Mojito Tapas

http://mojitotapas.com/

Mojito Tapas restaurant strikes a chord of elegance in dining and presentation that I think is unmatched in similar, middle-end locales. I affentionately refer to the restaurant as "mojito's" and have their number listed as such on my speed dial. The cuban cousin of Havana Rumba restaurant is always booked and allows for thirty minute call-ahead seating arrangements, which is great.

Their menu has, well, everything on it. Soups, salads, tacos, cheeses, tapas, desserts, flatbreads, sandwiches, traditional cuban, barbecue, and even pasta. All are served inexpensively and in a traditional tapas style meaning that they are meant to share. Thus, if that is not your persuasion it is important to keep that in mind when entering the restaurant as goers will want to share (even between tables).



Recently when dining there I had the opportunity to sample the guacamole, queso fundido, tabla de chimichurri, ropa vieja, shrimp pot,  pina colada, mojito, and churros. My recommendations, based on the food here and the same recipes that appear at Havana Rumba are as follows: the caesar salad is always excellent, ditto the guacamole. The restaurant is supposed to be based off "mama's cooking"-type recipes and homemade cuisine with no artificial ingredients or additives. I'd say it works pretty darn well! Drinks are excellent and include fresh mint, sugar cane, and pineapples!

I just love getting a plate of tacos or the beef empanadas here and was pleasantly surprised this past visit by the ropa vieja. I've had it before at Havana Rumba and have been disappointed; however, at Mojito Tapas it was cooked perfectly and full of flavor. Skirted meats sometimes dry out, but this meat was moist, not fatty, and full of flavor. The rice, beans, and plaintain chips it was served with topped it off.

Admittedly, I don't think I would order the shrimp if I went here again. I was hesitant in ordering it and rightfully so. The smell of the shrimp, its sauce, or something always wafts around the restaurant and it never smells fresh. I wish I could definiteively say that it's not the meat that is smelly and sour, but the taste of that dish was just off. My friend enjoyed it as she always does, but I will not order it again.

Additionally the churros were a little plain for my taste as well as the queso. I've had the queso before and been disappointed, though their cheese plates and cheese selection are both exquisite. For example their goat cheese is downright divine and very well-plated (served with bread or honey, depending on the cheese). I think if I went back to mojitos I would spring for a fish taco of some sort and an empanada - go Cuban!

The decor in the place is chique and offers a wide selection of places to sit: inside, outside, bar, glass interior. The lights inside are dim, which allows for a very cool mood! The patrons of the restaurant are mostly older locals, so it wouldn't exactly house a bar in which a young person would want to look for a date. Our service was prompt and reliable; however, I think our waitress was waiting for us to leave at 9pm, as she jetted out the door herself after we got up.

For a fun reading on how "tapas" originated, check out the LEOs new review of Mojitos, which ran the same week we dined there: http://leoweekly.com/dining/small-plates-add-big-meal-mojito

Winston’s Restaurant

www.sullivan.edu/winstons

Last Saturday evening I dined in the calm ambience of Winston’s restaurant, part of the Sullivan culinary school. Chefs serve up plates at Winston’s before graduated from the school and matriculating into real world fare. Our meal on Saturday was nothing less than excellent.

The menu features two types of items: small plates and large plates. As shared appetizers several of us ordered some small plates and sides to share. These included the pave beet salad, truffle fries, sweet potato fries, scallops, scotch egg, and the half not brown. All were decadent and good. I highly recommend the scallops, truffle fries and scotch egg especially.

The scotch egg was a hardboiled egg seasoned and served in a flavorful, but not spicy cream sauce. The egg was encrusted in a panko bread crumb mix before frying and had some country ham around it (what’s known as country ham sausage). It was one of the more unique and tasty items on the menu.

The truffle fries consisted of little potato fries cut into tiny pieces and salted, then served with a truffle mayonnaise. These fries were different from other truffle fries I’ve sampled in that they were not sprinkled with truffle oil, but came with what’s known as a truffle emulsion that was mixed with a mayo-like aioli (it was aioli, but more like mayo in texture and taste). All the sauces they served with items scallops, fries, and sweet potato fries were divine! Accept their offer to bring you some sauce with your fries, should you dine there.

Finally the scallops I had were excellent. They didn’t compare with scallops at limestone and weren’t quite as large or flavorful as those at bonefish, but were served in a lobster butter sauce that wasn’t overpowering and was just right. They also came with a spicy sauce and a ginger sauce, both of which were fresh and exquisite, but neither quite hit the spot like the butter sauce they were drizzled in. I would definitely make a return trip for the scallops!

For our entrées we dined on the mojo risin’ meat mixture served in a plastic bag, vegetarian stack, not brown, and pan seared salmon. I enjoyed my pan seared salmon – the cream sauce, again, was stellar. But the salmon itself lacked in flavor. I want to think that I don’t have to garner anything from a rich sauce to enjoy my meat or fish, but in this case I did. So in that aspect my meal was subpar. However in the sauce were yellow bell peppers and new potatoes that were cooked perfectly, as well as country ham that was a little too salty for my taste. I don’t think I’d order this entrée again even though the sauce was very fresh and yummy, just because its “meat” was lacking in flavor – and it was probably fatty!



The not brown and vegetarian stack disappeared from our table quickly, as did the mojo risin’. However, I thought the whole concept behind the mojo risin was weird. Sure it makes sense that you should bake these meats together (shrimp, lobster, crab) in a sauce and seal in the flavor. But it looks very unrefined to serve someone a plastic bag. Maybe if we were trick-or-treating and begging for food…

For dessert we tried the crème brule, cheesecake, and orange-chocolate cake. All were excellent yet my favorite was the cheesecake (no surprise here!). Good cheesecake gets me every time. It was served with a strawberry sauce that was sweet as well as with fresh strawberries on top. The crème brulee was a little too grainy and not creamy enough for my tastes. The chocolate cake was whoaaaa decadent, but gets high marks! I loved the mixed custardy orange center. That cake can show up in my fridge anytime!

Our wine favorites for the evening consisted of all reds: I picked the mysterious Chilean’ “Chono” wine, which was a hit, while others tried its white sibling and a cabernet sauvignon called “canyon road.” I think the cab was my favorite wine of the evening. It was well balanced and flavorful without being too fruity or front-of-the-mouth.

To all current and former Sullivan students: Wow! You really got a lot going for ya. Eat on!

Sergio's World Beers

http://sergiosworldbeers.com/

For some, the butchertown area off Story Ave. and Washington Streets is nothing more than a mix of industry and beautiful brick sidewalks showcasing historic shotgun houses. In this day, you can find fun times at Vernon Lanes or good eats at the Blind Pig between Story and Washington. For the past two years, there has been one more local find lurking in the back alleys of butchertown: Sergio's World Beers.

Sergio, a fun-loving Shelbyvillian who originates from Brazil, knows too many languages for me to remember. He along with his son Eric, Cory, Alex, and Rafael often run Sergio's World Beers. Unmarked and sitting just before the intersection of Story and Frankfort with flags in the windows, Sergio's bar is one-of-a-kind. The interior could very well be the innards of a 1970's hot dog shop, rollerdome dining area, or retro cafeteria. Instead it's a bar... of sorts. His house is shotgun-style and there are just fridges lining the walls with beers from all around the world. While Sergio will readily admit (and you can tell from his tap list) that he favors Belgium and American brews, he has Russian, Asian, Central American, and beers from all other parts of the world. It's truly a unique experience to enter Sergio's World Beers!

He claims to have over 1,000 beers, but I'm sure that number surpasses 1,100. He keeps a rotating list of the 80-or-so beers he keeps on tap, which always includes chimay.



My top beer picks include: recommended winter ales, chimay, valdieu (his birthday beer), and hopslam (also on tap). Beers in the bottle run at around 4.50 and on top at around 7.50. Pricey? Yes. You can put away beer and food for 20 dollars quite easily and more on a bigger night.

Sergio's also offers something special: a large food menu. This is more than just your average bar food, as Sergio used to run a Mexican restaurant down in Shelbyville. He has seviche, soups, mexican food, cheesesteaks, gyros, and several other fun and obscure offerings on the menu. I highly recommend the guacamole and the mexican pizza, which is a fried tortilla with beans, beef and cheese. It's done perfectly everytime. Skip the cheese dip!

When I enter the bar, I always sit one of two places: at the bar with a handfull of people or in the back in the corner table with a larger group. One word to the wise is that on slow evenings you'll have to literally screw in the lightbulb above your table to provide litting for your friends. I guess it keeps the costs down ;)

When you enter for the first time, don't hesitate to ask Sergio for a brief tour or explanation of the location of the fridges with beverages from different regions in them. He can be very informative on locale and taste via his website, but in person I think it's rare that he would fail to recommend a specific beer (save bud light).

All-in-all, Sergios is a worthwhile visit because - frankly - where else can you find the quaint ambience, bizarre mix of food and beverage and gentile bargoers that Sergio's has to offer?

Café Cubana

This is a new Cuban bistro located at the corner of Clifton Ave. and Frankfort Ave. right by the railroad tracks intersection on Frankfort Ave. The location was the former locale of Lynn Winter’s “Lynn’s Paradise Café,” the restaurant that achieved so much success that it had to move to its bigger and more accommodating Barrett Avenue location. Lynn’s Paradise was noted for its unconventionality in restaurant theme and recipe creations – they were home to the first espresso machine in Louisville and still today their time-tested unique creations top those of food network “Cook-off” challenger Bobby Flay.

Café Cubana takes a different route. Instead of being known for ingénue, I would declare their restaurant to be the most copy-cat of a restaurant I have ever been to… bar none! Their menu is an exact replicate of Havana Rumba, plus a few unique items. They’ve got miles to go before they score originality points the way Rumba did with its homemade cuisine; nonetheless, with a kiss of luck from the prior building owner Café Cubana has a few pennies in its pot of goodness towards becoming an established local eatery.

Their menu is seemingly the same as Havana Rumba; however, it’s more colorful and visually appealing. The dinner prices of many of the items are either the same or a dollar less, which makes dining on fish that much more yummy. Their grilled grouper with cilantro is what we always order at Havana Rumba. I tried it there last night to be eagerly disappointed – it had no flavor and was under cooked L Two weeks ago I tried the same dish at Café Cubana and was pleasantly surprised, at lunchtime no less, to find it flavorful and delicious! They had fresh salt sprinkled on top and the cut of fish itself was thick and tasted excellent. The sides were very flavorful as well – rice, beans, and some gooey plantains.  At the time I think my mind was surprised: “is this more flavorful than Havana rumba?” I caught myself wondering.

Besides the items being a little dryer than those at Havana Rumba, I would give it a 5/5 instead of 3.5/5 on the fish delicious-o-meter 1-on-1 test. (Maybe I should give both a second try, but for the moment that’s where I stand.)

The interior décor at Cubana could not have been more pleasant. When you enter you are greeted with windows on all sides of the restaurant, an elegant view of the glimmering bar, and a mysterious, winding staircase that goes up to the second floor. I would say that few restaurants could rival the intriguing visual that the Cubana provides.

While the walls at Café Cubana were bright, colorful, and fun, their waitstaff knew no English whatsoever. They were literally impossible to understand… Also, I know that they could afford to have some more clientele. However, their operating location makes that a little bit tough. They need to find a niche environment further from other grand ethnic eateries such as Grape Leaf, Shiraz, El Mundo, and Irish Rover.