ACBN Friday 6.26.26
Summer's here, and I'm taking on my own personal Restaurant Week, plus music, books, pets and more!
Hello, friends. Happy Friday.
It's been a strange week around Cookbook Manor.
My kids have been attending their first sleepaway summer camp, so it's just been me, my wife and Olaf around the house. I know this is supposed to be a good thing ("ahh, enjoy your time away from the kids!", they say) and we have been trying to make the most of the time, but it's also been so dang quiet. We've been away from the kids for stretches this long before, but never fully out of communication with them and, well... I miss them! They're good kids, and I like hanging out with them!
(I am going to be a terrible empty-nester when the time comes.)
I am very much looking forward to picking them up this afternoon, even if it means that I'll be waking up to the sound of YouTube videos again tomorrow morning. While they've been off hiking and climbing and making pottery and whatnot, we've at least taken the opportunity to get some good dinners in without having to pay for sitters; I've been calling it our "Restaurant Week".
A few years ago, I published a weekender's guide to visiting Louisville:
Scott Hines
That post requires some updates, as a few places mentioned within have either closed or fallen off in quality in the last three years, and while this doesn't constitute a full revision, consider it an addendum: a diary of a week spent eating well in Louisville.
(There's a normal Friday newsletter to follow this self-indulgence, I assure you.)
Sunday: Canary Club + Toasty's Tavern
We got back to Louisville mid-evening on Sunday after dropping the kids at their camp, and what says Father's Day better than amaro flights and tinned fish at Canary Club followed by a smashburger at Toasty's Tavern across the street?
Aside from actually seeing one's kids, that is.
(The timing did strike me as funny.)
Monday: Bánh mì at Pho&Treats
We'd had plans for a fancier meal out that got scratched due to an unexpected event–I'll explain below–but that disappointment turned into pleasant surprise when we 'settled' for takeout from this small storefront joint on the East End, which made the best bánh mì I've had in ages.
Places never get the bread right, and they got the bread right.
(My gold standard bánh mì remains Henry's in Park Slope, Brooklyn; we lived around the corner for several years and ate those sandwiches at least once a week. These came as close as anywhere in Louisville has for me in the decade-plus I've lived here, though.)
Tuesday: Adelita Mexican Restaurant
I surveyed a few friends who get out more than we do for suggestions this week, and several of them independently tipped me off to this adorable Mexican restaurant located in an old house next to the train tracks in Crescent Hill.
I had the enmoladas, and they were incredible:
Wednesday: M. Peppers Bistro
M. Peppers isn't new to me–I've been a few times, and loved it every time–but we couldn't pass up an opportunity to revisit to this French bistro in the Highlands.
Usually I get their terrific burger, but after a few days of eating out, I opted for a "light" dinner of moules frites and a Lyonnaise salad of frisée, lardons and soft-boiled egg.
Also, I couldn't pass up their current drink special, the "F'ranch Martini", which features "Beefeater gin infused with our house-made ranch for 48 hours, finishing it with a three-step clarification process."
It was actually really good, and extremely ACBN-coded.
Thursday: Cipollini
The last stop of our run was at a new-ish addition to the Louisville food scene–Cipollini, an upscale modern Italian restaurant that opened back in March.
Executive chef Dallas McGarity is also behind The Fat Lamb, long one of my favorites in town, so I had high expectations, but they were met with excellent food and service.
That's a darn fine week of dining.
I've been obsessed with playing sports-drafting games like 82-0 and Chasin' 117 lately, and it occurred to me that if you were to make such a game for food, pulling American, Vietnamese, Mexican, French and Italian is about as good a five-cuisine team as you could construct.
(Some might argue against American food's inclusion amongst those titans, but I'd argue it's actually the 1960s Wilt Chamberlain of this analogy, and I refer back to this 2023 post from my pal Jay Arnold:)
[stroking chin] I should make gumbo soon.
Friends, it's Friday again at The Action Cookbook Newsletter.
It's not just restaurant recs for a city you probably don't live in this week–I've also got book and music recs, a recipe I can't stop tinkering with, thoughts on summer spots and unexpected home repairs, pets and more!
Let's get right to it.
