Roger Baylor

Edibles & Potables: Traditional Albanian fare at Tak-Fak in Tirana

You’ll have kindly noted a previous missive addressing Albanian cuisine. We returned late last week from the Balkan Mystery Tour 2025, a marvelous (if a tad chilly) sweep through North Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro. All my Europhile buttons were pushed, repeatedly, and I’ve returned to America rested and ready for…well, writing a book it seems. […]

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“Shine for Anoosh” in March (Colon Cancer Awareness Month)

I’m a chef who wants to cook for guests, not for myself. So said Anoosh Shariat, who died in October, 2024 at 67 after a six-year struggle with colon cancer. Exiled from his home in Iran, Shariat came to Louisville 40 years ago to work at the long-departed Remington’s, ran several popular restaurants of his […]

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The last day for New Albany’s Honey Creme Donut Shop is March 3

Late last summer the owners of New Albany’s venerable Honey Creme Donut Shop (514 Vincennes St.) announced that they were seeking a buyer, and an auction process was arranged, which ultimately did not yield a new investor. They carried on, but now the business will shutter after a final day of business on Monday, March […]

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Tartan House garners kudos for its cocktails, bar experience

Here’s the Tartan House (1027 E. Main) capsule from F & D’s quarterly print edition dining guide. Those bars intending to swim against the rising tide of bourbonism are advised to gie it laldy, and so we enthusiastically greet a Scotch specialist in Butchertown, with the city’s largest selection of “that other” whisky, and a […]

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Olé: Bourbon & Burgers is in, and Señora Arepa is out, in St. Matthews

Perhaps Olé Hospitality Group’s greatest strength lies with its aptitude for rejigging successful strategies into fresh and invariably popular new concepts, the latest of which is currently forthcoming in St. Matthews at Bourbon & Burgers (117 St. Matthews Ave.), combining Steak & Bourbon’s libations with Mussel & Burger Bar’s signature sandwiches, adding wings and upper-end […]

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Earlybird Bagel Shop is no more

Earlybird Bagel Shop opened in spring of 2024 at 1039 Ash St. in Germantown, sharing space with the ever-shapeshifting Six Forks Burgers. Last week a closing announcement came over the interwaves. Here is the text: We regret to inform that Earlybird is no more. A serious issue forces us to refocus our time and efforts […]

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La Fogata Taqueria is open for business in New Albany

Over the winter the long-dormant former Applebee’s building on Grant Line Road in New Albany began stirring, and was completely transformed on the exterior, erasing most of the chain restaurant traces. We love it when indies reclaim their turf. Eventually I saw an alcoholic beverage application, and the waiting game began. Here’s the “blurb,” as […]

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Passenger, a new bar coming soon to Shelby Park

Here’s something to look forward to in Shelby Park, coming in 2025, as well as a shoutout to my former P&u colleague Calvin Philley. Today’s cover photo credit: Kentucky Historical Society. New neighborhood bar from owners of Darling’s to open in Louisville in 2025: What to know, by Amanda Hancock (Louisville Courier Journal) A new concept […]

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Carryout only: Tavern to Go coming soon to Old Louisville

Previously at this address, when Hill Street Fish & Seafood ceased to be: Hill Street Fish & Seafood is no more At Louisville Business First, ace reporter Michael L. Jones goes beyond the “coming soon” announcement and into the heads of the business operators. The lesson: whenever it is possible to do one new thing […]

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A look at Brittany’s Brick Oven Pizza in Madison, Indiana

Consider this post as an unsolicited testimonial. Admittedly, I’m ranging outside F & D’s customary coverage area, but Madison in Indiana is much closer than Skopje or Tirana in the Balkans, and even inveterate Europhiles like me remain stateside a majority of the time. Most importantly, if you’re interested in history and somehow have never […]

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Hip Hops: New Albanians on a beer holiday in Old Albania (1994)

The following “old” Albanian beer-everie is excerpted from my ongoing online memoir, first appearing on July 29, 2024: 40 Years in Beer (Book II) Part 54: New Albanians on beer holiday in Old Albania (1994). Albania in 1994 was a traumatized country in recovery — from decades of communism and centuries of mountainous isolation. It […]

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VegKentucky, or Kristina Addington’s post-V-Grits project

You’ll recognize the VegKentucky page at Facebook as being artfully repurposed from its previous identity as V-Grits. At the end of December, the Courier Journal’s Amanda Hancock explained why: Owner of recently-closed vegan restaurant launches new nonprofit: What to know. When Kristina Addington announced her popular vegan restaurant would close, she encouraged followers to stay tuned […]

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APRON Inc.’s “Happy Hour Friend-Raiser” at The Stave (Wed., Feb. 26)

In 2025 APRON Inc. is staging happy hour “friend-raisers” at different locations on the last Wednesday of each month. The next Happy Hour Friend-Raiser takes place on Wednesday, February 26 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at The Stave in NuLu (Lou Lou on Market’s basement bar, 812 E. Market St.) The prospectus: Complimentary Heaven Hill […]

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Edibles & Potables: 31 years of Albanian cuisine (1994 to 2025)

It will have taken a mere three decades for an encore to “Albania 1994,” with the long-awaited 2025 freshening-up orientation about to get underway in Tirana. Judging from the surface appearances to be gleaned from videos at YouTube, the country has changed considerably during my lengthy time away. Of course Thomas Jefferson surely would counsel […]

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