Voice-Tribune: Equus drops prices, but keeps high style

[Robin Garr]

This week's Voice-Tribune column:

Louisville HotBytes.com in The Voice-Tribune

Okay, who wants organ meat? Internal organs, that is, livers, kidneys, hearts and even more unmentionable selections.

All together now: "Eeeeuuuuwwww!"

But wait! People around the world have been enjoying organ meats for millennia, and those who shun them on the basis of the "eeuuww" factor are missing something good.

This is one of the many reasons I love dining with my wife, Mary, and our good friend Lucinda. They're adventurous foodies, and showed it the other night when we spotted sweetbreads on the menu at Equus.

"I'm having that," Lucinda said with a happy smile. "Can we share?" asked Mary. Me, too.

What's a sweetbread? It isn't bread, and it's not a dessert. It's a calf's thymus gland, or perhaps a bit of his pancreas. Vegetarians please look away.

For us, it made a fine start to an exceptional dinner that cemented 24-year-old Equus's continued stature as one of the city's top 10 fine-dining establishments.

In a recent change of pace, owner-chef Dean Corbett has revised the menu, stored the white tablecloths, and trimmed prices to fit a recession.

Call the new menu "international bistro style." Most main dishes are in the teens (Nana's Swedish Meatballs is only $14), with a couple of beef and seafood dishes breaking the $20 mark. Lunch, and the short menu at Corbett's Jack's Lounge next door, offers another thrifty option.

Read the complete report on LouisvilleHotBytes.com.

Equus
122 Sears Ave.
897-9721
http://www.equusrestaurant.com

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I've had that warm asparagus salad with morels, goat cheese, peas, and truffle vinagerette at Jack's. It's fabulous. The prices are a bargin!

Sweet breads are also on the menu at Corbett's. The grilled sweetbreads at Palermo are very good in a rustic sort of way or you can buy them at Burger's Market and do your own thing.

As a student of Dean Corbett's School of Restaurant Excellence, It never ceases to amaze me that after 24 years, Equus is consistently one of this city's best spots. Chef Dean will never settle for less than perfect and instills this in the staff. From the front of the house to the dishwasher, everyone knows what the standard is and second best won't cut it. Keep up the good work guys!