“Will Santa wear a mask?” — Miles, my four-year-old
1. As I began to write this section this morning, from the Louisville Magazine office on Cherokee Road, I watched as Paul Hornung’s funeral procession entered Cave Hill Cemetery. Hornung, who grew up in the Portland neighborhood and went on to football stardom for Notre Dame and the Green Bay Packers, died last Friday, at age 87.
Several years ago, Hornung told contributing writer Bill Doolittle a story about working on Derby Day at Churchill Downs. He said, “We had those old, ugly, heavy uniforms that you’d sweat your butt off in. They weighed about 40 pounds. I worked the grandstand and the gate, and after I got all the money I could at the gate, which was about $30, then four of us would (find) mint julep glasses. Up in the grandstand when they’d say, ‘They’re Off!’ and everybody was watching the race, we’d go down the aisle and pick up glasses, and then we’d take those glasses outside and sell ’em for a buck apiece. So I’d make about $150 on Derby Day, and when I was a kid that was like a fortune. I’d give my mom the money. She was tickled to death.”
2. I’ve been eyeing the Saturday-Sunday brunch menu at Barn8, the restaurant at Hermitage Farm in Goshen, where diners can eat outside with heaters and blankets. I’ve gotta try the sunny-egg-topped homemade biscuit with gravy (pork sausage, though the mushroom sounds delicious too). For a magazine story about a decade ago, I ate biscuits and gravy six days in a row (sorry, heart!) and went to Wagner’s near the Backside at Churchill Downs for the first time. I missed that peppery gravy this year on the First Saturday in May.
I asked Alison Settle, Barn8’s executive chef, several questions, including what she misses from before the pandemic.
“The relative simplicity of the ‘before time.’ Working in this industry, in the back of the house, as a woman, was never easy — and, to be fair, whatever your gender or position, restaurant life is tough. However, adding the constant evolution of guidelines, the need to turn a restaurant’s identity on its head every few months or weeks, the constant mental work of figuring out how to be profitable while operating safely, and the hard conversations with staff when hour reductions or layoffs are necessary are incredibly taxing mentally and emotionally for everyone involved. I got into this business because I wanted to cook good food for folks. To simply give people an experience that might help them view food the way I see it: as a necessary part of life that doesn’t need to be endured, but enjoyed. All of these things are dependent on comfort and safety as a foregone conclusion, a prerequisite. In these times, almost no one feels truly relaxed…ever. And that makes creating the moments I want to present to our guests exponentially more difficult.”
Favorite hole-in-the-wall?
“Seidenfaden’s. Always cozy and fun, and I almost always see someone I know. I could watch those wild movies or listen to the local DJ sets every night. That pool table in the back has seen me make a fool of myself at least 100 times. I’m terrible.”
What’d you eat for dinner last night?
“The Post’s Riveter pizza (meatballs, banana peppers, basil, provolone). With beer cheese and a side of ranch, of course.”
What’s in your freezer right now?
“A red snapper head that I’m saving for fish-head curry, various forms of dumplings, buns, shumai and a growing stash of chicken bones that I’ll eventually turn into stock.”
What ingredient do you use more than any other?
“Allium. Garlic, onions, leeks, scallions and other forms are always in my cooking.”
Where are you a regular?
“La Lupita in Clarksville. I always order aguachile, but often switch up my entrée. Lately, I’ve been on the torta ahogada. If it’s the weekend, I’ll switch to pozole.”
What Louisville dish have you eaten more than any other?
“Burgers. Mainly as a result of the restaurants where I’ve worked — like Holy Grale, Gralehaus, Portage House and Red Hog. I couldn’t begin to add up the number of burgers I’ve eaten, but that truly pales in comparison with the number of burgers I’ve made. If I never make another burger, it will be too soon.”
What closed Louisville restaurant do you miss the most?
“Ngon Appetit! The pho and bánh mì were some of the best I’ve ever had. I always felt completely satisfied, but not too full, at the end of my meal.”
Favorite cereal?
“I very rarely eat cereal. The exception would be when I was pregnant with my son, and I seem to remember eating a lot of Raisin Bran.”
Go open your refrigerator. What’s the first thing you see?
“Half a flank steak awaiting its destiny.”
If you were a vegetable, what would you be?
“ONION. Dry and callous, many layered, sharply flavored but can be coaxed into sweetness.”
A kitchen tool you couldn’t live without?
“Japanese mandoline.”
What cures your hangover?
“Nothing but misery and time.”
Favorite snack?
“Flamin’ Hot Funyuns.”
Best place to eat after midnight in Louisville?
“La Bamba. Sub the lettuce for cilantro, and get every sauce.”
3. In this week’s NBA draft, UK had three players taken (Tyrese Maxey, Immanuel Quickley and Nick Richards), and they all went before U of L’s Jordan Nwora, who was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round. You guessed it: It’s time to check in with My Buddy Eric Who Has A Vintage Cardinal Mascot Tattooed On His Ass.
Me: “What’s your prediction for Nwora in the NBA?”
Eric: “Not that good. Bench player.”
Me: “Ouch!”
Eric: “His game is a bit too slow for the NBA. I may be totally wrong, though.”
Me: “I set an alarm for three years from today to check Nwora’s NBA stats.”
4. Last Saturday I took the kids to see the Elf–Christmas Vacation double feature at the Saurbeck Family Drive-In in La Grange, each car socially distanced. Slow clap for staying open into December and giving my family something to do outside.
👏…👏 …👏👏…👏👏👏…👏 👏👏👏👏👏👏.
5. For much of 2020 we’ve been collaborating with Kertis Creative (check out their work on the Know Homelessness campaign) on a redesigned Louisville.com, and we’re excited for you to see it when it goes live next month, to coincide with this year’s sixth and final print issue.
In last week’s newsletter, I mentioned how, this year, Dave Caudill’s sculpture Monument to the Joy of Living would be my answer to the question: What’s something surprising you’re thankful for in Louisville? Here’s the response from Wesley Bacon, who used to write the “Dive Bar Diary” column for Louisville Magazine and is a senior editor at Kertis: “I am thankful for the Bud Light can on Hickory Street that supports my neighbor’s gutter with great elegance throughout the changing seasons.”
Support for Louisville Magazine comes from the Norton Children’s Hospital Foundation. Its virtual Snow Ball tomorrow night includes a silent auction and a raffle for a Norton Commons home and a BMW.
Support also comes from KET, whose video essay Kentucky Seasons premieres Nov. 28. It’s airing as part of KET’s annual WinterPledge (Nov. 28-Dec. 6), which is offering several Kentucky Seasons thank-you gifts: a 150-page coffee-table book, notecards, and DVDs and Blue-rays with bonus footage.
A little something from the LouMag archive.
The Thanksgiving-y November 1979 cover featured John James Audubon’s “wild turkey and brood,” courtesy of Humana, which was developing “now-rising Audubon Hospital.” Named for the naturalist, the hospital would be “adorned with lithographs of Audubon’s famed birdlife watercolors.” Oh, and if you’re wondering: The holiday gift guide teased on the cover included — sorry about this — a wheat-dyed-fox-fur beret ($350) with matching boa ($665), the latter of which could be “slung around bare décolletage by night.” And, yeah, that’s a $2,000 hand-carved Irish harp.
Miles and I had on Home Alone, the scene where Kevin watches the black-and-white gangster movie.
Johnny (Tommy gun in hand): “I’m gonna give you to the count of ten to get your ugly, yella, no-good keister off my property, before I pump your guts full of lead.”
Snakes: “All right, Johnny, I’m sorry. I’m goin’.”
Johnny: “One. Two. TEN!”
Miles turned to me and said, “That mean man doesn’t know how to count to ten.”
Josh Moss
editor, Louisville Magazine
jmoss@loumag.com