| You're spot on. In fact, pizza aside, Louisville punches wayyyy above its weight in food. I guess I took it for granted, and assumed every city was like that. Nope, not even close. Re: pizza, apparently people in Ohio call it Dayton style pizza. Marion's looks a lot like Bearnos, but I've never tried it! Bearnos as a company is pretty scummy(see footnote), else I'd try to franchise one where I live. I'd love to know their suppliers and processes to start a competitor, one day. Footnote:
I left Louisville for good exactly 2 days after their Hepatitis admission. They went on the news promising to make it right and pay. I got a shot, out of pocket. Talked to 'management' at the location and they had no idea what I was talking about, then told me to quit worrying about it. I pressed on and submitted receipts, kept following up. Never saw a dime. But worse, they knew they were lying. Claimed to not receive anything, but I had copies so emailed it. Every person directed you to someone else, impossible to reach because 'theyre busy.' After 3 weeks or so of their game, I just gave up as it was costing me more of my time than money I'd ever see. Might make sense for like, Google, not a tiny little pizza company with a few locations. I'm not even mad about the money... I'm mad they had the nerve to make an announcement they had no intention of following up on. See: https://www.wlky.com/article/bearnos-pizza-employee-diagnose... |
Louisville punching above its weight in cuisine is another one of those topics I find I have to try to explain to outsiders. It comes up a lot in cost of living discussions around the possibility of a relocation plan to potential jobs in interviews. I know and appreciate that I have been incredibly spoiled. I've had fantastic meals made by Beard Award Winning Chefs and that wasn't a gala I RSVPed months in advance, that was just an ordinary Friday night where I walked in to their restaurant without a reservation and snagged a table or a bar stool. I rarely think to even get reservations more than a day or two in advance, even for some of the fanciest places in town.
I've seen statistics from various food magazines that rank Louisville as high as third behind NYC and LA for number of high rated restaurants per capita and I believe those statistics. I've been in other cities and have heard people ask with awe and reverence if I've ever tried various Louisville fixtures because their reputation proceeds them or because the head chef of some other restaurant "studied" there for a time. I do think I'm incredibly spoiled.