Louisville Magazine

OCT 2014

Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.

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124 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 10.14 food bits drink Funmi's Cafe 3028 Bardstown Road "I started cooking when I was 10. My mother had fve boys and fve girls and other people living with us, so I was cooking for 20 people by myself by the time I was 12." P What They're Eating Now Nick Embry, Zac Jackson, and Ryan Besand recently opened Furniture Dudes on Lexington Road near Baxter Avenue. Embry: Scrod sandwich with extra tartar sauce at the Fish House. Ollie Burger with ranch at Ollie's Trolley. Aloo Gobhi (caulifower and potatoes cooked with ginger, garlic, onion and spices) at Kashmir. Jackson: Nachburger at Eiderdown. There's bacon in the burger. One of my favorite things to do is call in a carry-out order of a burger and fries and enjoy them right down the street at the Nachbar on the patio. The brunch buffet at Ramsi's. All the regular breakfast fxin's and all kinds of other treats: Jamaican chicken, brisket, chorizo con queso, pumpkin pie, carrot cake. Buffalo-chicken salad at Bluegrass Brewing Co. It's huge. And it doesn't hurt that, as a Wort Hog Club member, I get to drink giant mugs of beer on the cheap. I like to do a half pale ale/ half altbier. Besand: Burger and fries at the Monkey Wrench. Not sure if it's already a thing, or if the Monkey Wrench is pioneering it, but the "hipsterbilly" ambiance works. Bacon cheeseburger and tots at Zanzabar. Apocalypse Brew Works' Baby Jesus IPA + anything at Zbar = a great time. But the burger with tots is my go-to meal. The Root Cellar. I'm a sucker for local produce, and I'll always grab the arugula when available. Did you hear Kentucky-grown peaches are in? t he DISH Photos by Krista Walker ull up to Funmi's Cafe, nestled in an alcove in the Gardiner Lane Shopping Center (the one with the Krispy Kreme on Bardstown Road), and you'll see a glass storefront almost identical to the barbershop next to it. A few African-inspired paintings hang on lavender and beige walls. Fifteen tables that seat between two and four people. And it's clean. Really clean. Even the caulk between foor tiles. "If you come here and I'm not cooking, I'm mopping," owner Funmi Aderinokun, 44, says. "I was raised to believe cleanliness is godliness." Aderinokun is the restaurant's only chef and has been since opening in 2010. It's a labor of love. Better than the job at Citigroup she took on after her arrival in the U.S. from Lagos, Nigeria, in 2003. "I was talking to my friend about a restaurant," Aderinokun says, "and he said, 'If that's what you want to do, you should do it. Tis is America!'" And with a business management degree from the University of Jos in Nigeria, she knew she could do something diferent, bigger. It's a labor of heritage. "My great-grandmother was from Sierra Leone, and she cooked for the British. Tat's how recipes like lemon pepper dressing" — used in Aderinokun's vegan kachumbari, or East African coleslaw — "got in my family," Aderinokun says. "I started cooking when I was 10. My mother had fve boys and fve girls and other people living with us, so I was cooking for 20 people by myself by the time I was 12." Among her most popular items are vegan dishes like asaro (a sweet porridge with plantains, onions, potatoes and collard greens) and adalu (a stew of African brown beans and sweet corn steamed with tomatoes and onions). Aderinokun keeps it fresh. Does everything in-house. Buys most everything from local farms, including one in Indiana for the meats. Only thing she buys pre-made is sweet chili sauce. Aderinokun experiments with her recipes. Keeps it new: Tanzanian beef curry, chicken- peanut stew. "My grandmother taught me there's no one way to cook anything," she says. "You can add things, make it your own, twist it. I love her for that." Like her mother, whom Aderinokun describes as "old- fashioned," Aderinokun is also a little bit old school. She remembers her son coming home from a sleepover once: "Mom," he said, "did you know you can cook eggs in the microwave?" "Never in my house!" — Tyler Curth

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