Road Trip-Louisville, KY: Rye

The family headed down to Louisville recently for my friend and hairdresser’s grand opening of her new space there. My daughter really wanted to go to this all ages party and I of course, jumped at the opportunity to eat somewhere new. We needed somewhere the kids would be welcome and ideally close to the party. We settled on Rye.

It was a great choice that everyone ended up being very pleased with. Hubby had a killer Old Fashioned to start and I had a glass of wine. The kids loved their blood orange agua frescas (they were seriously delicious).

To start, we had a cheese board ($15) because if my kids see a fancy cheese board, they are going to be ordering it. It was a very good one. There was a nice variety on it, including some hard cheeses, a soft cheese, a blue, and a nice array of accompaniments as well. Olive tapenade, honey, pickled veggies and jam. Also, perfectly toasted slices of Blue Dog Bakery baguette, which is awesome. 

They also bring you a basket of their own housemade rolls with your meal—they’re called “Sally Lunn” rolls and after eating the soft warm roll with salted butter, my daughter promptly ordered another (they’re $1 each after the free basket). Quite delicious.

We also shared the arancini (or risotto balls) ($14) to go along with the cheese. These were a second choice after they told us they were out of the shrimp dumplings, but I’m glad we ended up with them because they were so good. The fried rice balls were sitting on top of a pesto made from mustard greens and were topped with Parmesan, fresno chilies and pepitas. That pesto was delicious and I can’t say that I have ever had mustard green pesto, but it is something I am interested in making now. Sometimes these types of dishes tend to be one dimensional, but this one was not at all.

We all shared several entrees as well, and the star of the night was probably the whole-wheat mezzaluna pasta that my daughter chose. It was handmade pasta filled with ricotta and Gruyere and topped with toasted farro. It had a hint of nutmeg as well. It was just such a simple dish in a way, but with such depth from the nuttiness of the cheese and farro. It had a light butter sauce and was just delicious. We probably should have gotten two of these.

The duck confit ($30) was also really tasty, although a little on the smaller side then we expected. It was just one smallish leg/thigh piece but the flavor was great, even if it wasn’t super meaty. Loved the sunny egg on top as well as the cherry gastrique giving it a touch of sweetness as well as acid. Duck pairs so nicely with a bit of fruit.

The last thing (and ok, I am the one who chose it) was the mushroom toast ($14) and it was my least favorite dish. It was a hearty piece of bread topped with ricotta, thyme, mushrooms, and shaved lardo (which is just thin pork fat). I don’t know, but while I like all these things, it just didn’t come together for me, the mushrooms were almost too big and hard to eat and the lardo was a little overwhelming.

We also had a side of triple cooked fries ($6). They were served with a a chili-lime aioli. This stuff had some kick for sure. The fries were nice and crisp, but I tend to like mine a little thinner.

All in all a great little place with a hip attitude to enjoy an easy dinner in Louisville. I would happily go again and try the seasonally changing menu. I would love to see the offerings for spring and summer. And I appreciate that they treated my kids with respect and made them fancy drinks.

Rye

900 East Market Street

Louisville, KY 40206

502/749-6200

www.ryeonmarket.com  

Road Trip: Gralehaus--Louisville, KY

When hubby and I visited Louisville recently for our anniversary, we wanted to try something new for breakfast/brunch and my lovely hairdresser Katie, who splits her time between Indy and Louisville, recommended Gralehaus wholeheartedly. After her Buvette recommendation in NYC, I trusted her completely. My friend @wibia reviewed this place for me last summer too when my wrist was broken--you can see that post here.

I was not disappointed either—this is a restaurant set in an old house—it’s actually a little difficult to spot at first—we were kind of looking for a regular storefront. You order at the register and they bring the food to you. The menu is creative, hipster-ish takes on traditional breakfast and brunch items. I had a hard time deciding.

Because I am a sucker for a crepe with an egg in it, and they had one, and thin crepes like this are not super common, that’s what I went with—the Country Ham and Egg Crepe ($9). It’s a very thin flour crepe (sadly not buckwheat, but you can’t have everything) and inside there was melty Gruyere cheese, country ham, a sunnyside up egg and some greens. Everything about it was done just perfectly. The crepe was light with just the right amount of crispy edges to the crepe—a runny yolk on the egg but not underdone whites, and the ham was thin and salty and delicious. But it wasn’t overpowering either.-I hate it when ham or pork is so chewy you can’t easily cut a bite. I wanted something that wasn’t ridiculously decadent and filling, and this was perfect.

Of course we also shared a side of the aged cheddar grits as well ($3) and these certainly were enough to fill you up. They were very good—creamy consistency with enough of the salty, melty cheese that you could really taste it. They were seasoned well so you didn’t wish for salt and pepper. I mean look at that picture—doesn’t that just make you want some?

Hubby had the crispy pork hash ($10), which was not at all what you would expect. It was large whole potatoes, and some turnips that were roasted and smashed. Inherently not a bad thing, but not exactly what you think of when you imagine hash. Or at least not what we thought of. The pork bits were tasty, but not as plentiful as the starchy elements, which was a little disappointing. The sunny egg again was perfectly done. The turnip green salsa verde tasted very green—super fresh and interesting. The broccoli was unexpected. It was an interesting and unique dish, but I don’t think it would be a repeat order for us. The crepe and the grits on the other hand, I could eat for days. 

I definitely want to go back and try the biscuits too-either in the form of biscuits and duck gravy or in one of their breakfast biscuit sandwiches. Both sound delicious.

It’s a small place though, not very many tables at all. And because they make their very good coffee a cup at a time, and you have to order at the counter, which often has a big line, if you think you might want more than one cup, I’d order them at the beginning. The freshly squeezed OJ was super delicious as well. I’d say it’s a place that we will certainly return.

Gralehaus

1001 Baxter Ave

Louisville, KY 40204

502/454-7075

www.gralehaus.com 

Road Trip: Proof on Main - Lousiville, KY

Antsy to get out of town, and childless for a few days, we headed to Louisville for a little getaway. It really is not that far, and with a perfect lunch stop at Brozinni’s right on the way, and a massive outlet mall halfway there, you can’t really go wrong.

Our main reason for going though was to stay and eat at the 21C Hotel which is a fairly small boutique hotel combined with a modern art museum. They have art throughout and a couple of nice gallery rooms as well. And we happened to end up there on their First Friday, when all the local art galleries (conveniently located around the hotel) are open late. They have a great little trolley that will take you on the circle with stops near the galleries and shops. It was a lot of fun and we even ended up buying a little art.

Anyway, like I said, most of my trips are planned around food, and I have heard that the restaurant at 21C, Proof on Main, was good. So in between gallery hopping, we had a leisurely dinner as well. The space at Proof is great—lots of art on the walls, and best of all, lots of people. It is so nice to see a City embracing a modern non-chain restaurant. The place had quite a buzz, but with the help of sound absorbing, and really cool looking light fixtures, it was still possible to carry on a conversation. We were seated at a long banquette (if you were a party of two, this is what you got) and the tables were a little close for me, so unfortunately, actually, you could carry on a conversation with your own dining companion as well as those next to you.

The menu is quite extensive and it took us awhile to go through it all, ask the questions we wanted and make our decisions. Unfortunately this seemed to annoy our server, who actually seemed a little bored to be there altogether. So after not ordering right away, she disappeared for some fairly extended periods of time. But finally we figured it out, got her attention, and ordered. We were brought a half loaf of very crusty French bread. It was delicious. We asked where it was made, and were told it was from Blue Dog Bakery, which is a local bakery. This bread was so good, I went and bought a loaf the next day on the way home and built my entire dinner around it. Supposedly they also have a restaurant which I would love to try some time.

I ordered the sweet corn and garlic soup as my starter. It was garnished with some cream and served with a crostini with double smoked ham. The soup was good. It was a puree, but you could still get the texture from the corn in it (almost like grits). The ham “toast” as they called it really made it special though. It was a nicely toasted crostini with a topping of a ham heavy spread. It was highly seasoned and added the salty kick that you wanted with the soup. The soup on its own wouldn’t have excited me that much, but together with the toast, it made a nice dish.

Hubby was very excited to see they offered roasted bison marrow bones as a starter as well. Nothing makes him happier than bone marrow. They served the bones with what they called apple pear mustard and some frisee. The “mustard” was more like an apple and pear chutney. Hubby thought it was a little sweet, but he loved the little frisee salad that was perfectly dressed and wished he had more. I had a couple of bites of the marrow on bread and frisee on top, and it was all very nice. I am not one to just eat marrow on its own in general, as it is (obviously) a little over the top rich—it really is just spreadable fat. Hubby’s only complaint was they didn’t serve it with a marrow spoon (a teeny spoon that makes it easy to scoop it out) so it was hard to wedge the knife in there that they served with it.

For my main, I pulled one of my favorite moves and got an appetizer for my main dish. They had a section on the menu featuring items made with local farm items, and a wonderful sounding raviolo caught my eye. A raviolo is just one big ravioli (I guess technically the plural is ravioli, so if there is only one, it is a raviolo right?) and this one was described as a “farm egg raviolo.” So I thought they used egg in the pasta right? Oh no, there was an entire egg yolk in the pasta that burst when you cut into it. Oh my, when I heard that, I knew it was a must have for me. It was topped with eggplant confit and sesame seeds. Well, unfortunately, I have a feeling my dish befell a fate that occasionally happens when you order an app for your main. I think it got cooked by the apps crew in the kitchen really fast and then sat for awhile. While the yolk was still fairly runny, the edges of the pasta were a little too hard. The eggplant added a nice varying flavor and the sesame seeds a needed textural contrast, but I don’t think this dish was served to me as good as it could have been. We also shared a side dish of the grilled corn on the cob with smoked aioli, pecorino cheese and lime. Sounded really good and was by far the worst thing on the table. Again, it seemed to have suffered from sitting for awhile. The corn was completely cold and the aioli looked like it was starting to form a crust on top. I sunk my teeth into it, and promptly removed my mouth from it and didn’t even swallow a bite. I set it down and neither of us touched it again. Really unappealing.

Hubby had gnocchi with braised pork, shaved celery and horseradish. The gnocchi was great. Super fresh tasting, and tender. The pork had a great smoky, hearty flavor, but there wasn’t so much of it that it overwhelmed the gnocchi. The celery was really thinly sliced on top, almost like a garnish, and then lightly dusted with fresh horseradish. The horseradish was just a little flavor bite, and in no way overwhelmed the other flavors either. It was a very well done dish. So yeah, hubby totally out-ordered me.

One of the signature things at Proof is that they bring you a little bowl of cotton candy with your check. I have to say, seeing other people get this, I was really excited. I have a weakness for cotton candy. When it was delivered, our server said something like, “this is the chef’s take on an after dinner mint.” As soon as I ate it, I was disappointed. It actually had mint flavor mixed in which to me, just wasn’t right. And I noticed several uneaten bowls around the room as the night went on. I don’t know if this is always the flavor, but I didn’t care for it.

But we had a great time in Louisville. It is a great easy drive to a really nice, friendly City. The gallery hop was fun and dinner was enjoyable, even if my dinner didn’t end up being a highlight of my trip. And I would love to go back, so if you have suggestions for other great places to eat there, please let me know!

Proof on Main
702 West Main Street
Louisville, KY 40202
510/217-6360
www.proofonmain.com