LEO's Eats with Louisville HotBytes.comThe landscape of Louisville restaurant history is littered with the dry bones of eateries whose owners thought it would be a really good idea to move to a new location and expand to a larger space.
The most recent victim, Mazzoni's, fell just one year short of celebrating its 125th birthday. The home of the "rolled" oyster, it had survived several moves over the years before landing on Taylorsville Road in the 1980s. A move to shopping-center quarters in Middletown last year proved its undoing.
Similar fates befell Greek Paradise, which moved from a small, homey spot near Radcliff, Ky., to a hulking hall in Butchertown that proved more than it could handle; Hoosier standard Frank's Steak House when it expanded into larger quarters in Louisville; and the last owners of Lentini's, whose aggressive expansion plan yielded three eateries that all shut down fast.
Napa River Grill seems to be breaking the spell. This popular spot had built a loyal following over nearly a decade in the St. Matthews space originally built for Mamma Grisanti's.
In June, Napa moved over to Westport Village, and by all accounts, managed to retain its loyal clientele and attract a new following. Laughing in the face of recessionary doom, it has been serving full houses since opening night.
Recently I enjoyed a lunch with wine-industry associates in the bar, and a few days later, friends Todd and Fran joined my wife Mary and me for a Saturday night feast.
Both occasions proved satisfying, with Napa scoring well in food, mood and service, a bit less so for the sheer volume of its crowded venue.
Read the complete report on LouisvilleHotBytes. It's also in LEO, but an apostrophe in the URL screws up direct linking from this forum. The following link is not clickable; you'll have to copy and paste the full URL into your Web browser:
http://www.leoweekly.com/dining/cruisin’-down-napa-river
Napa River Grill
1211 Herr Lane
Westport Village
893-0141
http://www.napariverlouisville.com
Robin Garr's rating: 84 points