Before I write much else about the new Wolfgang Puck Express downtown in the convention center, let me say this: Yes, it’s a chain. Get over it. A national chain coming to town isn’t the end of the world—for class, for epicureans or independent restaurants. It’s just a new restaurant, for heaven’s sake.
And it’s a […]

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On the very day when the adorable little girl next door brought me Girl Scout Cookies (and I don’t know about any of you, but I’d bet all my Thin Mints the cookies got are smaller this year), it’s a bit ironic to run this list of Top 20 Worst Foods in America as prepared […]

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Don’t know about you, fair reader, but I never thought much of Yum! Brands’ multibrand concept, the restaurants where, if so motivated, you could have a Long John Silver’s fish sandwich and helpin’ of the Colonel’s Original Recipe in the same spot. I suppose I’m simple, wanting one or the other, not a choice for […]

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If you’ve ever watched the show, “Deadliest Catch,” on Discovery Channel, you have a greater appreciation for the effort it takes to haul Alaskan king crab from the frigid ocean depths to your dinner table.
Whether that makes you scramble to Morton’s The Steakhouse for its annual surf and turf special is another matter. But at […]

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According to an AdAge.com story, Burger King’s “Whopper Freakout” video may become the best-recalled ad in more than five years. If you’ve not seen it for yourself, have a look here. It’s certainly funny, if not a bit long at 7 minutes.
But is it getting more people to eat what I’ll argue is the best […]

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It appears Max & Erma’s, a chain of cozy neighborhood cafes, is in a financial bind. As trade journalist David Farkas writes, the chain’s primary creditor, National City Bank, doesn’t like the way Max and Erma are balancing their checkbook, and the NASDAQ stock exchange is threatening to delist their company because its market value […]

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I’m not a big fast-food eater. I’m too old to abuse my body with it, I make enough money—thank God—that I don’t have to buy it, and after working in or writing about restaurants for the past 27 years, I’m a bit of a food snob.
So when a buddy of mine at Yum! suggested I […]

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Other than the most-aged Baby Boomers, no one really likes, cares about or remembers real fruit cake. My mother swears good fruit cake really is good, but merely hard to find. Even though my mom’s reliable palate made her a fine southern cook, convincing me fruit cake ever was good or could be never worked. 
And […]

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I might doubt some of what comes out of the mouth of Adam Burckle, owner of Adam Matthews Inc. and Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen, but I’ll never doubt his nose for business. 
When Burckle bought Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen back in 2005, a Business First story quoted him saying, no new stores […]

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Any sane-thinking person finds that headline is hard to swallow. He asks, “How can a coffee mug be defective?” And if it is, what fool can’t figure out a solution to the problem, such as throw it away?
But ours is a hyper-litigious society and we all know where such dubious dangers lead … to flashbacks […]

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McDonald’s restaurants in Seminole County, Fla., have partnered with the Seminole County School Board to give students (K through 5) Happy Meals as rewards for good grades and attendance.
According to an article in the New York Times, Pizza Huts in the area had done the same with Personal Pan Pizzas for the past decade, but […]

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Darden Restaurants, which owns Red Lobster and Olive Garden, has sold 73 Smokey Bones Barbeque & Grill restaurants (including the Louisville location at 2525 Hurstbourne Gem Lane, 491-7570) for about $80 million. Darden closed 54 others earlier this year.
The buyer, Sun Capital Partners, owns shares of other restaurant groups such as Boston Market, Fazoli’s, El […]

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John Schnatter may have turned over the reins to Papa John’s two years ago to Nigel Travis, but anyone who knows the Jeffersonville native knew it wouldn’t be long before he’d be involved in another restaurant concept.
Several months ago, Schnatter bought a minority slice of Calistoga Bakery Café, a fast-casual concept based in Naples, Fla., […]

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The owners of Molly Malone’s Irish Pub & Restaurant plan to open a second Louisville location (another operates in Covington, Ky.) on the corner of Shelbyville Road and Breckenridge Lane in St. Matthews. That spot currently houses Buffalo Wild Wings, whose operators plan to move to next year.
The addition of Molly Malone’s would be a […]

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