John

Will be attending a convention in Lousiville, Kentucky at Seelbach Hotel. Have been to Louisville once before for Derby but am not too familar. Need recommendations for some trendy (not chain)restaurants to visit with colleagues probably $20-$30/person for nice dinner 2 nights as well as some cheaper lunch spots. Comments on Seelbach also welcome. We will have a rental car so are not limited to walking distance from hotel. Thanks

John

Anyone?

Char

Louisville has some great restraunts. One is at the Seelbach, and although it may be a bit more that $30/person with wine and dessert, I encourage you to splurge. THe Seelbach is a beautiful restored Old Hotel.
There a a number of great restraunts on Bardstown Road and Frankfort Avenue, most within 5 miles of the hotel.
For Lunch, try Ramsi's Cafe on 5th Street just past Jefferson Street. It has great food-a serve your self version for lunch-Ramsi's also has a full service location on Bardstown Road.
The Irish Rover on Frankfort has great Irish pub food. Try Asiatique on Sears Avenue just off Shelbyville Road (you can call for directions) for some wonderful Pacific Rim food. Zephry Cove on Frankfort is great-a good variety of food, including Ostrich. CLub Grotto on Bardstown Road is good-American food, Jack Fry's on Bardstown if good. Jicama Grill has some good Latin-American cuisine, service on Weekends is awful, week night is better. Kunz's, on Fourth Street like the Seelbach is pretty good for Steaks, has a decent lunch.
There are other really good non-chain restraunts here to, those are just ones that come to mind that I have tried in the last year.
Also, The Come Back Inn on Swan Street has great Italian food.
Enjoy your visit.

Don

The Seelbach is a lovely historic hotel with a great restaurant called the Oak Room. It is upscale and elegant and above the price range you mentioned. But if you are there on a Sunday they have a great brunch buffet that includes everything from omelets to shrimp, oysters on the half shell and caviar. Very upscale and a real bargain for about $20 a person. Along Bardstown Rd. there are all kinds of restaurants from upscale to trendy to ethnic. My favorites are the Cafe Metro (all entrees are $20 and include a side vegetable or two), the Jicama Grill (great seafood, if you like calamari they have the best I have ever had), the Uptown Cafe (a sister restarant to the Cafe Metro, which is less upscale and less pricey), the Bristol Bar and Grill(definitely trendy and definitely in the price range) and Lilly's (some consider it the best restaurant in Louisville but probably more than you might want to pay). Near downtown there is a restaurant called The Mayan Gyspy serving Mayan food (a kind of upscale Mexican). Along Frankfort Ave. you will find another area a lot like Bardstoown Rd, with a wide variety of restaurants. Along there, some of the better choices would be Zephyr Cove, Brassiere Deitrich's (fairly upscale in an old movie theatre), not to mention all kinds of ethnic restaurnts. My personal choices from the information you have given would be Jicama and the Bristol, or the Cafe Metro (my favorite) if you don't mind spending more. For lunch you might try a different historic hotel, J. Grahams at the Brown Hotel (hotbrowns are a Louisville tradition). It is just a couple of blocks downn 4th St. from the Seelbach.

Jen

Wow - a Louisville question!

My fav restaurant is RARELY open...the chef opens when he wants, calls his clients, and they come in droves. It's called 610 Magnolia, and it's heaven. Ask the concierge to see if it's open, and get a ressie.

If not there, go to Bardstown road like everyone else says and eat at:

Lilly's - upscale
Jack Fry's - one of my favorites
Uptown Cafe or Cafe Metro (I like Metro)
Club Grotto

Have breakfast at Lynn's Paradise Cafe! Very weird and yummy place. Forget where it is but the Seelbach will know.

Enjoy!

Andrea

Living in Louisville, my personal favorites are:

Equus -- the five-course tasting menu is wonderful
Asiatique - pan-Asian cuisine
Zephyr Cove - eclectic, includes a lot of wild game
Jicama Grill - Latin American - great empanadas
English Grill @ the Brown Hotel -- very elegant, upscale
Lilly's -- upscale Kentucky cuisine
You must go to Lynn's Paradise Cafe for breakfast -- it's located close to downtown on Barret Avenue.

I've heard good things about these places, but haven't been there yet:
Le Relais - French
Oakroom at the Seelbach - elegant Continental
Jack Fry's
610 Magnolia, of course!

Try http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com for great reviews and a very helpful forum on Louisville cuisine!

Have a great time!

steve

I agree with the comments on the Cafe Metro. It is my personal favorite as far as restaurants in the city goes. As far as trendy, Ditto's on Bardstown Road is a nice place with a variety of menu items such as gourmet pizzas, sandwiches as well as entrees such as pastas, crabcakes and the such. It's one of my favorite casual restaurants.

Chris

A second (or third?) for Lynn's Paradise Cafe....but not just for breakfast.....it's great all the time....great lobster dinner served up with real mashhed pot and corn on the cob. If you're looky for trendy, it is, but prob not in the way you expect. Bardstown Road is full of great restaurants

Or go across the river to Indiana for Rocky's Italian and a great view of the Louisvile Skyline. My favorite is right beside it.....The Buckhead Mountain Grill...another great view but a local chain.....still a great place to eat.

As far as lunch there's a great little place call Deke's Marketplace across from the KY convention center next to the Old Spagetti Factory...it's just ecletic and trendy enough to be good and not off the wall...
Another good one downtown is Kunz's...little expensive but good

One of the bigger problems is there's not many lunch places in downtown Louisville....

Rowena

We attended a convention several years ago in Louisville and had lunch at the Oak Room one afternoon. It is the true definition of elegance! I had a delicious dessert called Derby Cheesecake and asked if I could get the recipe. The waiter assured me that I could and dutifully took down my name and address. Never a word to my disappointment. But it's still alovely restaurant!

Jack

Napa River Grill is excellent, in the Dupont area of Louisville just off the Watterson X-way. Napa is patterned after Brix, a fantastic restaurant in Napa Valley. Great wine selection, obviously, and the food is delicious.

Ted

Just returned from Louisville. Judge Roy Bean's restaurant on Bardstown Road is excellent. Believe it or not, Wine Spectator says that it has one of the best wine lists in America! Food is of the southwest variety (the beach burrito with shrimp & scallops was excellent). For good pizza, try Wick's on Bardstown Road or Goose Creek near Westport Road.

Linda

Azalea, Asiatique, Le Beaujolais, Jack Fry's, Lilly's, Artemesia,Zephyr Cove, Zen Garden, Porcini's
but please NOT the Bristol!! (Except for drinks) I have had so much bad food there! My husband was there last month and had a terrible piece of fish for lunch. I don't know how this place stays so popular.