The PBJ Shop located on 440 S. 3rd Street has everything to offer a new restaurateur: Good location, timing (NCAA tournament with new arena down the street), Derby, spring weather, a cute if not interesting idea, and of course ambition. We all love to believe in a ‘fantasy’; reality however is much more likely and usually comes much quicker. Owners Corey Spencer and Shawn Duall have perfected the art of dreaming about sandwiches without the execution of creating a restaurant in real-life.

Starvin’ Marvin’s menu offers "home-style meals prepared from scratch form their kitchen all day long" and that "you’ll find everything you love about country cooking plus a few that might surprise you". And they absolutely put their money where my appetite used to be. Whether it’s old favorites like biscuits & gravy for breakfast, soup & sandwich combo for lunch to meatloaf, country ham and plenty of country vegetables for dinner, you will never go hungry at Starvin’ Marvin’s Country Kitchen, and like me, you’ll definitely be going back for seconds.

Yew Dell Botanical Garden’s COOKING FROM THE GARDEN SERIES - Spring Season, Sunday March 4th, 2-4pm. Among Yew Dell’s most popular classes, the Cooking from the Garden series offers Chef Mark Williams expert information in a lively interactive class. The whole while, Mark slices, dices and entertains, followed by sumptuous sampling of the seasonally inspired dishes he creates. You’ll go home with a new take on the veggie garden, a handful of recipes and enough new knowledge to make you the hit of your next dinner party!

The Wine Cellar at 610 Magnolia was the site for “Lite Bites & Bourbon”, Friday, February 24th. The event was a preview for the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival. Hosted by Chef Edward Lee (610 Magnolia, Top Chef), Matt Jamie (Bourbon Barrel Foods) and Preston Van Winkle (Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery), the local setting made for the perfect atmosphere to introduce local Louisvillian’s to a festival that focuses on the food and beverage traditions of the South.

On December 1st, local celebrity and Louisville.com writer George Lindsey interviewed Paula Deen on air to discuss her Saturday, December 3rd show at the Horseshoe Casino titled “A Holiday Evening with Paula Deen”. George is a lucky guy and his article can be read on this site, but he didn’t get to spend an evening with The Lady Deen…I did*.

Presented by Brown-Forman, you may dine out at a participating restaurant and 25% or more of your bill will be donated to House of Ruth for the support of Glade House. I particularly love the array of participating venues and am going to try and fit at least one lunch and two dinners in today because frankly I sleep better knowing I did a good thing locally on a full belly.