When we got into Louisville to visit the family, Saturday night was originally planned for going out for dinner and we kept to that agenda.  Louisville is blessed with a fine selection of restaurants from local eateries to the top of the food chain and most of them are independents, instead of the chains.  That is not to say, that they don’t have the obligatory chains that are homogenizing the landscape and eliminating the local cuisines, but that is part of the restaurant scene these days.  When we are in Louisville, we always allow the locals to select the restaurant, and they always do a great job. 

They chose the River House, that surprisingly is located on the river.  The River House is owned by Executive Chef/Proprietor John Varanese who has been in the South, getting experience at places like Magnolias, Azalea and finally culminating in opening his own restaurant called Varanese, and then he opened up the River House in 2015.  There was five of us for dinner, and there was plenty of food ordered, but as usual, I will only discuss the plates that my Bride and I had that evening.  My Bride had the Chilled Half Pound Lobster stuffed with Gulf Shrimp, Bay Scallops and Lump Crab with lemon, capers and dill served with baby greens and cherry tomatoes and it was delicious.  I went with a dish that we made once at the house, but it is so time consuming that I am better off getting it at a restaurant when we are out; so, I had the Braised Beef Short Rib with Barbeque Pan Sauce, buttered whipped potatoes topped with fried onion straws, and the dish was so rich, that I had to take a doggie plate home with me, and a separate box for the bone for a lucky dog. 

We had a couple of bottles of wine with our dinner and we started out with a white wine.  We had the Bos Wine Ode to Fume, Napa Valley 2015, with their tagline of “Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs” by William Shakespeare and an homage to Pouilly-Fume of the Loire.  David Bos has been a vineyard manager in the Napa Valley for ten years and was immersed in the now lauded biodynamic/organic farming practices since day one.   He gets intimately involved with the vineyards to try and nurture all of the best from the vineyard.  David and Jackie Bos, along with their winemaker Jillian Johnson are striving to create an affordable cult-wine from Napa Valley.  Bos Wines got its beginning with the Napa Valley Phoenix Ranch single vineyard Syrah, and they have since added a Napa Valley Soda Creek Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc,  and I would have to venture that this is a second Sauvignon Blanc wine for them, but not a single vineyard offering, as their website leaves a lot to be desired when it comes for information.  I would opine that this wine was done in Stainless Steel to maintain the crispness and the citrus flavors to the forefront.   After the white wine we followed with a red wine, Trivento Bodegas y Vinedos Amado Sur Red Blend, Mendoza 2018.  Trivento is a large Argentine wine company with a range of wine and labels in Mendoza, and the name refers to the “three winds” that blow across Mendoza.  The winery was established in 1996 with a three-hundred-acre vineyard in Maipu, and they now have thirty-seven-hundred acres of vineyards in eight different properties in Mendoza.  In 2011 they opened up an art and wine tourism facility at the winery.  The Amado Sur brand is a blend of Malbec, Syrah and Bonarda, and they also make a Torrontes based blend with Viognier and Chardonnay.   This wine had enough body and finish to hold up to the steak dinners that were ordered.  A fine meal was had by all, with no need for dessert and the five of us were getting together the next evening as well.