Check this press release that just came across the state wire:

FRANKFORT, Ky. (December 2, 2009) – First Lady Jane Beshear today applauded the James Beard Foundation for partnering with the Kentucky Horse Park and the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games for Cookin’ in the Bluegrass: A Celebrity Chef Dinner Series. The series will coincide with the 16 nights of the World Equestrian Games and will feature Kentucky Proud products.

America’s leading chefs are partnering with the world’s most prestigious equestrian competition to showcase the country’s rich culinary heritage. Cookin’ in the Bluegrass will occur each night from Sept. 25-Oct.10, 2010 in Lexington, Ky. as the Kentucky Horse Park hosts the world championships in eight equestrian sports.

“Cookin’ in the Bluegrass will provide guests from around the world an opportunity to experience the best Kentucky Proud products the Commonwealth has to offer and delicious meals prepared by well-known celebrity and local chefs,” said Mrs. Beshear. “We are very excited about this partnership with the James Beard Foundation.”

Each dinner will feature two celebrity chefs and one Kentucky-based chef cooking side-by-side at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Farmhouse restaurant. Each night, 80 guests will enjoy dining experiences that replicate the sumptuous dinners held at the prestigious James Beard House in New York City.

The Kentucky Proud Program (funded in part by the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund and administered by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture) will sponsor this once-in-a-lifetime culinary event by facilitating the use of fresh, local ingredients each night of Cookin’ in the Bluegrass. The Kentucky Proud Program is dedicated to marketing Kentucky-made or Kentucky-grown food products. Kentucky Proud represents an array of products – from heirloom produce and handmade cheeses to craft beers, fine distilled spirits and award-winning meats – that are distributed locally, throughout the United States and around the globe.

“Great Kentucky chefs have prepared highly acclaimed Kentucky Proud dinners at the James Beard House in the past,” Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer noted. “This celebrity chef series is another chapter in that long-standing relationship. Visitors to the World Equestrian Games will find out what we already know – that nothing else comes close to the taste of Kentucky Proud. I am grateful to the James Beard Foundation for this opportunity.”

Tickets will be available for purchase in early 2010 by clicking here. Unfortunately, prices haven’t yet been set.

Now go dine out for life and support the House of Ruth.

Are you a Louisville area barista? Then listen up. Some fancy coffee folks from around the city will be gathering next Monday evening to geek out. Latte art, music, vacuum pots, etc. Kind of a major pot luck coffee tasting. Mmm.

From Louisville Barista:

What’s going on exactly? Nothing formal… just a reason to get together and geek out about coffee! Latte art extraordinaire, Kenny Smith, has offered up a machine and some demonstrations! Plus, our “Hawaiian import” (thanks, MB-Dubs) John Letoto will be there with vacuum pots in tow to demo brewing techniques and as always- offer up exquisite conversations and discussions. Feel free to bring anyone and everyone. We’re encouraging everyone (if you can) to bring a bag of their favorite roast along with a press-pot (or other brewing device) to assist in a sort of ‘pot-luck’ coffee tasting.

Sounds like tons of fun!

Geof Manthorne, one of the stars of Food Network’s Ace of Cakes, will be at the University of Louisville tomorrow.

He’ll build a Cardinal cake beginning at 7:00 P.M. at the Student Activities Center, Multipurpose Room. According to a press release, Manthorne will also answer questions and meet with students and the public.

The event is free for UofL students with a valid ID and $10 for the general public.

You feeling cakey? We are.

Attention, folks! The Louisville Beer Store has opened!

The store, dedicated to specialty craft beer (!), has won a special spot in our heart. Craft bottles, growlers, beer flights, tastings, daily food stuffs from The Patron. Hello, heaven.

Located on the corner of Shelby & Market, we plan on moving in to the store ASAP. It appears NuLu is shaping up to be a great hood.

Some details:

Closed Mondays
Tuesday – Thursday open 12:00 Noon to 10:00 P.M.
Friday & Saturday open 12:00 Noon to 12:00 A.M.
Sunday open 1:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M.

Telephone 502.569.BEER

746 East Market Street
Louisville, KY 40202

Anyone been/checked it out yet?

That’s right. Cafe Mimosa and the Eggroll Machine are reborn:

In the old Lentini’s property on Bardstown Road.

Photo courtesy David Harpe.

It’s no secret we support the Metro United Way here in these parts. So. Here’s this:

Next Tuesday, October 13, Buckhead Mountain Grill will donate 20% of your bill to Metro United Way. At all Louisville locations. All day long!

All you have to do is print this flyer:

CLICK FOR FLYER – PDF LINK

And give it to your server by the end of the meal and 20% of the entire table’s total goes back to MUW.

So, planning on eating out that day? Do it in support of MUW. Don’t forget to pass these out to friends and family.

by John LaFollete
‘Ville Voice Eats Correspondent

The people have spoken! Or written.

LEO published its annual Readers’ Choice Award winners in its Sept. 23 issue.  Included in the wide-ranging, highly subjective awards was, as always, a lengthy dining section.  Here’s a summary of the headlines:

I mean, clearly:  Jack Fry’s is clearly the best place in town…taking first place in the overall restaurant, fine dining, and romantic dinner categories.

And Ramsi’s Café on the World is clearly the second best place in town…taking second place in the overall restaurant and late night dining categories, as well as a third place in the buffet category.

Convinced?  I thought not.  Notably absent from the list are Bardstown Road neighbors Asiatique and Seviche, which both consistently offer high-quality, creatively conceived dishes, served in unique, comfortable atmospheres.

Foreign delights:  The sheer number of categories honoring foreign cuisine (10 in all) speaks volumes about Louisville’s affinity for the foreign food scene.  But what about African food?

Africans make up 15 percent of the Ville’s foreign-born population, and their options for authentic cuisine are disproportionately limited.

The Great Pizza Push:  Competition was fierce once again in the pizza category.  Readers got it right though, selecting Tony BoomBozz as Louisville’s best.  If only beer was served beer at all locations.

Speaking of beer:  BBC won in the local brewery and wait staff categories, both of which are hard to dispute.  Nachbar won the dive bar category and, inexplicably, had the third-best beer list in town.  Aren’t those distinctions mutually exclusive?

Missing categories:  While some of the responses to categories were pretty funny (“outside” for best place to smoke, “sex” as the second best reason to use social networking sites, “The Ville Voice” for best local news blog—wait, what?), gone were the categories that are funny in themselves.  Where are the “Most likely to find spit in your food” and “Best after-hours hook-up booths” categories?

See everyone at the free LEO party celebrating the Readers’ Choice Award winners.  It’s at 6 p.m. on Sept. 24 at the Gillespie.

by John LaFollette
‘Ville Voice Eats Correspondent

Its doors have been shuttered for nearly a year, and La Bodega, the tapas bar adjacent to De La Torre’s on Bardstown Road, is finally ready to celebrate its grand re-opening in style.

Damaged in a fire in November 2008, La Bodega will re-open with a month-long celebration starting October 2nd that will feature a new tapas menu and nightly drink specials.

The new La Bodega has been designed in Spanish style, with a large wood bar, tile imported from Spain, and new mosaic lighting.  The restaurant has also grown to accommodate private parties.

“We are so relieved to finally put that behind us and concentrate fully on what we love. . . sharing the taste of Spain,” said Maggie de la Torre, who co-owns both restaurants with her husband, Chef Miguel de la Torre.  “Miguel has delicious new tapas on the menu and we’ll be offering our hand-crafted cocktails, Spanish wines, and house-made Sangria,” she said.

The fire started in the second floor of the building that houses the restaurants.  La Bodega suffered extensive water damage from the efforts to contain the fire, which lasted for several hours.  De La Torre’s next door had its bathroom and storage areas damaged by smoke and water as well, but to a much lesser extent.

Both restaurants were initially closed after the fire, but De La Torre’s, which needed only minor repairs, re-opened in mid-December of 2008.

by John LaFollette
‘Ville Voice Eats Correspondent

In her long history as a mixologist, Joy Perrine has cooked up some wicked cocktails for sure.

Her signature ingredient is Kentucky bourbon, and at last, she’s teamed with writer/bourbon appreciator Susan Riegler to put some of those recipes together in The Kentucky Bourbon Cocktail Book.

Bourbon, for all its popularity, has long been sold short as a one-dimensional spirit, says Perrine.  “But,” she says, now, “it’s not just for sipping anymore!”

The book’s cocktail recipes — more than 100 in all — are extremely varied.  Classic recipes (”Old Fashioned”, “Manhattan” variations, the “Julep”, etc.) give way to some of Perrine’s award-winning concoctions, including the signature cocktail of Jack’s Lounge, the “Bourbonball.”

The coolest chapter is called “Bourbon Cocktails by the Calendar,” which gives recipes for drinks for each season.  (A lot of folks around this time of the year will appreciate the Feel Better Kentucky Bourbon Toddy, which, featuring lemon and sourwood honey, is prescribed for the oncoming cold.)

For Riegler, this book represents the first in a trilogy of books showcasing America’s only native spirit.  Her next two bourbon books will be a Bourbon Trail travel guide and a guide to Bourbon tasting.

It seems that publication time for the book will just miss Kentucky Bourbon Heritage Month — which Gov. Steve Beshear recently proclaimed September 2009 ; look for the first-ever bourbon cocktail recipe book to hit shelves in October.

by John LaFollette
‘Ville Voice Eats Correspondent

Beer No Matter Where It’s From: Fans of football and good beer have a great day ahead  Saturday.  Flanagan’s Ale House will host an event dubbed East Coast, West Coast, No Coast, in which brewing giants Dogfish Head (from Rehoboth Beach, Del.) and Stone (San Diego, Calif.) meet brewmasters from the Bluegrass Brewing Company (the Ville!) in a celebration of some of their finest beers.  For a list of all beers present, check here and here.  The event, which starts at 5 p.m., carries a $5 cover (and presumably something for every beer you order), with all the proceeds benefitting Henry’s Ark in Prospect.

Meet a Master Brewer — Delivering the Stone cold brew to the East Coast, West Coast, No Coast event will be Greg Koch, the owner and founder of Stone Brewing Co.  Before heading over to Flanagan’s he’ll be at Ray’s Monkey House Café hanging out with his pal (and mayoral candidate) Dr. Nimbus Couzin.  Starting at 2:30 he’ll be giving away Stone pint glasses, chatting with customers, and maybe even drinking some of that 13th Anniversary Ale.

And a Master Distiller — To celebrate National Bourbon Heritage Month, Jack’s Lounge will be hosting the first in its Master Distiller Dinner Series on Sept. 29.  The guest at the dinner will be Wild Turkey master distiller Jimmy Russell, who will join mixology queen Joy Perrine to create Wild Turkey cocktails to go with each of the dinner’s three courses.  A spot can be reserved for $60, plus tax and tip.

And a Master Cause — Morton’s Steakhouse is partnering with Feeding America to raise money for local and national food banks.  The Louisville Morton’s is hosting a cookbook signing event on October 13 to promote its new “Morton’s: The Cookbook,” with $5 from the $59 ticket being donated to Feeding America.  The steakhouse will also auction off a dinner for six at the Chef’s Table, featuring dishes from the book as well as wine pairings.  Morton’s also plans to auction a 3-litre bottle of Chateau St. Michelle and an autographed copy of the movie “Scream,” which stars David Arquette and Courtney Cox.

A sad note we received. . . 

Louisville’s venerated Café Metro is closing this weekend. For good.

The restaurant’s last day of operation will be Saturday, Sept. 19th.  Despite such heroic rescue efforts like Chef Gary Byler, Jr.’s new small plates menu, a more casual atmosphere in its new piano bar, and specially themed events such as the recent Glenlivet Scotch dinner, the 25-year-old restaurant is succumbing to the nationwide decline of fine dining in general.

Given the closure of other fine dining establishments in the area, it shouldn’t come as a surprise, but it’s a tragedy nonetheless.  Café Metro added white cloth respectability to Bardstown Road long before it became a trendy restaurant row, and helped to revitalize what was once a fairly seedy neighborhood corner into a thriving destination for foodies all over town.

The good news is, the Café’s sister restaurant, the Uptown Café, is still a thriving entity.  A bustling lunch crowd, a solid business-oriented clientele and an iconic shrine of “ladies who lunch,” its smaller portions, casual bar and patio dining options continue to serve with style in the current economic climate.

Also in the good news department, owner Nancy Shepherd is apparently already entertaining proposals from other culinary-oriented lessees for the soon to be vacated Café Metro space, and will be able to transfer at least some of her Café Metro employees across the street to the Uptown.

Bottom line, though – if you want to dine at Café Metro one last time, you’d better make reservations for this weekend.

by John LaFollette
‘Ville Voice Eats Correspondent

Louisville’s gamble on the Theatre Square Marketplace development is looking like a pretty good one.  The development, located on 4th Street midway between Broadway and Chestnut, opened officially today with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by the mayor and the governor.

Gov. Beshear called it “small business at its best.”  Eric Haner, a co-developer whose law offices are located in the new complex, said that the block is becoming “an inner city core of activity.”  Mayor Abramson said the area has been “coming along in a very classy way.”  Everyone’s excited.

And they should be.  The city’s investment of $140,000 in forgivable and low-interest loans seems to have been well-timed.  The section of 4th Street that was, a few short years ago, a “dead block,” can now boast one of the densest collections of restaurants in the city.

Theatre Square Marketplace, which itself is home to Nancy’s Bagels (owned by Haner’s sister, Nancy), Theatre Square Wine and Spirits, a gourmet grocery store, and Bon Apetit, is flanked to the north by Safier Mediterranean Deli, Sicilian Pizza and Pasta, and Cunningham’s, and to the south by Yafa Café, BBC’s downtown location, and the Brown Hotel.

(The lone blemish is the Villa Fontana club, which is best known as the site where U of L receiver Trent Guy was shot last summer.)

With a Sapporo opening in the old Café Kilimanjaro space, the area, which Haner called “the local end of 4th Street,” appears to be becoming Louisville’s newest locally-owned restaurant row.

by John LaFollette
‘Ville Voice Eats Correspondent

Original. And Extra Original — Louisville Originals, the organization of local, independent restaurants, now has more than 10,000 members in its 7-month-old rewards program.  Members of the program accumulate points each time they eat at Louisville Originals restaurants and can exchange those points for gift certificates.  To celebrate the milestone, Louisville Originals restaurants are offering two double-points days, on Sept. 15 and Sept. 22.

Ray’s gets political, again — Nimbus Couzin, the Louisville mayoral candidate and owner of Ray’s Monkey House Café, hosted peace activist Cindy Sheehan for a talk and book signing at Ray’s on Sept. 10.  Couzin said the event in his café as well as Sheehan’s appearance at Bellarmine University were both very crowded. Depending on one’s opinion of Ms. Sheehan, who became a national figure when she mounted a month-long protest outside then President Bush’s Texas ranch, her appearance at Ray’s may or may not have helped Couzin’s chances in the mayoral race.

Unwelcome Publicity – A story in the Courier about Sergio’s World Beers’ recent relocation to Story Avenue from Shelbyville, Ky., led to a strongly-worded, unequivocal denial that the bar and restaurant was officially open. A post on Sergio’s website says that they prefer to serve only an exclusive group of literate food and beer connoisseurs. The post also says that the entire 1,000-beer collection will soon be available. If you have the cojones, Sergio’s can be found in a shotgun-style building on Story Avenue.  It doesn’t have a sign, so look for a window with flags in it.

Ham it up with Derby Pie — The deadline for submitting photos for the 2010 Derby Pie calendar is only three weeks away. Kern’s Kitchen, the exclusive bakers of Derby Pie, are hoping you have some shots of you and your friends posing with your favorite early-May dessert.  The best photos will be included in the calendar; as if that weren’t prize enough, winning photographers will receive a Derby Pie as well as a copy of the calendar.

BLU celebrates award with ½ price promo — To celebrate its status as one of the country’s best restaurants to go to for wine, the BLU Italian Grille is offering half-priced wine bottles every Wednesday.  Wine Spectator magazine honored BLU with its Award of Excellence in its August issue.  “We are extremely proud to be honored with the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence,” said Mehdi Spadavecchia, Marriott’s Food & Beverage Director.  “Our wine list includes over 200 selections and we are very excited to be considered as one of the best wine lists in the country,” he said.

by John LaFollette
‘Ville Voice Eats Correspondent

English Take on Kobe Beef: Chef Laurent Geroli is trying his take on the Kobe beef dinner—first offered to the Louisville public by chef John Varanese—at the chef’s table at the English Grill on Friday, Sept. 4.  Each of the 12 seats at the chef’s table, which was once named one of the top-10 in the country, will cost a cool $295, and will get you a three-course dinner.  Geroli says he “threw caution to the wind,” in preparing this one, and, it sounds like, spared no expense.

What Would the Cost Per Bite Be? The 2009 Kentucky State Fair Grand Champion ham sold at auction for a record $1.3 million.  The Sutherland Foundation and Republic Bank matched bids to produce the record, with half going to U of L’s Bucks for Brains program.  Sutherland is donating its half of the ham to Proof on Main’s Bucks for Brains fund-raiser, which will feature the ham on its menu.  The ham was a big ‘un, weighing in at just under 16 lbs.

Prospect Pasta Place: The Prospect Plaza shopping center has a new tenant in Bistro 42, set to open on Sept. 1.  Home-style Italian is the fare, with a focus on pasta dishes.

A Cause for September: This month’s charitable promotion at North End Café benefits Community Health Charities, which helps place the needy with services they need.  CHC is asking for donations of most any kind, from manila envelopes to children’s development toys to postage stamps.  Anyone who brings in a donation during the month of September will receive a five-dollar discount.