LEO's Eats with Louisville HotBytes.comEverybody loves a parade? Maybe. Let's say that most people love most parades. But the procession of broken dreams that has recently passed through the St. Matthews space that once was home to Rick's? That's a parade not so easy to enjoy.
For the historical record, let's retrace the genealogy of this spot that once housed the offices of the then-Voice of St. Matthews: Rick Dissell established the original Rick's around 1980, and earned his popularity the old-fashioned way, with a 17-year run in that location.
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He moved out in 1997 to try the business in new quarters a few blocks away, facing Lexington Road. At that point, the estimable Merzhad Sharbaiani moved into the Chenoweth Square location, opening Indigo Bistro, a classy operation that lasted until he moved out to Hurstbourne to make his mark with Z's Oyster Bar and Steakhouse (and, more recently, Z's Fusion downtown).
Still with us? A Cincinnati firm took over Indigo, took it downscale, and it soon closed. At that point, Dissell, who had pulled Rick's out of the Lexington Road location to start Blue Parrot on North Hurstbourne Parkway (which soon gave way to Limestone), returned to Chenoweth Square with Rick's Ferrari Grille. As he usually does, he seemed to get it right, and the new Rick's thrived for several years until the peripatetic Dissell moved again, this time out to Prospect, where he is now holding court, and winning praise, at Blackstone Grill.
Got all that straight? Here's where things start getting ugly. Within the past year or so, we've seen three similar spots move through this location: Wigginton's lasted only a few months before changing its name (perhaps out of embarrassment), and its successor under the same management, Gilman's Pointe, was even more short-lived. Its bar drew huge crowds, especially on trivia nights, but diners learned to stay well away from the dining room. When we dropped by one night, we were the only couple occupying the entire substantial space. Our meal, lackluster at best, easily explained why.
It was almost a relief when Gilman's Pointe slouched to its demise and restaurateur Bob Wathen, whose family owns the Wathen's brand of small-batch bourbon, moved in recently. The restaurant pretty much had no place to go but up, and management's attitude seemed right.
"The restaurant is under new ownership and management," Wathen's House Manager Judy Pocker wrote in an e-mail. "We are aware that the last management operating under Gilman's Pointe, and prior to that Wigginton's [same owners], were not doing a great job. We have heard many complaints. We, however, plan to succeed with a completely new approach regarding food and service. The entire place has been redecorated inside and outside. We have a wonderful patio in the front and are building one in the back as well. We have live music four nights a week, Wednesday-Saturday."
Sounds good to me. I'd love to see this place succeed, as I've enjoyed dining in this comfortable space back through the Indigo days to the original Rick's.
Read the full review online. Because there's an apostrophe in the URL, this link takes you to an entry page from which you have to click through to get to the full report on the LEO Website:
http://www.leoweekly.com/dining/wathen's-kentucky-bistro-bounces-back
Alternatively, read it at this link on LouisvilleHotBytes.com.
Wathen's Kentucky Bistro
3930 Chenoweth Square
893-0106
Robin Garr's rating: 82 points