett work there in one of his first gigs? Or am I just making that up?

There was another East Broadway place around that time, about four blocks west of Barrett, that had excellent food, went there a number of times but cannot recall the name.

Timothy's?

Hearthstone Tavern. Good music and fondue!

Timothy's?

Ah yes that's the one, thanks. Not sure about Chef Dean, but Othello's had (for the time) some unique menu options, so it sounds like his kind of kitchen.

I’ll add a deep cut, Othello’s, a restaurant/jazz club on Broadway, maybe at 3rd. I don’t miss the food (which was good) as much as the ambiance, music, and late hours — seemed like a classy oasis to take a date, maybe late 80s/early 90s. A number of places mentioned had good food, but much like the excellent Dietrich’s, Othello’s brought a different vibe to the dining scene.

There was another East Broadway place around that time, about four blocks west of Barrett, that had excellent food, went there a number of times but cannot recall the name.

Wow. What a throw-back. A friend of mine, Phil Bailey (WFPK), booked the bands for Othello's. I remember a concert with New York Voices when I had a long conversation with one of the group's members after their last set. (Sidebar - they way overbuilt the space and couldn't sustain it - I think it closed within a year or so)

Not sure I can narrow it to a favorite, but these are a few that I still miss:

Timothy's
Hasenours
Cafe Metro
Palermo Viejo
Dietrich's
Allo Spiedo
Cunningham's (original)
Bauer's
Old House
Lilly's
Lentini's
Club Grotto

[Robin Garr]

Not sure I can narrow it to a favorite, but these are a few that I still miss:

Timothy's
Hasenours
Cafe Metro
Palermo Viejo
Dietrich's
Allo Spiedo
Cunningham's (original)
Bauer's
Old House
Lilly's
Lentini's
Club Grotto

Excellent list!

New Orleans House.
Hard to believe such a place existed. I forget the the pricing but an all you can eat seafood buffet ( including oysters on the half shell ) ending with your pick of a porterhouse steak or a lobster.

I'm amazed it took this long for Hasenour's to get a mention! Y'all must be a bunch o' young-uns! For those too young to have experienced it, it was one of Louisville's early "fine dining" restaurants and it was a favourite of many folks from Chicago that would travel down to Louisville for business. Lots of deep red leather and hand rubbed wood in the bar - - it had a real "grown-up" feel. Best place in town to impress a first date!