After nearly 2 months of being closed for renovations, the Wine Market reopened yesterday. The new store is beautiful, they took the building back to what it originally looked like and it is now open and full of light. They have also added a much wider selection of cheeses as well as salumi’s, olives and a few other products they didn’t sell previously.

You should definitely go out there as soon as you get a chance to buy a bottle of wine and check out the store. Even if you don’t know much about wine, they will help you decide on a wine that you will like and for a pretty good price.

Pictures to come soon!!!!

The first time I went to Impellizzeri’swas on my second date with Richard. Sense then, it has become one of my favorite places to eat as well as a place that always promises a good time. Impellizzeri’s is one of those places that you know you are going to have a good time at as soon as you walk in, the servers are friendly and you can smell the pizza as soon as you come through the doors.

Impellizeri’s has been in Louisville for many years and has won best of Louisville awards many times as well, but it seems that they disappeared for awhile and in the last year or two are just now back in the world making the best pizza in Louisville. Currently they are located on Bardstown Road a few blocks from Mid City Mall as well as on Brownsboro Rd. I have only been to the one in the Highlands, but I am sure the Brownsboro Rd. location is just as much fun.

In the Highlands, Impellizeris’ has a great patio that is almost always full in the summer, it is sometimes easier to eat inside than outside, but the atmosphere inside is fun too. What makes it the best is the servers, they always make sure you are happy and having a good time.

Of course, I am not reviewing the place based on their service and location, I am here to talk about the food, which honestly, if everything else was terrible and the food was still as good as it is, I would still go and I would still say the place is amazing. Impellizeri’s is a pizza place, but they also have much more than that, they have hoagies, wings, salads, pastas and other yummy foods that go well with pizza. Sadly, every time I have eaten there, I always go for the pizza so I really haven’t tried much else on the menu, but if they treat it with the same respect they treat the pizza with, it all must be amazing. My favorite pizza is the Hawaiian pizza, don’t ask why, I just love it and don’t know what to do about it. All of the pizza is made with fresh ingredients and is made to order, so depending on what size pizza you get, you will have to wait up to an hour for your pizza. I would recommend getting some bread sticks, or my favorite, cheese bread to hold you over while you wait. But the pizza is definitely worth the wait, it is perfectly cooked so the crust is soft yet crunchy, the sauce is so good even a sauce hater can’t say anything bad about it and all the toppings are fresh and delicious.

Impellizeri’s is a great place to go with a bunch of friends for a night out as well as a good place for a low key dinner date. And if you go on Wednesday’s, wine is half off!

Located on Baxter

Hot dogs are one of those foods that everyone thinks they hate, but really they secretly love them. Either that or they have never had a real hot dog. There is a serious difference from the hotdogs you get at the grocery and the ones you get at the ball park or state fair. I enjoy a good hotdog, especially on a summer day, it just feels right somehow. So I was super excited this past summer when Derby City Dogs opened on Baxter Avenue in the heart of the Irish Pub district. If you think about it, it is really ingenious! The hotdog stand is open til 4am on the weekends so for all those crazy people out super late at all the bars around it is the perfect place to grab some late night grub!

Luckily though for the rest of us, the Hot dog stand actually makes a pretty good hot dog, good enough to make me want to eat them anytime of the day, not just late night when nothing else it open. I have come to believe that a good hotdog can be the perfect quick lunch. A hotdog is just the right amount of food to fill you up to keep going but not make you too full and not want to do anything else the rest of the day. So, even though I know that the masterminds behind the hotdog stand knew that they would have a great deal of business in the wee hours of the morning, I would like to think that they make a good enough dog that they can survive without the bars, which they seem to have done very well.

Derby City Dogs knew what they were doing when they opened, they serve Nathan’s hotdogs as well as Vienna dogs. Everyone loves Nathan’s Hotdogs, I am pretty sure they thought about this before they opened. Derby City also has many toppings you can put on your burger ranging from the normal mustard, relish and saurkraut to the not so popular barbeque sauce. You can really get your dog anyway you like it.

Currently Derby City Dogs is open weather permitting, but in May they will reopen with full hours for everyone to enjoy.

Louisville.com has written up a handy article that gives a rundown of the main coffee shops on Bardstown Road. I found it kinda interesting, so I thought you all would too!

http://www.louisville.com/content/navigating-bardstown-roads-non-starbucks-coffee-culture

http://xtranormal.com

http://www.thegreenbuilding.net/

Derby City Espresso will be celebrating it’s 2nd Birthday this April! To celebrate, Matt will be having $1 espresso shots and $1 PBR’s all month long! Come help Matt celebrate and enjoy the great prices!

http://www.myspace.com/derbycityespresso

While walking down Bardstown last night, Richard and I noticed that Karma was pitch black which is odd sense it seems to be almost always open. We then saw this sign and realized what was going on.

We are kinda sad, Karma didn’t have the best food, but it was good enough when you really wanted breakfast and didn’t want to drive anywhere.

Not sure what happened, but we will miss you Karma. Here’s to hoping something good replaces it!

Louisville has an extremely active Irish Pub culture, more so than most cities I would say. The best part of it, is that most of them not only have great beer selections, they also have pretty darn good food for bars. Of the Irish bars, the 3 most popular are Molly Malone’s, O’Shea’s and Flanagan’s. I have only been to the last two, so I cannot comment on Molly Malone’s, but of the later two, I would choose Flanagan’s over O’Shea’s any day. Most people know that they are both owned by the same person, but I think Flanagan’s has the better food and the better beer selection.

Stuffed Mushrooms

My mother and step-father have been regular patrons of O’Shea’s for quite some time now, but I have been trying to convince them to try Flanagan’s. This past weekend I finally prevailed although there were a few grumbles. So we had a family lunch at Flanagan’s and I think I may have won them over to the dark side!

My sister insisted that we get the stuffed mushrooms which no one really objected to because most of us love mushrooms and cheese so it just made sense. It was a good decision on our part, the mushrooms were filled with several different kinds of cheese and came with a garlic butter dipping sauce that made them even better.

Bison Burger Mignon

I guess we were all in a burger kind of mood because we all ordered some version of a burger. I ordered the Burger Mignon with Bison meat, Dru (my step-dad), ordered the Highland classic burger with Bison, Hannah, (sister), ordered the Murphy melt and my mom the Mini Burgers. We all enjoyed our different kinds of burgers quite a bit. I think I enjoyed mine the most out of all of them. The Burger Mignon is a burger with bacon and sharp cheddar cheese and a rich demiglace sauce made from BBC’s Bourbon Barrel Stout. Make it with Bison and it is probably the second best burger in town. The sweet potato fries I got with it are the best sweet potato fries I have ever had.

Murphy Melt

My sister’s Murphy melt was probably the second best burger we ordered that day. It is covered in a tangy beer cheese, peppers and onions and bacon. The burger seems to have just a tad bit too much of the beer cheese spread and it almost overwhelms the burger, but other than that it is really great.

The mashed potatoes were pretty good but nothing to sing about as well as the french fries. But it is pretty darn good food for a place that makes most of there money off of alcohol.

http://www.osheaslouisville.com/index.aspx

The first annual Louisville Brew fest is this Friday, March 27th at the Clifton Center. It is being advertised as Louisville’s one and only celebration of beer. Festivities begin at 4pm and go til 10pm. There is free admission, but tickets for beer and food are $1 and souvenir cups are $2. The breweries that will be there are:

New Albanian Brewing Company,Bluegrass Brewing Company, Cumberland Brews, Browning’s, Bluegrass Brewing Main Street and .

There will also be food provided by the breweries as well as Tony Boombozz and The Bodega at Felice. Live music will be provided by Luke Asher and Ben Traubber, The Instruction, Thomas A. Minor and Adventure. But don’t worry, if you want to watch the game, it will be on as well.

http://www.keeplouisvilleweird.com/beer/

Barbecue is one of my all time favorite foods, I know that may seem silly, but I love it! Barbecue is one of those foods that you can pretty much find anywhere you go but it is usually all the same. But for the most part real barbecue is different in different parts of the country. I love pretty much all of it, although I do tend to lean more towards the sweeter varieties rather than the spicy ones. My favorite place to get barbecue in Louisville is Mark’s Feed Store. They have been a Louisville tradition since 1988 and Louisville keeps coming back for more. That probably has something to do with the friendly service and great food that we have come to love and expect. All of Mark’s barbecue is slow smoked over hickory chips to insure the best smoky barbeque’s flavor and the tenderest meat. Their recipe has been passed down from generation to generation from Eastern Kentucky and hasn’t changed a bit.

This little piggy went to Mark's

I had lunch just the other day at Mark’s with a good friend of mine, who just as happens to be named Mark, and it reminded me of why I keep coming back there over and over. I almost always go to the Bardstown Road location because it is closest to me, but I have been to a couple of the other locations and they are just as good. On this particular day we both ordered the barbecue sandwich platter, which comes with a sandwich and 2 sides. We both ordered pork because lets get down to it, barbecue just isn’t barbecue if it isn’t pork!

Mmmm...Barbecue

The sandwiches were of course amazing and tender with just the right hint of sweetness from their house made Original barbecue sauce that can also be purchased from Mark’s or at ValuMarket in MidCity Mall. The pork was juicy and flavorful and you can really taste that it has been smoked all day. The sides at Mark’s are pretty good, but really are easily out-shined by the Sandwiches. I ordered a sweet potato and their famous Onion straws as my two sides. The sweet potato left something to be desired, but the onion straws always leave me asking for more. Mark ordered spicy fries and baked apples for his sides. I am not usually a fan of fries, but I have to say Mark’s fries are pretty darn good. The baked apples were pretty good, but I am a sucker for anything involving cinnamon.

Mark’s has been a Louisville tradition for more than 20 years and they see no signs of stopping, even in this recession. That is because they do barbecue the best that it can be done and don’t hold back just because it would be easier. For some really good barbecue, my vote is Mark’s.