Barbara and I have finally made it from Maine to our new, old Kentucky home. Watch out, Louisville!
Unfortunately, the delivery of our new refrigerator took longer than we'd expected, so we took the opportunity to visit some new restaurants while we were sans-Frigidaire. One of the spots we decided to try was La Catalana in St. Matthews, mostly because it's close to our own hacienda. Reading through some of the older comments here, La Catalana has received a mixed reception. Our experience was positive.
Thanks to the combination of a Tuesday and an early hour, the restaurant was empty when we walked in, though there were a few other patrons by the time we left. Our server, Edith, was friendly and efficient, and when asked she made suggestions from the menu. We put in our drink orders - they have a selection of wines, beer by the bottle and cocktails.
Starting out, we shared the toasted, buttered bread served with a mild tomato sauce to spread on it. The bread was a great start to our meal. We followed that by sharing (at our server's suggestion) one of their generously-sized salads. A mixture of fresh greens, tomatoes, eggs, cucumber, contained two different cold, sliced sausages in a large portion that made us happy we decided to share.
For her entree, my sweetie ordered grilled sausage served on a bed of white beans in a garlic parsley sauce. She immediately deemed this dish excellent, and I was happy to taste a sample from her plate. As true garlic lovers, we know when a dish that features garlic is good. I'm here to report that this is garlic done right. It was fresh, the beans were cooked to perfection and the sausage complemented the dish perfectly.
My entree was the Mediterranean Paella. This dish was a perfect combination of seafood (mussels, squid and shrimp) and flavorful rice blended in a tomato sauce. I'm certainly not an expert at Spanish cuisine, but I thoroughly enjoyed this mix.
If there is anything that the owners of La Catalana should be aware of, it's that the menu at times seems like it's a bit confused;. The selections can be overwhelming, and besides Spanish, Italian and Turkish(!) entrees, they offer a decent variety of tapas. I think that if they can concentrate on the basics they will succeed at bringing a taste of Spain to St. Matthews.
For our part, it was a nice break from staring at the 300-odd boxes of memories that we had moved 1,000 miles. Now if I could only find the box where my angel packed the wine glasses...
It can't be easy to open a new place with Havana Rumba next door ...