Logan Street Market_Spr20_Ed-final.qxp_Road Trip_Cinci.qxd 3/2/20 4:29 AM Page 38
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BY MARTY ROSEN PHOTOS BY DAN DRY
Louisville’s Food Scene Takes A
Logan Street Market The Sistine Chapel is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. It’s something I’ll never forget. Right up there with it is a battered, gently-fried squash blossom I encountered a couple of days later. It was part of a fritto misto served in a grease-stained cone of brown paper at a hillside farm market in Tuscany, by a woman who was cooking that morning in a fryer on the back of a trailer. 38 Spring 2020 www.foodanddine.com
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very year, magazines and newspapers fill miles of column space with advice on how to become a “traveler” instead of a “tourist.” Some of the advice is obvious, some impossible (unless you have the time to spend months living in one place). But there’s a simple strategy. Do all the touristy stuff; hit the museums, landmarks, and great restaurants. But also build in some time for market visits. Seek out places where people literally stand behind the things they’ve raised, and where cooks are connected to farmers. Even a small market is a living community where you can see people with diverse skills and interests banding together around the very stuff of life. In these kinds of markets, buying and selling isn’t just transactional, it’s also relational — and buying a carrot or a wedge of cheese is a meaningful exchange. Louisville has some great farmers’ markets. But the Logan Street Market brings something new to the city. An enclosed, year-round market that houses both vendors and restaurateurs, and caters not just to shoppers, but to diners and drinkers.