My Own Louisville Plate

Some days the best restaurant experience isn’t actually a restaurant at all.  As big of a proponent for supporting locally owned restaurants as I am, I am just as big on shopping locally as well.  So this isn’t as much of a restaurant review as me going to a few local grocers/meat markets/specialty stores, picking up some ingredients, and making my own Louisville plate.  Originally I had gone into Kinglsey’s Meat and Seafood to get some ground beef for hamburgers; I normally try and get all of my meat here.  There is just something about going to a butcher for meat that I love more then the large chain grocery.  I love the thought that the only thing they are giving me there is the freshest cuts of meat possible.  Anyways, I ended up browsing the other coolers and came across some orange ruffy stuffed with crab, JACKPOT.  Needless to say I made this little fish my own.  Next stop Paul's Fruit market.  I was in the market for vegetables, and good ones at that.  Picking up a few potatoes, celery, bell peppers (already sliced and ready for the grill), asparagus, avocadoes, and tomatoes I was ready to move on.  One last stop and I have the makings for my dinner.  Lotsa Pasta pretty much has a bit of everything in it.  This particular stop I decided on a few different cheeses and some basmati rice.  Basmati is a rice grown in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan and the word basmati is Sanskrit for “fragrant one.”  Now I grilled the vegetables the day before for another meal, but had some left over.  I then decided it would be great in my rice and threw the peppers and some onions and peas in there, boiling it in a beef broth instead of just the normal water, to give it that extra rich flavor.  The fish was easy enough, throw it in the oven for 25 minutes at 350 and BAM, dinner is done.  Just for funsies I put my Bloody Mary in a mason jar and called it a meal.  Like I said, not your typical restaurant review, but none the less, very Louisville, very food oriented, and all three places are very much recommended.  Make your own restaurant in your kitchen, and do it while supporting local.

Joe's Older Than Dirt

I love food.  I’m talking good food.  It doesn’t matter if it’s expensive or cheap, ultra healthy or really greasy; if it tastes good I love it.  I have been gone from Louisville for essentially 3 months for work; first to Memphis and then to Palm Springs, CA.  Memphis I ate pretty much southern fried greasy food.  Palm Springs I had sushi and avocados almost every day.  My last meal in Palm Springs was at Cliffhouse.  It was a nonstop gluttonous affair of epic proportions with 8 coworkers where we sampled most of the menu, if you have the chance to go I suggest it.  When I finally got home to the Ville all I wanted to do, besides try and get back on some sort of normal schedule, was eat some down home food.  So a buddy and I decided to hit up Joe’s Older Than Dirt in Lyndon. 

It was more that we wanted, as my friend put it “a low key, country music, summer around the corner kinda place” than a 5 star meal.  Who can beat $2 beer, a fried pork tenderloin sandwich and onion rings on a lazy first day of spring?  My buddy had one of the fish platters, it came with a bonus crab cake she said was delicious. A good lunch, a cold beer, a laid back atmosphere, and all for $12, welcome back to Kentucky me.

Joe's OK Bayou

Cheeseburgers.  This blog is not about cheeseburgers, but rather the quest to ignore my craving for one and follow lent on a Friday.  It seems like anytime you can’t have something you really want it.  This was no different.  All I wanted was an amazing burger with fries.  Instead I was committed to a no mammal no poultry Friday in March.  With so many choices in the Ville that are seafood places alone I knew there was something I could find to eat on this stormy night.  My thought on lent fish specials is that they are normally exceptional, I don’t know if it’s because the restaurants bring their A-game when they think someone bigger is watching or what, but for the most part they are normally always good.  I didn’t want a great piece of fish though, I wanted an experience.  I’m about to head to California for most of March and I know there will be plenty of fish available.  So J and I ended up at Joe’s OK Bayou.  Now I have been here once before, with my parents, and to this day if you ask my father what his favorite restaurant in town is he will say Joe’s.  I think it is because he really likes frog’s legs and there aren’t many places to get them. 

As we walked in we noticed it was busy, and there was a guy playing guitar and singing in the corner.  We were quickly sat at a table; both ordered an Abita Golden (beer from Louisiana) and started mulling over the menu.  Now there were a bunch of different fish options as lent specials, but I was looking for something a bit different.  I thought about the soft shell crab, oysters, and my father’s favorite frog legs.  Eventually I settled on the boiled crawfish.  Now being that my mother’s family is from Louisiana I am always down for Cajun, and I know that in order to eat crawfish you must suck the juice from the head and eat the tails.  The honey mustard dipping sauce was a great additive even though the crawfish itself had great spicy seasoning on it.  J decided on the Cajun Combo and ordered Crawfish Etouffèe and Crawfish Creole.  She said it was the way to go because by the time she started getting tired the ettouffèe she switched to the Creole and the tomato base really came alive. 

Although we both thoroughly enjoyed our meals there were a few things we wished were different.  For one the menu is huge, with so many options and sizes.  Then, as far as we could tell, there are no “normal” side options (fries, things of that nature).  Everything comes with an option of a side portion of the Cajun Entrees.  So, it’s a lot of food with more food on the side.  If you are looking for a place with lots of food for your money, you are in the right place.  I am sure that during Mardi Gras this was the place to be in the Ville, and I would have loved some Zydeco music this particular evening.  Nothing like a washboard, an accordion and a plate of crawfish (which is the largest freshwater aquaculture industry in the US by the way) to make you feel like you are really near the gulf.  Overall this was a successful quest for a lent friendly Friday, good food, good beer, and a good friend to hang out with.