For those of you who live in or are familiar with Louisville, where are some good places to eat? We are rolling into town Thursday afternoon and would like healthy lunch and dinner recommendations, as well as a favorite pasta spot for Friday night (still undecided about the official race dinner).
TIF,
Kristen
Where are you staying?
This is the beauty of doing a race in your home town. I get a free bed to sleep in and all the home cooking I can eat. I will be eating at my sisters and KYBlueStreak’s house. I am sure that they won’t mind if all the STers that are doing the race come by for dinner Friday night.
Sorry to jump in on the thread but i’m looking for Sushi friday night near Comfort Inn 401 S. Second St. if you have any god rec’s. Also any other healthy rec’s for lunch in the area.
Jeff Ruby’s steakhouse next to the Galt house is a nice place - slightly expensive. Jeff lives here in Cincy and is a bit of an ass, but he did throw O.J. Simposon out of his restaurant when he was in town this year for the KY Derby, so he gets my approval 
We’re staying at the Galt House.
I’m all for the O.J. tossing, but not so sure that a big steak and a big glass of red are good pre-race foods for me!
Lots of choice right down the street from there. My favorite is the Red Star Tavern. Very good food.
Send a pm to bluemonkeytri. He lives in Louisville and he recommended several really good places to me when I was there in June for the Senior Olympics. Can’t remember any names off the top of my head right now. I know I had an amazing Italian meal at a place on Bardstown Road.
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Good point psycholist! If bluemonkeytri does not respond, I’d PM him as well. He is very helpful and knows the city! He went out of his way for me too when I was in town visiting - nice hospitality!
bluemonkeytri will send to all the dives in town. That guy is all about wearing his green jacket and pink ties to foulest holes in Louisville!
There is an Old Spaghetti Factory within walking distance of the Galt House.
Wow, the pressure. OK for whomever said you wanted sushi, go to Osaka on Frankfort Avenue, and try the Osaka roll.
For the rest, here is what I sent to psychologist, and if you can’t tell, I live off Frankfort Ave:
*Frankfort Avenue is becoming (if it hasn’t already) Louisville’s prime restaurant corridor. Check out *http://www.frankfortave.com/...p;MMN_position=29:21 for a listing. It needs to be updated. I know that Basa is not on there, it is a terrific Vietnamese place. Cafe Lou Lou has great salads and hummus, love that place (but that has since moved to the St. Matthews area). Grape Leaf is Mediterranean, and very healthy. My favorite sushi place in the world is Osaka. There are some vegetarian places there, Zen Garden comes to mind. Volare is our favorite Italian place, Porcini also very good (both a little upscale). Gumbo a Go-Go (now named J Gumbo’s I think) is a great cajun place (also in 4th Street Live), gotta try the Drunken Chicken. You are so close to St. Matthews and the Highlands that any chain like Qdoba or Moe’s or Baja Fresh is also around. Bunch of great little places in St. Matthews too.
Just FYI, Louisville is the top city for eating out per capita in the US, meaning that we spend more money eating out per person than any other city in the country (or that was the case about 3 years ago) so we support far more local restaurants and great cuisine than a many other cities our size or larger. You can find anything really.
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For Mexican, El Mundo on Frankfort Ave, in fact, once I pick up Mr Bubble from the airport on Thurs, I think we are going here for dinner that night. El Mundo is different Mexican, specials include grilled bison fajitas and rock shrimp burritos. Really great place, but very small.
Oh, can’t forget Cumberland Brews, which will be our post race hangout, on Bardstown Rd. Great local brewery, bison burgers, really great food and open to 2am on Sunday nights, so after the finish line shuts down, you can still come and drink!
For pizza, Cliftons, Wicks, Fat Jimmy’s, or Impellizaris (you can only eat one piece!).
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By far, the 2 most critically acclaimed restaurants are Jack Fry’s on Bardstown Rd (my personal favorite) and The Oak Room at the Seelbach.
Downtown there are also some interesting options. For Italian Mellillo’s, which is on Market Street, or Primo, also on Market but closer to the Galt House by a few blocks. Artemisa is really good, also on Market. Across from Artemisa is Mayan Grill, very good. In the baseball stadium, there are 2 places, Brownings, which is a local brewery, and the other one I just drew a complete blank on. Also, Proof on Main is funky, little expensive, and the only other Proofs are in NY, London, LA, and Paris.
Go to http://www.louisvilleoriginals.com/ for a good list of original Louisville restaurants.
We spent a wayy-too-short 16 hours in Louisville in May and I could have stayed on Bardstown Rd and Frankfort. There looked to be lots of small restaurants with outside seating and a very cool vibe on Bardstown. Same, although less volume, on Frankfort.
I am headed back for the race (sherpa-ing my business partner) and am very much looking forward to it. She is from Louisville and that will make for easier exploring.
FWIW, when me and the boy head out of town, he always does a search on www.happycow.com for good eating places. It’s geared toward vegetarians and vegans, but most of the places are not completely vegetarian and it is a good way to find restaurants that lean towards the healthy side. We have found some great off-the-beaten-path joints this way. Alas, my next race in is St Louis, the one town that had hardly any Happy Cow recommendations. 
G
Thanks, everything sounds great!
Sorry I didn’t just cut and paste your pm to me into the thread. I guess I could have done that.
Re-reading your recommendations, the really odd thing to me is that I didn’t end up at a single one of the places you mentioned and I still had a whole bunch of fantastic meals during the time I was there. That’s an awesome town for dining!
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Sorry I didn’t just cut and paste your pm to me into the thread. I guess I could have done that.
Re-reading your recommendations, the really odd thing to me is that I didn’t end up at a single one of the places you mentioned and I still had a whole bunch of fantastic meals during the time I was there. That’s an awesome town for dining!
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Thanks for reminding me that I moved out of a town with such great dining to a town with six fast food places, one subway, four real restaurants and three pizza places!
Lots of good restaurants on Bardstown Rd- Ramses Cafe on the World (mediterranean, one of my favorites), Cafe Metro (pricey), Uptown Cafe, Lilly’s (also pricey), Impellizari’s (for great pizza), Wick’s (for more great pizza, I went there last night!), Avalon, del La Torres (spanish), Seviche, O’Shea’s or Molly Malone’s (both Irish), Asiatique (pacific rim). The list goes on. Damn, I’m getting hungry!