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a la lucie
159 N. Limestone. 252.5277. Lexington’s special occasion address. Regarded as one of the region’s best. Award winning menu with extensive wine list. Open 6-10, Mon-Sat. Reservations recommended.



Alfalfa
557 S. Limestone 253-0014. Voted best pancakes by Ace readers in the Best of Lexington poll year after year. Winner of 2001's "Best Veggie Friendly Restaurant." Live music. Free evening parking behind the building. Daily specials. Lunch, Monday - Friday 11-2. Dinner, Tuesday-Thursday 5:30-9, Friday 5:30-10. Brunch, Saturday and Sunday 10-2.



Billy's Bar-B-Q
101 Cochran Rd. At the corner of High St. in Chevy Chase. 269-9593. Genuine Western Kentucky style pit barbecue and fixins. Dine in/ carry out/ catering/ bulk deliveries. We’re the home grown guys. Open M-Th 11am-9pm; F-Sat 11am-10pm; Sun 11:30am-8pm.



Cafe on the Park
369 W. Vine St. at the Radisson Plaza Hotel. (859) 231-9000. Wonderful view of Triangle Park. Breakfast 6:30am until 10:30am daily; breakfast buffet served in season. Lunch 11am-2pm, (pasta bar on Thursdays) Affordable upscale American cuisine and a wonderful wine list 5pm-10pm. 90 minute complimentary parking.




Cafe Jennifer
111 Woodland Ave at the Woodlands Condominiums, 255-0709. A cozy restaurant featuring Kentucky favorites, using locally grown produce. Lunch and Dinner daily, Mon.-Sat. Pub room atmosphere in the well-stocked bar and private room available for small gatherings.



The Depot
128 East Main St., Midway 846-4745 Eclectic creations with a down home flavor serving Central Kentucky and beyond. Good times abound at “The Depot” in Midway, six days a week for lunch and Thursday, Friday & Saturday for dinner.


Ed and Fred’s Desert Moon
148 Grand Blvd. 231-1161. Affordable American Cuisine. Gourmet pizzas, fresh pasta, specialty salads and sandwiches, and a wide array of entrees. Informal yet elegant atmosphere. Wonderful wine list! Patio dining and banquet facilities. Lunch: 11a-3p Tue-Fri; Dinner: Tue-Sun.




Emmett’s Restaurant
Off Tates Creek Road, south of Man O’ War, 245-4444, offers innovative Southern cooking in a renovated farmhouse featuring a cozy bar, casual patio dining and seven lovely dining rooms. Dinner served Mon.-Sun. beginning at 5:30 PM and Sunday brunch from 11 AM-2 PM. Reservations accepted.



431
255-2431. It’s all about the food at this continental eatery where Chef Jim Plymale builds his menu around fresh, seasonal ingredients. For lunch how about Black Bean Cassoulet or Crispy Polenta Napoleon? Imagine the dinner fare. Located on (that’s right) 431 Old Vine St., the atmosphere is smart and cozy. And the bar is the swankiest in town. Dress: As yourself. Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:30-2:30; Dinner: Mon-Thurs 5:30-10; Fri-Sat 5:30-11.



Furlongs
255-2431. It’s all about the "Food with Character" 735 E. Main Street (859)266-9000. Full-blooded, dipped in the Bayou, authentic Southwest Louisiana Cuisine is now being served for lunch at Furlongs! PO-Boys, Burgers, Creole, Etouffees, Gumbo, Pastas, Salads, Seafood, Steaks, Fresh Fish, and great Daily Lunch Specials. Dinner features specials and extensive wine list. Lunch: Mon.-Fri. 11-3. Dinner: Mon.-Thurs. 3-10, Fri. and Sat. 3-11.



Happy Dragon Chinese Buffet
1510 Newtown Pike, 859-388-9988. All you can eat chinese buffet. Over 120 items daily, featuring fresh seafood, beef, chicken, pork, soups, salads, fruits... and much more! Open Sun. to Thurs. 11am - 10pm, Fri.& Sat. 11am - 10:30pm.



The Homestead
3955 Harrodsburg Rd, 219-9922 The Homestead Restaurant offers superb regional cuisine in a classic and beautiful setting. A warm and cozy ambience naturally complements the traditional southern dishes prepared by Executive Chef Tony Cortez. Open for dinner six nights a week. Closed on Sundays, except during Keeneland. Dinner: 5:30 Mon-Thur, 5:00 on Fri & Sat.



Jonathan at
Gratz Park

120 West Second Street 252-4949 Redefined regional cuisine served in our Southern dining room or in the English pub room. Festive Sunday brunch from 11:30-2 pm. Reservations suggested. Also call us for intimate dinner parties, fabulous banquets, business lunches, pre-wedding events to the reception.



Mancino’s Pizza
& Grinders

1590A Leestown RD. 253-2299. First in Kentucky with HOT oven grinders! A taste of New York right here in Lexington. Everything from the traditional Mancino’s Pride pizza to the “New” Zesty Ranch Pizza. All Grinders are oven baked and served Hot from the oven. Everything made to order. Mon-Sat 11am-8pm.



Natasha's Cafe
112 Esplanade 259-0203. An array of tastes from Kiev to Cairo in the elegant atmosphere of a Parisian cafe. World cuisine buffet for lunch. Fine dining for all income brackets evenings after 5:30. Tour buses, business meetings and accordion players welcome. Voted Lexington's Best Ethnic Fare (ACE Weekly Readers’ Poll, 2001). Lunch Buffet 11A-2P, M-F and Noon to 3P on Saturday.



Pacific Pearl
Chinoe Plaza. 266.1611. Boldly fusing Asian and American flavors. Coconut fried lobster, King Crab legs in ginger butter, and Grilled Yellowfin Tuna are just a few of the items that represent this extensive menu. Open 5-10 pm, Sun-Thu. and 5-11 pm, Fri and Sat. Reservations recommended.







Scarborough Fare
355 Romany Road. 859.266.8704. A gourmand’s delight, featuring an array of entrees that will tickle your fancy. Menu changes daily. Deli dining, or gourmet carryout for those on the go. Open Monday-Saturday 10-8.



Starbucks Coffee
University of Kentucky Student Center. 257-1209. Lexington's first full size Starbucks location. Stop in today for fresh brewed coffee, espresso drinks, Frappuccinos, delightful pastries, and Starbucks merchandise. Conveniently close to downtown. We are a cyber-café; come surf the 'net on our laptop computers. Open Mon.-Thurs. 7am-9pm, Fri. 7am-4pm, Sat. 9am-4pm. www.uky.edu/auxserv.




Yamamoto Japanese Grill
& Sushi
130 West Tiverton Way. 859-272-6668. Call for reservations. Prepared before your eyes!! Come enjoy our Fresh Sushi and a variety of Sushi Rolls and fantastic performance and taste in Habachi Grill. Lunch Specials and Lunch boxes available $5.95-9.95. Mon-Thurs 11-2, 5-10; Fri 11-2, 5-11; Sat 5-11; Sun 12-9.

l Food for the Color Blind

As if it wasn't enough that every food product on the grocery shelf now comes in fourteen variations - including low fat, no fat, cholesterol-free, decaf, high fiber, sugar-free, taste-free, chunky, calcium added, unscented, extra strength, and if you're lucky, regular - now you have to decide what color you want.

It started a couple of years ago when Heinz (motto: "57,000 varieties") came out with Blastin' Green ketchup for kids. It's pretty much the same as boring old red ketchup except it looks like it's been sitting out for way too long. It went over so well with parents who will buy their children anything in order to shut them up, that the following year Heinz put out Funky Purple, which tastes just like the other colors except it makes you think you're eating Barney. Come to think of it, that may not be such a bad thing.

Now Ore-Ida, a division of - yes, you guessed it - Heinz, is getting ready to roll out Funky Fries, a line of specially flavored and shaped French fries which include brown and blue versions. That's right, soon you'll be able to buy Kool Blue French fries, which are "sky blue seasoned," and Cocoa Crispers, which are - hang onto your sweet tooth - chocolate flavored. MMMmmmmmm! So far Heinz hasn't said what sky blue tastes like but I suspect it's the same as sky blue Popsicles. Whatever flavor those are.

The idea of brown chocolate French fries covered in purple ketchup is not only disgusting from a taste point of view, but from an aesthetic one too. If this trend keeps up refrigerators will not only have ice makers, water dispensers, Internet hook-ups, and fondue pots built in, but will come with a color wheel attached. Either that or Heinz will hook up with Garanimals to make it easier to color coordinate dinner.

One product that's always been in the colored food category is about to add a new hue. As if the hip-but-icky blue M&M's they picked seven years ago to replace boring, staid, oh-so-80s tan wasn't bad enough, now they're looking to add either purple, pink, or aqua. This being the Democratic Decade, they figure that if we can vote people off an island, vote on what we think the right answer is so someone else can become a millionaire, and vote for whether we think a referee made a good call or not, we should be able to vote for this. That's why you can go to their website (www.mms.com) between March 6th and May 31st and cast a ballot for the color of your choice. Well, that and the fact that it's a huge free publicity bonanza for them.

Most of these products are being colorized thanks to food dyes that have numbers instead of names, but some are being done naturally. Scientists in New Zealand (motto: "The Other Australia") have developed a kiwi fruit with gold flesh, no hair on the outside, and a sweeter taste. Other than those changes it's the exact same fruit. They're doing this because, well, it's easier than discovering a new one.

The motivation for this mutant kiwi is so they can tap into the Asian market, where foul-smelling durians are so popular that some countries, like Singapore, ban them from buses, subways, and hotels, yet mildly tart kiwis just don't make the grade. For starters, they might consider going back to the fruit's original name, which was Chinese gooseberry. There's nothing like giving the illusion that a product is local to help sales. They changed the name a number of years ago for marketing purposes, figuring that since they grow them in New Zealand and they kind of look like the fluffy kiwi bird, it would sell better. It worked. Now that they've developed the new bald variety they're going to have to change its name from Zespri Gold to Bruce Willis Fruit.

The effect of food color on humans has been the subject of many scientific studies. And some unscientific ones too. One night a long time ago, on a lark, I put food coloring in everything in the refrigerator. I made pink mayonnaise, blue milk, and bright green 7-Up. Being ahead of my time, I even made purple ketchup. Okay, it was more a muddy brown, but it had definite undertones of purple. Needless to say, the next morning my roommates were none too thrilled about pouring blue milk into their coffee, slathering orange cream cheese on their bagel, and putting neon green mustard on the brown ham sandwich they were making for lunch. Being a trendsetter is never easy.

If companies continue to change the color of food we're going to see an interesting phenomenon: colliding trends. Last year several books came out which advocate eating according to a food's color. What Color Is Your Diet? claims we should choose our fruits and vegetables based on their color. The Color Code: A Revolutionary Eating Plan for Optimum Health takes it one step farther, saying we should only eat foods which match our dining room. Just kidding. Actually it claims that different colors in foods have different properties, blue being good for the brain, orange good for the heart, and green good for the author's bank account, especially if enough people fall for this.

If companies start arbitrarily changing the color of food we won't know what to eat, especially if we start wrapping it in the new food wrap the USDA has developed. They've figured out a way to turn apples, oranges, and carrots into thin sheets which can keep food fresh in the refrigerator. This means one day you may have to figure out when it's best to eat brown Cocoa Crisper chocolaty French fries covered in green ketchup topped with pink M&M's wrapped in red strawberry-flavored wrapping. I have no clue when that time might be, but I sure hope there's enough for seconds.

Karen Workman is on vacation. She will return next week.

Please email your culinary heads-ups to Karen at kworkman@aceweekly.com.


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