Commentary

As winter nears, restaurant stress is about more than Covid

By Robin Garr LouisvilleHotBytes.com Here comes another winter, the third since the global pandemic started early in 2020, and – talking mostly about the restaurant, food and drink scene here – where in the heck are we? For a lot of us, things are feeling pretty good. Sure, quite a few of us have at … Continue reading As winter nears, restaurant stress is about more than Covid →

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Best restaurant eats when you’re bouncing back from Covid

These three short features published in LEO Weekly today are my contribution to LEO’s 2022 Best in Louisville Staffpicks in LEO’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards. Be sure to check them out at the links! By Robin Garr LouisvilleHotBytes.com Why, yes, I did get Covid last month, after 2 1/2 years of artfully avoiding the pandemic. … Continue reading Best restaurant eats when you’re bouncing back from Covid →

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Dining trends come and sometimes go

By Robin Garr LouisvilleHotBytes.com How can you tell when a trend has run its course? Yogi Berra had the right idea with his memorable observation, “Nobody goes there any more. It’s too crowded.” Restaurant and culinary trends are sort of like that, too. A great new concept takes hold, catches fire, and before long everyone … Continue reading Dining trends come and sometimes go →

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A stroll down restaurant Memory Lane

By Robin Garr LouisvilleHotBytes.com Covid, Delta, Omicron, BA.5, bah! Sometimes it seems as if the pandemic will never end. In fact, the experts say, it’s more likely to shift from pandemic to endemic status, which isn’t much better since it’s essentially acknowledging that it will always be around, like the flu or common cold. While … Continue reading A stroll down restaurant Memory Lane →

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Just because you can doesn’t mean you should: Menu edition

By Robin Garr LouisvilleHotBytes.com When a new friend or neighbor finds out that one of my jobs involves writing restaurant reviews, their first response is usually something like this: “Wow! You get to eat out at a different restaurant every week? That must be great!” Why yes! Yes it is! It’s fun to try new … Continue reading Just because you can doesn’t mean you should: Menu edition →

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Buy Local Fair Louisville July 30!

Buy Local Fair Louisville 2022! Saturday, July 30. noon – 6 pm Louisville Water Tower Park 3005 River Road Free Admission! Parking: $6 in advance (purchase here) $8 at the gate, bicycles free. Parking is one of the ways LIBA raises funds to continue our Buy Local/Keep Louisville Weird campaigns. Sorry, no animals (besides service … Continue reading Buy Local Fair Louisville July 30! →

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Napa wine maker comes to town to make bourbon

By Robin Garr LouisvilleHotBytes.com I’ve often joked that Louisville’s effort to build bourbon tourism as a gigantic revenue source looks like a plan to turn Louisville into an urban version of the Napa Valley. Since the late 1800s, Napa has lured tourists to come visit wineries, learn about wine, taste the stuff, and not incidentally, … Continue reading Napa wine maker comes to town to make bourbon →

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Like food? Learn about food justice. This form can help

By Robin Garr LouisvilleHotBytes.com I’ve liked food for a long time. Coming of age in the time of Julia Child and James Beard and culinary stars like that, it didn’t take me long as a young adult to get interested in cooking and dining out. But a funny thing happened on the way to the … Continue reading Like food? Learn about food justice. This form can help →

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Everything – well, some things – you wanted to know about appetizers

By Robin Garr LouisvilleHotBytes.com Appetizers! There’s something about simply hearing the name that gets your taste buds working, or mine, anyway. It even sounds so much more appealing than the hoity-toity French “hors d’oeuvres,” am I right? So what is an appetizer, anyway, and where did this idea of offering a small, tasty bit before … Continue reading Everything – well, some things – you wanted to know about appetizers →

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Half-price wine, what a deal!

By Robin Garr LouisvilleHotBytes.com It may be true that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, or at least that a free lunch rarely comes without a quid pro quo. But half-price wine? Now, that is a thing! Locally and around the nation, a surprising number of restaurants choose at least one evening per … Continue reading Half-price wine, what a deal! →

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It’s not your grandma’s church supper when Chef Lamas is in the house

By Robin Garr LouisvilleHotBytes.com Chef Anthony Lamas wrapped a towel around the handle of a screeching hot black iron skillet, swung around and showed off a dozen beautifully seared fresh-caught dry scallops the size of baseballs to an eager crowd. “This is how you do it,” he said with a smile. “Dry scallops, never stored … Continue reading It’s not your grandma’s church supper when Chef Lamas is in the house →

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Inflation poses tough pricing choices for chefs and owners

By Robin Garr LouisvilleHotBytes.com Dan McMahon sat with a Sharpie and an extra copy of his restaurant’s trifold menu and pondered a difficult decision. McMahon, general manager of Danny Mac’s Pizza in the Mellwood Art Center, knew he would have to raise prices. With grocery prices rising fast, gasoline prices topping $4 a gallon locally, … Continue reading Inflation poses tough pricing choices for chefs and owners →

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Some like it hot: Our favorite fiery fare

By Robin Garr LouisvilleHotBytes.com The hottest, fieriest, most palate-scorching dish I ever ate at a local restaurant was not Indian, nor any other cuisine traditionally associated with culinary fire.. Nope. It was a down-home entree – a simple grilled cheese sandwich – served up at the currently closed New Albany branch of Toast on Market. … Continue reading Some like it hot: Our favorite fiery fare →

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Struggling restaurants fight for federal fund boost

By Robin Garr LouisvilleHotBytes.com The pandemic hasn’t been kind to small businesses, and that certainly includes local restaurants and food-service ventures. Just ask Chase Barmore, who had spent more than nine years building his Lifebar smoothie bar concept. Barmore’s healthy, hand-crafted all-organic smoothies had earned Life Bar deserved popularity through sales in three regional Rainbow … Continue reading Struggling restaurants fight for federal fund boost →

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