Food & Dining

Single-sex education is a time-honored approach in the traditional classroom, but a workshop in Napoleon, Kentucky, is extending the trend into the kitchen. Grrls Meat Camp will offer a hands-on modern butchery class just for women April 12-14 at Napoleon Ridge Farm, between Louisville and Cincinnati.

I resisted going to Decca. Yes, I heard all the swooning, but I wasn't buying it. I blame my stubborn Kentuckian side. We have plenty of good chefs. Plenty! We don't need somebody to come in from California to show us what good food is. We know from good food here.

But I kept hearing about it, and every word I heard was a rave. Curiosity got the better of me and I caved, so my husband Brian and I went for dinner (812 E. Market St.) on a cold weeknight in February. I hoped for a pleasant meal.

My attempts to save a little extra money for a splurge are usually half-hearted. Just check my savings account. But there’s an envelope on my kitchen table with a trio of Andrew Jacksons reserved for a night out during 502 Restaurant Week. 

City-wide restaurant weeks have cropped up in markets across the country since New York founded a lunch-only (now expanded) restaurant week in 1992. Like similar events in other cities, 502 Restaurant Week gives diners the opportunity to eat at participating upscale establishments for a discounted rate. 

The Roman Catholic Church has a lot on its hands this week—an executive search in the middle of Lent is an affair of global importance. But as Ash Wednesday approached, I came up empty searching the Archdiocese of Louisville's website  for a crucial document of local significance: the 2013 schedule of Lenten fish fries. 

We’re number one! So says Lonely Planet in their list of top U.S. travel destinations for 2013. The publishing monolith has evidently caught on to what we all already know – that this is a fine place to be. Because I closely follow (and revel in) Louisville’s culinary scene, I give our food and dining a lot of credit for this recognition. But how exactly does a city rise to the top of these lists?

Lynn’s Paradise Café, a Louisville restaurant staple with national recognition, has closed after 22 years.

No official reason has been given for the abrupt closure, but it follows several days of media attention and backlash over new labor policies at the restaurant. The most contentious of those policies, according to several reports, is a requirement for servers to keep $100 in cash on them during each shift to ensure that secondary staff members such as bussers and bartenders receive their share of tips.

Here are the events that preceded the closing:

One food truck couldn’t contain the plans Matt Davis had for Lil Cheezers Gourmet Grilled Cheesemobile.

Davis took to the Louisville streets in a Velveeta-yellow truck in 2011, selling creative takes on the classic grilled cheese sandwich to office workers, club kids and curious passers-by. In less then 18 months, Davis has established a brick-and-mortar restaurant, too.

“The idea was not to put all the eggs in the Lil Cheezers (truck) basket,” Davis said.

It's hard to believe there was a time when it was illegal to produce, sell and ship alcohol. Then again, in some places Prohibition might well have never been repealed. I lived in a dry county (Pulaski) myself, where I had to drive 50 miles to buy wine. The inhumanity! My delight at moving to Louisville, a block from Old Town Liquor, must have been something like the elation tipplers felt on Dec. 5, 1933, when the experiment known as Prohibition was repealed.

Thanksgiving is a week away, and I’m already tired.

There are groceries to buy, pies to make, outfits to iron, advertisements to review.  I could’ve sworn that the Thanksgivings of my childhood only lasted a day. Now, it seems like this holiday has transformed into a marathon of planning, cooking, eating and shopping.

Fortunately, there are resources throughout Louisville to get me and the other procrastinators and overachievers through this demanding time.

Where to buy your Thanksgiving groceries/food