Mojito: Reviewed June 17, 2007

Mojito: Tapas and paella are so good you'll want more - soon

By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal

Everything you need to know about Mojito can be summed up in three words: Worth. Waiting. For.

You likely will wait for a table. From the moment it opened, Mojito, the Spanish-themed restaurant operated by the same folks who run the popular Cuban-focused Havana Rumba, has drawn overflow crowds (reservations aren't accepted, but you can phone ahead and have your party added to the waiting list).

The dense, tangy goat cheese flan at Mojito in the Holiday Manor Center Photo by Michael Hayman, The Courier-Journal

You certainly will wait for the paella, which needs 30 to 45 minutes to prepare.

Never mind. Just keep repeating those three words: Worth. Waiting. For.

My advice, based on a couple of recent visits: Try arriving after 8:30 p.m., when the crowd starts to thin. Order the paella as soon as you're seated, then relax, order drinks, and begin sharing your way through the various hot and cold tapas — though one wouldn't be entirely wrong to sample some of the dishes carried over from Havana Rumba.

From the cold selections (tapas frias) order Ensalada Mediterranea, a salad destined to become a Louisville legend: greens nestle with olives, grape tomatoes, pine nuts, crisp almonds and feta under the sheerest of dressings — and then all of a sudden you come upon a fragment of fig bread, a sweet, chewy surprise.

Chunky, piquant guacamole ($4.50) arrives at the table in a white marble mortar, surrounded not by the ubiquitous corn chips, but by crisp, slender plantain chips — made daily, in-house.

From the tapas calientes, try sofrito mussels ($5.99), a dozen or so gleaming mollusks perched in an oblong bowl in chunky, garlicky tomato sauce — then gracefully draped with a plantain leaf.

A single crab cake ($3.99) is crab through and through, crisp, full of flavor, and charmingly outfitted in a pale avocado-lime sauce.

And if you're the sort of person who tracks every meatball you've ever encountered and can't really decide whether you prefer the German, Italian, Afghan or Turkish varieties, you might as well indulge in the saucy albondigas ($4.99), simmering in a brown cazuela.

It would be a terrible shame to skip the Tabla de Charcuteria ($9.99), a selection of four hard-to-find Spanish-style sausages served on a rustic wooden cutting board. The selection includes a thin coil of chewy Basque chorizo chistorra; thick, grill-charred butifarra; salchichon de vic, a garlickly, thin-sliced sausage that will remind you of the finest salami you've ever — or perhaps never — tasted; and hearty, rustic morcilla, one of the great black sausages of the world.

While your food is wending its way to the table, you'll notice the dining room's avocado-green walls, the brick comfort of the sheltered patio, the comfortable mix of booths and tables, and the burnished wood of the crowded bar.

You'll have sipped your way through a mojito or two. Unless you have a genuine sweet tooth, stick with the traditional mojito, $6.75 for a large, sexily curved glass or $25 for a pitcher. (Ask for your mojito on the dry side; the drink is a refreshing mix of rum, sugar, freshly squeezed lime juice and spearmint, but our server noted that unless we specified "dry," the bartender might sweeten things up with a squirt of Sprite).

You may also notice that in the crush, though dishes arrive speedily, the niceties, like clearing tables, are sometimes given short shrift; eventually your table will look like a school cafeteria.

And you may notice servers are still getting the hang of the more exotic items on the menu, and aren't always prepared to answer questions.

Still, if what you care about is food, mostly what you'll notice is a wish that the tapas menu were about three times as long as it is. You can't get enough.

Besides, about now the Paella Valenciana ($15.99 per person) or the Paella de Vegetales ($14 per person) will show up. And trust me: Worth. Waiting. For.

Paella must be ordered in increments of two or four (best strategy: go with three or four people, and order the paella for two; then share tapas and let everyone have at the paella).

To be blunt: the Paella Valenciana is the best new dish to arrive in Louisville in the last year. It's served, as it should be, still sizzling in the paella pan — so the rice at the bottom of the pan can form the coveted crusty base called socarrat.

Above that base, you'll find a golden feast of saffron-infused rice packed with chorizo, grouper, shrimp, chicken, bell peppers, tomatoes, peas and a generous splash of olives.

Perhaps you've eaten paella in other places, and came away wondering, "What's all the fuss?" If so, be prepared: Just the look of it will set you reeling. And that's before you've lifted a fork.

In our order, everything from the chicken to the grouper had been cooked to its perfect moment, including a bite-sized octopus and tender rings of calamari.

Even if you wind up taking a hefty box of paella home (it will still be wonderful the next day), try either the dense, tangy goat cheese flan or the loose, warm crema de catalena, with its torched, caramelized top, for dessert (both $5.99).

Then start planning your next visit.

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@gmail.com

Mojito

2231 Holiday Manor Center, 502-425-0949

Rating: 3.5 stars

Sakura Blue: Reviewed June 9, 2007

Sakura Blue takes pride in the details

By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal

On a recent Tuesday night, I saw something completely unexpected: a queue of waiting diners spilled out of Sakura Blue onto the Shelbyville Road Plaza sidewalk. Inside, every table was full. The sushi bar was shoulder-to-shoulder.

At one of the teppanyaki tables, a smiling group watched as a blue-capped chef presided over soaring flames, clanged his knives, and put on an impressive exhibition of slice-and-dice knife-work.

Sakura Blue's Thunder Over Louisville is crisp shrimp tempura and avocado nestled in tuna and red beads of tobiko. Photo by Arza Barnett, The Courier-Journal

Although it's located in a shopping center, Sakura Blue feels like a neighborhood restaurant. Customers and chefs greet one another by name — sometimes from across the room.

The look is traditional, with wood trim, calm colors and nary a hint of the glittering metal that these days defines "trendy." More important, the sound track is soft and civilized.

You could think of Sakura Blue as an all-purpose restaurant, a place that can satisfy both the folks who can't get enough raw sea urchin and broiled eel and the folks who want nothing more exotic than teriyaki beef. And based on a few recent visits, at both ends of the spectrum, Sakura Blue is excellent, indeed.

Looking for cooked food? A yakitori chicken appetizer ($4.50) is simple as can be, but still manages to be one of the finest skewered dishes in town: grill-charred chunks of firm meat and green onions are gracefully dressed in the lightest of tangy-sweet sauces.

Chicken yaki-soba, a stir-fried plate of chicken, zucchini, green onions, mushrooms, carrots and firm wheat noodles, makes an extraordinary lunch value at $5.95 — especially considering that it comes with a salad.

Mongolian beef ($12.95, with soup and salad), one of a dozen or more cooked entrees, is a sautéed masterpiece, far removed from the sweet Chinese restaurant staple. It arrives on a three-cornered platter bearing bite-sized slices of tender beef, long white strips of just-cooked white and green onions, and vivid orange carrots carved into parallelogram-shaped planks. Each element is gently accented by a savory brown sauce that lurks gently in the background.

Although I haven't eaten at the teppanyaki table, I can certainly attest to the showmanship of the chefs. Prices for full meals with all accompaniments range from $8.85 (vegetables) and $11.95 (chicken) to $29.95 for a combination that includes lobster, filet mignon, shrimp and scallops.

And of course, at the center of everything are the raw and cooked rolls, nigiri and sashimi, which are as fine as can be found in the city.

Sakura Blue is a place that takes pride in the little details. The chefs carve red snapper, halibut or toro (fat tuna) just so to highlight the grain of the fish. Thumb-sized nigiri portions are tucked in graceful arches over delicate pads of tangy sushi rice. Incongruous is an order of uzura (quail egg) that arrives in a plastic cup.

Nigiri portions (two pieces of fish) start at $3.50 (red snapper) and rise to $7, with most in the $3-$4 range; platters and combination plates start at $16.95 and rise to $23.95.

And when it comes to specialty rolls, Sakura Blue offers a wide assortment of zany options. There's the Sexy Girl roll ($10.95), with spicy tuna, avocado, cucumber and cream cheese inside, and fresh tuna, mango and bright flecks of tobiko (flying fish roe) on top. There's Kiss of Eel ($7.50), eel, spicy crab, avocado, and asparagus.

And there's the glorious Thunder Over Louisville ($10.95), which comes as close to putting fireworks on the plate as any dish could: crisp shrimp tempura and avocado nestle at the center, while tuna and red beads of tobiko glimmer on the outside.

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@courier-journal.com.

Sakura Blue

4600 Shelbyville Road, Louisville, KY

502-897-3600

Rating: 3.5

Le Relais: Reviewed April 22, 2006

Le Relais is edible art

By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal

Beets and black currants. Quail and carpaccio. Champagne and candlelight.

Le Relais' veal chop is tender enough to cut with a butter knife. By Pam Spaulding, The Courier-Journal

So what if you can't spend April in Paris? The dining room at Le Relais has the same magical amber glow you find in restaurants throughout the City of Light.

And as for the kitchen. ...

Well, some folks argue that cooking can't qualify as fine art. They claim that food is ephemeral, that taste and smell are lower in the hierarchy of senses than sight and sound, and that eating is a base activity, closely related to our animal nature.

And thus they argue that even at the highest levels, cuisine can never occupy an aesthetic sphere equivalent to poetry, painting, theater, music, dance.

I say, those folks haven't visited Le Relais.

They haven't contemplated the restaurant's painterly beef carpaccio ($10.50). They haven't been transported by the exquisite layers of flavor in a salad of roasted beets, mache, sugar-cured bacon, walnuts and creme fraiche vinaigrette ($9.75).

They haven't experienced the creamy, explosive pop of salmon roe and capers in the smoked salmon crepe ($9.75). They haven't been entranced by the sight of peppery cress, black currants, quail, celery and almonds against the white backdrop of an oversized bowl ($9.75).

They haven't lucked in to Le Relais on a night when the first crop of morel mushrooms is being served up in a buttery bath ($8.50). They haven't finished a meal with a dense scoop of house-made Earl Grey ice cream.

This is edible art of the highest order.

My wife, Mary, dined on a lentil and vegetable Charlotte ($18.50) as meticulously beautiful as any still life.

Paper-thin slices of zucchini had been molded around a filling of tender lentils that spilled out an aromatic burst of garlic at the touch of a fork.

Enhanced by encrusted dabs of goat cheese and a piquant sauce of red peppers, this was one of the most memorable vegetarian dishes we've ever encountered.

Unable to choose among nine entree options that included pheasant, salmon, lamb, duck, scallops and beef, I finally let side dishes drive my decision.

It was the prospect of indulging in potatoes Anna, the gloriously buttery apogee of potato cookery, that compelled me to order a veal chop ($30).

The chop itself, nearly 2 inches thick, was tender enough to cut with a butter knife. Tilted atop those potatoes, the chop had an aeronautic grace, as if it were trying to lift off from the wedge of pommes de terre that supported it — a whimsy perfectly in tune with a restaurant that is, after all, located in an airport.

Fortunately, despite its upward thrust, it didn't fly away, and those potatoes were finer than any fantasy, at once rich and light, crisp and succulent. A dollop of luxurious onion confit and a subtle veal stock reduction added to the effect — and confirmed my impression that Le Relais is easily on a par with the better Paris bistros we visited in January (and better than several).

I might wish that, like Paris bistros, there had been some humble vins de table available by the carafe (an option the restaurant does offer during the warmer months, when outdoor dining is available), but the 12-page list includes a number of by-the-glass options, a generous assortment of half bottles and plenty of good options (including a nice selection of Rhones) in the $30 range.

As in any Paris bistro, service was expeditious and attentive.

And when we visited, chef Daniel Stage and a large portion of the restaurant's crew had just returned from New York, where Stage (and four other fine Louisville chefs) had cooked at the James Beard House.

A tangible sense of pride seemed to exude from our servers, who were all extremely well informed on all aspects of the menu and wine list.

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him cjdining@gmail.com

Le Relais

2817 Taylorsville Road (at Bowman Field, Louisville, KY

502-451-9020

Rating: 4 stars

Le Gallo Rosso Bistro 1325: Reviewed November 4, 2006

Le Gallo Rosso Bistro 1325: Cozy bistro has big meals

By Marty Rosen
Special to the Courier-Journal

I love sitting in Le Gallo Rosso Bistro 1325 — it has by far the highest coziness quotient of any restaurant I've come across in recent years.

The dining area (formerly home to the Butterfly Garden Cafe) is deceptively tiny, because of the way the space is divvied up into nooks.

Betty's Deep Dish Lasagna is a bubbling mesa of tender noodles, melting ricotta, vigorous red sauce, and well-flavored beef, veal and pork. Photo by Michael Clevenger, The Courier-Journal

Then there are all the plates, platters, pitchers, and pictures of the red roosters after which the place is named. Even the textured walls, done up in thick swirls of charcoal and reddish caramel, evoke the colors of a Rhode Island Red.

And finally there are the mix-and-match table settings, the gold, maroon and green tablecloths, and the slightly schlocky soundtrack — how often do you get to hear "Unchained Melody" in Italian? And how often do you want to?

The atmosphere is a nearly perfect replica of a diminutive French cafe, but the cuisine is Italian-American of the best sort — simple, direct, lovingly executed. And if service is sometimes a bit uncoordinated (I once witnessed folks almost begging to pay their bill), there's no faulting the familial warmth that pervades the place.

One night, 11 of us started a birthday celebration with artful heaps of antipasto: bright, paper-thin prosciutto, capicola, salami, and pepperoni; fine textured rounds of fresh mozzarella, mellow black olives, warm bread and dishes of olive oil for dipping ($12). A platter could satisfy four people (or leave two with enough leftovers for a true Italian breakfast the next morning).

Another starter, Poor Man's Caviar ($7), made a nice addition to the growing local assortment of eggplant appetizers — this one a garlicky, fine-grained, pale green dip served with delightfully sturdy pita chips.

A couple of folks in our party made a meal by combining salads and a scallop appetizer. A gorgonzola, walnut and pear salad ($8), topped with walnuts and red onions, came with a fig vinaigrette so thick and rich that it could have been mistaken for a fig tapenade (an inspired idea, if you ask me, that ought to immediately gain widespread approval).

When the scallop fajitas ($8.95) arrived at the table, they were greeted by envious oohs, ahs and pledges: "I'll order that next time," I heard someone mutter — and it might have been me. Seared to perfection, the scallops were served sizzling hot in miniature cast-iron skillets on a bed of Spanish rice and peppers.

Even the Bistro salad ($4) that's included with pastas and entrees made a nice impression: a length-wise slice of English cucumber was suavely curled around a cluster of greens, pine nuts, grape tomatoes and feta.

As for the Italian dishes, owner Annette Saco, who grew up in Cleveland, says most of them are based on recipes she learned from her parents and grandparents — and they show all the hallmarks of fine home-cooking.

Lasagna ($13.95) rose like a vast, bubbling mesa of tender noodles, melting ricotta, vigorous red sauce and well-flavored beef, veal and pork.

Stuffed meatballs (with spaghetti) weren't so successful — the ground meat was too coarse by at least one pass through the grinder, and the stuffing of fresh mozzarella was dry and rubbery. But the sauce had the tangy aromas of wine and balsamic vinegar.

Other dinner options include fettuccini dressed in a deft alfredo ($12.95) or with wild mushrooms and gorgonzola ($13.25); cappelini in a sauce of tomatoes, garlic and basil ($11.95) or chicken marsala ($15.95) or a rib-eye ($17).

From the Sunday breakfast menu, I urge you to consider Luigi's Favorite — scrambled eggs with Italian sausage, peppers, onions, very fine home fries and toast ($4.95).

For reasons that I cannot fathom, that Italian sausage doesn't show up on the dinner menu. It should.

And the homemade desserts will reward your indulgence: I haven't yet tried the cannoli, but it's said that the name of mascarpone cheese derives from a phrase that means "better than good." Trust me: The tiramisu cake, which uses mascarpone, is better than good. It's spectacular.

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@gmail.com

Le Gallo Rosso

1325 Bardstown Road, Louisville, KY

502-473-0015

Rating: 3 stars

Bistro New Albany: Reviewed July 1, 2006

Bistro New Albany: Bold Bistro - most dishes click at New Albany's new spot


By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal

As I stepped out the door of my Old Louisville home, I checked the Weather Channel: 82 degrees. And humid.

A dozen minutes later, after a trip across the Sherman Minton Bridge, I stepped into the brick courtyard at Bistro New Albany, where a cool breeze — lured by some architectural quirk — created a cool oasis.

A Black Angus rib-eye from Kentucky's Creekstone Farms is one entree option at Bistro New Albany, which opened two months ago. By Sam Upshaw Jr., The Courier-Journal

That courtyard easily ranks among the most attractive al fresco settings in the region. A fountain gurgles at its center. Plants and lanterns hang at the perimeter. The pavers are dotted with streaks of moss. And it doesn't hurt that Miles Davis is likely to be playing quietly on the sound system.

The indoor dining spaces are just as charming, sporting white tablecloths, glistening old chandeliers and vividly colored paintings by local artists.

And two months after opening, Bistro New Albany is turning out some fine dishes. After a few visits, I found I didn't always agree with the chefs' choices, but every meal has been full of bold flavors.

Narrow spears of asparagus are charred on the grill, dressed with red peppers, fresh Capriole goat cheese and a light sherry vinaigrette for a pretty appetizer ($6.95).

A couple of dozen juicy mussels ($8.25) swimming in garlic, wine, shallots and olive oil come with house-made focaccia for sopping up the extra sauce.

Capellini with smoked chicken in a deft sauce is sublime — a light, rich dish that harmonizes cream and smoke with basil, peppers and garlic ($14.95).

A walleye special ($16.95), though, seemed to go too far. The blackened fish was perfectly prepared. So was the bright corn relish that adorned it. So was the saffron rice on which it perched. But I found the juxtaposition of Cajun spices and saffron jarring and discordant.

A Cobb salad ($7.25) also struck me as overdone — less an exercise in judicious balance than a nervous flurry of ingredients, including vast quantities of blue cheese, that bordered on unpleasant.

Still, I plan to return for roasted chicken with polenta ($14.95) or a grilled pork chop served with apple ginger relish and roasted garlic mashed potatoes ($14.95).

The fried grouper sandwich, breaded in a batter based on Elector Ale (from the New Albanian Brewing Co.), makes for a delightfully crunchy lunch or dinner ($7.25/$7.95) with lattice fries and coleslaw flavored with brown porter, an intriguing combination that tasted fine.

Other options include burgers of beef or bison (under $8), rib-eyes and sirloins from Kentucky's Creekstone Farms ($19.95/$17.95), bacon-wrapped Atlantic salmon ($15.50), and vegetarian offerings: a platter of grilled vegetables ($8.95) and penne pomodoro ($11.95).

A dozen or so reasonably priced wines ($5-$7; $20-$36) are sold by glass or bottle (for a sparkling treat, try New Mexico's Gruet Blanc de Noirs, $35).

But really — this is New Albany, home of the idiosyncratic New Albanian Brewing Co., so why drink anything else when you can drink locally made porter, red, IPA or the mellow, full-bodied Community Dark ($3.50).

And whatever you do, don't miss the house-made desserts (under $5). A warm apple compote, redolent of plums and cognac, on a raft of crisp phyllo dough, was perfect. And lemon sorbet exploded on the tongue.

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@courier-journal.com.

Bistro New Albany

148 E. Market Street, New Albany, Indiana

812-949-5227

Rating: 3 stars

Avalon: Reviewed October 28, 2006

Avalon: Richness abounds - Avalon's sauces dampen excellent meals

By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal

They will butter you up at Avalon, and at times that can be a very good thing.

Avalon has a winning dish with its horseradish-encrusted Atlantic salmon. By Pam Spaulding, The Courier-Journal

A case in point is the complimentary basket of warm ciabatta served at the beginning of a meal. It's earthy and sublime: A drizzle of brown butter and balsamic vinegar forms a sweet, tangy, crunchy glaze that might make you think you've come across a grown-up variation on cinnamon toast — and in a way, you have.

On the other hand, sometimes that butter just gets in the way. When I ordered a roasted boneless half chicken ($19.60), I hoped for crisp, crunchy, golden brown skin and a firm, juicy texture.

Instead, what I found on the plate was soft, spongy chicken drowned under a surfeit of buttery sauce. The sauce was a fine affair, and if the kitchen takes pride in its saucy creations, no one should begrudge them that — but too much pride is an unseemly thing.

The setting has an attractively modern bistro feel: Black tables in a split-level dining area are surrounded by walls the color of creamy coffee; brushed-metal rails connect the levels; windows look out over bustling Bardstown Road. In season, there's a wildly popular outdoor dining area, and throughout the year the bar offers a cozy refuge.

Every detail, from the stylish flatware to the meticulous service, seems well-considered.

But where the furnishings are modern and the sourcing focuses on fresh and local ingredients, the techniques reach into an old-fashioned epicurean playbook that focuses on richness above all else — a playbook that too often obscures the essential qualities of the materials.

Richness informs the wine list, as well, which, though the markups seem fair, offers hardly any viable options below $30. We were happy with an aromatic glass of Belle Vallee Pinot Noir ($10/$39) and a surprisingly mild M. Chapoutier Belleruches Cotes du Rhone, 2002 ($10/$38).

A wonderfully balanced Caesar dressing ($7.50; $4 in a smaller version when ordered with an entree) expresses all the multilayered flavors that made this dressing a global classic before chefs started tampering with it.

Judiciously applied, this dressing would have been a perfect accent for the gleaming Romaine on the plate; instead, the greens were swamped.

Likewise, a chopped salad ($7.90/$4) is colorful and surgically precise; but here again purple cabbage, orange carrots, slivered red and yellow bell peppers were swamped — though the green goddess dressing was fine in its own right.

A wedge of iceberg lettuce ($7.50/$4) was better. The leaves were whimsically deconstructed to form a jade bowl decorated with grape tomatoes, thin wafers of pungent cheddar, smoky bacon and, this once, a light dose of ranch dressing.

An appetizer of fried risotto balls ($7.50) was perfect in its parts, but never quite added up. Break into the delicately crunchy sphere and you find a rich core of rice bound together with melted Kenny's Farmhouse Gouda. The accompanying smoked tomato vinaigrette, streaked with crème fraîche, is alluring enough to eat with a spoon.

Alas, the two elements never form a compelling connection — but what fun it might be if those risotto spheres were infused with basil, saffron or a vibrant foil fit for that proud sauce!

Other appetizers include coconut-encrusted shrimp, fried green tomatoes, crab cakes and a truffled lobster macaroni and cheese that's become a legendary indulgence in some circles.

As for fit foils, my wife, Mary, dined on horseradish-encrusted Atlantic salmon ($21.90), and a better combination would be hard to find.

True, once again the kitchen was overly enthusiastic with a drizzle of crème fraîche, but horseradish pairs superbly with salmon, and the fish was cooked to silky perfection. Likewise, a short rib that fell apart tenderly under my fork.

There is no neglecting the side dishes, which recently have included tender cubes of butternut squash, carefully tended baby yellow squash and crisp-tender haricots verts.

Ask an Avalon server about dessert, and you'll discover that they're as commendably partisan in their preferences as they are knowledgeable about the menu.

Acting on excellent advice, we opted for blackberry cobbler ($7), a steaming purple under a white cap of ice cream and a little garden of edible flowers.

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@courier-journal.com

Avalon

1314 Bardstown Road, Louisvile, KY

502-454-5336

Rating: 3 stars

Austin's and KT's Restaurants: Reviewed November 11, 2006

Austin's and KT's Restaurants: Serving a heaping plate of family values

By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal

In the American culture wars, uttering the phrase "family values" is just the thing to ignite a fiery debate over everything from hip-hop to Borat.

In dining, though, "family values" translates into ideas everyone loves: moderate prices, big portions, a menu so inclusive that everyone from toddlers to great-grandparents can find something to enjoy, efficient service and a calm, open atmosphere that encourages a family to sprawl.

KT's Restaurant and Bar's Hot Brown includes a diced tomato garnish, crunchy bacon and flavorful turkey. By Michael Hayman, The Courier-Journal

That's exactly what you'll find at two locally owned restaurants that have quietly become institutions over the last two decades: KT's Restaurant & Bar and Austin's.

They call themselves "sister" restaurants, but it might be more precise to think of them as fraternal twins. KT's, on Lexington Road, offers a bright, multilevel dining area situated among attractive brick arches. Austin's, on U.S. 42, is just as bright and spacious, but the brick arches are replaced by spans of blond wood.

Both menus are a mix of classic Southern comfort food and easy-going modern riffs.

Whether you crave a chicken potpie, grilled tuna or salmon, baked brie or potato skins, prime rib, a vegetarian pasta dish, a full bar or an inexpensive wine list, you'll find all those things at both places, at prices reasonable enough that even a large family gathering won't destroy your budget.

And if the food isn't at the cutting edge of culinary trends, so what? Sometimes a fellow just wants a competent Hot Brown ($8.99 at either restaurant).

One night, at KT's, my friend Dona had a fine variation on this Louisville classic. It arrived on a platter bigger than Shaquille O'Neal's sneakers.

And if it looked massive, it was topped by a nicely crafted mornay sauce — light, voluptuous and brightly flavored. A diced tomato garnish and crunchy bacon added color, zip and smoke, and underneath that sauce was some very flavorful turkey.

Dona's husband, Had, dined on shrimp scampi ($12.49, Austin's only). If the shrimp had been cooked just past their best state, they were garlicky enough; a bed of rice was flecked with green herbs, and accompanying steamed broccoli (chosen from a list of sides) was green perfection.

Spinach queso (KT's, $5.99; Austin's $6.49) is mild to a fault, but a big bowl of pale melted cheese with warm chips is easily enough to keep four peckish folks happy as they wait for their salads.

Salads, some designed as complete meals, others served alongside platters of catfish (Austin's, $7.99) or grilled salmon (KT's, $14.99) are crisp, fresh and accompanied by house-made dressings.

A grilled tuna sandwich (KT's, $8.99) was sadly overcooked, drier than a tavern on election day, but a 10-ounce prime sirloin (both restaurants, $15) sported dramatic grill marks, a pleasant hint of bourbon marinade, and could have served as a dictionary illustration of how "medium-rare" should look.

On a fairly busy night at KT's, we were served by a platoon of folks who seemed utterly engaged and quick to anticipate our needs.

On a slow night at Austin's, we sometimes felt abandoned — not until we were ready to leave did our server offer to refill our water glasses. But the scent of oregano hovered over a plate of spaghetti and meatballs ($8.99).

And at KT's, "Byron's Favorite" ($4.99), a chocolate-nut pie topped with ice cream was more than enough to satisfy four sweet-seeking diners.

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@gmail.com

Austin's Restaurant

4950 U.S. Highway 42, Louisville, KY

502-423-1990

KT's Restaurant

2300 Lexington Road, Louisville, KY

502-458-8888

Rating: 2.5

Appleby's Cafe and Wine Cellar: Reviewed January 20, 2007

Appleby's Cafe and Wine Cellar: Appleby's food is good, but something is missing

By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal

I knew exactly what I wanted: the stuffed bell pepper. The menu promised a fire-roasted red bell pepper stuffed with rice and grilled chicken, topped with mozzarella and cheddar, served on a base of black beans and a fried tortilla.

That's what I wanted. And that's what I told our waiter.

The stuffed bell pepper at Appleby's Cafe and Wine Cellar is all stuff with very little bell pepper. By Bill Luster, The Courier-Journal

Then I relaxed in the dark glow of Appleby's Cafe and Wine Cellar, which has been serving meals in downtown Jeffersonville, Ind., for about five years.

As the name suggests, Appleby's is divided into two attractive parts. The walls throughout are rust and olive. French posters lend a bistro feel. Gas-burning fireplaces warm both rooms. In the cafe, the floor is carpeted, and the tables are draped with black cloths; in the wine cellar, the tables are bare, and the floor is painted concrete with a worn, rakish look. In the wine cellar, soft blues pumps from the sound system (and some nights there is live music).

I sipped Guinness ($3.30) from one of those cool pint cans with the widget that simulates Guinness on tap. The effect might have been better had the Guinness been served with a pint glass, but I didn't care, really. Visions of stuffed peppers danced in my head.

My wife, Mary, and I munched on salads: a flat-flavored Caesar ($6.50) and a very fine baby spinach salad ($6.95) served with a tangy hot bacon dressing (I recommend instructing the kitchen to withhold the ill-conceived garnish of cinnamon almonds and pineapple tidbits).

As Mary sipped wine, we appreciated the large pour, the reasonable prices (Clos du Bois Sauvignon Blanc, $6.25/$24), and the presence of Indiana options (from Oliver Wines; $5.50/$20) on the short list.

And we appreciated our waiter's prompt, friendly service.

Then came our food.

Sharp-eyed guy that I am, I immediately noticed something lacking in my stuffed pepper ($14.95). I think anyone would have noticed it, because the thing that was lacking was the pepper. There was plenty of the stuff, but of the stuff-ee, if you will, there was nary a sign — just a few shreds of sautéed red bell pepper teasing me from the top of the heaped rice, beans, chicken and cheese.

Thinking I might be in the presence of a pepper both stuffed and buried, I poked and prodded — but to no avail. Perhaps my pepper had been pilfered!

I asked our server, "Is this a stuffed pepper?"

"I'm not sure," said he. "I've only been here for a week and haven't ever seen the stuffed pepper."

A more experienced server supplied the authoritative answer: Concerned that peppers are short of stuffage capacity, the chef had eliminated the pepper. "That way he can give you more of the good stuff," said our informant.

And perhaps the "good stuff" would have been good enough — had I had a taste for rice, beans, chicken and cheese on a fried tortilla.

Perhaps the same reasoning applied to the missing sun-dried tomatoes in Mary's white wine pasta ($9.95). Or the absence of anything smacking of garlic or white wine in what was alleged to be a garlic white wine sauce but was instead a light cheese sauce that tasted quite a bit like ground parmesan.

Noticing a plaque on the table that mentioned homemade desserts, I asked our server about them. He checked — and reported back that the desserts weren't homemade.

I'd have been happy to pay with Confederate scrip, if I'd had any.

On a solo return visit, though, things matched up: My blackened salmon was decidedly salmon. And it was decidedly blackened. In fact, it was very nicely blackened — crusty and fiery on the outside, silky and moist within.

Someone in the kitchen knows how to cook. Now, if they can just figure out how to write an accurate menu.

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@gmail.com

Appleby's Cafe and Wine Cellar

210 Spring Street, Jeffersonville, IN

812-283-3663

610 Magnolia: Reviewed December 30, 2006

610 Magnolia: Savor the food, ignore the business meeting

By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal

We had quite the lively evening the other night at 610 Magnolia. The restaurant was hosting two parties of two (including my wife, Mary, and me) — and a celebratory group of 15 salespeople.

Marinated Alaskan sablefish with green tea noodle and soy glaze are among the dishes at 610 Magnolia. By Kylene Lloyd, The Courier-Journal

Those folks were a right friendly bunch. Tolerant too! They roved around our table in clumps of two or three, sipping cocktails and beer — and it didn't bother them a bit that we sat right in their midst drinking a split of exquisitely bubbly Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs ($38).

We're pretty accommodating folks ourselves, and would have gladly skedaddled to the empty tables on the far side of the room, or to the upstairs dining room.

Before we were truly settled, I asked our server whether an "event" was happening. She didn't offer to move us, but assured me, "There won't be any presentations or anything." Later still, when I asked whether the restaurant still served meals in the upstairs dining room, she replied, "We do when we're crowded."

Memo to management: Sometimes three parties is a crowd — and four-star hospitality involves more than simply delivering plates to the table.

The menu at 610 Magnolia is a six-course, fixed-price affair ($65; a vegetarian option is $55) that starts you out with an impressive sequence of culinary baubles (a sequence of six hot and cold amuse-bouche), and continues with tempting choices from a list of salads and soups, main dishes and desserts, with a farewell gift of petits-fours.

For us, the meal ended up being a mix of culinary epiphanies and corporate enlightenment. Those small, early courses included shrimp so surpassingly crisp and tender that I may never want to eat a shrimp again.

While our neighbors compared notes about their sales territories, Mary and I compared notes about the 610 BLT, a toasty cube filled with smoky bacon, foie gras and grainy mustard, and pockets of ravioli filled with lush, juicy bits of pheasant. And if a bit of dry, tasteless quail was topped with a lackluster tamarind sauce, well that was just a single miss.

As we ate soups and salads, our neighbors took group photos. I sure hope they got one of me eating butternut squash soup with truffled pheasant and wild mushrooms. That was one of the best soups I've ever eaten — especially when paper-thin slices of Parmesan melted into the soup and the sweet, butternut puree melded with the salty flavor of the cheese.

Our entrees arrived as the speechifying started. Over there, things got a bit maudlin.

Not for us. We focused on Mary's miso-marinated sablefish perched on green tea noodles. It's hard to improve on the natural wonder of sablefish, but Chef Edward Lee, who spent part of the evening chatting with friends at the end of the bar, is a masterful artist in the kitchen. Those big, round filets had the white, translucent glow of fine marble; the outer crust felt like velvet on the tongue, and when you put a fork to that fish, the thick flakes fell away in succulent slabs.

My pistachio-encrusted lamb chop with truffled white beans was nearly as fine.

When I asked our server to recommend a wine that might work with both entrees, she considered, expressed some fondness for a particular pinot noir, then revealed that it was sold out.

Left to my own devices, I settled on a red — a 2003 Michel Magnien Bourgogne ($70) — and asked the server how she felt about it; she consulted with the chef, who approved. And it was, just right, especially served in sparkling Riedel stemware.

So was Mary's mocha dacquoise. And though our server couldn't rattle off the four cheeses on the cheese plate, after thinking about it for a moment, she brought me a list of fine artisanal choices that went nicely with spiced cranberry compote and walnuts. You can email Marty Rosen at cjdining@courier-journal.com

610 Magnolia

610 Magnolia Ave., Louisville, KY

502-636-0783

Rating: 3.5 stars

Goose Creek Diner: Reviewed April 21, 2007

Goose Creek Diner: Flamboyant diner dishes out an affordable menu

By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal

Imagine Rodney Dangerfield dressed up for a tropical vacation and you'll have a pretty good sense of the flamboyant Goose Creek Diner.

Starting from the bottom, the place features squiggly carpet, booths of purple, orange and green, and bright yellow walls bedecked with whimsical images of cupcakes, peppers and mustachioed chefs.

Goose Creek Diner's vegetarian omelet includes diced tomatoes, onions, green peppers and Swiss cheese. By Michael Hayman, The Courier-Journal

Black-topped tables and booths are adorned with paper flowers. And the place is generally a buzzing hive of happy activity.

Unlike Rodney, the Goose Creek Diner seems to be well respected by folks drawn by a varied, well-executed, affordable menu and good service.

As the name suggests, the menu is mid-American eclectic: sandwiches (turkey club, $6.75; bacon, lettuce and fried green tomato, $6.95), pastas (spaghetti and meatballs, $7.95; shrimp scampi, $10.95), and seafood, steak, poultry, and pork entrees that top out at $12.95 (for a 10-ounce rib-eye with two side items).

An extensive lunch menu is extraordinarily well priced, offering 10 options, like chicken potpie, chicken livers and meat loaf, for $4.95.

And though Goose Creek doesn't follow the "breakfast anytime" diner tradition, it does offer a breakfast menu on weekends and a brunch buffet on Sundays.

A recent dinner began with a complimentary basket of sweet little corn muffins and continued with a crisp salad ($4.95) dominated by iceberg lettuce but distinguished by crisp fresh croutons (many dressings are bottled, but a few, like ranch and thousand island, are house-made).

There's something innocent and old-fashioned about menus that make grand claims, but when Goose Creek claims that its fried green tomatoes ($4.50) are the best in Louisville, I'm inclined to agree.

The tomatoes themselves were crisp, tangy and juicy, but what set them apart was a pink "Creek sauce," a creamy concoction that feints with the richness of buttermilk ranch dressing and then slaps your tongue with a hefty dose of cayenne — just the thing to make you reach for a bottle of Sam Adams or Goose Island Honkers Ale.

My wife, Mary, dined on football-shaped salmon croquettes ($8.95, with two sides, from more than a dozen options, including hand-breaded onion rings, stewed tomatoes, greens and the like) covered in an old-fashioned creamed pea sauce. The croquettes themselves were a bit pedestrian in flavor and texture, but the sauce had about it the velvety feel of a spring day.

There was nothing pedestrian about turkey pot roast ($8.95), a wonderful bowl filled with chunks of long-simmered turkey, pearl onions and carrots swimming in rich beef broth (a side of white beans and ham was straight from the countryside).

And there was nothing pedestrian about the service. On a busy night, we were impressed to see white-clad kitchen staff helping servers by delivering piping-hot plates right from the stove to the table (though tables weren't being cleared with the same dispatch).

And when our server recommended a slice of apple pie ($1.95), she was right on the money — from the firm crust to the crisp, spicy apples.

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@gmail.com.

Goose Creek Diner

2923 Goose Creek Road, Louisville, KY

502-339-8070

Rating: 3 stars

Fork in the Road Restaurant: Reviewed April 14, 2007

Fork in the Road: Real country fare - Fork in the Road can be good choice

By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal

Portion control doesn't seem to be a priority at the Fork in the Road Restaurant, a decidedly homespun place that unabashedly focuses on old-school Southern cooking.

These days, retro-Southern cuisine is all the rage, but from the looks of things, the Fork in the Road, like Barbara Mandrell and George Jones, is the kind of place that proudly claims to have been country when country wasn't cool.

Fork in the Road's meatloaf is served here with white beans and mashed potatoes. By Kylene Lloyd, The Courier-Journal

Near the door, there's what might — in a place with more uppity tendencies — be called an "installation." It's a whimsical Wall of Forks, all kinds and sizes, all hung up for your viewing pleasure.

The expansive dining room is cheered by red-topped tables and booths, all bedecked with paper flowers on the tables. The walls bear a handful of old farm implements — and a selection of old black-and-white photos portraying the Louisville of yesteryear, from the old Cozy Theater to Fontaine Ferry Park.

The food is ample but inconsistent, and the service is warm and natural, though not always efficient — and woe betide a diner in a hurry if the kitchen finds itself in the weeds.

One night that happened to us, and we waited 40 minutes or so for an order that included meatloaf, country-fried steak and a breakfast dish (breakfast is served anytime). Other dinner options include customary entrees like roast beef, chicken livers, fried chicken, fried fish, chili, pasta and burgers and sandwiches — with no dish costing more than $9.

By then, I was as hungry as someone who actually works for a living, and though that meatloaf ($8.69) comes with two sides from a canonic list of Southern-style vegetables and looked formidable on the plate — a thick slab covered with a tangy-sweet red sauce — I was just as formidable with my fork. It was a savory, coarse-textured meatloaf that had all the hallmarks of good home cooking, leaving me a pretty satisfied customer.

Country-fried steak ($7.99) is a breaded patty of beef, fried to a crisp finish, then slathered with white gravy. That white gravy might be one of the signature dishes at the Fork in the Road. The menu says it's peppered, and peppered it is. I happen to love peppery white gravy. So does my mother-in-law, Roberta. And had that dish been piping hot, Roberta would have been just as happy as I was.

Alas, the breakfast dish ($6.59 for two eggs, bacon, hash browns, biscuits and gravy) arrived in the same sad state — as if it had been waiting patiently for the meatloaf to get itself ready to serve. Overcooked bacon and hash browns in the form of spongy cubes of potato made for a pretty disappointing dish.

Still, we were bucked up by icy drinks served in quart-sized Mason jars — and by mix-and-match coffee mugs, one of which touted the anti-depressant medication Zoloft — just the thing to offset any lingering unhappiness about our meal.

It was clear enough that our server was embarrassed by the whole affair. She returned fairly often in an effort to keep us happy. And though we were too famished to complain, she volunteered that the kitchen was beset by an unusual amount of confusion, allowing that she'd have given us our desserts free, except it wasn't necessary, since desserts are always free on Tuesday nights after 4.

On another visit, the kitchen hummed with efficiency, food whipped its way to the tables with nary a hitch, and everything was lovely, including a steamy order of beef and noodles swimming in rich brown broth and a slice of chocolate cream pie with a firm crust and a tall, creamy, gold-rimmed topping ($2.59).

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@courier-journal.com.

Fork in the Road Restaurant

4951 Cane Run Road, Louisville, KY

502-448-3903

Rating: 2 stars

Azalea: Reviewed March 24, 2007

Azalea's appetizers, entrees have impressive flavors

By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal

Azalea equips all its tables with the usual dining tools — silverware, glasses, napkins, a cozy candle and so forth.

But on a recent visit, when our server presented a massive white platter of fried calamari ($8), I found myself wishing someone would lend me a tape measure as well. I won't try to estimate the size of that platter, but this was one colossal heap of extraordinarily tender rings and tentacles — and there was nary a hint of oil on the plate.

Stuffed chicken with saffron dumplings and baby vegetables. By Arza Barnett, The Courier-Journal

Even more impressive than the quantity was the quality. The squid was wrapped in a mild, crunchy breading (I would quibble that the menu's "Jamaican jerk" claim is way off base), sprinkled with jalapenos and red and yellow bell peppers, and accompanied by three luxurious dipping sauces: cilantro pesto, a puree of yellow pepper and a sweet-hot red chili.

That calamari cried out for a glass of Bell's Two Hearted Ale ($5). It was an inspired rallying cry for bar food, as fun an appetizer as anyone could wish.

Azalea offers lots of impressive flavors. A case in point: intense saffron dumplings that accompany a truffled stuffed chicken breast ($22).

The chicken itself is like a treasure chest; shaved mushrooms are tucked under the skin, the flesh is succulent, and the fragrance is at once delicate and earthy.

But in the midst of all that, there are perplexing discordant notes — uneven temperatures on the plate, nearly raw potatoes in the accompanying vegetable medley, and exceedingly long waits between courses — so long that in the absence of any comforting news from our server, we sometimes felt like exiles.

Of course, an exile could land in worse surroundings. Azalea has a handsome woody feel, bright artwork, an impressive bar area, and our window nook was a pleasant place to catch the spring twilight — if only we hadn't caught quite so much of it.

And where the chicken was a bit uneven, a piece of snapper roasted with tea and ginger was fine, indeed. A soy-orange cream gave the plate a caramel-colored accent and bit my tongue with a faint citrus burn. The fish rested on an oozing rice cake infused with ginger and scallions; capping the Asian riffs was a green and white peak of braised baby bok choy.

Many other dishes are likable — a spinach salad is packed with bacon and candied pecans (though an apple cider vinaigrette lacked the requisite acidic punch). And a brioche bread pudding (supplied by pastry chef Rachel Colvin, owner of Dolce) was so eggy and rich that it reminded us of French toast.

Some items on the menu, overhauled last autumn, have a global cast: Chinese five-spiced pork tenderloin comes with a fig balsamic reduction ($20); a smoked pork chop is dressed with ginger-currant chutney ($21); the menu includes appetizers like seared diver scallops with succotash and marsala syrup ($13) and egg rolls with purple sticky rice ($7.50).

Other options include spinach and walnut ravioli ($13); a grilled angus strip steak with a reduction sauce ($28); and an "American Kobe" burger ($12.50).

In addition to specialty cocktails, the wine list offers well over 100 options, including a number of wines by the glass.

Some folks will be delighted by options such as 2004 Miner "Wild Yeast" Chardonnay ($94) and 2000 Uccilliera Brunello ($94), but I was glad to see a reasonable selection of drinkable offerings (assorted Australian and California choices) priced in the low $20s.

But then, if I were at the bar with a platter of calamari, I'd never get past that Bell's Two Hearted Ale.

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@courier-journal.com.

Azalea Restaurant

3612 Brownsboro Road, Louisville, KY

502-895-5493

Rating: 3 stars

Koreana II: Reviewed April 7, 2007

Koreana II: Big bold flavors are served up at Koreana II

By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal

Any restaurant that makes abundant use of charcoal and chiles is fine by me. And by that simple standard, Koreana II measures up pretty darned well.

The dining area has the look of a slightly worn banquet hall, with festive elements like pink tables and a faux-limestone wall, where a gurgling fountain spills into a tank full of ornamental fish.

Meals come with cold, spicy side dishes called panchan, which include every combination of flavors imaginable. By Bill Luster, The Courier-Journal

Around the perimeter, chimneys rise above tables with built-in charcoal grills — for intrepid folks who want to grill their own meats and seafood.

If you're not well versed in Korean food, it's good to be a bit bold at Koreana. Sometimes you'll encounter warm, informative servers with serviceable English; other times, the service may seem brusque and nervous, and you'll find yourself wishing you had a Korean phrase book.

Of course, you can always point at the menu, but it isn't always clear. Such little obstacles aside, Koreana serves up big, bold flavors that require no translation.

You could start with "sizzling rice soup" (for two, $4.95). In its clear, golden broth, you'll find tiny pink shrimp, delicate mussels, little rings of squid, clumps of crunchy rice, finely minced carrots and onions, and green florets of broccoli.

Or you could begin with man-doo ($4.95/$8.95). The small order brings an attractive boat-shaped tray filled with seven crescent-shaped dumplings stuffed with minced beef and aromatic vegetables, then fried to a resounding crunch; in a tray at the stern of your boat, you'll find a simple dipping sauce of vinegar and soy.

If you're in the mood for exotica — long-simmered cow hocks, for instance — you'll find it here, but if you're not, there are plenty of meat, seafood and poultry dishes.

Better to sample the Korean cuisine. A bowl of kimchee casserole ($9.95/$16.95 — and the small portion serves more than one person) arrives as a bubbling brick red stew filled with leaves of marinated cabbage, dark greens, thin sheets of simmered beef, domino-sized slices of tofu and enough richly inflected layers of heat to leave me wiping my brow and reaching for the steamed rice.

One night, we erred and ordered bi bim bop ($9.95), a pedestrian version of the classic Korean dish (sliced beef and shredded vegetables topped with a fried egg, served over rice), served in a shiny metal bowl. Had we read the menu more closely, we'd have realized that at Koreana, stone bi bim bop — a far more appealing variation in which a hot stone bowl creates a sizzling border of crunchy rice — is called dol-sot bop ($11.95), and that a seafood version is also available: hae-mooi dol-sot bop ($13.95).

As for grilled food, if you're ordering two or more portions of gal-bi ($15.95), marinated short ribs, your server will bring charcoal to your table and you can grill your own. Otherwise, the kitchen does a fine job. Sliced from the ribs and served atop a bed of grilled onions, the charred meat has a rich, smoky chew; and the melting texture of slightly fatty ribs.

And like every entrée, the gal-bi comes with miso soup, steamed rice and nearly a dozen little bowls of the cold, spicy Korean side dishes called panchan.

Yep, whether you're alone or with a group, you'll be inundated with panchan, and that's heaven. The dishes — cabbage, turnips, greens, cucumbers, tiny fish, carrots and more, are like a field guide to every possible combination of flavor, texture and color.

Hot, crisp, red-flecked turnips; hot-salty morsels of tiny chewy fish, like silver threads nestled among jalapenos; cucumbers in a brine of vinegar and hot spices; leaves of hot, garlicky cabbage; zucchini, carrots, bean sprouts. This is food everyone — but especially vegetarians — can eat with true relish.

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@gmail.com.

Koreana II 5000 Preston Highway, Louisville, KY

502-968-9686

Rating: 2.5 stars

Club Grotto: Reviewed March 31, 2007

Club Grotto sparkles

By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal

As the name hints, Club Grotto feels like a well-appointed cavern.

It's a deftly lighted dining sanctuary with a cream and burgundy color scheme, creek stones and aquariums at the edges, looming black and white photos, and a series of dining chambers seemingly nestled around every corner. Then there's that flying frog poised near the entrance, and the usual television glare shining down on the bar.

The cioppino, an Italian-influenced stew from San Francisco, did not disappoint with mussels, shrimp, scallops and tomato. By Pam Spaulding, The Courier-Journal

Since the death of founding chef/owner Jim McKinney six years ago, Club Grotto, now owned and operated by McKinney's parents, has become a way station for a series of talented chefs. Most recently, Chris Howerton (formerly of Equus and Bourbons Bistro), took over the kitchen about six months ago, bringing both a strong respect for the restaurant's core dishes and a distinctive stamp all his own.

My wife, Mary, ordered one of those core menu items, fried walleye pike ($19).

It was unquestionably the best fried fish I had ever eaten. Ever. Anywhere. There was nothing mysterious about the preparation: just the usual cornmeal batter, salt and pepper, and immersion in a deep-fryer. The perfectly trimmed fish was moist, flaky and fresh as could be, and the crust — as firm as a plank, until it shattered under a fork — adhered like a second skin. A distinctive watercress tartar sauce and a generous assortment of carrot disks, haricots verts, creamy whipped potatoes and a scoop of corn pudding rounded out the plate.

A recently introduced appetizer, curried beef tenderloin ($10), was a sparkling fusion of Asian and Caribbean themes: Rare slices of beef were drizzled with a luxurious coconut-lime cream sauce that rested like foam, releasing its sweet citrus into the curried meat. Completing the dish was a well-suited garnish of diced cucumbers steeped in hot, spicy, salty spices.

Apart from a few quibbles — a nicely, but overly dressed Caesar salad (these are almost as common as those televisions), and an amusing, very lengthy, highly audible telephone negotiation about reservations for Derby weekend — the rest of our meal was just as fine.

I wanted far more than I could eat. Offerings included calves liver ($17); veal marsala ($29); filet mignon ($40); lamb chops ($33); pork chops ($28) — all with sauces and sides that sounded fascinating.

But once my eye rested on the word "cioppino," I was done. I'm a sucker for seafood stews and soups, and this Italian-influenced stew from San Francisco is one of the great regional versions, a classic rarely seen hereabouts.

The Club Grotto version ($26), recently added to the menu, was all it should have been: a generous flat bowl packed tight with mussels, shrimp, scallops and juicy chunks of tomato, all in a lively flavored tomato-basil broth so good I nearly drank it from the bowl.

Service was well matched to the standard of the food. A platoon of servers tended to our glasses, ensured we had the proper tools (including a bowl for spent mussel shells and appropriate glasses for our half bottle of Chehalem pinot noir ($28) — though the wine itself was served at an unpleasantly warm temperature.

And when our server presented the dessert tray — no cavern was ever so well stocked with impressive sweets — we settled on a pecan bundt-shaped cake that had the rugged feel of an artisanal pastry and was nicely set off by a drizzle of toffee sauce and a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream.

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@gmail.com

Club Grotto

2116 Bardstown Road, Louisville KY

502-459-5275

Rating: 3.5 stars

RockWall: Reviewed April 26, 2007

Rockwall: Hit and miss - dishes at RockWall can waver in quality

By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier Journal

Situated on the site of an old limestone quarry near the peak of the dramatic Knobstone Escarpment that forms Floyds Knobs, the RockWall restaurant is as aptly named as any restaurant could be.

Diners can choose between a sheltered patio or a pleasantly appointed indoor dining area set off with bright wood trim, wooden chairs, white tablecloths and the bright, peaceful feel of a metropolitan cafe.

RockWall's plantation salmon is a filet topped with crab meat in a pecan-caramel sauce. The entree can be grilled or blackened. By Michael Clevenger, The Courier-Journal

The menu offers an eclectic range of techniques and flavors that mixes traditional Americana with French and Latin traditions — a pork chop ($18) can be sauced with mustard and currants or with Louisiana-style seasonings; salmon ($17) can be grilled or blackened, and is served with a pecan-caramel sauce; a chicken breast ($12) is rubbed with cilantro; meat loaf ($12) is dressed with a homemade ketchup.

On a couple of recent dishes, we encountered wavering quality — some dishes were outrageously good, while others were embarrassingly bad.

One night for instance, my wife, Mary, and I ended a meal with a chocolate vanilla hidden truffle cake ($7) that was flat-out amazing. Pastry chef Ada Silva King had created a cake as ephemeral as a cocoa cloud; sharp-flavored and fine-grained, it surrounded a melting fudgy center, and was topped by a full-flavored scoop of house-made vanilla ice cream.

Likewise, shrimp linguine ($17) was superb — a generous supply of plump, tender shrimp and vegetables (red bell peppers, mushrooms, green and yellow summer squash) topped toothsome pasta. And the whole affair was garbed in a light, lively sauce that mixed a rich fabric of cream with the piquant heat of Asian Sriracha hot sauce.

A rib-eye ($26), topped with a melting pool of shallot-thyme butter, was cooked perfectly to order, tender as could be, and had the satisfying grid marks. Horseradish-infused mashed potatoes had a hearty flavor and a creamy texture. But a side of sugar snap peas arrived at the table dripping oil.

A Cobb salad ($12) bordered on insult — both to the general concept of a Cobb salad and to the general standard of quality found elsewhere on the menu.

A handful of shrimp were plump and fresh, and a few nuggets of fried chicken breast were acceptable. But the rest of the ingredients included cold, half-cooked minced bacon, clumps of tasteless shredded yellow cheese, huge florets of broccoli and cauliflower (these big chunks were inconvenient and out of place in one of the world's definitive "chopped" salads), and a paltry quantity of mixed greens — which was just as well, since the greens showed mottled brown signs of deterioration.

Service on my visits was attentive and friendly. And on Tuesday nights, bottled wines are half price — an attractive bargain if you're interested in that bottle of Stag's Leap Petite Syrah ($65) or a Chateauneuf du Pape ($50), though the mostly affordable list is scanty on details like vintages. We drank a peppery Cline Ancient Vines Mourvedre (2004, $36) that nicely bridged that Sriracha sauce and the char-grilled rib-eye.

Couple that wine special with appetizer options like flautas made of rock game hen ($8), fried green tomatoes ($7) and shrimp cocktail ($11), and you have a recipe for a fine evening in the Knobs. And a rich bacon artichoke dip ($6), accompanied by crisp grilled slices of Blue Dog bread, is the kind of voluptuous appetizer that can easily satisfy four folks out for a beverage and a snack.

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@gmail.com.

RockWall
3426 Paoli Pike, Floyds Knobs, Indiana
812-948-1705

Rating: 2.5 stars

English Grill: Reviewed May 5, 2007

The English Grill - Bold, promising, and full of Southern warmth

By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal

In some important ways, the English Grill — the flagship restaurant at The Brown hotel — captures the very essence of Kentucky dining.

That's partly because The Brown dates to the Jazz Age, and the English Grill has the burnished, clubby elegance of a bygone era.

A menu addition is the Bartlett pear and roasted coffee bean tart with ice cream. Photo By Pam Spaulding, The Courier-Journal

More important, it's because the tenor of service complements that elegance with technical polish and Southern warmth — a concept embodied in the personality of Neal Ward, the longtime English Grill manager, who also serves as the hotel's "historian" — always ready, when asked, to share a story about its rich tradition as hotel choice for folks ranging from British prime ministers to rock stars.

At the end of last year, after some 15 successful years, chef Joe Castro departed the English Grill, leading to what has to be considered a monumental shift in one of Louisville's leading destination kitchens.

This spring, the new chef, Laurent Geroli (a Montreal native whose resume includes stints at a variety of Club Med and Ritz-Carlton locations) released his first English Grill menu. Recent visits suggest that the kitchen is in safe, nuanced hands with a good deal of promise.

The spring menu presents an eclectic blend of regional elements (bourbon, apple cider, Capriole goat cheese), finely honed Asian and Continental influences (chervil veal glacé, lemongrass reductions, Szechuan pepper beurre blanc), and global ingredients — Arctic char, Kentucky-raised pork.

A recent visit started with a brightly colored amuse-bouche that pitted pungent micro-greens and pineapple against the sweet pop of a plump red grape — the whole affair mediated by a drizzle of crème fraîche.

We were served bread from the Blue Dog Bakery, a wonderful glazed pumpkinseed flatbread with a piquant, bitter char, and savory breadsticks with hints of cheese that had the soft texture of cylindrical gougères.

A lobster gnocchi appetizer ($17) was gracefully sauced with a dusk-pink distillation of bourbon and red capsicum peppers. Plated with exquisitely juicy morel mushrooms (that coveted harbinger of spring), chunks of voluptuous lobster and tiny broccoli sprouts, the dish was a study in a continuum of textures, enhanced by perfectly executed gnocchi.

An immaculate spinach salad ($10) carried the lively flavors of walnut, pancetta and creamy blue cheese. The morel theme carried forward when pearlescent cream of white asparagus soup ($8) was poured tableside, transferred gently into a bowl containing a few of the fungi.

A zingy kiwi sorbet cleared our palates for the entrees to come — selected from a list that includes grilled rack of lamb ($34), pan-roasted beef filet ($36) and vegetarian tempeh ($22), with accompaniments like roasted rutabaga, bok choy and golden beets.

A generous pork chop ($24) on the bone was grilled to a fine pink color and served with firm lentils, a vibrant tomato ragout and crisp green haricots verts.

But hints of apple cider brine and a dollop of mustard seed chutney added little to a dish that lapsed into dullness.

Arctic char, baked in cedar ($26), was bolder and better. A hefty square of perfectly cooked fish was not the least overwhelmed by accompanying black-eyed peas, smoky chunks of bacon and firm kernels of roasted corn — all underpinned by the gentle perfume of a thyme jus.

Rather than searching the extensive list for a wine suited to both our entrees, we relied on our server's good advice and drank glasses of Mondavi Chardonnay and Cosentino Zinfandel (outrageously priced at $13 and $12, respectively).

We ended our meal with a pear and coffee bean tart that might have come direct from Paris — except that it was accompanied by a scoop of house-made butter pecan ice cream that seemed to come direct from my childhood.

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can email him at cjdining@gmail.com.

The English Grill

335 W. Broadway (in the Brown Hotel), Louisville, KY

502-583-1234

Rating: 3.5 stars

Bourbons Bistro: Reviewed June 2, 2007

Bourbons Bistro goes all out - and occasionally goes too far

By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal

The other night at Bourbons Bistro, I came upon the finest piece of fish I've seen in many months. It was a thick, deftly carved piece of grouper ($27). From surface to center it was a pan-seared tribute to technical mastery. Its flesh glowed like marble.

The duck confit strudel appetizer could easily stand as the centerpiece of a meal. Photo By Pam Spaulding, The Courier-Journal

Many chefs would have been content to stop right there, and allow that grouper to speak for itself. But at Bourbons, where Michael Crouch serves as chef, they gild the grouper with a mandarin orange jalapeno cream sauce — and serve it atop a pilaf studded with apricots and whole toasted almonds.

In the end, all those added elements — especially the pallid sauce — added up to less than their parts, and eating that fish was as frustrating as meeting a beautiful woman at a masked ball.

They have a knack for baroque preparations at Bourbons, where the burger ($10) is dressed with jalapeno mayonnaise and apricot bourbon mustard, and a pork chop ($21) is stuffed with chorizo and mozzarella, then topped with bacon and a wine sauce.

Some of those dishes are more effective than the grouper. My pal Joel and I started with a duck confit strudel ($10). It's billed as an appetizer — though such a richly exuberant dish could easily stand as the centerpiece of a meal.

Packed into a boat-shaped wall of flaky pastry were tender chunks of meat, gushing pools of goat cheese, mushrooms, arugula, candied chilies (!) and then, a roasted shallot sherry cream sauce. The result was lush, crisp, sweet and spicy.

Even a devout vegetarian might feel some guilt after putting away a rich, ravishing, over-the-top, potato-asparagus tart ($17) topped with melted slices of brie, a ring of grilled red onion, and a zingy lemon crème fraîche.

As much as I respect the chef's craft — and rare are the dishes that aren't technically flawless — the convoluted baubles don't win me over. And some dishes I just don't understand.

Spilling across a broad bowl, the immaculate leaves of an arugula salad ($8) were as alluring as a cool spring meadow. Dappled with a pearly vinaigrette, spiked up with shards of Gruyère and topped with a voluptuous poached egg, it might have been a perfect salad but for the unattractive cold chunks of fatty smoked bacon scattered hither and yon.

I've eaten enough cold, non-crispy bacon recently to make me wonder whether I've missed out on some culinary trend or other. If so, just for the record, I'm against it.

I am not, however, against dessert, and it will come as no surprise that the house-made desserts at Bourbons (crème brulée, $6, and chocolate pecan bourbon bread pudding with dried Bing cherries and crème anglaise, $7) easily live up to the rich promise of the other dishes.

Nor am I against bourbon — though I wish Bourbons would replace its uninformative alphabetical bourbon list with an annotated guide that includes tasting notes, place of origin, etc.

In the meantime, there's no quibbling with the scope of the bourbon list or the presentation of the bourbon flights, which come to the table on an attractive wooden plank.

As to the whole experience, service is well-paced and very well-informed. The dining area is comfortable and casual, from the distillery photos to the painted brick to the massive, attractive bar and the outdoor patio.

Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@gmail.com.

Bourbons Bistro

2255 Frankfort Avenue, Louisville, KY

502-894-8838

www.bourbonsbistro.com

Rating: 3 stars