River House Restaurant and Raw Bar located at 3015 River Road opened March 4 , 2016 , to great acclaim . The restaurant , which is housed in the former Falls City Boat Works building immediately adjacent to the Kingfish restaurant , has been in the planning phase for a number of years . It is the long awaited dream turned reality for Chef and owner John Varanese , whose eponymous Varanese has become a dining staple along the Frankfort Avenue corridor here in Clifton .

My husband and I went to the River House for lunch on a recent warm and sunny prespring day and had a very pleasant experience . Parking was easy . ( I ’ ll have more thoughts on that later .) The building façade is clean , bright , modern and unfussy and the “ V ” in River seemed more like a check mark on an ECG than a ( water ) wave - at least to my eye . On entering the restaurant we were met by a smiling hostess who asked us if we had reservations . There was no problem seating us and I inquired if they took reservations for any particular minimum of guests , both for lunch and dinner . She said they did and would make a reservation for even a single guest . I find that reassuring nowadays . So many restaurants won ’ t take reservations or if they do , it is for parties of a minimum of 6 or 8 . ( Reservations are easy to make both on the restaurant website and on www . opentable . com . We have found the latter source to be reliable in terms of time slots given for any restaurant listed on the site .) The hostess asked if we would like to be seated in their cozy “ inner cave ” with access to the well-filled Raw Bar . We declined that offer and asked if she could find us a table where we could look outside at the river . She explained to us that the prime river view tables were all occupied . However our seating was satisfactory and we had a view of the river across a nice informal patio area between River House and the Kingfish . We could also see the old Water Tower close by . The walls on two sides of the restaurant are floor to ceiling glass and these are 40 ft . high industrial type ceilings . Thus the

perimeter of the restaurant is light and bright and just felt right for the time we were there .

Our menus came quickly as did our two glasses of water and the latter contained no ice . I was delighted to see that but I suspect that most people will expect ice - especially when the warmer weather is here to stay . We did not need wine with lunch but looking at the entire menu later online at riverhouselouisville . com , I saw that the wine list is substantial , as is the list of spirits . We spent a lot of time reading over the lunch menu . This was our first visit and we wanted to get a good idea of the dishes offered . There is an interesting mix of appetizers , from mussels , oysters and lump crab meat to our server ’ s favorite , Brussels sprouts with ham . We chose baked Brie in a light , crunchy , Phyllo dough crust . It was drizzled with a bourbon-sorghum glaze containing dried cherries and sprinkled with toasted almonds . It was delicious and adequate for the two of us . For the main course we had fish and chips ( hubby ) and Cavatappi pasta ( me ). The pasta is topped with either pulled chicken or a Diver scallop and two large shrimp . I chose the scallop and shrimp option which cost $ 4 more than the chicken option but the good thing about the pasta dish is that it is available in a half-portion as well as a full-portion size . The half-portion was more than enough for me . It was well seasoned and well-cooked . Other entrées include chicken , salmon and beef items .

There is a good choice of salads to which can be added any one of a half-dozen cooked seafood items . Additionally there is quite a list of Po Boys and sandwiches . For the non-meat , non-seafood eater there is a Pho-Boy which I thought was a cleverly named vegetarian alternative . We didn ’ t try desserts but the coffee was good . For anyone contemplating a first visit to the restaurant I suggest looking up the menus , printed in their entirety on the website ; riverhouselouisville . com

The menu items may change over the next few months , as the developing clientele expresses its preferences . Chef Varanese describes his goal as a blending of Kentucky traditional and South Carolina Low Country food . A native of Cleveland , Ohio , he attended culinary

Louisville Medicine Volume 63, Issue 12 | Page 34

RESTAURANT REVIEW

RIVER HOUSE