As a freshly turned 21-year-old, I relish in my newfound ability to enjoy opportunities I never had before. I can now frequent establishments on Baxter Avenue and Fourth Street more often for example. With that being said, I've taken a closer look at what they all have to often.
As a Bellarmine runner, I also run past the Baxter Avenue more than once per week so I see these places up close and personal. One thing I've noticed is the abundance of pizza places in the area. Don't get me wrong, I know (now that I'm twenty-one, of course) that pizza and beer go together better than peanut butter and jelly. Take a quick trip down Baxter Avenue with me:
We can start with a little overlap on Bardstown Road. The tour begins at a restaurant actually amidst construction. Next to Wild and Woolly Video will soon be a Mellow Mushroom, their third location in Louisville.
Soon after is Wick's. Then also you've got Papalino's, DiOrio's, Spinelli's.
Other than with the intention of creating some sort of Italian frenzy, the owners of these businesses are not fools. Baxter Avenue is far from saturated with this opiate of the good-time-having, beer-swigging, stumbling masses. So we can conclude that Baxter Avenue is a basically Louisville's pizza district. I'm curious:
- What's the best enjoy pizza on Baxter? Is the pizza and beer combo better at one place than the other?
- Is Wick's Wednesdays ($10 all you can eat pizza and drink beer) as much of a dream as it sounds like?
- Does DiOrio's or Papalino's make a better New York-style pizza?
- Does Louisville really need another Mellow Mushroom, in Baxter Avenue's pizza district, no less?
- Mere miles from Baxter are two havens of "artisan" pizza: Coal's and Garage Bar. Why no snooty, wood-fired, fried-oyster topped pies on Baxter?
Because of Kaelin's (the original cheeseburger, blah blah blah), Louisville has been talking burgers for years. But what area has such a concentration of one specific kind of food? Trudge through this muddled mess with me. Comment with some thoughts!
Photo courtesy of Papalino's
