by Tim Girton
Ville Voice Eats Correspondent

Cue Freddie Mercury and the boys.

“And another one down, and another one down/Another one bites the dust…”

On Thursday, Louisville lost another landmark restaurant with the closing of The Fifth Quarter Steakhouse on Durrett Lane, near the Kentucky Exposition Center and Male High School. The economy gets the lion’s share of the blame for the loss, as well it should. When people are struggling with bills, all of a sudden, the cheeseburger vs. prime rib debate tilts in favor of a more frugal option. Unfortunately for the owners of the Fifth Quarter, the tilt became a slope from which their business could not climb back up.

In the younger days of my first marriage, the Fifth Quarter was the upscale destination of choice for my in-laws. Whenever they were in town, at least one meal was required to be devoured there. My father-in-law came from the old school where you dress for dinner and, since we were putting on our finery, we were also going to eat at the place where he was convinced that the prime rib was best. He liked it so much that I don’t remember him ordering anything else.

I couldn’t really argue the point for two reasons: because it was pretty darn tasty and because he was paying. We always made a show of perusing the menu, but it was almost like an inside joke because we knew what the men were going to order. It just seemed like bad form to not at least give it the once over. Those were heady culinary times. Back then, when my wife and I liked each other, we knew a visit from her parents meant we were going to eat pretty good. Sure, it was back to bologna and dixie loaf sandwiches when they left, but we lived high on the cow until they did. Ironic that the circle has closed back on itself from the late 80s to now.

But the Fifth Quarter did not go gently into that good night. According to the story from WAVE-3, during the past year lunch and dinner crowds have both shrunk. The restaurant took action to try to survive including layoffs and outright terminations. They even introduced all you can eat prime rib, their specialty, an all you can eat salad bar and a buffet at lunch. As evidenced by the closure, none of those measures worked.

So what happens now? Old line culinary landmarks are disappearing at an alarming rate. Yes, the Fifth Quarter Steakhouse was handicapped by being aligned with an upscale audience that is increasingly being forced to watch it’s pennies, but what happens when all of our old school local flavor disappears? Luckily, we’ve got some openings and expansions that we’re hoping work so now really is the time to consider the phrase “keep Louisville weird.”