Food & Dining

Credit Dana McMahan / WFPL News

WFPL food writers Ashlee Clark-Thompson and Dana McMahan bring you the best in food news and reviews.

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Food and Dining
3:13 pm
Thu March 21, 2013

Women Breaking Down Hogs, Beef and the 'Old Boy Network' in Kentucky Butchering Camps

Credit Tricia Houston / Napoleon Ridge Farm
Meet your meat: the pigs on Napoleon Ridge Farm.

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.

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Food and Dining
10:37 am
Thu February 28, 2013

Review: Don't Resist Decca

Credit Dana McMahan / WFPL News
Decca on East Market Street.

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.

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Food and Dining
11:35 am
Fri February 22, 2013

502 Restaurant Week Begins

Credit Edsel Little / Flickr
A meal at Harvest. Harvest is one of 30 restaurants participating in 502 Restaurant Week.

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. 

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Food and Dining
11:28 am
Wed February 13, 2013

Archdiocese of Louisville Releases Lenten Fish Fry Schedule

Credit Jeffreyw / Flickr

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. 

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Food and Dining
9:55 am
Fri January 25, 2013

Secrets of a Lonely Planet Writer: How Food Helps a City Land on Top

Credit Dana McMahan / WFPL News
Eiderdown on Goss Avenue.

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?

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Food and Dining
3:44 pm
Sat January 12, 2013

Timeline: Former Employees' Complaints Preceded Lynn's Paradise Cafe Closing

Credit Gabe Bullard / WFPL News
A cement lion holds a rope blocking entrance to the Lynn's Paradise Cafe parking lot.

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:

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Food and Dining
10:41 am
Thu January 3, 2013

REVIEW: Feast BBQ a Candidate for Last, Great Meal

The last thing you’d eat on Earth—should you have the choice—is a weighty matter. It’s no small decision to pick the food you’d go out on, and I keep a tight rein on my own shortlist. But the list grew by one when I crossed the river to New Albany on a dark December evening to visit Feast BBQ.

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Food and Dining
1:41 pm
Wed December 26, 2012

Food Trucks Go Beyond Curbside Service

Credit Linda Golden

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.

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Food and Dining
7:30 am
Thu November 29, 2012

How Prohibition Changed the Cocktail

Credit Dana McMahan / WFPL News
The Opera is a classic cocktail from the 1920s served at St. Charles Exchange

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.

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Food and Dining
12:52 pm
Thu November 15, 2012

Ways to Think Local for Thanksgiving

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

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