Proof on Main
Category: American (New) [Edit]
702 W Main StAttached to the 21C Museum Hotel
Louisville, KY 40202 (502) 217-6360
- Price Range: $$$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Dressy
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Alcohol: Full Bar
10 Reviews for Proof on Main
The food was not bad, but nothing exquisite for the price either. Also, the seating was crowded and the area fairly loud.
It isn't a bad place by any means, and I imagine one of the top fine dining spots in Louisville, but for the money, I expect a dining experience that is a little more comfortable than Proof offered.
Their grass-fed Kentucky bison is their specialty and I do recommend it if you wind up giving Proof a try.
The best dinner & service I have ever had.... in my life. After dinner, I wandered into the attached exhibit/museum. It was fabulous. I felt like I was in Manhattan, not Louisville!
Started off with a cosmopolitan, I think because the pink lights got me in a pinky mood. I ordered the nightly special, pork milanese. Thinly breaded strips of tender juicy pork served over arugula, drizzled with olive oil & balsamic vinaigrette, and sprinkled with cheese. Accompanied with a fabulous red wine, Santa Lucia (that's all I remember!) For dessert, I had Pot de Creme. It had Bailey's in it.
Love this place. I seriously might go back to KY just to eat here!
We popped in here for a drink and appetizers before heading off to a music venue. My husband is obsessed with a particular piece of art (series of photographs) adorning the wall in the bar and wanted to make sure that I got a look at it.
The bar area is a little small and it's loud in there. Most of the patrons seated at the bar were cheering on the Olympic athletes so I don't imagine it will be that loud next month.
The decor was warm and inviting with good lighting and interesting furnishings.
The service was impeccable. Our waitress was friendly, helpful, and easy on the eyes.
The bartender makes a fantastic Lemon Drop but a shitastic LIT. Hubby wasn't too thrilled. The bar selection was top notch.
We ordered a plate of meats (prosciutto, salame, rabbit liver pate), cheeses (Fleur di Lis, local cheddar), and house made pickles (turnips, green beans, and a medley of squash and zucchini).
The rabbit liver pate was absolutely fabulous. Everything else was good. But, that pate made me a happy, happy girl. Hubby loved the prosciutto and the cheddar.
We'll try dinner next time.
Review for Bar only
So we stopped in on a recommendation from a colleague and it was well worth the walk. Upon entry you notice the eclectic decor with art pieces all around and some kickass incandescent pendant light fixtures over the bar.
The booze selection is fantastic and very reasonably priced, but here's the kicker ...
wait for it...
... you can take your drinks into the attached museum. That's right, at the back of the bar is a modern art museum with work ranging from great to uninspired, but it makes for an awesome space to walk around and enjoy a cocktail in a cool setting. Also, this isn't just a small room of pictures, it's a fairly large gallery ( intertwined with the hotel 21c) with video installations, photography, sculpture, paintings, and the artform of the future... holograms
If i were staying in louisville ( apparently pronounced "loo-ah-vill") it would be an awesome place to organize an event
Also bonus points for a mixed bag 10pm bar crowd including after work types, the overdressed aging elite, a dodgy looking middle aged lesbian couple ( super short white dress paired with stinky caucasian dreds, think grown berkeley street kid with too much money and nothing to protest), a few hip 30-somethings, and my personal favorite of pudgy after work type trying to get in good with dodgy lesbian couple
Cool art, great atmosphere. It's a perfect place to grab drinks and a light dinner with your co-workers at the end of the day.
Our visit happened to coincide with the 2nd anniversary of 21C. This was the best meal I've had in at least two years, and certainly the best ever in a hotel anywhere. We had the charcuterie sampler to start, an intermezzo of the risotto and the grits, the bass entree and the new york strip, and the apple fritters and cheese course. Everything was exceptional, except for the risotto, which was overcooked. We chalked this up to the kitchen running out of the original risotto and a rush job dampening an otherwise brilliant on the fly version. The grits were AMAZING, creamy and perfectly seasoned. The check arrived with a dish of fresh cotton candy.
The service was impeccable. Whenever the waitress, Jennifer, didn't know something, she went to find an answer. My glass was always full, my plate cleared promptly but not so quickly I felt rushed, she bantered easily with my husband who is prone to chatting about the industry.
The theme of the gallery follows into the restaurant and the space is as engaging for its food as it is for the art on the walls. I could not have asked for a better spot to celebrate my 30th and I know we'll be trekking back from Chicago to Louisville for nothing else than this restaurant.
Three Things I like about Kentucky...
1. Jim Beam
2. People call you ma'am and you don't feel like an old lady
3. Louisville, specifically proof on Main
After getting off the plane in Louisville, the first man I see was about 65 with long gray wooly hair and a confederate flag skull cap. Pause. Don't let Betty Boop fool you, as a black woman, I was not pleased, and was bemoaning my trip to Louisville. Then I went to dinner...
Proof on Main is in the 21C Hotel in the arts district downtown. The food was an eclectic mix of Italian and nouveau American, with a dining room looked like a museum itself with art adorning the walls including a Bill Viola-like video installation on the wall. For me a meal is all about the ambiance and I simply adored the design.
The food held up to the beautiful decor. Our group enjoyed a pumpkin ale followed by fig martinis and a jalapeno/pineapple signature martini--sounds strange and it was, but good. The cheese plate included Humboldt Fog (my fave) served with a truffle infused honey and other adornments that were delicious. My favorite appetizer was their chickpea/ham fritters. They were served on a small plate on top of printed paper almost as a nod to traditional fish & chips. Delicious! Main courses included risotto, scallops, steak, and the meal ended with a chocolate/caramel bread pudding that was so decadent, I wished I hadn't eaten so much before dessert.
The real show stopper here is the gallery attached to the restaurant., it was so awesome I had to write a separate review! If you live in Louisville, I'm jealous you have this place! If you visit, you must go here.
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I had martinis with a friend at Proof before a show recently. Right place, right time. That was more than $20 just for two drinks but the atmosphere was right and the obligatory lobby and first floor tour ensued.
I've been dining at Proof on Main almost since its doors opened. Every time I'm in Louisville and staying at the 21C Museum Hotel, I find myself here for a meal, a drink at the bar, room service, or a combination of the three.
Chef Michael Paley has crafted some terrific new American cuisine utilizing with great fanfare the local foodstuffs of the mid-South Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio basin.
Taking a page from the book of Tuscan restaurant lore, Paley (who used to be at Lucca in Boca Raton), features primi courses of house-cured meats, "from the hearth" bites, and "relish" veggies from across the spectrum.
Once you get to the appetizers, though, the Kentucky locale shines through. One favorite has remained on the menu the entire year: Chick Pea and Country Ham Fritters served with a grain mustard aioli. The wine list splits nicely between craft California winemakers and Italian counterparts, and the bourbon list tops 40 distillers).
My main courses have run the gamut, from a recent special --- homemade gnocchi topped with a venison ragout --- to the simple, but incredibly delicious Proof Burger (with the most perfectly charred outside i've ever tasted on a medium rare burger... how did they do it?).
My only complaint is that Paley is clearly creative and exciting in the kitchen... but his menu changes so minutely each season that I don't feel like I find the variety I would expect from a world-class restaurant and the nightly specials are limited. That and the breakfast menu is extremely limited (though the Proof granola with vanilla honey yogurt is damn good).
The staff at Proof is among the nicest, most genuinely happy-to-be-there groups i've ever encountered. They are both knowledgeable and friendly, with not too much of either outweighing one or the other.
The head bartender at Proof's bar, Chris, is both a creative mixologist, and a bourbon historian who will serve five people while still telling you an involved story about the history of a small batch producer.
All in all, a visitor to Louisville will not be disappointed dining at Proof as this city continues its cosmopolitan growth. I will continue to explore the burgeoning gourmet ghetto in Kentucky, but will always come back to Proof on Main.
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If you think I went to this restaurant for the food, you are mistaken. I went to this restaurant because of the museum attached to the hotel it is attached to. If you like finding the "racey" side of things, this would be a place to be.
Uh-oh, that intro, and the 3 stars, probably tells you about my dining experience in a nutshell.
The food was VERY good, probably very worth a 4 star.
However, I AM the service snob. Service was sporadic here. Reggie, who greeted us at the door was open and engaging. Then disappeared. The server, who evah, since we never got her name, was slow. Slow to ask for our order. Slow to come back to get our order once we decided. slow giving descriptions, I don't mean just her pacing, just she was either distracted or something! Slow to return to the table to see how things were going, and slow with the check. She wasn't slow to blow us off. She didn't even bother to bring us our compementary puf of cotton candy, which I told her quite early into the evening that I would love to have.
Long story shorter, the Bison was amazing! The cured meats for appetizer were quite frankly heavenly.
The bison was wonderful, cooked nicely for our order.
I would definitely go again, reserve more time for the tour, and not look forward to the food quite as much.quite as much
more to come....
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