An insider left a tip on the IL Facebook page: “I see Mozzaria is now Quattro.”
Trust us … we don’t ignore tips.
So, we drove over to Fourth Street Live from the Insider Louisville World Headquarters in NuLu to snoop.
In about five minutes, employees were confirming Mozzeria will change to Quattro, Italian for “four,” as of Dec. 1.
Jacquelyn Zykan, bar director over the cocktail programs at Doc Crow’s Southern Smokehouse and Raw Bar and La Coop Bistro: à Vins, has earned the title of Certified Specialist of Spirits (CSS) from the Society of Wine Educators.
Why is this noteworthy? Because it shows how beverage pros continue to move beyond tap jerking and cocktail mis-making to become serious craftspeople elevating drinking and dining out.
Plus, just as chefs have become increasingly popular, bartenders have, too, and rightfully so.
Zykan (who prefers the term “craft bartending” over “mixology”—which makes me an instant fan) is known for her stylish approach to cocktail classics. She is the featured bartender at the Kentucky Derby Museum’s interactive Urban Bourbon Trail Exhibition, and she has contributed several recipes to the Four Roses company website. Zykan is also the St. Germain liqueur brand ambassador for Kentucky.
By Steve Coomes, Contributing Editor, Nation’s Restaurant News
Political tension is running high throughout the industry’s bar rooms, board rooms and dining rooms as President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney slug it out for the presidency in the run-up to the Nov. 6 elections.
But many restaurant leaders are nonetheless hesitant to voice their opinions publicly in what has emerged as one of the most polarizing national elections of recent memory.
While operators know full well that such critical issues as health care, tax reform, menu labeling, food safety and labor could hang in the balance, the intense partisan feelings generated by the close contest have many biting their tongues so as not to offend customers at a time when business is still slow and communications move at the speed of light.
Former Kentucky Gov. John Y. Brown Jr. understands the reluctance of those who choose to remain guarded when it comes to presidential punditry. As president of KFC from 1964 to 1973 and governor of Kentucky from 1978 to 1981, the 77-year-old Brown is well-acquainted with the risks of sharing opinions publicly.
“When you have two candidates spending more time tearing each other down than saying what they’ll do to fix the country’s problems, … that critical climate puts the American public in a negative atmosphere,” said Brown, who was regarded favorably by many Kentuckians as an apolitical governor.
It didn’t take a trip out of town to remind me how good Louisville restaurants are, but 10 days in Siesta Key, Fla., really drove the point home.
(I’m spoiled. I admit it.)
And that’s surprising given the money that flows through this small resort area: There is no shortage of luxury cars and eight-figure homes.
Doubtless, the serious travelers who come here—many of whom are foreigners—know good food and desire great restaurant experiences. But by and large, the restaurateurs on this quaint, quiet and gorgeous key don’t deliver it.
From Nation’s Restaurant News: Working to wring revenue from an underused daypart, Applebee’s rolled out in August a nationwide initiative dubbed Bee’s Late Night.
Starting at 10 p.m. — or 9 p.m. in Central and Pacific time zones — and running until at least midnight and sometimes much later, the lights inside Applebee’s restaurants are turned down, the music is turned up, food and drink specials take effect and the fun begins.
With its core family customers at home and likely in bed, Applebee’s restaurants turn to entertainment such as karaoke, trivia contests, dancing and theme nights to draw crowds of mostly Millennials, although baby boomers — especially those leaving second-shift jobs — stop by as well.
But photos of, among other activities, lewd dancing and young women sharing whipped-cream kisses at what’s known in some markets as Club Applebee’s raise the question of whether the casual-dining chain is compromising its family business and image as it courts a different crowd.
Opinions are mixed, but those affiliated with Applebee’s issue a resounding, “no.”
From Nation’s Restaurant News: Pizza Hut pioneered the five-minute pizza a quarter century ago with the introduction of its Personal Pan offering. The problem was, much like Henry 
Ford’s “black only” Model T, toppings options were limited, and pizzas were premade and held in hot boxes to make for speedy lunch turns.
That’s all changed with Pie Five, the mini-chain sibling of Pizza Inn, based in The Colony, Texas. Quick customization is the core of this fast-casual concept, which serves a menu of 11 specialty personal pizzas alongside the option to customize one with 21 toppings, seven sauces, two crusts and four cheeses.
Seven units already have opened in 15 months, proving that Pie Five has traction, said Dave Ostrander, a pizza operations and marketing consultant. He said he’s surprised no one moved on this option earlier “because it’s a knockoff of what happened one generation ago at Pizza Hut. But where it’s not a knockoff is in the Subway-style format. Customers get to look at their choices, have it their way and get it quick.”
Read more: http://nrn.com/article/hot-concepts-2012-pie-five-pizza-co#ixzz27hGLP37X
From Edible Louisville: Roger Baylor never set out to be the unofficial spokesman for the craft beer movement in the Louisville area. But in the 19 years since he, ex-wife Amy Baylor 
and Kate Lewison opened Rich O’s Public House in New Albany, the role sort of found him.
The trio’s “Spanish Civil War moment,” as Baylor calls it, was to refuse the sale of “industrial swill” (a.k.a. mass-produced beers) at Rich O’s and instead build a following by sourcing unique and well-made beers from U.S. microbrewers and overseas. Over time, and despite the establishment of microbreweries in the Louisville area, Rich O’s became the favored local haunt for beer geeks eager for new finds.
In 2002, the owners “went legit,” in Baylor’s words, by joining the ranks of Louisville brewers (Bluegrass Brewing Co., Cumberland Brewery and Browning’s Brewery) by making their own beer under the New Albanian Brewing Co. name. That success flowed into the creation of Bank Street Brewhouse, a modern gastropub, also in New Albany, in 2009.
From Edible Louisville: Kentucky chef Jeremy Ashby knew his freshwater trout and prawns combo was a long shot to win the annual Great American Seafood Cook-Off in New Orleans last month. But he had no doubts he’d get his chance to give the influential fish folk there a quick lesson in Kentucky sustainable aquaculture.
“Every year we know that coming from a landlocked state is a disadvantage,” said Ashby, executive chef at Azur Restaurant in Lexington and a two-time cook-off competitor. The 8-year-old contest’s rules mandate any fish ingredient must come from that chef’s state’s waters.
So far, all of the cook-off winners have come from states abutting salt water, and out of this year’s 14 competitors, only three came from landlocked states. “We knew that if we were going to impress anybody, we’d have to be showmen. So we smoked the fish right there at the contest. It made for good TV.”
