Let's be honest: You start to make up your mind about new restaurants before you ever actually try them. So we decided to rate upcoming spots based on four categories: name, location, menu and our own personal excitement levels. This week: Longboard’s Taco & Tiki in New Albany.
Name: 8.8 / 10
Dylon Jones, web editor: 9. Cowabunga, bruh.
Jenny Kiefer, associate writer: 10. Sold. It doesn't need to be inventive or hard to pronounce. I know what type of food I'm getting at Longboard's, without the Taco & Tiki addition.
Alexandra Winters, assistant web editor: 8. Definitely gets the point across.
Mary Chellis Austin, managing editor: 8. Is it necessary for tiki to be part of the name? Like, El Camino was totally tiki-ed out with umbrella drinks and surf music but didn’t have to advertise that obvious fact.
Nikayla Edmondson, editorial intern: 9. Aloha and hola?!
Megan Brewer, editorial intern: 9. Real rad, dude.
Location: 6.6 / 10
Jones: 10. Full disclosure: I’m far from an expert on New Albany. But that area of town is so charming; with storefronts like that, Andy Griffith could be whistling down the street right now.
Kiefer: 3. This would have to be a special trip for me. If I'm going to Indiana, it's because I need to make another trip to Menard's or I'm riding my bike over the walking bridge. That route would probably turn dinner into a three-hour tour.
Winters: 9. Takes advantage of New Albany's growing downtown scene. But still, it's across the bridge.
Austin: 6. I have to admit that I’ve still never been to Brooklyn and the Butcher, Hull and Highwater or Gospel Bird — all Southern Indiana restaurants that have been on my list since they opened.
Edmondson: 7. I hardly cross the river to visit Indiana but New Albany has a relaxed vibe.
Brewer: 5. Do I want to drive to the unfortunate state of Indiana for tacos? No, but I will.
Menu: 9.5 / 10
Jones: 10. I’m happy anywhere I can get a take on chilaquiles. Add salmon poke and tiki cocktails? I’m done for.
Kiefer: 7. The pictures on their website are hit or miss. A whole fillet inside a small soft taco shell seems difficult to eat. That pile of sliced steak and fried onions (?) looks delicious. One picture shows what looks like runny guac. Points for inventive tacos like korean barbeque and duck confit. And they have a house-made kimchi? At a taco place? I'd eat it.
Winters: 10. Tacos, poke, tiki drinks = yes, please.
Austin: 10. Anywhere you can find bibimbap, guacamole and duck confit on the same menu (uh, nowhere?) sounds like a winner to me. And it’s the same owner as Brooklyn and the Butcher, which, as I mentioned, means nothing to me, other than that the dude’s apparently got some clout now. Consulting chef James Moran used to basically run Seviche, so points there as well. Can we go higher than 10 on this one?
Edmondson: 10. I am excited for the integration of Korean dishes. Quinoa Bimbimbap? Count me in!
Brewer: 10. A taco menu that starts with salmon instead of beef and has a lot of mentions of chipotle may have just found its way into my heart.
Overall excitement: 9.2 / 10
Jones: 10. This is something I’d be happy to cross the bridge for. I’m not even going to hold the fact that it’s in Indiana against it.
Kiefer: 8. I'd make the pilgrimage to Longboard's...eventually.
Winters: 8. I keep talking about how I need to check out New Albany, and this might finally get me over there. But my overall excitement might be higher if I didn't have the Limbo right here luring me in.
Austin: 9. Does this place have a patio?
Edmondson: 10. I love food, and I like to enjoy the environment in which I am dining. Their menu and play on flavors has me excited. I also like the aesthetic of the web page and logo.
Brewer: 10. As someone who hates beef, when I hear tacos, it’s usually a 0/10 for me, but Longboard’s seems to be the taco place that was made for me.
UPDATE:
Moments after we posted this report card, our advertising production coordinator and New Albany native Lindsay Flint chimed in with these thoughts:
“I just read the Longboard's report card and you all make me kinda sad. New Albany is five minutes from the office. C’mon guys, it's easier to get to than the East End! You can park (IN A PARKING LOT), and there are at least ten actually good restaurants in a two or three block radius! It really is the sunny side. Except Jeffersonville, they suck.”
