LEO/LHB: Voyage of foodie discovery at Worldfest

[Robin Garr]

LEO's Eats with Louisville HotBytes.com

Another WorldFest, Louisville's annual celebration of ethnic diversity, is behind us and as usual, that means I've spent another weekend stuffing myself with delicious and exotic food from many nations.

That's the good news. On the other side of the ledger, it didn't seem to me that there were quite as many ethnic restaurants represented at WorldFest this year as last. Asiatique was there as usual, holding down the high end of the local-restaurant spectrum with well-prepared goat-cheese crabmeat spring rolls, salmon egg rolls and beef kebabs ($2 each or all three for $5).

A number of other local ethnic favorites staffed booths offering samples of their fare, including India Palace, Los Aztecas, Mai's Thai, Queen of Sheba Ethiopian, Safier Mediterranean Deli, Taste of Jamaica Cafe, Thai Taste, Valu Market and Yang Kee Noodle, not to mention sweet treats from Café Glace, Coco's Bakery, Gelato Gilberto and Kizito Cookies. Even those wary of unfamiliar dishes could easily fill the inner person with such comfort foods as bratwurst, ice cream and funnel cakes.

All these familiar eateries offer decent fare served by friendly people, and I've pretty much reviewed them all in recent months. So, for a change of pace, I decided to spend my eating time at WorldFest 2008 seeking out the more unusual and obscure. Ethnic eats, mostly, from families and social groups that turn up as food-service vendors just once a year, often offering goodies we can't find in Louisville restaurants ... just yet.

Read the complete report in LEO and on LouisvilleHotBytes.

The tacos from La Nirra were incredible. As were the beef patties from Taste of Jamaica.

Vic Ivan is the cafeteria caterer for my building, so I have Dorowot the first Thursday of every month--best lunch of the month.

I tried the Guatamalan Tamale (on your recommendation), and neither I, nor anyone else in our group found it appetizing--that sent me to get the beef patties. There's no accounting for taste.

[Robin Garr]

I tried the Guatamalan Tamale (on your recommendation), and neither I, nor anyone else in our group found it appetizing--that sent me to get the beef patties. There's no accounting for taste.

Oops, sorry about that! It was a little difficult to get around the bones in that pork neck meat, but I liked the combination of flavors. As you say, chacun au son gout ...

They use banana leaves in southern mexico for tamales as well. there was a dish washer at a restaurant i used to work at from chiapas who would bring in a bunch of tamales with different fillings, some including pork mole and raisins, and we would pig out on them.

Does anyone know what the blueish drink at the Guatamalan stand was? It was in the large jug on the far right of the table. I ask the lady working the booth, but there was a language barrier. I thought she was saying Jicama, but that just doesn't make sense.

I thought she was saying Jicama, but that just doesn't make sense.

Sounds like maybe she was saying "Jamaica" which I believe is Spanish for hibiscus. I don't think I've ever seen it blue (only red) so I might be way off base. Either way nothing beats a good agua fresca on a hot day.