Read more - Blue Dog Bakery and Cafe

food&drink
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Healthy Snack
Blue Dog Granola
Locals know that Blue Dog Bakery & Cafe (2868 Frankfort Ave.) makes the best
bread in town. They may not know that Blue Dog is also home to the tastiest
healthy snack: house-made granola. It features healthy ingredients and a taste
that is anything but bland. The slightly sweet and crunchy granola will leave
both the health nut and sweet tooth satisfied.
Andy Wolf, Blue Dog’s pastry chef, stirs together the granola daily, five to 10
pounds of it. The body-pleasing concoction is also on Blue Dog’s menu and is
served alongside homemade yogurt and fresh fruit. The granola combines dried
fruit, oats, pecans, almonds, vanilla, pure maple syrup and lots of cinnamon
into the healthiest and tastiest treat in town. Wolf says the granola is mixed and
baked into a solid block, which he then breaks into smaller chunks.
What is the secret to his granola? Wolf says it’s high-quality pure maple
syrup. And lots of it. He arrived at the winning formula after two months of experimentation with the ratios of ingredients and varieties of dried fruits and nuts. He
won’t be changing the recipe anytime soon. Wolf suggests serving the granola
warm and advises those who buy the granola to put it in a toaster oven for a few
minutes before indulging.
The granola can be purchased at Blue Dog in half-pound or three-quarterpound bags. Buy the big one. When the aromas of cinnamon, maple and hints
of fruit hit your nose, one bite, and perhaps even one bag, will not be enough.
Biscuits and Gravy
Wagner’s Pharmacy
Big-breakfast hunters can wolf down a competent biscuits and gravy plate at plenty
of reliable Louisville establishments — Sweet ’n Savory Cafe, Bristol Bar & Grille,
Lynn’s Paradise Cafe, Wild Eggs, North End Cafe; must we go on? The problem is that,
at some places, the gravy — oh, that glorious, (literally) heart-stopping country gravy
— is either runny, like a fresh can of paint, or so gooey that it forms a glob atop the biscuits, as if the waitress had to tunnel into the serving vat with an ice cream scoop. And
don’t even get us going about vegetarian mushroom gravy or chefs who think it’s cute
to sprinkle on a decorative “chopped herb mix” (!). As far as the biscuits are concerned,
they should be, you know, soft. A crunchy one cannot soak up any liquid, and a doughy
one, once gravy enters the mix, turns into biscuit pulp. A happy medium is vital.
For dependable tasty biscuits and gravy at a desirable consistency, brush the
crumbs off the table and slide into a holey booth at Wagner’s Pharmacy (3113 S. Fourth
St.), so close to Churchill Downs that horse trainers and owners and retired jockeys
have been known to make cameos. The meal is served on an oval-shaped glass plate
with two halved buttermilk biscuits — islands in a steaming, white-sausage-gravy
ocean that the plate can hardly contain. Swallow that first peppery bite and you can
practically feel your heart struggling to pump gravy through your arteries. (Hey, if we
were after healthy, we’d be nibbling on egg whites.) Kitchen manager Pam Pryor, who
has worked at Wagner’s for nine years, is tight-lipped when it comes to spilling any
revealing recipe secrets. “We put the biscuits on the plate,” she says, “then we put the
gravy over top and add sausage.” Simple. Just the way we like it.
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critics’
choice
winner
readers’choicewinners
Fresh-baked Bread
1 Blue Dog Bakery & Cafe
Past BOLs: 1 (2002)
critics’
choice
winner
Driving Range
Different Strokes Golf Center, Upper River Road
The perfect public driving range would tee off into a scenic view. But let’s face
it, golfers typically don’t frequent the range to admire scenery. They go to hone
their nine-iron swing, take their new driver for a spin or knead out the knots
in their putting game. Plenty of local spots let golfers do these things, but the
one landing closest to the pin is Different Strokes Golf Center (3742 Upper River
Road). It provides everything — sand traps and putting and chipping greens
this good are hard to come by anywhere else — that seasoned and recreational
players need to improve their game. And here’s an added bonus: If you squint
toward the trees behind you during a break, you just may catch a glimpse of the
Ohio River moseying by.
Though $6 gets you 45 range balls and $8 pays for 75, we recommend shelling out 10 bucks to buy 110. Be aware, though — if you haven’t hit in awhile,
your torso will be screaming come the next morning. White, yellow and orange
flags indicate yardage distances, but one of Different Strokes’ biggest assets is
that customers practice on actual (though sometimes patchy) grass, not those
turf slabs that in no way simulate a real golf course. Plus, there are more than
60 stalls — a term we use loosely because each hitting area is set off by two
moveable wooden boards. The number of spaces almost guarantees privacy,
which means a couple of things: You can whack away with no worry that your
neighbor is scrutinizing your backswing; and if you mutter a curse word (or
20), nobody will notice. This range also has lights, permitting after-sundown
play. Trust us, sometimes it’s therapeutic to mindlessly crush a golf ball into
the warm night air.
Proprietors Bob Hancock and
Kit Garrett — and their unique
Spanish-design wood-fired oven
— have raised the standard of
bread-baking in Louisville to a level normally found only in Europe or
the largest U.S. cities. We’re fortunate to have them.
2 Panera Bread Co.
3 Breadworks
Men’s Shoes
1 Macy’s
Past BOLs: 3 (2004, ’05, ’07)
Like women’s bathing suits, this
was another category that didn’t attract a lot of interest from our voters.
Perhaps women don’t like shopping
for bathing suits, but men just don’t
like shopping, period.
2 (tie) Dillard’s
2 (tie) Rodes
Beauty Supplies
1 Sephora
Past BOLs: 0
This national beauty-products store
opened in Oxmoor Center a little
more than a year ago and already
has shot to the top of the BOL list
in a category that used to be dominated by department stores.
2 Ulta
3 Beauty First
Fabric Store
readers’choicecomments
Reason to Live in Louisville
Big City Feel/Small Town Benefits
“Small town with a big town feel.”
“So much to do without the crowds and high cost of living.”
“Big city culture but small town atmosphere.”
Although our respondents said it in many different ways, the idea that
Louisville has a lot to offer in the way of arts, culture, dining, diversity
and other typically “big city” attributes but still retains a small-town
sense of community, neighborhoods and friendliness was the dominant
theme in this category.
Our local civic marketing/branding whizzes will be happy to hear that
several people used the word “possibility” in their answers. It’s working!
And there were two respondents who actually praised our weather.
One of them put a “(hah!)” after doing so; the other may not have
been kidding.
1 Baer Fabrics
Past BOLs: 0
It’s hard to believe that this 103-yearold Louisville institution has never
won a BOL in the past, which no
doubt is mostly our fault — this is
the first time we’ve had this category,
and it was a slam dunk.
2 Hancock Fabrics
3 Boone Fabrics
Manicure/Pedicure
1 Z Salon & Spa
Past BOLs: 8 (1995-2006)
This Shelbyville Road palace of
pampering often comes out on top
with our readers whether it’s hair
styling, massage or spa services,
which explains why it takes almost all of your manicured fingers
Product Made in
Louisville
1 Louisville Slugger
Past BOLs: 0
Sometimes you pretty much
know the answer before you ask
the question, but we thought it
was time to recognize the city’s
most potent symbol.
2 Louisville Stoneware
3 (tie) Derby Pie
3 (tie) Bourbon
or pedicured toes to count their
past and present BOLs.
2 Joseph’s Salon and Spa
3 The Light Touch
Women’s Jeans
1 Clodhoppers
Past BOLs: 1 (2006)
The winner of our Best Women’s
Boutique category two years ago
scores again, this time for its designer-label jeans’ selection. And
spiffy new digs in St. Matthews’
former Vogue Theatre space make
it stand out even more.
2 Von Maur
3 Macy’s
Weekly Newspaper/
Tabloid
1 LEO
Past BOLs: 0
This was another first-time BOL
category. The surprise wasn’t so
much that feisty LEO won, but that
the C-J’s Velocity finished slightly
behind the Voice-Tribune despite
Gannett’s considerable promotional power.
2 The Voice-Tribune
3 Velocity
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