Louisville restaurants are closed, but you can still support local businesses and their employees.
This weekend, I ordered pizza from one of my favorite Louisville restaurants as I often do.
I pulled into the parking lot around 8 PM on Friday night. Groups were huddled under the patio umbrellas to protect themselves from the rain, trying to enjoy a COVID night out.
I’m not sure if it was the outside patrons or the way that the still silence of a normally bustling bar and take out area hit me as soon as I opened the door. Perhaps it was the lack of shouting coming from the kitchen, the lack of glasses clanking together, the rain pitter pattering on the rooftop. Whatever it was that made the stillness of a pandemic-struck restaurant hit me the way it did, I was instantly anxious for the lady behind the counter. She instantly knew who I was; not because I’m a regular, but because I was apparently the only takeout order in the queue.
I understand the need for safety during pandemics. Believe me, as someone who is currently watching his overworked wife- a nurse- asleep in her scrubs with a graduate school book on her chest, cheeks still flush from her 16-hour shift, I get the need for safety.
But I also know how that lady felt, too.
Eight months ago, I was the lady at the pizza place. We had no idea what this shit was. My company had to make the tough decision to shut our doors to the public before we were ordered to by government officials. As a restaurant manager, I had to tell our employees, one by one, that we couldn’t schedule them anymore. Maybe for a few months; maybe longer. We went down to a skeleton crew. I was busting my ass taking orders, running orders to cars, cooking food, organizing and labeling hundreds of boxes, trying to please our customers; simply doing what we could to keep the doors open and the lights on.
Until one day, my call came. I, too, was jobless. In an industry where I agreed to terrible hours and high stress for the job security; I was furloughed with the rest of the world.
I knew the lady’s pain and I know the pain of the millions of restaurant workers that have lived week-to-week or even day-to-day during this shit show of a year.
Now out of the business and onto a job that is “COVID-friendly” (that is- it is necessitated even during a worldwide pandemic), I still look back and think about what people are going through. And though I support the tough decisions made by our leaders, I also empathize with our workforce here in Louisville, Kentucky, and around the world. I’m one of the lucky ones. I landed on my feet. Others will not.
With that being said, I felt this is as good of a place as any to create a running list of places where you can and should utilize take out services if you feel inclined to eat out during our “third wave” of Coronavirus infections.
This is a running list of suggestions by those who chimed in on social media, as well as suggestions from my good buddy and site contributor, Alan Thomas:
Southern Express
Roc
Jeff Ruby’s
Barry’s Cheesteaks
Saints Pizza and Pub
Havana Rumba
Mama’s Mustard & Pickles
Guacamole
Gander
Kern’s Korner
Frankfort Avenue Beer Depot
FDKY BBQ
Derby City Pizza
Milantoni
Seafood Lady
Khalils
Joella’s
Check’s BBQ
Gaslight Diner
Selena’s at Willow Lake Tavern
Plehn’s Bakery
Shirley Mae’s
Hammerhead’s
Naive
Butchertown Grocery
Yummy Pollo
Chicken King
King’s Chicken
Vietnam Kitchen
Coach’s Grill
Brendan’s Catch 23
Caribbean Cafe
Porkland BBQ
The Table
V Grits
Rumors
Bonnie and Clydes
Irish Rover
Big Momma’s
Chicken N Mi
