LEO/LHB: French Flying: Le Relais soars

[Robin Garr]

LEO's Eats with Louisville HotBytes.com, with Guest Critic Paige Moore-Heavin

Le Relais consistently ranks among my top five restaurants in Louisville, and on any given night, it can make the top one. Yet a lot of people are wary of experiencing this great dining room. Some fear it will be too expensive. Others sweat the potential embarrassment of being unable to read a fancy French menu.

There's no need for concern, says LouisvilleHotBytes correspondent Paige Moore-Heavin, who recently checked out Le Relais and found the price doable (especially if you go for the special-deal prix fixe menu) and the friendly attitude entirely bilingual. Here's her report:

Despite celebrity chefs like Julia Child and Jacques Pepin - and, in more recent years, TV shows like "Top Chef" - French cuisine remains a mystery to most Americans. Maybe they're intimidated by unfamiliar terms like duxelles and dauphinois. Maybe the whole concept seems a bit too stuffy. Or perhaps the words "French cuisine" bring to mind lots of dollar signs.

Don't let any of those fears stop you from going to Le Relais, Louisville's only French restaurant.

Many of those unfamiliar terms aren't code for "salamander tails" and "monkey brains." They're French cooking techniques that have been perfected over hundreds of years by the world's best chefs. (In case you're wondering, duxelles is a mixture of finely chopped mushrooms, shallots and herbs; dauphinois potatoes are, essentially, scalloped potatoes.) And if you have any questions, the well-trained staff at Le Relais is happy to explain anything on the menu.

As for "stuffy": Some French restaurants may be pretentious, but Le Relais is simply elegant. Its art deco environs are a perfect match for the setting - inside the Bowman Field Administration Building, circa 1929. If you're in the mood for a more casual experience, the rear patio is more laid-back and offers a bonus: It overlooks the runway and hangars, so you can watch small planes come and go.

Best of all, thanks to the prix fixe option at Le Relais (available only on weekdays), you can enjoy Executive Chef Daniel Stage's delicious creations on a budget ...

Full report in LEO and on LouisvilleHotBytes.

Le Relais
Bowman Field
2817 Taylorsville Road
451-9020
http://www.lerelaisrestaurant.com
Rating: 96 points

My wife and I have been going routinely to Le Relais for something like 20 years....has it been here that long? We love it....food quality has always been consistant. Very reasonable pricing IMO. We love the deck for drinks this time of year!

[Robin Garr]

My wife and I have been going routinely to Le Relais for something like 20 years....has it been here that long? We love it....food quality has always been consistant. Very reasonable pricing IMO. We love the deck for drinks this time of year!

Definitely at least 20 years, Mark. I remember reviewing it when it first opened, and I believe The Louisville Times was still alive then. Maybe as late as 1988, but I'd say earlier.