It’s been a busy Spring in restaurant news. The Warehouse Block is heating up with new and relocated entries, North Lime is adding a distillery anchor to the corridor, and a couple of longtime proprietors are selling out of the restaurant business and moving on to new adventures.
WATCH
Kentucky author and former poet laureate Crystal Wilkinson will be featured on CBS Saturday Morning on Saturday April 13, 2024.
BIRTHS
Congratulations to Bespoken Spirits on the launch of their new distillery and tasting room at Greyline Station in late March.
Lexington has a new option for Ethiopian fare. Ethiopian Family Kitchen begins limited service on Sunday April 7. Advance orders are required, and pickups will be during a limited window on Sundays at Greyline Station.
OBITS
Kung Fun Tea & TKK Fried Chicken, located inside the Hub, closed in March.
Rise Up Pizza announced, via social, their recent closure, having lost their lease inside Horse & Jockey (in the former Cheapside Bar location). Rise Up was formerly located in Greyline Station, and had shifted to Detroit-style pizza with the move downtown.
TRANSITIONS
Blue Door Smokehouse will soon be opening their new and expanded location at the other end of National. (It joins Void Sake and Wild Lab Bakery in their new locations nearby.)
Kukie is selling Jasmine Rice Thai and Vietnamese Cuisine on Winchester Road. Her goal is to sell to a former employee with a restaurant background, with the transition expected to happen later this fall.
The legendary Joe Bologna himself has announced his pending retirement at the end of July. He hopes to sell the business to a new owner who will keep up the tradition of casual Italian fare, with breadsticks.
Tolly Ho is on the move. In May of 2011, Lexington’s legendary Tolly Ho moved to its new location on S. Broadway in the former Hart’s Dry Cleaning building, located diagonally across from The Lex, where it’s enjoyed a happy home ever since. In February 2024, UK voted to buy the Broadway property, and Tolly Ho will relocate to the nearby former Bad Wolf Burgers location (Bad Wolf recently returned to its original home in Meadowthorpe). The current menu is expected to remain intact at the new location, which will be renovated (the Ho burger and 24/7 omelettes are in no danger.)
Ace Eats Out appears on pages 16-17 of the April 2024 issue of Ace. Click here to page through the digital edition of the April 2024 print issue of Ace. To subscribe to digital delivery of Ace’s print edition each month, click here. Click here to join the Ace Eats Out Facebook.
