Today's COVID must read: Marty Rosen on facemasks and collective responsibility.

Marty Rosen's "Letter from the Editor" column appears on Wednesday at Food & Dining Magazine.

On Friday, Susan Reigler offers "Bourbon News & Notes," and Ron Mikulak is back in the saddle, currently on Tuesday, with his weekly updates about restaurant coming and goings. I'm still hoping we're able to engineer the return of Sara Havens and "The Bar Belle," but that's above my pay grade as digital editor. 

My "Hip Hops" beer column runs on Monday. It's a weekly reminder to me that being on a team as formidable as this one is both an honor and a daily inducement to up my game. We're a small family-run magazine, and I accept that we don't have quite the range of other regional publications.

However, we definitely have the writing. Marty proves it, here.

Letter from the Editor: Face masks, yes. We have a collective responsibility to hold each other safe, by Marty Rosen (Food & Dining Magazine)

Of all the human emotions, none has garnered less attention from scientists, poets, artists, and songwriters than the one known as Disgust.

Certainly it’s a subject that never arises here at Food & Dining headquarters, where we while away our days sipping and nibbling on only the finest beverages and foods in our beautifully appointed stately pleasure dome.

And yet disgust, though it takes many forms, is fundamentally connected to food and dining. In its simplest, most literally visceral form, disgust manifests itself through symptoms like nausea and retching. We have all felt it when suddenly exposed to the odor of rotting garbage, for instance. And apparently it’s not a “learned” emotion ...

Rosen visits River City Winery and is quite pleased.

The C-J's free-lancing food writer Marty Rosen likes River City Winery. The Confidential household does, too.

The crab cakes aren’t quite as big as a baseball. But they’re close. And they make much better eating.

In fact, the crab cakes at River City Winery are the best you’ll find in the Metro region. They’re formed of good-quality lump crabmeat, lightly packed, pleasantly seasoned and fried to a toasty brown finish. Then they’re sluiced with a light, creamy sriracha-lime aioli that’s studded with black-eyed peas, kernels of corn, herbs and other goodies (market-priced, recently $7.50 per cake). A couple of these and a salad would make a fine meal.

La Rosita praised in today's C-J.

There's an excellent review in today's Courier-Journal for the new, expanded La Rosita's.

It's been fun to watch Israel Landin grow his business. Five years ago, he opened a tiny taqueria in a sliver of space attached to a produce stand. He parlayed that into a cozy, full-service sit-down place that quickly became a destination restaurant, luring diners from throughout the Metro region. Now La Rosita Mexican Grill has moved to the epicenter of New Albany's downtown dining district.

Marty Rosen's review is balanced. He praises the food while offering due consideration to inconsistencies in service, which have steadily improved since the move. Now, if we can just get these customers to start pouring their beers from bottles into glasses ...

At any rate: Congrats to Israel and the whole crew.

3 1/2 stars for NABC Bank Street Brewhouse, says the Courier-Journal.

We knew the Bank Street Brewhouse restaurant review was coming to the Saturday edition of the Louisville Courier-Journal, but we didn't know it would be posted on-line at Metromix a full day in advance.

The 3 1/2 star review begins with a description of downtown New Albany, then and now, and I wouldn't be human if I didn't say that it smells like vindication to me.

It's more than just a beer joint, by Marty Rosen.

All of a sudden, New Albany seems to have found its future. A sparkling new YMCA facility, long a centerpiece of the city’s development plans, is drawing throngs of people. And a downtown dining scene that was once best known for housing the diminutive burger joint Little Chef and the inexpensive enormity of the salt-laden meals at the old Southside Inn, has become a bona fide dining district, with enough diversity and quality to lure folks from all over the region.

Congratulations to Chef Lehman, GM Powell, staff and brewers. We're still not there yet, but we're getting closer each day. On-premise business has steadily improved, even without the outdoor seating that's so important to the business plan.

Our goal was 100 off-premise draft beer accounts after six months of draft beer distribution, and we're just about on time with it. You can find NABC beer at numerous establishments in Louisville and Southern Indiana, as well as in Munster, Indianapolis, Muncie, Zionsville, Madison and Evansville, among other Hoosier outposts.

We're hoping for a crazy weekend. Here's the link to Kylene Lloyd's BSB photo gallery in Metromix.

Studio's makes the Scene.

A patio lunch at Studio's Grille & Pub on Saturday was indeed a study of contrasts. To one side of us was a table of long-time political regulars, including Mayor England and just-elected Floyd County Democratic Chair John Wilcox. On the other was a near constant procession of Louisvillians, most visiting for the first time. Owner Trish Meyer had to put up more green canvas along the fence to accommodate new autographs.

C-J restaurant critic Marty Rosen wasn't there but he's obviously been spending the time and catching the vibe, so much so that downtown New Albany and the Y got plugged almost as much as Studio's stuffed burger in his latest review.

Strolling through New Albany after dark is a wonderful study in contrast. One night, the downtown grid was a hushed reminder of the river city's prosperous past. We walked past an old bank building constructed in the style of a Greek temple, a movie theater that dates back to the epoch of Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin, a glorious old hotel reminiscent of the gilded age.

And in the fullness of time, we came to the New Albany branch of the YMCA of Southern Indiana. That building shone like a jewel in the darkness. It's a collection of sharp angles and bright glass windows, through which we could see throngs — really, throngs — of people swimming, jogging, lifting weights, shooting baskets, having fun and burning calories.

We probably should have joined up that very night — after all, we'd just consumed more than our fair share of calories a few blocks away at Studio's Grille & Pub, a down-to-earth home-style restaurant that prides itself on scratch-made classics straight from the canon of Midwestern cookery.

Studio's serves up the classics by Marty Rosen, Special to the C-J