The city’s best restaurant and spirits podcast brings you another tasty episode, with plenty to say about the stuff we’re eating and drinking. We start with Steve’s visit to the new Scene restaurant at the Kentucky Center for the Arts, where he’s optimistic the fast-casual concept will be a hit with theater-goers. There’s another new spot, Mirin, opened on Frankfort Ave. by chef Griffin Paulin. And for local brewery fans, the long-anticipated Mile Wide Brewery is set to open this weekend.
Have you been fortunate enough to order a cocktail from one of the exceptional women tending bars in town? Steve mentions five all-star ladies who know their spirits and are serving up delicious drinks.
Speaking of drinks, Steve visits with Matthew Landan, the talkative and entertaining operator of the Haymarket Whiskey Bar downtown to get the lowdown on Landan’s stock of private barrel picks, the largest such offering in the city. Meanwhile, Rick has the feel-good story of The Table, a Portland restaurant that’s serving up locally grown food for lunch. Manager Tara Mattingly explains the unique mission of the 1-year-old restaurant, where patrons can pay for meals by volunteering their time, if they choose.
It was at The Table where Rick enjoyed his favorite eat of the week: a smoked chicken sandwich served with a bacon jam on a cheddar jalapeño bun, with a terrific molasses-mustard sauce. Steve chose Proof on Main’s boudin noir cannelloni, what he calls the perfect mix of texture, sauce and color. While Steve wrote about the craze for Pappy Van Winkle bourbon at EatDrinkTalk.net, suggesting plenty of single barrel picks that are of greater value, he nonetheless had the opportunity to enjoy some Pappy at an event last week. Rick opted for a sample from the new Mile Wide Brewery called Smoked Blonde.
