Stephen Hacker - Classic Restaurants of Louisville

Published by American Palate

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2020 by Stephen Hacker

All rights reserved

Front cover, top left: courtesy John Nation; top center: courtesy Dan Dry/Food & Dining Magazine; top right: courtesy John Nation; bottom left: courtesy Michael Johmann; bottom right: courtesy John Nation.

First published 2020

e-book edition 2020

ISBN 978.1.43967.165.8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020941859

print edition ISBN 978.1.46714.496.4

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For Buffy, who is very fond of restaurants. And for Michelle, whose intelligence and patience make me a much better writer and person.

Contents

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Michael Johmann, John Nation, Dan Dry, John Carlos White, Stephen Jones, Luckett Davidson, Joe Bonura, Greg Haynes, Brian Easley, Bim Deitrich, William Faversham, John Shaver and many others who shared their time, photographs, stories and memorabilia.

Introduction

Every restaurant has a story. Each represents an idea. An invitation. An organization of chefs, servers, dishwashers and delivery people who try and stand out in a crowded arena. Many dont make it. But some, even though their time may have been brief, created meals and memories that last through many years. As in my previous book, Lost Restaurants of Louisville, the restaurants in this volume are special to many people around the cityand, I hope, even to those unfamiliar with Dirty Mins or Queenie Bee.

732 Social

CRAFT COCKTAIL, COMMUNAL SEATING AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS

With Basa Modern Vietnamese, Steven and Michael Ton gave Louisville an elegant avenue to explore Southeast Asian ideas. Their next project was a restaurant that would work as part of an artistic and environmental collective. There is a cultural revolution happening here, Gill Holland declared to the New York Times in 2008. The cornerstone of the plans that Holland and his wife, Augusta Brown Holland, had for Louisvilles hip but slightly depressed East Market Street area known as NuLu was converting a century-old warehouse into an energy-and environmentally conscious arts center. The ground floor would house the Tons idea: 732 Social.

The Tons told food writer Steve Coomes that they were inspired by Avec, an award-winning Chicago restaurant where diners shared tables with strangers in a communal setting. While Steven Ton wasnt sure Louisville was ready for a true communal experience, he said the 732 Social experience would be like family-style dining, thoughsitting near people you probably dont know in the small, eight-hundred-square-foot space. The Tons brought chef Jayson Lewellyn from Jeff Rubys to turn out what Steven and Michael called rustic American food with a touch of refinement and opened 732 Social in 2009 to resounding acclaim.

732 Social pulses with a distinctive, transformative energy that feels like the beginning of a new era, wrote Courier-Journal critic Marty Rosen. Approving of the recycled barn siding and the noisy, communal atmosphere that has yourubbing elbows and ideas with the folks at the next table over, Rosen saved most of his effusiveness for the food, a concise list of small and large plates that lean heavily on French techniques and, to the greatest practical extent, local ingredients. Rosen raved about the house-cured Saucisse de Morteau and bresaola, 732 Socials Brussels sprouts and mussels, reserving special praise for a southern-fried chicken liver resting on a cylinder of chicken liver flan so airy and subtle that it could be the very disembodiment of organ meat. Rosen enjoyed watching the bartenders employ medicine droppers and exotic bottles of rare vermouths and bitters as they assemble vintage drinks like the Hanky Panky, a Prohibition-era concoction of gin, sweet vermouth, Fernet-Branca and orange peel. A dish the staff nicknamed crack potatoes comprised potato wedges bathed in a sauce of cheese and crumbled bacon under a broiled breadcrumb crust. But the medicine droppers and exotic bottles got more and more attention. Specializing in pre-Prohibition cocktails like the Manhattan and Sazerac, 732 Socials bartenders made their own bitters, juiced fresh fruit daily and even hand-chipped ice into the perfect shape and consistency for each drink, techniques other early twenty-first-century Louisville bars didnt offer. The establishment had a lot to do with the push for a better bar culture in Louisville, Larry Rice, former cocktail program head, told a reporter at a restaurant reunion in 2017. Rice remembered 732 Social as the first bar doing fresh juice, house-made syrups and the first to have classically trained bar staff in Louisville. According to Rice, the Louisville craft bartending community could be separated into people who either worked [at 732 Social] or were trained by someone who was trained there.

Entrance to 732 Social. Courtesy Dan Dry/Food & Dining Magazine.

In 2010, Rice announced he was leaving 732 Social to open Silver Dollar. The Tons had also moved on, opening Doc Crows Restaurant on West Main. Chef Jason Lewellyn took control of 732 Socials operation. But while the chef continued to receive great reviews for his food, behind the scenes, things werent going so well. As Steve Coomes put it in a September 2011 Insider Louisville column, Socials early demise is mostly a sad tale about a first-time restaurant owner who, either by his fault, others or a combination of both, didnt get the back end of his business buttoned up as neatly as necessary. Lewellyn filed lawsuits against both the Tons and Holland, neither of which was resolved to his satisfaction. In September 2011, Lewellyn announced that his attorneys had ordered him to close 732 Social. The small green place that helped bring community and craft cocktails back to Louisville dining was no more.

Absinthe Julep

Larry Rice told the Courier-Journal he was a big fan of what absinthe does with other liquors.

3 ounces rye whiskey

1 ounce absinthe

ounce brandy

mint sprigs

1 teaspoon sugar

sprig of lavender

seasonal berries

Pour liquors into a cocktail shaker. Add the sugar and one sprig of mint, crushing the mint into the liquid. Add ice, cover and shake well. Strain into metal cups filled with crushed ice rubbed with the remaining mint sprigs. Garnish with lavender and berries and serve with a straw.

Blind Pig

CELEBRATED FOR, THEN STYMIED BY, MEAT