Eiderdown

http://leoweekly.com/dining/double-down-germantown-eiderdown-and-danny-mac%E2%80%99s

(no website, so here's a link to the LEO's review article, which includes a description of several of the entrees.)

Go there... now!!! I don't care if you don't like or have never had or never thought you'd like the smell of chopped ham and sauerkraut. That's not what it's all about.

Eiderdown is the restaurant offspring (literally) of NachBar, located in Germantown. The food combines local cuisine (recipes such as country ham sandwich and foods such as local veggies) and continental cuisine (think spaetzle und sauerbrauten und der list could beginnetagainundagain). Three friends and I dined a two-course meal with beers quite enjoyably for around fifty dollars.

We enjoyed the potato soup - well didn't really eat too much of that, my friend got it and I don't think she liked it, the cornbread - better than the red star tavern's cornbread as proclaimed by us, the cornbread officianados of the universe due to its widespread use of heavy butter, chocolate stout and gouda dip - say what? but even the cheese dip hater among us enjoyed this delicacy that had a consistency of mustard and a taste that is undescribable. For our entrees we had a country ham sandwich, which was accompanied by a warm potato salad and some wonderful calming sauces on the sandwich itself which made it less salty. The bread on the sandwich was a pugliese roll cut open from blue dog bakery. The size was massive: enough to feed a small army of 22-year old men.

The chicken soldier sampler, or whatever that ess-alliterationed dish was called, was excellent - and made perfect by its accompanying grits. Oh my god. They melted in my mouth. They were full of a light, juicy meaty flavor that made them the transcendent grits I have waited all my life to eat (yum, yum, yum!). Anyway the chicken and the veggies were good too, although the veggies were seasoned a little too strong with vinegar and the chicken was a little underdone. However, I should mention that the chicken was full of flavor and not too juicy, fatty, salty, shifty, cookie, spooky, or chinese. It was just downright smart!

The atmosphere of the place is what will have us coming back... I think it is unmatched in louisville. A dark, unlit room with only table candlelit to guide your path. The ambience is similar to the whistle stop in glendale, kentucky except a lot more open and closer to home. The restaurant was packed with people, yet we could all hear one another and felt as if we were in our own little enclosed box. The restaurant has all kinds of people - mostly looking older and upper-middle class - and the waitstaff is uber-friendly (stimmt!) and surprisingly attentive.

I cannot wait to take more family and friends to eiderdown to eat some good germanish grub! Yum! I have yet to also try the newfound Louisville German staple of Erica's on Hurstborne Lane. Maybe I should stop by there for a comparison!