LIVE TO EAT: Food for thought from Ryan Rogers.

The umbrella.

We like to say in the restaurant business that we can tell consumers what our restaurant is, but within six months, our consumer tells us what the restaurant is.
-- Ryan Rogers

For those with the wherewithal to elude Louisville Business First's paywall, there is an excellent short interview by Haley Cawthon with Ryan Rogers, founder of Feast BBQ, Royals Hot Chicken and bar Vetti.

You'll recall that his first restaurant was the now defunct Feast BBQ in New Albany (2012-2018), currently being remodeled as an addition to The Exchange.

Rogers' sentiments about Louisville's restaurant industry are worth noting.

Chef Ryan Rogers talks Royals expansion, Louisville restaurant industry

What’s your opinion on Louisville’s restaurant industry? Do you think it’s overly saturated?

I think it’s a healthy restaurant market. At the end of the day, the restaurants give the best service, the best food and the best value are the ones that are successful. I think competition is good in the marketplace.

The one thing I would say is that we have a lot of people who want to get in the restaurant business because they see it from the outside and think it’s a fun job to have. But it’s a job at the end of the day — it’s not a retirement plan or something you do as a hobby — it’s a seven day a week job.

I think that competition will only continue to improve the quality of the restaurants that we have in Louisville.

Top Ten posts at NA Confidential for March 2018.

You weren't for it. 

Thanks for reading NA Confidential, where we enjoy reconnoitering the neglected periphery for uniquely local perspectives on life in New Albany.

City Hall's allegations to the contrary, it can be grasped quite clearly that hundreds of you are reading, and we believe this fact attests to a keen ongoing interest in grassroots New Albany stories, perhaps because they're being chronically under-served elsewhere.

After all, fawning stenography and inexorably multiplying religion columnists can get a newspaper only so far.

The March list begins with ten "honorable mention" posts, before concluding with the Top Ten, escalating to No. 1. These statistics are derived from Google's internal numbers listings.

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MARCH HONORABLE MENTION (10)

850

Today in Dueling Polls, Team Canon returns fire: "Canon for Indiana’s Voter Survey Shows Commanding Lead and Unprecedented Field Program."

Yesterday Liz Watson landed the first poll punch, and the News and Tribune swiftly swallowed the bait.

"Poll shows Watson with double-digit lead over Canon."

Today Dan Canon's forces strike back (text pasted below). Does this mean the newspaper's next bold headline will read, "Poll shows Canon with double-digit lead over Watson"?

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856

ON THE AVENUES: Necessity was the mother of NARBA, a food and drink invention in need of re-animation.

I've made this argument numerous times, so it you already know it by heart, you're excused to visit the beer fridge.

Whether Boomtown Ball or Taco Walk, it is my core belief that in a remotely ideal world (one we have not yet attained), events and activities predicated on the involvement of restaurants and bars should be either the domain of a functioning restaurant association, or at the very least, pursued with explicit NARBA involvement in the planning process.

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860

Canon, actually: "Dem Candidate in Deep Red District Comes Out in Favor of Reparations."

Whatever else I might say or not say about my history with NABC, it's probably already obvious that when I see the company logo -- one always intended to be a sign of progressive thought -- appearing next to a candidate of Canon's caliber, it makes me quite happy.

So do his platform positions.

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883

SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: Touts, displacements and why our levy matters.

It's a fact that in 1997, several dozen folks were living along the river side of the levee, many of them squatters (including the boat club) and others simply homeless.

This no longer is the case, meaning that sewer improvements and pump maintenance, while commendable, cannot be entirely credited for what likely was, in effect, occupants displaced not by water, but by Gahan himself in order to make the Greenway properly gentrified.

Except for the boat club, which evidently has played a "get out of displacement free" card. Maybe it's where the party elders store their rubber duckies.

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891

Red-faced old white guys howl in fury as March for Our Lives successfully occupies Bicentennial Park.

The Green Mouse was told that the police presence was muted, and Democratic Party heavy-handedness gratifyingly kept to a minimum. That's amazing. When the AdamBot gets out of the way and lets the kids speak, you know it might actually be meaningful for once.

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907

THE BEER BEAT: "Belgian bars put the boot into tourists who steal beer glasses."

Indeed, one of the central glories of Belgian cafe culture is the presence of appropriate glassware in just about any drinking establishment, from dive to grandiose, shaped and sized, with logos. To experience this phenomenon is to understand the notion of integrity in a drinking culture.

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909

I must have missed this meeting. Was it a unanimous vote?

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928

The newspaper remembers Karem's Meats: "Closed after 53 years, remembered for selection, service."

As the photo above illustrates, there are places where Karem's still is "open"; the ghost sign at the old location remained affixed throughout the period of Plaza Drive operation, and persists to the present day even though the building was razed.

Weird, though quintessentially New Albanian.

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953

Dan Canon: "ICE as it presently exists is an agency devoted almost solely to cruelly and wantonly breaking up families. The agency talks about, and treats, human beings like they’re animals."

Dan Canon is running for Congress in Indiana’s ninth district this year. A career civil-rights lawyer, Canon filed one of the cases against gay-marriage bans that eventually became the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges, and he proudly wore a Notorious RBG shirt under his suit to the Supreme Court. He is currently representing individuals suing Donald Trump for inciting violence at his rallies.

Canon has also defended clients swept up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, and fought a Kafkaesque deportation system that, at one point, wouldn’t even disclose the location of his client. Now Canon believes ICE should be abolished entirely.

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973

We Are New Albany press release, Part Two: "We Are New Albany endorses Republican candidate Ed Clere of Indiana State House of Representatives, District 72."

"We Are New Albany endorses Republican candidate Ed Clere of Indiana State House of Representatives, District 72. This endorsement is a reflection of Ed Clere’s consistent support of New Albany Housing Authority’s residents, and opposition to the city’s demolition plan without a plan to replace."

MARCH TOP TEN

977

A contest to boycott: Read in amazement as Develop New Albany claims to have revitalized downtown all by itself.

Before examining this remarkable exposition of hubris, which purports to explain why you should cast daily ballots for Develop New Albany's bid to win a grant, let's examine the contest.

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991

"Ladies and gentlemen, YOUR vanguard of the white race."

As Hee Haw's Grandpa Jones used to say, truth is stranger than fact -- but this one is so bizarre that the Southern Poverty Law Center probably thinks it's on Candid Camera.

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1,080

This fire makes no sense. There wasn't even a restaurant there.

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1,119

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Jeff Gahan launches his 2019 campaign with more of the same threats, intimidation and mobster tactics. Is this what city employees deserve from a mayor?

The Green Mouse says that Sunday's riverfront clean-up quickly became a showcase for Jeff Gahan to campaign against probable primary opponent David White.

In particular, it seems that some rank-and-file city workers were reminded again that visible public support for any opponent of Gahan's might lead to reprisals or termination. I suppose the whip is one way of inspiring devotion.

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1,137

ON THE AVENUES: Scoreboard daze of old.

There used to be a package liquor store called Scoreboard Liquors on West Spring Street in downtown New Albany. I worked there part-time from 1982 through 1988, when the store moved to a different location, a couple of miles uptown. In fact, I continued to work at Scoreboard after the move, but to tell the truth, it was never the same as it had been at the downtown location.

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1,208

THE BEER BEAT: Narrower focus, deeper appreciation -- or, a few words about the Pints & Union beer program.

Victory is ours, and as such, I'm free to retrench and remind everyone that the previous generation of great beers has been neglected as a result, and consequently is undervalued -- and nothing interests me quite so much as an under-serviced niche ripe for specialized love and attention.

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1,444

JeffBoat will close, riverside condos will proliferate, and we'll gather at the luxury dog park for a few bowls.

As a skeptic, I can't help wondering whether there's an untold story here, like this closing always having been the design since ACBL acquired JeffBoat. At the same time, the Ohio River shoreline currently occupied by the shipyard automatically becomes one of the hottest properties in the region for redevelopment, and perhaps greater than Colgate in Clarksville.

It boggles the mind. At least here in NA, we have an aquatic park.

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1,554

A heifer is down: Comfy Cow joins Feast BBQ on list of "former" downtown New Albany businesses.

Comfy Cow's last day of business is today. It's hard to determine which "closing soon" rumor began making the rounds first, Comfy Cow or Feast, and it no longer matters. Business decisions are business decisions, and the globe keeps spinning.

But: Are we to discern a worrisome trend?

No; at least not yet.

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2,055

In 2018, DNA's artlessly purloined Taco Tone Deaf Cultural Appropriation Walk moves forward to May 19, with the Frito Bandito returning as Grand Marshal.

None of this is to suggest that Develop New Albany has publicly addressed either (a) the cultural appropriation it encouraged during last year's version, or (b) the way the organization has flat stolen the idea from the volunteer who brought it to DNA in the first place.

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4,734

Feast BBQ in New Albany is closing, and the last day will be Wednesday, March 28.

Rumors have been swirling for months, but today Ryan Rogers finally made the formal announcement. It's sad, but I'm looking forward to what comes next in this prime space that shares a wall with The Exchange.

A heifer is down: Comfy Cow joins Feast BBQ on list of "former" downtown New Albany businesses.

Comfy Cow's last day of business is today. It's hard to determine which "closing soon" rumor began making the rounds first, Comfy Cow or Feast, and it no longer matters. Business decisions are business decisions, and the globe keeps spinning.

But: Are we to discern a worrisome trend?

No; at least not yet.

However, and you can call it what you will, a food and drink shift (or adjustment, or rationalization) obviously is underway downtown as April approaches. As with "craft" beer, the bubble isn't bursting, but the landscape is being reformatted.

Yesterday over at Everything Tom May, Danielle Grady conducted post-mortems for Feast and the Glass Gypsy, a shop at Underground Station. Steve Resch's viewpoint hits the center of the target, at least to me.

BIZ CLOSINGS: Three businesses, including Feast BBQ New Albany, call it quits in SoIn

... (Feast BBQ owner Ryan) Rogers declined to comment further when the News and Tribune reached out, but developer Steve Resch, who renovated Feast’s building and sold it to Rogers, said that the restaurant was doing well.

"They closed that because they want to concentrate on the Louisville market,” he said. “Feast was still profitable" ...

... Resch sold Rogers the Feast building two years ago, the developer said. When Resch bought the structure in 2010, it had been vacant since the mid-1980s. He renovated it, just like he’s done with the current Wick’s Pizza, Bella Roma, Bank Street Brewhouse, Gospel Bird, Theatreworks of SoIn and Hull & High Water buildings.

While some Southern Indiana businesses are closing, Resch believes that the area and its restaurant scene are still thriving. Another developer, Matt Chalfant is working on a building that will soon be home to a restaurant from the owner of The Exchange, Longboard’s Taco & Tiki. Resch is also renovating an old bar along Market Street that will become Pints & Union, a United Kingdom-inspired pub.

Feast BBQ in New Albany is closing, and the last day will be Wednesday, March 28.

Happy times.

Rumors have been swirling for months, but today Ryan Rogers finally made the formal announcement. It's sad, but I'm looking forward to what comes next in this prime space that share a wall with The Exchange.

Nostalgic? Here's the 2012 press release, and a column of mine from the same year.

More details as they emerge ... for now, just the facts.

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Feast BBQ

It is with clear eyes, but a heavy heart that I announce our final day of operation in New Albany will be on Wednesday March 28th. Feast BBQ outgrew our space in New Albany the day we opened the doors to 300+ people there on July 4th, 2012. We have been faced with the challenge of operating a restaurant in too small of a space, with nowhere to expand, ever since.

I am appreciative of the overwhelming support we have received over the past 5 and a half years from the community as well as from our employees present and past. I look forward to putting the building in the hands of someone who will continue to steward the historic property for years to come.

I hope that you will continue to join us at our larger Feast BBQ - Market St. NULU location in the NuLu neighborhood in Louisville (909 East Market Street). We are also working diligently to finish building an additional Feast BBQ location in downtown Jeffersontown’s historic Gaslight Square District (10318 Taylorsville Road) that we hope to have open this summer.

Today, we operate three other restaurants (Royals Hot Chicken & bar Vetti) and employ over 120 people across HiCotton Hospitality. We will continue to support our mission of supporting our staff members by covering the costs of shift meals, we pay a starting wage above minimum wage, offer employee discounts to our other restaurants, and help to cover the costs of healthcare for our full-time employees. All of the employees in New Albany have been offered jobs at our other restaurants.

I would personally like to extend a special thank you to Steve Resch, Jerry Finn and Horseshoe Foundation of Floyd County, my Family, Phillip Beaman at Monroe Shine & Co., Inc., Keith Pulliam with Applegate Fifer Pulliam LLC, our first year employees, and the myriad of others that took a chance and supported a 26 year old who had no idea what he was doing.

As a special thank you, please enjoy $3 Beers Tonight (Saturday), $2 Beers on Tuesday, and $1 Beers on Wednesday. While they last. We certainly don’t want to waste any beer.

- Ryan

Of the proliferation of Feast and a micro-distilling famine.

There wasn't much left of my meal Saturday at Feast.

Efforts to wade through "business news" typically compel a crazed search for knitting needles to plunge into my eyes. Having said that, I often skim the Monday business briefing at Insider Louisville, which this morning disgorged two chunks of local interest.

The Confidentials dined at Feast BBQ (with a liquid prelude at Habana Blues) on Saturday evening in the company of visiting Mainers we were showing around town (sorry, but I kept forgetting to fulfill my civic obligation to give credit to Develop New Albany for the revitalization), and as such, this IL item stands out:

During the NuLu Business Association meeting last week, insiders told us there are big plans at the Hunt Property. But no one would give us the details, saying the deal’s not done. But those sources assured us the news would be much better received than the Family Dollar store.

What we do know is, there was an “official” announcement that Feast BBQ, the New Albany barbecue restaurant and saloon, would be moving into the former Cake Flour space at 909 E. Market St. after Cake Flour bolted to the Brownsboro Road area. Oddly, Feast owner Ryan Rogers was at the meeting. And was surprised his “move” was announced when it wasn’t true. Ryan told IL while he likes the property, he hasn’t even seen a lease. That, and the Cake Flour space would take significant updating to be a real restaurant.

A second location for Feast strikes me as reasonable, and the thought of New Albany invading NuLu has a pleasing resonance. Scrumptious smoked meat, an array of bourbons ... and an official NABC taproom? Maybe Ryan's people can talk to our people. The sky's the limit.

Then, the following passage serves as a jump ball of sorts.

Peerless Distillery just west on Main at 10th Street also appears to be happening. The operations manager told our insider he’d just received the permit to build last Monday, with plans to be distilling by the end of the year.

Apparently the city of New Albany has been encouraging the establishment of a distillery downtown by chatting with potential investors.

Apparently the city doesn't entirely grasp the simplest way for a Hoosier distillery to come into existence, i.e., through the Artisan Distilling law approved last year, which allows existing breweries and wineries to initiate distilling through a permit process far less burdensome than the norm.

So: Talk to the money, then connect the money to the easiest existing paths. It's more efficient that way. Talking to the money alone, without identifying the most expeditious route for investment being identified and realized, constitutes only part of the deal.

I should've been a business writer or an economic development director. Maybe in the next life, if I ever make a few bucks during this one.

Meanwhile: Where do I sign to give DNA credit for the insights recorded here?

It's a Smoked Pork Crown Roast -- well, it USED to be.

As prepared by Ryan Rogers at Feast BBQ and served on Saturday night at the 1117 East Spring Street Neighborhood Association's holiday gala. The dish easily weighed 15 lbs.

The Internet boasts numerous references to pork crown roast. The photos don't do it justice; bones point to the sky, the stuffing is marinated in pig oil, and it isn't readily apparent how much meat there really is on each one until you cut the string and start carving. Ryan smoked the meat in his inimitable way, and words on a page simply cannot describe the house-filling aroma and succulence of the porcine main course. Lawdy.

Festive, eh? Beer never hurts, and there was Port wine, cheeses, cigars and bountiful conversation. Too soon, the new year comes, and it's back to the grind -- work as the curse of the drinking class. Until then, good company provided a wonderful evening's escape.

Feast BBQ: On the right side of New Albany street grid history.

Feast BBQ

October 24 update: My two-way street project and how you can help.

Dining in New Albany for Derby? Well, why not?

The Derby edition of Eater Louisville's Heatmap has two New Albany establishments among the 15 metro Louisville go-to spots: Feast BBQ and The Exchange.

The Eater Louisville Heatmap: Where to Eat Right Now

Granted, this is but one food and drink web sites among many, and it didn't even exist during previous Derbies, but the fact remains that it's pleasant to live in a place that's part of a positive conversation. For once.

Excellent review of Feast BBQ at WFPL.

Dana McMahan is a veteran Louisville foodie and writer, so this isn't your average Yelp screed in crayon. When it appeared on Facebook yesterday, one of the first "shares" was by Rick Adams, chef at the adjacent, newly relocated Exchange, which tells you something quite positive about the emerging food and drink community in New Albany. We're in it together.

REVIEW: Feast BBQ a Candidate for Last, Great Meal (WFPL radio)

 ... Our hefty platters arrived soon. Brisket, chicken, pulled pork, smoked tofu, sweet potato fries, mac and cheese, baked beans, collard greens—dish after dish. I tore into my plate with full intentions of finishing all of my dishes and tasting everything. And it was a valiant attempt. “I am impressed,” my husband said in reverent tones as I plowed through the spread.

The food was so very, very good that it didn’t take any particular skill on the part of this professional eater to polish off a significant portion. The creamy, peppery mac and cheese led perfectly to the crunchy cole slaw, which was the perfect segue to the savory, succulent pulled pork, followed by the surprisingly complex tofu and capped off with the perfectly crispy, sweet and savory sweet potato fries.

Holly Jolly Beer Trolley after Jingle Walk, and a Naughty Claus correction.

It's self-explanatory, and will be running through downtown New Albany following the Jingle Walk on Saturday, November 24.

In a related note, permit me to offer this correction. Previously, I'd previewed the plan for next week and observed that NABC's Naughty Claus is coming to New Albany on Thanksgiving week.

However, earlier today, I noticed the cat was out of the bag, and Naughty Claus is pouring at Feast BBQ, so if you'd like to beat the Thanksgiving rush, just visit Ryan and the crew at Feast.

One lovely fall afternoon in downtown New Albany.

I had beer sales-related stops to make in downtown New Albany yesterday, and decided on a coffee before lunch. Quills obliged with its newest creation, Thai No. 5. It's espresso with a twist, and you can read about it here.

Once seemingly cavernous, space at the future Exchange pub + kitchen gradually is being molded into an eatery showcase. The perimeter is being extended westward down Main Street, including the adjacent Feast BBQ, where I had lunch, and JR's Pub a few blocks away.

Speaking of JR's, something you should know: There'll be a benefit held at JR's for Ric Geoghegan on Sunday, November 11, from 12:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. I'm told that Ric, who so many people in New Albany know from his long tenure at Steinert's, is suffering from liver failure. I know we'll all be plotting ways to contribute.

Please join us in gathering Ric & Jojo's family and friends together to raise money to support them during Ric's illness and to support his recovery. We look forward to seeing you there!

Walking back home from JR's, I thought to duck into Billow for porch cigars, which led to a late afternoon interlude with English tea, and a chance meeting with our roving building commissioner, David Brewer, who's doing a fine job indeed.

Think about it: Downtown New Albany's options truly have proliferated in recent years, and perhaps it's too easy at times to focus on what still is needed (a lot) rather than to simply appreciate what we have on a lovely Indian Summer's day.

ON THE AVENUES: Craft beer, BBQ and you.

ON THE AVENUES: Craft beer, BBQ and you.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

“Grilling, broiling, barbecuing - whatever you want to call it - is an art, not just a matter of building a pyre and throwing on a piece of meat as a sacrifice to the gods of the stomach.”
-- James Beard

Why shouldn’t the same considerations that lie behind the composition of the food menu be applied to the beer list?
-- The Publican (me)

I confess to being a perpetual novice when it comes to barbecue, other than to observe that as one of the more glorious of the worldwide culinary arts, there are as many different methods of barbecuing as there are individuals in search of the perfect brisket.

In my book, Ryan Rogers is the prevailing local expert, one to whom I’ll defer under any normal, daily circumstance. His Feast BBQ restaurant on Main Street in New Albany has been in business only since July, and already it provides affirmation to one of Yogi Berra’s more enduring observations: No one goes there any more because it’s too crowded.

Apart from succulence in the cause of meat, Ryan already has endeared himself to quite a few of us through his recognition that one sort of excellence deserves a few more of them, which in Feast BBQ’s case is a gargantuan bourbon list accompanied by plenty of varied craft beers on draft.

Of course, lip service always has been paid to the notion that barbecue and beer should be brought together as often as possible to cohabit as a loving couple, joined together in Holy American-ness. The question has been, “Under what terms?”

Does barbecue necessarily plunge to the lowest common denominator of beery domains, filled to the icy, palate-numbing brim with light, yellow, mass-market lagers, or dare we entertain the subversive notion – gasp! – of “pairing” that slab of ribs with the exuberance of craft beer?

Happily, Feast BBQ rolls along, answering this question by voting overwhelmingly for the latter. A few negligible industrial swills may or (may not) be available to appease the timidity of the undiscerning, but primary emphasis is placed precisely on craft drafts, where it should be, and New Albany is the richer for Ryan’s common sense innovation.

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By now, it should be axiomatic that given an ever-expanding range of colors, flavors, textures and styles in craft beer, there exist numerous “ideal” beers for consumption alongside any and all conceivable ways of smoking, grilling, rubbing, marinating, spicing and modifying appropriate animal parts in fulfillment of the barbecue aficionado’s personal tastes, and yet still I hear certain of them dismiss craft beer in this context, as though the essential nitty-gritty of their chosen passion somehow stands to be sullied by association with the considerable wonders of my own.

As the noted epicure and detective Nero Wolfe often said, “Pfui.”

While flavorless mass-market lager is plausible as a default thirst quencher, so is Gatorade, iced tea and the simplistic elegance of tap water, but offering only blasé lager as accompaniment to delectably smoked pork constitutes underachievement of a peculiarly low order. This beer lover’s mind fairly races in contemplation of the many craft beers boasting essential traits capable of enhancing and complementing barbecue, not merely washing it expeditiously down.

From hoppy American-style Brown to dark-hued Robust Porter, and from burnished Belgian-style Tripel to piney India Pale Ale; the craft beer list is huge, if too rarely exercised. In the most obvious of conceptual terms, perhaps the best match of all with barbecue is beer already incorporating smoked malt in the grist, including fairly common candidates like Smoked Porter and Smoked Marzen.

I’m hungry just thinking about simultaneous smoky flavor explosions utterly alien to Bud Light – unless one might choose to add two or three drams of Scotch whisky to each putrid glass of otherwise wet air.

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There was never any doubt in my mind that Feast BBQ would get it right. Ryan made it clear upon his arrival in this town that he’d be setting Feast BBQ’s bar considerably higher than the traditional New Albany norm, and his initial success benefits us all, whether in the restaurant business or otherwise, by reinforcing the utility of doing exactly that.

At the same time, while craft beer sales are at an all-time high and rising, craft beer drinkers can’t always get what they want. In metropolitan Louisville, this state of affairs owes quite seldom to outright malice, but rather to simple ignorance of the options. Those of us who are in the craft beer business, whether as brewers, retailers or distributors, obviously spend much of our time educating, but we can’t do it alone.

The next time you’re at a restaurant or bar, or even attending an event – up to and including the occasional barbecue-themed charity event, because really, wouldn’t you like a real beer with your flesh, just like at Feast BBQ? – check and see if craft beer is represented, and if it is not, let the eatery’s management or the event’s organizers know about it. Do your important bit for the cause by serving notice of your presence, and of your expectations.

Is it dinnertime?

See, even vegetarians can enjoy Feast BBQ.

Maybe it's just me, but when a noted local foodie of the vegetarian persuasion chooses to devote a blog entry to the fare at a barbecue restaurant -- located in New Albany, not Louisville -- it's a very good thing, indeed.

Apart from tofu and seitan, Feast BBQ has elicited much discussion among New Albanians since the restaurant debuted on July 4. The vibe has been overwhelmingly positive, with scattered comments about inconsistent opening hours and frequent menu depletions.

My two cents is this: It's part of the game. The most accurate business plan in the world is altered the moment the first customer walks through the door, and it's worth remembering that learning curves are an integral part of the process.

Beginning with the coming week, Feast BBQ's hours are these:

Tuesday - Saturday ... Dinner from 5 p.m -10 p.m. (or later on Friday and Saturday)

Owner/chef/chief bottle washer Ryan Rogers adds: "Thank you for the overwhelming support that has been rolling through the doors. Hopefully this will be our last change in hours until we can expand our kitchen/cooler and once again expand our hours."

Where to Eat in not-exactly-Louisville: Feast BBQ, at Consuming Louisville

It’s a pretty well known fact that I don’t venture across the river to visit our neighbors to the north very often. But someone making the effort to make sure vegetarians have something good to eat at a barbecue restaurant? Well that’s enough to get me across the river.

I represented team vegetarian and my dining companion represented team “mmmm bbq chicken is good” for our meal at Feast BBQ last week.

Ryan and Ian and Roger on the radio, tonight.

Those infernal Louisville-area television stations with such short attention spans forgot all about me after the Sherman Minton Bridge reopened earlier this year, so it’s time to take my talents to Clear Channel radio, at least for one Thursday night in June.

I’ll be joining Ryan Rogers and Ian Hall tonight on Chefboyardean. The show runs from 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at 1080 AM Talk Radio, WKJK. Ryan's new Feast BBQ is days away from opening in New Albany, and later this fall, Ian is moving his Exchange pub + kitchen to space adjacent to Ryan's in the former Shrader Stables building on Main Street in New Albany.

Chefboyardean is hosted by the legendary Louisville chef Dean Corbett, but Dean’s out of town, so stepping in as the radio program’s guest host is my former beer student, the freelance food writer and all-around great guy Steve Coomes. Just like Steve, I have the perfect face for radio, although Ryan and Ian are fairly photogenic.

We’ll be talking about Feast, Exchange, NABC and downtown New Albany’s dining and drinking scene. Tune in, and read Steve Coomes's explanatory column here.

Open windows, sidewalks, and downtown reinforcements.

Mike Kopp's updates on Twitter are much appreciated. I have advice after reading his two most recent tweets.

As for Dragon King's Daughter, I'd recommend they inform the health department from the start that there'll be windows there intended for opening (as windows historically have been). After all, I wouldn't want DKD to be as confused as we at Bank Street Brewhouse were, when three and a half years later, it finally occurred to the healthocrats that garage doors tend to be installed for the express purpose of lifting them.

And then there's the sidewalk in front of Ryan's and Ian's new establishments on Main Street. I'm guessing it's been decades since any work was done there, as was the case at BSB, where the sidewalk hadn't been touched for more than fifty years, and yet the hooded troglodytes continue to criticize the city for "giving" businesses new sidewalks -- when in reality, the sidewalks are for everyone in the city, including the troglodytes, who evidently never leave their cars to walk.

Welcome to downtown, guys. Little by little, we win, and your presence will help quite a lot.

Tweets 

8hMike Kopp ‏@kopptherealtor

@DKDLouisville similar look and feel to the open atmosphere at Dragon Kings Daughter for Downtown New Albany location.http://pic.twitter.com/n1ZK4st2

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8hMike Kopp ‏@kopptherealtor

@FeastBBQ @TheNAExchange get new sidewalks in front of their establishments for future patrons and a safer walkway.http://pic.twitter.com/lF80aTmt

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Full text of the Feast BBQ press release.

The Feast BBQ press release has been excerpted elsewhere, but I thought it might be convenient for you to read all of it. Native New Albanians, or anyone who has lived in the city for any length of time, should take note. Ryan might have chosen to situate his start-up in Louisville, but chose New Albany instead. Several on-line accounts I've seen today actually used the term "restaurant row" to describe downtown NA. Believe it, people.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: R. Ryan Rogers
Tel.: (502) 296-8325
Email: bbq@feastbbq.com

BBQ TO JOIN DOWNTOWN NEW ALBANY'S RESTAURANT ROW


Feast BBQ scheduled for Spring opening

New Albany, IN ( January 10, 2012) Chef Ryan Rogers announces the opening of his first restaurant – Feast BBQ - in the Spring of 2012 at 116 West Main Street in downtown New Albany, Indiana. Feast BBQ will be focused on great BBQ, Bourbon, and Craft Beer.

Chef-owner Rogers is excited to be a part of the burgeoning food scene in Downtown New Albany and is eager to contribute the BBQ recipes, techniques, and sauces he has been crafting. “Low and slow is an understatement. At Feast we will take the time needed to treat the BBQ with the utmost care and attention”, states Rogers. “ While extremely labor intensive, the results are worth the efforts”. The menu will include traditional BBQ such as pulled pork, baby back ribs, brisket, & chicken along with house-made sides, and a variety of appetizers and desserts.

In addition to BBQ, Chef Rogers plans to offer New Albany’s largest selection of bourbons with over 50 brands, as well as a wide variety of beers where he will maintain a focus on locally- brewed and craft beers.

Chef Rogers is a graduate of the renowned French Culinary Institute. His past kitchens include Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York (where Chef David Chang was named 2007 Chef of the Year by both Bon Appetit and GQ's), The Oakroom (Kentucky’s only 5 Diamond Restaurant), Zanzabar (where as head chef he received 3 Stars from The Courier Journal), and the Anchorage Café where, along with Andy Myers, he was called one of, “The Brightest New Chefs in Town” by LEO Weekly.

Feast BBQ will be located at 116 West Main Street across from the YMCA. The building was built in the Italianate style and served as various New Albany saloons from the 1880’s until the mid-1980’s when it was vacated. Renovations are currently underway for the Spring 2012 opening. The original brick walls have been uncovered and will showcase a series of photographs chronicling the building's history and revival.

You can follow the construction and launch of Feast BBQ on Facebook and Twitter at facebook.com/FeastBBQ and twitter.com/FeastBBQ