by Robin Garr » Fri Jan 22, 2010 5:22 pm
I guess my review that ran in LEO this week (as a short item below Zapata's Corner) will have to serve as its obituary. I wasn't able to give it a positive review, and I'll stand behind my speculation (before knowing of its closing) that Chef Lee's involvement was at a distance. I saw his hand in the stylistic sensibility of the place and the creativity of the concept. I have to doubt how much he was aware of just how poorly it was being executed. Frankly, I have to wonder if he was ever back on the premises after opening day.
The LEO review has an apostrophe that makes it unlinkable, and we don't have it up on HotBytes yet due to our Florida trip, but here's the review, for anyone who considers it pertinent now that the doors are closed.
Potstickers: Good concept, needs work
When I heard that Chef Edward Lee of 610 Magnolia was behind a new fast-food noodle shop that opened last autumn in the midst of the club zone on Baxter, I was excited. I’ve got a lot of respect for Lee and his work, and 610 has been one of my favorite Louisville restaurants for 25 years, under Lee and his predecessor, Ed Garber.
After a couple visits to Potstickers, though, I’m puzzled and bemused. If Lee is really behind it — and I have no reason to doubt that — it’s got to be a hands-off operation.
They’ve done a great job of repurposing a tiny Baxter Avenue storefront as a fast-food noodle shop with an artful Asian sensibility. The concept — something like an Asian spin on Quizno’s or Moe’s — is inventive. The ingredients are quality, counter workers are friendly and helpful, and pricing is more than fair, with most meals in the $5 range.
But the food? Alas, Potstickers presents an unexpected culinary equation in which the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
A ginger soy pork noodle bowl ($5.45) was bountiful but sloppy, and the flavors spoke mostly of salt, with hints of ginger and spicy heat.
The namesake potstickers ($4.15 for eight) were even more disappointing. Pre-made, small and flat, they were reheated in something that looked like a toaster oven and sent aloft a cloud of smoke and a burning smell. Drowned in a mix of heavy sauces, they were crunchy, scorched and indeterminate in flavor.
Presentation was lovely, and the price was right: $10.18 for two plus $2.50 for the tip jar. But despite its lofty heritage, Potstickers, I’m sorry to say, needs work. If you go, I suggest sticking with noodles, with firm instructions to go light on the sauce.
Potstickers
938 Baxter Ave.
618-4500
Robin Garr’s rating: 73 points
