profile | bar vetti
Putting the
Bluegrass
ong ago, there were two brothers named
L
Vettii — social climbers who had been freed from slavery and rose through the
ranks of the social strata as merchants. They eventually reached a secure position amid the
into the
upper crust and built a large, comfortable
Bruschetta at bar Vetti
The brothers lived in Pompeii, and the year was A.D. 79. The epochal eruption of Vesuvius buried their house in volcanic ash and debris until it was excavated in the 1890s. The House of the Vettii has since enjoyed considerable renown for a series of well-preserved frescos based on ancient myths, but the brothers Vettii didn’t live by art and valuables alone. Among the foodstuffs common in Pompeii were bread, olives, beans, fruit, nuts, seafood, pork and sausages. While wealthy Pompeiians considered house-fattened dormice a gourmet delicacy, they didn’t eat tomatoes, capsicum peppers, spinach or eggplant, which hadn’t yet been brought to the land we now call Italy. Among the items left intact on that fateful day were copper cooking vessels situated atop iron braziers on a wood-burning stove. It is known that food and drink were critically important to the success of “business lunches” in the Roman Empire, which tended to fill entire days. As the crow flies, Louisville and Pompeii are 5,000 miles apart, but you’ll now find a reference to the Vettii family in Derby City almost 2000, years later. Louisville restaurateur Ryan Rogers visited Pompeii and found a connection between this ancient building and his newest concept, which he hopes will help Louisville begin to mirror daylong enjoyments. Rogers, known for his Feast BBQ (2012) and Royals Hot Chicken (2016) successes, has partnered with Executive Chef Andrew McCabe, bringing a whole new concept to the ground floor of the recently renovated 800 Tower apartments at 800 S. Fourth Street in downtown Louisville. You might recognize the structure by its nickname — the Turquoise Tower of Power — because of its exterior bluish-green aluminum curtain wall. Rogers thought the Vettii name was perfect, because he recognized similarity between the ancient Italian structure he toured and this Louisville icon — both buildings that had been lost for a time and found new life. After trying times, the 800 building has come around again, and the new owners wanted a restaurant downstairs from the
BY ROGER BAYLOR | PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN DRY
bar Vetti 800 S. Fourth Street 502.883.3331 barvetti.com
38 Summer 2018 www.foodanddine.com
house. There was just one problem.
