Travel on a plate with our critic’s favorite world restauran

[Robin Garr]

Travel on a plate with our critic’s favorite world restaurants

Walking in to El Mariachi feels like crossing a barrier into a the colorful little subtropical Mexican village of your dreams in Mexico’s Guanajuato region.


A lot of people call Vietnamese or Nigerian eateries “ethnic,” but they look at you funny if you use the same word to describe a pizzeria or a fancy French dining room. What’s up with that?

“Immigrants’ identities are deeply tied to the foods we bring with us,” Washington Post features writer Lavanya Ramanathan wrote in a 2015 story that explained it well. Added Krishnendu Ray, a New York University professor of food studies: “We use the descriptor ‘ethnic’ for a category of things we don’t know much about, don’t understand much about and yet find it valid to express opinions about.”

That’s enough for me. When people tell me how they’d like me to talk about them, I’ll listen. So let’s call them “world” restaurants in this week’s excursion into good things to eat, a round-the-world trip without leaving Louisville. ...

Read about all 13 favorites on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/trave ... estaurants

You'll also find this review in LEO Weekly online this week.
http://www.leoweekly.com/category/food-drink/

[Robin Garr]

For quick reference, these are the 13 I chose; details at http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com.

This is not a "best of" list but a random collection of my favorites. Tell us about your world-food favorites!

Africa: West African
Funmi's

Africa: Ethiopian
Queen of Sheba

Chinese
Jasmine Bistro
Peking City Express

Cuba and the Caribbean
Mojito

Indian
DakShin
Bombay Grill

The Mediterranean
Aladdin’s Cafe

Mexico: Dining,
El Mundo

Mexico: Taquerias
El Mariachi

Mexico: Brunch
Con Huevos

Southeast Asia
Eatz Vietnamese
Simply Thai

Not to be picky, but in this abbreviated list you name Mojito as your choice for Cuban/Caribbean but in the article you talk about Galan's.

[Robin Garr]

Okay, that's weird ... I'll fix it now, thanks! (I think that came over from my original working list, and then I decided to go with Galan's as even closer to the roots.)

[Robin Garr]

For quick reference, these are the 13 I chose; details at http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com.

This is not a "best of" list but a random collection of my favorites. Tell us about your world-food favorites!

Africa: West African
Funmi's

Africa: Ethiopian
Queen of Sheba

Chinese
Jasmine Bistro
Peking City Express

Cuba and the Caribbean
Galan's

Indian
DakShin
Bombay Grill

The Mediterranean
Aladdin’s Cafe

Mexico: Dining,
El Mundo

Mexico: Taquerias
El Mariachi

Mexico: Brunch
Con Huevos

Southeast Asia
Eatz Vietnamese
Simply Thai

Okay, that's weird ... I'll fix it now, thanks! (I think that came over from my original working list, and then I decided to go with Galan's as even closer to the roots.)

That’s a great list! Unfortunately, the Galan’s sit-down location closed a while back. You can still get their Cuban sandwich at the meat market farther down west market street, though. For Cuban alternatives, I like Bodega Mi Sueno a lot.

[Robin Garr]

Okay, that's weird ... I'll fix it now, thanks! (I think that came over from my original working list, and then I decided to go with Galan's as even closer to the roots.)

That’s a great list! Unfortunately, the Galan’s sit-down location closed a while back. You can still get their Cuban sandwich at the meat market farther down west market street, though. For Cuban alternatives, I like Bodega Mi Sueno a lot.

Aw, dang, I thought I checked them all. Thanks, Iggy, and I'm glad the meat market is still open. That's where I took the grill photo anyway. I like Bodega Mi Sueño a lot too. Good pick!