Tapas wowed at Artesano Tapas, Vinos Y Mas

I don't think I ever anticipated a restaurant as much as I did Artesano Tapas, Vinos Y Mas.  The teaser photos posted on their Facebook page months before the opening were visually stunning and mouth watering.  I love tapas and was already a fan of its sister restaurants, Mussels and Burgers, El Taco Luchador, Cena Italian Trattoria and Guaca Mole.  So I couldn't get here fast enough after it opened.

We waited 1 hr 30 minutes for a table on a Friday night and wolfed down our food in 30.  The food was so good we didn't mind the wait once we were seated.  The Spanish dishes are different and inventive, the anticipation of what comes next is part of the fun.  Bring friends who are wiling to share, it's a great way to try a lot of dishes without breaking the bank!

The essentials: 1. The portions are big (for tapas) 2. The prices are reasonable for the quality and taste. We paid $81 for 7 dishes. $84 ÷ 4 people= a very reasonable meal. 3. The wait is long on the weekend at dinner time, so make sure to bring a lot of patience.  Come around 6 p.m. and the wait is not so bad.

Keep in mind that these are tapas, so certain portions will be small.  A tip for leaving the restaurant full and satisfied: order cheap and fulling dishes like the batatas bravas ($6), the cocas/flatbreadk (~$12), the albondigas/meatballs $8, etc.

Coca de Pato $12.  Duck flatbread.  Photo: Tam

Patatas Bravas $6. Delicious spicy homemade ketchup

Loved the sauce and meatball for this Albondigas $8

Add a few of the more expensive smaller meat dishes to the selection and you'll leave feeling satisfied !

Chuleta de Cordero $15. Lamp chops, sausage and quinoa salad.

Pincho Moruno $7. Pork loin with yogurt sauce.

Pulpo a la Gallega $12.  A skip for me.

My dinner mates liked the paellas, but I think it's too expensive and a bit soggy to be enjoyable.
 

Paella Valenciana $18

Exceptional service and beautiful restaurant.  I'm already planning to come back soon!

Outdoor patio with a fire pit

I heard the drinks and cocktails are great as well so check it out.  I don't drink, so you're on your own there :)

My rating: 9/10
Artesano Tapas, Vinos Y Mas 
1321 Herr Lane Suite 130 Louisville
Kentucky 40223
(In the Westport Village Shopping Center)
(502) 708-2196
Monday - Friday: 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Saturday: 12 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Sunday: Closed
No reservation or call ahead accepted.

Eat Well and Do Good at 6 Louisville Restaurants

This holiday season visit 6 local Louisville restaurants where our city two best traits, compassion and good food, are intertwined.  At these restaurants, you'll be treated to delicious cheap food for your stomach and a warm hug for your soul.  

The Table Café
1800 Portland Ave
502-708-2505
Monday - Friday
11 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Outside the restaurant, around 18th St. and Portland Ave.

An oasis in a culinary desert, the Table Café, offers healthy home cooked meals in the Portland neighborhood, where fast-food restaurants dominate the landscape.  “The Table is a non-profit, social entrepreneurship that serves locally grown, fresh food and operates under a pay-what-you-can model.”  The concept is simple, you can 1) pay what you can afford or work in the restaurant as payment 2) Pay the full amount 3) Pay the full amount plus a bit extra to “pay it forward” to cover someone else’s meals.  The restaurant is almost entirely staffed by volunteers (you can sign up too!).

A busy Friday inside the restaurant.

Menu

Smoke chicken and potato soup

Smoke chicken, root veggies salad, and sweet potato fries

The small menu offers salads, soups, sandwiches, and dessert made from locally grown food.  Nothing on the menu is over $7; you can get a lunch special with any sandwich, side, and drink for $10.  My sides and salads were fresh and delicious.  The main dishes can be tweaked a bit (the chicken was a bit dry and the soup a tad salty) but it still makes for an enjoyable dining experience.  The restaurant itself is chic and modern, with a community room and office space attached. Come check it out, everyone is welcome at the Table.

Waycool Cafe
120 West Broadway
(Corner of Broadway & 2nd)
502-582-2241
Monday - Friday: 6 a.m. - 3 p.m.; 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday: : 7 a.m. - 2 p.m.; 5 p.m. - 9 p.m.

$4 for 2 meals from Waycool Cafe

The Waycool Cafe is located inside the Hotel Louisville, a transitional housing shelter for men and women as well as a functional hotel for tourists.  What's way cool about this place is that all the staff graduated from or currently enrolled in Wayside Christian Mission recovery and training program. Residents receive on the job hands-on training to prepare them for entry into the work force.  

The food here is not gourmet, but it's of good quality and fresh.  You'll find favorites such as burgers, fries, fried chicken, fish, chicken wings, etc. The most expensive item on there is $9 and you can easily have a complete meal with a sandwich, a side dish and desert for $3! They also have a buffet for $5 (one trip) with lots of sides, salads, and main entrees.   I always feel like a million bucks coming here because the staff treat me well and I can eat to my heart's desire without worrying about the final bill.

Menu

Pretty good wings.

There's a huge free parking lot, a big bonus for downtown. The hotel is older but clean and well kept. It's a humbling experience to be dining in a place where staff and clients are working so hard to make a positive change in their lives.

Common Table 
Catholic Charities
2234 Market Street
502-873-2560 ext. 256
Tuesday & Thursday: 11:30 p.m. - 1 p.m.

Chef Hank and food samples.

For a one of a kind lunch experience, check out Common Table.  Located inside Catholic Charities gym, Common Table serves lunch every Tuesday and Thursday (11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.).  Entrees are $5/$4 vegetarian, $2 desserts, $1 drinks (sample menu). Sign up with chef Hank to receive the menu weekly.  The food is prepared from the Common Earth Garden in West Louisville at St. Anthony's.  Portions are on the small side, but for such a great cause and great deal, order two!

Chicken and rice and a vegetarian option. 

Common Table is a social entrepreneurship program that offers Culinary Arts training to refugees, former inmates, and other job seekers.  Participants learn basic culinary skills, nutrition, food safety, as well as resume writing and interviewing skills.

Communal table, great for striking up a conversation with new friends.

Customer Appreciation Day, November 25, 2015
Roots and Heart & Soy
1216 Bardstown Road
502- 452-6678 (Heart & Soy)
502-452-6688 (Roots)
11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Four Sisters
2206 Frankfort Ave
(502) 384-4262
11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Every Thanksgiving Eve, local business guru Huong "Coco" Tran offers free meals to the community at the Customer Appreciation Day at her restaurants.  Though the meals are free, donations are except and distributed to local charities.  In recent years, the lovely sisters at Four Sisters also participated in this great cause.  Heart & Soy and Roots offer delicious Vietnamese inspired vegetarian food while Four Sisters serves coffee, tea, crepes and sandwiches.  They serve the kind of food that warms the heart and the soul.

Coco and FREE food. Photo: Roots/Heart & Soy

Sunday Morning at Turkey Run Park

Pretty Sunday mornings are best spent outdoors, so we grabbed our walking shoes (my husband, his long board) and headed to the newly opened Turkey Run Park.   This 800+ acre park is the 3rd addition to the 5 parks of the Parklands of Floyds Fork park system.

Some photos from this morning’s adventure:

At the entrance

Hockensmith Barn

A hunter's perch (?)

On the way up!

Silo Lookout

View from the top

I’ve been a fan ever since it opened back in 2012.  The Parklands, once completed in Spring 2016, will stretch from Shelbyville Road to Bardstown Road, encompassing 5 parks: Beckley Creek Park, Pope Lick Park, Turkey Run, the Strand and Broad Run Park.  Three parks are currently opened to the public, with the Strand and Broad Run Park scheduled to open in the Spring of 2016.   The parks hug the Floyds Fork Creek, providing scenic hiking and biking paths as well as 19 miles of canoe/kayaking trail.

Expect to see: 100 miles of trails for hiking and biking, canoe launches, event venues, bark park, children’s playgrounds, recreational fields, fishing holes and other outdoor spaces.  They also have regularly scheduled events so check their website for details.   For example, Wednesday Wonders are interactive science experiments for children under 7 ($5 to attend, free to members).

The parks are brand new, so the facilities are spotless; the biking paths and hiking paths are well maintained.  In the spring and summer, come for the display of colors from wild flower fields and carefully planned greeneries.  In the Fall, get a bird’s eye view of fall foliage from the surrounding hills atop the Silo Overlook at Turkey Run Park.

Spring at Beckley Creek Park

Summer at Pope Lick

For the bet overview of the parks, I recommend bringing your bike. Start at the parking at the entrance of Beckley Creek Park (across from Valhalla Golf Course) and follow the biking path all the way to Pope Lick Park.  It’s around 15 miles round trip and take around 2 – 3 hours to complete.  Some hills can be slow going, but take your time and you’ll be rewarded with beautiful sceneries and a fast downhill.

Biking trail

On the way to Pope Lick

Biking trail

How to travel from Louisville to Chicago and Atlanta for only $1

Life’s an adventure and I’m always on the lookout for a new one.  My craziest, riding in the back seat of a stranger’s motorcycle sneaking into a foreign country.  A dumb thing to do, but a great story to tell.    

My new adventure, traveling to Chicago or Atlanta for $1 on a Megabus.  I usually write about things I’ve already experienced but I’m going to be an armchair blogger (think armchair anthropologist) on this one.  This means I’ll be sharing information gathered from a friend who experienced it.  With a deal this great, I just couldn’t wait to share it.

How it works

Megabus is a discounted bus service offering cheap tickets in 9 countries, 34 states and the District of Columbia.  From Louisville you can travel to Chicago, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Indianapolis, or Nashville. From Lexington your options are: Atlanta, Buffalo, Chattanooga, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Erie, and Knoxville.  From those cities, you can then venture on to other destinations in the U.S.

Megabus does not have a physical office, everything is done online or over the phone.  To find tickets for $1, go to their website, choose a departure location, a destination and a travel date.  The site will generate a few different prices.  More than likely you will not get a $1 bus ticket on your first try, though for $5 - $40, it’s still a bargain.  Play around with your dates, travel later in the week or even a few weeks or a few months later.  The further out you travel, the better chance of scoring a $1 ticket.  Your chance of finding $1 tickets is higher if your dates are flexible.  Even if you bought a ticket and later can’t travel on that date, $1 is a very small investment!  If you see $1 tickets, buy it right away, it can go very quickly.

The bus

Inside. Source

Megabus does not have a bus terminal, so you’ll be dropped off and picked up at designated bus stops.  For Louisville, pick up and drop off is on the north side of Jefferson Street, between Roy Wilkins Ave and S. 8th St.  This means no shelter and no facilities.

It’s a double decker bus with reclining seats and seatbelts.  Bathroom is on the bus and they’ll make stops at rest areas for restroom breaks.  For today’s tech addict generation, there’s free Wi-Fi onboard and outlets for charging.

The verdict

There’s mixed reviews on this, varying from region to region but most agreed it’s good for short distance travel.  New York Times reporter Seth Kugel sums it best, Megabus is good leisure travel for the: truly flexible, comfort-be-damned, all-out budget traveler (aka me).

My friend enjoyed it better than Greyhound and never had a problem.  But here are some problems you may come across and some solutions:

• Mechanical problems & breakdowns happen - bring a lot of patience
• Toilet breaks are on the bus or at a rest area - bring hand sanitizer and wipes 
• It’s not always on time - bring entertainment
• The temperature on the bus is cold - bring a blanket or jacket
• There’s luggage restrictions - bring less baggage 
• The seats are not comfortable - bring a pillow
• Wi-Fi is spotty – bring a book
• For all other problems that arise - bring your sense of adventure.  

The bus ride itself will be an adventure but think of all the other adventures that lie ahead with this $1 investment.  When you arrived at your destination, rent a car or use public transportation for inner city exploration.  Let Megabus take you to larger cities like Chicago and Atlanta, where you can fly out to more exotic world destinations at a cheaper rate than from Louisville.

Happy adventuring friends.

Super Party at Yelp's Art in Action 2015

If you're dreading the week ahead, here's a midweek super party to look forward to, Yelp's Art in Action 2015. Best part, everything is FREE.  I went to the first event last year and loved the lively artistic vibe, the interaction with vendors, unique performances (think fire breathers, graffiti artists), delicious food samples, and special drinks from local vendors.  I highly suggest this for lovers of local businesses, unique entertainment, food, fun, and the arts.  All my friends that went last year are coming back and you should too to make next week a lot more exciting.

What to expect this year:

Food samples from Joy Luck

• 15 food vendors
• 20 featured drinks
• 12 interactive local business booths 
• $20 off a Taxi 7 ride for those not wanting to drive 
• 5 performances
• 3 DJ services 
• 1 unforgettable event

Now that you know how awesome this is,  here are the details.

• Location: The Gillespie
  421 W Market St
  Louisville, KY 40202
• Date: Wednesday, 10/21/2015 
• Time: 7 p.m. - 10 p.m. 
• Cost: FREE. There's a $10 suggested donation to a local charity, Fair Event Vendors Alliance)
• 21+ or older only, so bring your ID

Before you go:

• RSVP is required through Yelp.  Sign up for a free Yelp account here.
• Deadline to RSVP is: 10 a.m., Wednesday 10/21/2015 or whenever capacity is reached.
• To increase your chance, make sure you have a clear profile photo.  Look for an email from Yelp as a confirmation that you're in.  
• More detailed information from the Yelp event page here.   

Wait there's more:

This famous chef will be preparing your food at the VIP hour.

• FREE Yelp Elite Giveaway Experience.  Basically an invite only VIP experience an hour before the event, with free VIP giveaway bags, exclusive entertainment from Swing '39, food demo by Chef Bruce Ucan of The Mayan Cafe and a first taste of Ballotin Chocolate Whiskey & Fond of Louisville. 
• Deadline to enter the giveaway: Tuesday, 5 p.m., 10/20/2015.  Enter the giveaway here. 
• Another way to get into the VIP experience (and a free lunch) is sign up to volunteer here. 

Hope you can make it and see you there!

*Photo cred: all photos from Yelp.