Volare Ristorante-Louisville, KY

Just a quick take on my dinner with my sister, Cindy, in Louisville, Sunday evening. Louisville is a fabulous restaurant town. When the Louisville magazine does its survey, the top restaurants are always local. The only chain that shows up is usually Ruth’s Chris for steaks—and it comes in as #3!

We always try to go out to eat when we are there. It gives us a chance to visit, and gives our parents a little break from us—in other words, they have time to take a little nap!

The only time we could make it was Sunday, when many of the good places are closed. Not having done any research this time, we got into the car and cruised the “restaurant row” closest to home, Frankfort Avenue. If nothing turned up, we could always go further afield to Bardstown Road, where we knew we would find something interesting.

We cruised past one with a great looking outdoor seating area, Volare, but Cindy said she thought it was closed. Not so, I said, since the outside tables had tablecloths on them. We went in to have a glass of wine at the bar and check out the menu.

Our bartender, Deborah, was cute and charming. The bar wasn’t crowded, so after looking over the menu, we decided to eat there, sharing two appetizers and a main course.

Antipasto de Capesante

Our first appetizer was grilled scallops, on a bed of sweet pea puree, with crispy prosciutto and little sprouts on top, drizzled with truffle oil. The scallops were huge and perfectly cooked. The flavor combination could not have been better.

By the time we had had our second appetizer, gnocchi with a creamy tomato-mascarpone vodka sauce, we knew a full main course was out of the question.

Italian cheese flight

Deborah suggested the cheese flight of the day, paired with wines chosen to match each one. Afraid we would fight over the good stuff, instead of sharing a flight we each had one. What a treat! Pecarino toscano paired with Chianti jelly, a soft creamy sheep’s milk cheese from Abruzzo, blended with a little espresso and lemon zest, and a soft cow’s milk cheese from Norcia with sliced pears drizzled with truffle oil. The wines were a perfect match.


The last week of every month they do a regional Italian dinner. We’re already planning on going back in October for the Umbrian one!