New Sol Aztecas - Frankfort Avenue

Grand Opening Tonight!!!!! 2 for 1 Maragritas

Where abouts on Frankfort?

Where Sweet Peas Southern/Furlongs used to be.

Gotta keep the Louisville direction-giving tradition alive.

[Robin Garr]

Where abouts on Frankfort?

Former location of Sweet Peas Southern (before that, Furlong's); south side a block or two west of Ewing, more or less across the street from El Mundo.

Thanks Robin. That is a nice building. At least restaurants on Franfort and Bardstown Rd are still haninging in there. The meltdown on East Market is depressing.

[Robin Garr]

Thanks Robin. That is a nice building. At least restaurants on Franfort and Bardstown Rd are still haninging in there. The meltdown on East Market is depressing.

Yeah, James ... when Park Place went down and took Browning's with it, and when Primo closed, I argued that it was not primarily the economy but overly hopeful business planning for luxury restaurants that arrived before the neighborhood hit critical mass.

But Melillo's? That one caught me by surprise.

The good news, as you say, is that the two main urban restaurant rows appear to be booming. I live on the Frankfort strip (well, two blocks off Frankfort), and we drive it and dine there a lot. In recent weeks, we've found Porcini, Varanese, Bourbons Bistro, Basa, Maido, Caffe Classico and El Mundo all slammed. It was the same at De la Torre's on Bardstown a few weeks ago (I just hope they can bounce back fast from their fire).

The right mix of neibhborhood demographics with established restaurants and exciting newcomers still seems to hold the key to success, but the one thing we all need to hope for is that the economy doesn't take such a downward turn that the Frankfort and Bardstown strips start hurting. If we start hemorrhaging indies, we might see Louisville's dining scene irrevocably changed. I'm willing to spend my last remaining non-essential dollars on dining out a lot to help keep that from happening.

I'm willing to spend my last remaining non-essential dollars on dining out a lot to help keep that from happening.

Hear, hear!

I tried the new Frankfort Ave. Sol Aztecas for dinner last night. I liked it, but I wasn't thrilled about it, but I take partial responsibility for that. See, we arrived around 8:15 and they close at 9:00 on Sundays. There were at least 15-20 patrons when we arrived, though, so I didn't feel like we were too big of stragglers but I was a little paranoid that they might be wanting us to eat and get out. The hostess and waitress both seemed pleasant, like we had arrived at a perfectly acceptable time. Anyway, we got ice waters as soon as we sat down, and chips n' salsa shortly after. I was loving the fact that along with the normal corn chips, there were a few red, and one very special and never before seen green corn chip on top. I snagged that one first! I thought it was also kind of snazzy how the salsa was delivered to our table in little decanters (is that the right word for that?), one mild and one hot. When ordering our food, I requested, without pointing on the menu, "Combination 8, the one with the 2 tacos." He ordered the burrito gigante. It seemed like it took quite a while for our food to arrive - we had almost emptied our bowl of chips by then and we were snacking on them at a leisurely pace - and when it did, I was presented with a combination plate of one burrito and one enchilada, which is apparently Combination 14. I looked at it and thought "hmm" and then after the waitress walked off, I said to my boyfriend, "This isn't 2 tacos. Should I tell her? Do you think this belongs to someone else? Am I being a troublemaker coming in here close to closing time and making them remake my order?" As usual, my desire to not be a pain in the butt won over and I just ate the food I was given. That's why I say that it's partially my fault that I wasn't thrilled with the place. But I was also disappointed that the server didn't notice that she wasn't giving me the combination that I had ordered. I know I probably should stop being a wuss and speak up when things like that happen, but I always feel hesitant because I figure the waitress is going to feel bad, the cook might be annoyed, etc. Surely I'm not the only one that deals with this??? His burrito gigante lived up to the name; it was totally massive and he was very pleased with it. Anyway, the food was tasty and solid Mexican fare, pretty much what you would expect, and at nice reasonable prices. I won't let that one slip-up keep me from going back.