Tag: Diversions

RSVP

OMG, it’s already 344 days, 9 hours and 22 minutes away

Big smiles, big personalities and big business networking — yes, it’s everyone’s favorite feature in the society shiny sheets: party photos! Boulevard picks through the pics, choosing our favorite coverage. Today’s entry is from the just-published Voice-Tribune.

Champagne smaller[Insert exhausted sigh here.] Nearly three weeks later, we may have finally reached the apotheosis of this year’s horsey soirée news here: “More than 167,000 eager spectators enjoyed beautiful weather at Churchill Downs on May 7 for the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby,” the Voice-Tribune says. “The mint juleps flowed as excitement built toward the call to post, and the most exciting two minutes in sports saw Nyquist triumph over his 19 competitors.”

Related: Introducing Boulevard’s exclusive 2017 Derby Countdown Clock™. Plus, more Voice-Tribune party photos.

Photo, below: Derby mainstays and identical twins Priscilla Barnstable (left) and Patricia Barnstable Brown. (Or is it the other way around?)

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Food and Dining

Finn's logoNewly open — the past three weeks — Finn’s is serving southern comfort food for breakfast, lunch and dinner in up-and-coming Germantown. A sample of what looks good on the menu for dinner: brown sugar salmon with hop’n john and creole butter sauce; price isn’t on the website’s menu. 😦

Executive chef is Brian Curry, formerly at Napa River Grill. The operating partner is Steve Clements, who last owned Avalon, the Highlands restaurant he sold to El Camino four years ago, says Insider Louisville.

Finn’s is in the historic Fincastle building directly behind the new Germantown Mills Lofts. The art deco building once housed offices for the 1800-era cotton mill that’s been converted to the rental loft-style apartments. In the age of social media, it’s on Facebook; Instagram, and customers are tweeting.

Where: 1318 McHenry St. When: Breakfast: 7 a.m.-11 a.m. weekdays; lunch: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays; and dinner: 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Related: Germantown’s booming as new families and businesses join long-time residents, says Louisville magazine.

Diversions

Speed museum weekend film: ‘It’s the Super Bowl of social fashion events’

The recently completed Speed Art Museum‘s expansion included a first-ever 142-seat cinema equipped with state-of-the-art technology. This weekend’s film, “The First Monday in May,” is about the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Met Gala, an annual event that’s surged in popularity under the direction of top Vogue magazine editor Anna Winter. It got a 79% on movie review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

Movie times, with links to buy tickets:

Travel

Louisville to France: an $88,000 Memorial Day Weekend in a sunny place for shady people

An occasional look at premium travel from Louisville.

Memorial Day Weekend is upon us, and we’ve decided to inaugurate the start of summer with a beach vacation — to Monte-Carlo! No, not that tacky hotel in Las Vegas. We mean the glittering jewel of the French Rivera, made famous by the late Princess Grace, and the occasional ne’er-do-wells who’ve made it a sunny place for shady people.

The weekend weather forecast is mostly sunny, with a high only touching 80 degrees. Here in Louisville, it’ll be closer to 90. Here’s our itinerary.

When: May 26-31. Airline: Delta. Route: Louisville to Atlanta to Amsterdam to Nice, then a 40-minute drive to Monte-Carlo. How much: $13,724 per person airfare for a mix of economy and business class. About 15 hours 30 minutes flight time with layovers. Delta reservations.

What better place to stay in Monte than the Diamond Suite Penthouse at the Hotel Hermitage? It promises three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a children’s playroom — and two terraces, with drop-dead views of the yacht-swollen harbor (photo, top). Best of all, Larvotto Beach is just a six-minute ride along seaside Avenue Princesse Grace.

Gustave teddy bearHow much for the suite? A steal at $18,523 a night. Of course, this doesn’t cover various optional enhancements that include a $51 Gustave teddy bear made exclusively for younger guests (photo, left). We do the math so you don’t have to: four nights would cost $74,092. Here’s one of the penthouse suite’s terraces:

Terrace

Food and Dining

What better way to celebrate World Baking Day…

. . . than by surfing through Wiltshire Pantry’s Instagram page. Talk about food porn! Our jaw hit the floor right here:

 

If Boulevard was eating lunch at Wiltshire in the Highlands, we’d opt for a natural chipotle turkey sandwich with Broadbent pepper bacon, Kenny’s pepper jack, avocado aioli and greens, on cumin buttermilk white: $10.50.

Where: 901 Barret Ave., 502-581-8561. When: Tuesday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Closed Mondays.

Related: Wiltshire now has a restaurant at the Speed Museum. Also, Wiltshire and Blue Dog Bakery crank out croissants, says The Courier-Journal. Blue Dog’s also on Instagram. New and looking good in Shelby Park: Scarlet’s Bakery; they’re on Instagram, too. And don’t miss PBS’ Great British Bake Off show.

Travel

Crazy-crooked houses, picturesque canals — it’s Louisville to Amsterdam for a $51,000 week-long visit

An occasional look at premium travel from Louisville.

Boulevard loves Amsterdam: whimsical, cockeyed houses lining romantic canals; the recently reopened Rijksmuseum of Dutch Masters after an extensive renovation, and friendly, liberal-minded residents. And that’s not to mention all those coffee shops selling fine marijuana. Indeed, there’s even more to savor in a recent New York Times story about the city: Amsterdam, Revisited. (And don’t miss its fresh update on “36 Hours in” Holland’s capital.

Consider this itinerary:

When: Oct. 12-19. Airline: Delta. Route: Louisville to Detroit to Amsterdam, 10 hours and 17 minutes travel time, including a one-hour layover in Detroit. How much: $7,479, economy to Minneapolis and business class to Amsterdam. Delta reservations.

Related: TripAdvisor recommends the five-star Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam. The Brentano Suite is available during these travel dates for $4,721 per night; that’s the lovely sitting area, below. Reservations. And of course, don’t forget Airbnb Amsterdam apartments.

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The bottom line

For two travelers: airfare, hotel, plus $400 a day for meals, museum tickets and other incidentals: $51,000.