Pat McGinnis knows fussy restaurant service is a dead art familiar mostly to Baby Boomers.
But he and chef-co-owner Charles Reed want to return a bit of that old school experience to the dining room when they open Henry’s Place on June 1 at 4864 Brownsboro Center (specifically the old Mike Best’s Meat store).
One clue as to what he means is on the restaurant’s website, where clicking the tab labeled “Attire” leads you to this instructions stating: “Please avoid the following: Shorts; Tee shirts; Ball caps; Torn blue jeans; Flip flops.”
Gotta get the seersucker suit to the cleaners?
No, said, McGinnis (which is good, because I don’t and won’t own one.)
“It isn’t so much a dress code as it is to let our patrons know that they can dress a little more stylish than is accepted now” at restaurants, said McGinnis, who retired from Trover Solutions (a company he co-founded and sold) as chairman in 2007. The restaurant’s location in the middle of one the wealthiest corners of Louisville leads him to believe a better manner of dress will come naturally anyway. “Our demo, based on where we are, will be a population that’s a little older and with a little more sophistication and taste. It’s sort of a retro idea we are retrying to capture.
“This is not going to be a place where a server comes up and says, ‘Hi guys, I’m Shirley!’ You’ll hear things like good evening and how may I help you?”
He said “a substantial amount was spent” changing everything about the building. He termed the décor, “Mad Men ‘60s” and said virtually nothing from the meat shop survived the renovation. The restaurant will seat an intimate 80 diners.
A Colorado native, Reed was chef at Majid’s St. Matthews until last fall, when he and McGinnis created a partnership and went looking for locations. At Henry’s Place he’s created a pan-Euro menu that fuses New World flavors and Old World techniques. Some examples:
Beef Carpaccio $10: Montana Wagyu, fresh arugula and golden pea tendril salad with barrel olive oil, capers, sea salt
Seared ahi $13: seared atop fennel slaw with wasabi buerre blanc, tico circle
Chicken ballotine and linguini $20: consommé, tomato, heirloom carrots, house herbs, feta and brioche melba
Leg of lamb $20: juniper berry marinade, grilled atop fava bean porridge, Barolo, glacé, petit mint and chateaux potato
Day boat cod $16: heirloom tomato relish, buerre vert and Felton’s tartar
The most expensive price on the menu is $29 for cioppino, which isn’t outrageous, but a number that implies it better be good. Nearby is $26 for 45-day, dry-aged rib-eye steak. Desserts include neat touches like homemade cookies and handcrafted chocolates.
McGinnis said the restaurant “is about food first, service second,” and emphasized Reed’s passion for the brigade de cuisine system of cooking is a foundation for how the food will be prepared.
“No, we don’t have 21 employees in our kitchen,” McGinnis said with a chuckle, referring to the classic kitchen duty hierarchy established nearly a century ago under the French chef Escoffier. “What that really refers to is the 21 processes applied to each dish. Charlie does everything from scratch, on sight and in the classic methods.”
And the genesis for the name, Henry’s Place? That refers to one of the city’s greatest entrepreneurs, Henry Watterson. Smart, wealthy and worldly, Watterson was a fan of fine dining, and the owners imagine he’d like a place like theirs—especially since it overlooks an expressway named after him.
Want to go next week? Henry’s Place will be open for dinner only, Monday through Saturday, 5 p.m. to close. (Yep, “close,” that’s all it says. I suppose when the lights go out, it’s time to use Henry’s expressway.) For more information and reservations, call 690-6585 or visit its website. McGinnis said the OpenTable reservation service will be turned on June 8.
Steve Coomes is a Louisville restaurant industry veteran turned food writer. In his 22-year career, he has edited and written for dozens of national trade and consumer publications including Nation's Restaurant News and Southern Living. A past restaurant critic and food feature writer for Louisville magazine, he pens features for ...
