New to area and looking for suggestions

My husband and I recently moved to Louisville and are really liking the area for the most part. We are originally from the south, but had been living in the Detroit area for awhile and had become very accustomed to the variety of gourmet and ethnic foods available at the grocery store. The local restaurants in Detroit were nothing to write home about, so I'm hoping the ones here will be much better.

So where do the foodies shop around here? I have been to LotsaPasta...but I'm really hoping there is more than one gourmet store here! I'd even settle for a standard grocery store that has variety...I knew I was in the wrong store last night when they only had 3 flavors of yogurt.

What are the local favorites? Not necessarily a special event, $100 for two place... but somewhere you go all the time or take your friends when they come in town? We like most everything...well I do, my hubby is a tad picky...but he's a Mexican/burger/hotdog fanatic.

Any good breakfast spots? We had a horrible experience at the Mimi's Cafe here...twice Did find Phlen's Bakery while trying to find LotsaPasta and it's outstanding!!!

We are really looking forward to checking out some of the local flavors and events! What is this Derby Pie that I see everywhere? Any other local specialties?

Check out Doll's and Berger's markets also. Other than that, there are lots of ethnic markets but I don't hit them very often so other folks will be able to give you a better idea.

And people will give you tons of restaurant suggestions, but you don't want to miss Wild Eggs for breakfast.

Hello Madeline and welcome to the forum and Louisville.
You might try Burgers market in the Highlands for some nice meat and specialty items. There are a number of Mexican groceries around Churchill Downs.

As for restaurants my favorites in Louisville are Equus and Corbett's both owned by the same chef. 721 Social is also very cool. For great Cuban food, try Havana Rumba and it's partner Mojitos. Cafe Lou Lou has two locations. One in St. Matthew's and one in the Highlands. Also check out the reviews here on Hotbytes.
I also invite you out to Westport General Store. We offer a nice menu at reasonable prices. You can check out the menu at http://www.westportgeneralstore.com

Have fun exploring.

Oh, and my husband eats like yours. Take him to BBC and Baxter Station. You'll both be happy.

http://www.bbcbrew.com/

http://www.baxterstation.com/

Hi Madelyn Have you tried The Cheddar Box in Chenoweth Square? Mostly take out but there are a few tables in the front. The food is great (I'm the owner)

Hi Madeline,

Welcome to Louisville. You're going to get a lot of great answers here. Get ready. I'll take a stab at some grocery info.

As far as ethnic/gourmet groceries go, are there particular items you're looking for? You should be able to find most things here in Louisville, but you might have to make a couple of stops.

Burger's Market (on Ray Ave. in the Highlands) is a small neighborhood grocery with great produce & butcher. Because they are independent & not mass-market, I've had luck in finding hard-to-find items there. For the longest time, it was about the only place in the neighborhood I could find HP Sauce.

I've always liked the deli/pre-made stuff at Doll's Market on Brownsboro Rd. I wish it was more convenient for us.

Paul's Fruit Market (several locations) for produce. I also scored some bleu cheese stuffed olives the last time I was there.

There is at least one Asian grocery in the South Third St. area. I can't remember the name or the exact address. I know there are others around town. Just can't recall at the moment.

ValuMarket (several locations...I'm most familiar with the one in Mid-City Mall in The Highlands) has a pretty well stocked "International" aisle.

Bombay Int'l Food - Bardstown Rd. & Bonnycastle has Indian items.

I seem to remember that a new place has opened on Fourth Street near Theatre Square, but can't recall the name. I think it was discussed on here.

Madeline,

Welcome. You certainly came to the right place for advice. My lovely bride and I have only been here for a year and the folks here on the forum have helped immeasurably...everything from recommending grocery stores and eye doctors to (of course) dining establishments. I don't know that you mentioned where in the city you live but we've tried numerous grocery stores and for a variety of reasons have kind of settled in on Mejier for everyday shopping. Kroger isn't all that bad...some are better than others. There is a Fresh Market on Shelbyville Rd which has some nice meats and seafood. Ditto for Whole Foods (aka "Whole Paycheck").

Dining...jeez where does one start. I suppose my advice would be to listen to the locals and go back through some of the Hotbytes reviews. PLENTY of "Good Eats" in this town. We enjoy Selena's (great food and atmosphere and close to home). For breakfast try "Lynn's" Paradise Cafe...We've enjoyed all of our meals there.

BTW...You should do a road trip to "Jungle Jim's" in Cincy. If they don't have it, it's not made

Toodles.

For a supermarket, the Valumarket on South third (Iroquois Manor) is outstanding for international food selection. Nothing in town comes close. And yes, there are some (fairly dirty) Asian stores in the same neighborhood.

Besides the smaller local shops mentioned already, there is of course whole foods, which will often be the cheapest place to buy organic foods - and it also has a good selection. I prefer to support local whenever possible, but some of the "gourmet" stores get pretty pricey. I'm not sure of your budget.

You'll find tons of restaurants here. There have been some recent threads (within the past thirty days or so), where people pick some places they like. Scroll back, and you should be able to track down those threads. Cheers, and welcome to town.

p.s. Bardstown Road in the Highlands is my favorite part of town, and is pretty much a restaurant row. My shop is there too! (I live upstairs)

-Nimbus

EDIT: Here's one of the threads I was thinking of (favorite go to restaurants in the metro) viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7106&p=71419&hilit=favorite+local#p71419

Madeline, welcome! Great suggestions so far, but my current favorite is Seviche on Bardstown Rd. I'd like to echo the recommendations for Burger's and Doll's markets, and add Frank's Meats on Preston and Kingsley's Meats on Taylorsville for butchery.

We have several great farmer's markets around town most days of the week, too! What part of town did you guys settle in?

Oooh, also, plan a trip to Creation Gardens at Main and Hancock for produce and specialty gourmet items.

Oops, you mentioned Burgers and Dogs, that is what we do best, fresh Black Angus handed pattied, grilled to order and choice of 24 free toppings. Plus fresh cut fries- cooked twice. Fast-Fun-Causal restuarant with bottled beer. I enjoy this place, but I pay the bills. Welcome to Louisville.
http://www.homerunburger.com

Welcome to Louisville! I'm also somewhat new to the area but I have really come to love it here!

For groceries, I shop at the ValuMarket in Iroquois Manor for anything ethnic or out of the ordinary. I highly recommend it! I also go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings for fresh meat, eggs, produce, honey, baked goods and a variety of other goods. They also serve breakfast at the market and have live music. http://www.beargrass.org/market/

As far as great places to eat here is my run down:

Pizza- New Albanian Brewing Company on Grantline Rd. in New Albany, In (just across the river, great pizza and brew) http://www.newalbanian.com/

Mexican- La Rosita Mexican Grill also across the river in New Albany (best mole ever! I live in south Louisville and both places in Indiana are worth the 20 minute drive) http://www.larositagrill.com/

Pub- Irish Rover on Frankfort Ave (I recommend the cordon bleu fritters) http://www.theirishroverky.com/

Italian- Le Gallo Rosso on Bardstown Rd. (I worked there for a long while and I never got tired of the lasagna!) http://www.legallorosso.com/

Ethnic- Maido Essential Japanese on Frankfort Ave (great sushi, japanese style tapas, and a nice selection of beer and sake) http://www.maidosakebar.com/

Late night- Ramsi's on Bardstown Rd. (they serve food until 2 am (i think) and have one of the most diverse menus in town) http://www.ramsiscafe.com/

Bistro- Bistro 301 downtown on 3rd and Market (nice bar & great food in a casual downtown setting) http://www.bistro301.com/

Best Happy Hour Deal- Northend Cafe on Frankfort Ave. ( On Tapas Tuesday all tapas are half off, at least they were last time I was there. Northend is also great for brunch.) http://www.northendcafe.com/Home.html

I think you'll find Louisville a welcoming city with much to offer in regards to food, drink, and entertainment. Again, welcome to town!

Welcome to Louisville, I'm sure you'll enjoy the restaurant scene here!

Just about everything mentioned so far is very good mother so many it's hard to mention them all. That being said here are some of our favorites:
Cafe Lou Lou, we prefer the one in St Mathews but they both a nice
North End Cafe, excellent at all times by their brunch is outstanding
Selena's, a new very quaint place for Creole/Mediterranean foods
Jack Fry's, a Louisville classic
Z's Steakhouse and Oyster bar, expensive but worth it
The Oakroom, another Louisville classic

The list goes on and on. Just stay tuned to this forum and you'll see discussions on many of the more interesting restaurants in town and of course some that aren't!

My husband and I recently moved to Louisville and are really liking the area for the most part. We are originally from the south, but had been living in the Detroit area for awhile and had become very accustomed to the variety of gourmet and ethnic foods available at the grocery store. The local restaurants in Detroit were nothing to write home about, so I'm hoping the ones here will be much better.

You are going to find the dining scene here in Louisville is OUTSTANDING. Lonnies Chicago Dogs on Bardstown/Baxter at Highland. Great Dogs. Just up the street is BUNZ which is quite good for burgers. Best ethnic place in town is Queen of Sheeba on Taylorsville Rd. Go Hungry. If you like sushi I would suggest Caviar downtown, Oishi on Bardstown Rd or Oasis on Preston - just down the street from both Franks Meats and Nuts N Stuff where you can find all the finest cooking ingredients, candies, spices, nuts flours, ad nauseum.


So where do the foodies shop around here? I have been to LotsaPasta...but I'm really hoping there is more than one gourmet store here! I'd even settle for a standard grocery store that has variety...I knew I was in the wrong store last night when they only had 3 flavors of yogurt.
DISCLAIMER: I work at The Fresh Market. If you are a home cook it is hard to beat our store. This week we have corn on the cob @ 10 for 3 dollars; two quarts of strawberries for 5 dollars; NATURAL Wild American Shrimps for 6.99 lb; This weeks adv can be found at http://bit.ly/3e1OMs The Fresh Market is at the corner of Shelbyville Rd and Moser Rd. I'm off the next three days but will be back on Saturday and Sunday - you got to love retail - stop in and ask for me.


What are the local favorites? Not necessarily a special event, $100 for two place... but somewhere you go all the time or take your friends when they come in town? We like most everything...well I do, my hubby is a tad picky...but he's a Mexican/burger/hotdog fanatic.

Any good breakfast spots? We had a horrible experience at the Mimi's Cafe here...twice Did find Phlen's Bakery while trying to find LotsaPasta and it's outstanding!!!

You Can NOT Beat Wild Eggs for breakfast. Period, end of conversation. OK OK... one guys opinion. But you really can't. However, Toast on Market is great. And on Sunday Mornings you can try The Fish House, which becomes The Fish House, but serves Beignets, and omelets and boardwalk potato cakes. On Winter/Oak/Grinstead at Barret, across from the Monkey Wrench.


We are really looking forward to checking out some of the local flavors and events! What is this Derby Pie that I see everywhere? Any other local specialties?

Oh that Derby Pie thing, nothing. I'm sorry, I am not a pie person and even less interested in chocolate, nuts, and such all mixed together. I find them to be very much like Mint Juleps - a waste of good bourbon in a terrible drink you have to have at least once on a derby day.

You have found the absolute best place in town to find out about restaurants, who's who in the business, where to get great food to cook at home, and all the dirt on the local foodie scene. I hope to meet you this weekend at The Fresh Market - DISCLAIMER: I Work There - and we will be happy to sample anything you may have a hankering to try out.

HONEY CRISP APPLES ARE DUE THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 26. CIDER TO FOLLOW SHORTLY THEREAFTER.

Richard

We here at the North End have no brunch menu. We serve this menu from open till close. You may have your brekky from 8 am until 9 pm or later (depending on day).