316 W. Main St., 561-3344
When I sit down to a restaurant meal, leaving usually isn’t the main thing on my mind. But at Intermezzo Cafe, that is precisely what most patrons are thinking about. It comes with the territory when a restaurant is located beneath bustling Actors Theatre, especially during March, the month of the annual Humana Festival of New American Plays.
Intermezzo manages to get people to their theater seats and turn out some pretty good bistro fare at the same time. The owner, Upper Crust Catering, has plenty of experience with time-managed food presentation. But Intermezzo reaches for more than efficiency. Located in a downstairs space in a 170-year-old building that originally housed the Bank of Louisville, Intermezzo’s walls are covered in rich gold fabric adorned with French posters hanging in ornate frames. A dropped faux-tin ceiling adds to the feel of an intimate French bistro — and the menu does as well.
Recently, I enjoyed some items from the winter menu and was able to observe the restaurant both before and after curtain call. (A loud intercom interrupts the flow of conversation to urge people to their seats in upstairs theaters.) Amid the bustle of patrons scrambling before the show, I sampled the French Country Pate ($8). A slab of coarsely ground pork, veal and chicken liver arrived on an attractive plate, accompanied by pickled garlic, cornichons and Dijon mustard. Chicken liver was the pate’s dominant flavor, but it was balanced well with herbs and even more so in the company of the garlic, pickle and mustard.
An even better ensemble was my Bistro Style Roasted Garlic and Pear ($7). A Bosc pear, oven-roasted to tender sweetness, merged with a roast-mellowed head of garlic and the musky creaminess of Saga blue cheese. I really enjoyed how each item brought sweetness to every bite, along with counterpoints of wine, nut and pungency. My only wish was that the bread — a disappointingly tame loaf with a lackluster crumb — could have lived up to the array.
I also yearned for a bit more flavor in my Intermezzo Pot Pie ($17). While it was very rich under its puff-pastry cap, loaded with haricots vert, chicken and mushrooms, it needed more herbs to really bring the flavor out. The fresh sprig of rosemary was a nice garnish, but would have been even nicer tucked into the pie. The dish came with a small, nicely done house salad, whose crisp greens and crunchy carrots were enhanced by a basil vinaigrette (available as a separate item for $6.50).
Intermezzo’s chef de cuisine is Sarah DiFabio, who has packed lots of restaurant experience into her young life. Raised in a family that runs a great little Italian place in Madisonville, Ky., this Sullivan University culinary graduate has also seen time at Porcini and Ruth’s Chris. I saw experience from the latter come to life in a perfectly delightful rendition of steak frites ($26). The tender rib-eye was grilled exactly to my order (medium-rare), and came with an enormous pile of parsley-dusted, addictively crispy pommes frites. A knob of herbed butter added even more richness to the steak, which was as good as some I’ve had in Louisville’s premier steakhouses.
As other patrons left for the theater, Intermezzo became much more relaxed and intimate. I actually shared a few stories with my server, since I began my professional life as a waiter at a previous incarnation of this restaurant downstairs from Actors. (I learned, for example, that the actors still get deeply discounted drinks and still don’t tip well.) I enjoyed Intermezzo’s bete noire ($6), a dense slab of chocolate confection straddling the border between cake and fudge. But the amazing revelation came with a serving of homemade orange honey thyme ice cream ($6). A large portion almost filled a martini glass, but I still wanted more. The combination of sweet honey, citrus and lemony thyme was positively enchanting, and made even more special by the sugared thyme sprig stuck into the ice cream — the kind of special, delicious touch that makes you smile.
Intermezzo is too good to be judged by the clock, though it seems to get people to the curtain on time. The bistro fare is commendable enough to warrant a visit even if you’re not headed for the next production. If more of DiFabio’s performances measure up to her steak frites, who’s to say she won’t be the next big discovery to come out of Actors?
