delicious美食網

Sometimes the ingredients are there but things just don’t add up.

This is my dispirited takeaway from my visits to Brasserie Provence, a mainstay restaurant of Louisville’s East End specializing in Southern French cuisine. French food can be deceivingly simplistic; dishes comprised of a mere handful of ingredients, each woven together to create something better than the sum of the parts. Alas, that magic fusion was missing as I tasted my way around Brasserie Provence’s lunch and dinner menus, the lack of seasoning and vibrancy pervasive.

By no means was every bite a disappointment; however, I do expect more from one of the city’s more established eateries, particularly considering the price tag.

Brasserie Provence makes its home at the corner of a brick shopping center on North Hurstbourne, just past the Shelbyville Road interchange. The space the restaurant occupies is ample and diners are given plenty of room to move in the comfortable dining room. A large French flag hangs just inside the entry and an expansive wooden feasting table stretches to the left of the host stand, each seat set with Provencial inspired place mats. A few French-themed signs and pieces of art hang about at random.

I began my initial dinner visit by selecting a basil gimlet ($12) to sip on from the list of nearly a dozen craft cocktails. As fresh as the lime juice was, it failed to find a balance with the simple syrup, the basil losing its voice. The wine list, on the other hand, was a joy to peruse, Brasserie Provence’s cellar appropriately skewed to the diverse regions and grape varietals of France.

Courier Journal