School Sushi to move to Shorty’s spot in new year
School Sushi, a popular Japanese restaurant that used to be on Old Todds Road, is coming back, this time in the former Shorty’s Market & Tap Room space at 163 West Short Street.
Chef Tomoka Ito plans to reopen March 1 with a new School Sushi, featuring traditional Japanese specialties made from scratch. The name is a playful nod to a school of fish, she said.
The menu will be much the same as the former restaurant, she said, but she won’t have a conveyor belt to deliver sushi. She will have a spot again for karaoke — in the former bank vault space, which also will be available for private dining. Ito said she plans to be open for lunch and dinner and will have a full bar.
The spot is in one of Lexington’s hottest dining districts, near Dudley’s on Short, Parlay Social, Table Three Ten, Cheapside Bar & Grill, Belle’s Cocktail House, Lexington Diner, Centro, 21c’s Lockbox and, coming after the first of the year, Corta Lima. Once the renovated old courthouse is open in 2018, chef Ouita Michel plans open a second Windy Corner Market inside, too.
The new School Sushi interior will be designed by Pohl Rosa Pohl; the lease was brokered by Block + Lot, representing Ito, and the Gibson Co., which listed the former Shorty’s space.
Shorty’s closed in June after opening first as an urban grocery in a remodeled bank in May 2011.
▪ Throughout December, Holly Hill Inn owner/executive chef Ouita Michel and chef de cuisine Tyler McNabb are showcasing favorite foods from Kentucky in a holiday dinner menu. Starters and first courses include beaten biscuits with country ham; duet of verlasso salmon; sautéed wild mushrooms over cornmeal dumplings, and more. Entrees include house-rolled Stone Cross Farm porchetta with persimmon chutney and twice-baked spoonbread; black angus beef tenderloin with bordelaise and bearnaise; ragout of Eileen’s Kentucky lamb; Hickory Run Farm game hen fricassee; walleye pike stuffed with fresh jumbo lump crab, and more. New holiday cocktails and wine flights are also available at the Holly Hill Inn, 426 North Winter Street in Midway. Reservations beginning at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Group reservations welcome. Call 859-846-4732or go to hollyhillinn.com/reservations.
▪ Alfalfa, 141 East Main Street, will feature New England cuisine on Wednesday for International Night. From 5:30 to 9 p.m., you can get codfish chowder, maple chicken, crab cakes (vegetarian version, too), Johnnycakes and Boston baked beans. Next week: Guatemalan night. Call 859-253-0014 for more information.
▪ Lexington cookbook author Barbara Harper Bach is teaching a Christmas candy-making class at Wild Thyme Cooking, 1060 Chinoe Road, from 10 a.m. to noon Dec. 17. Learn to make bourbon balls; seven-minute fudge with variations including: eggnog fudge, opera fudge, penuche and black walnut marshmallow; plus butterscotch haystacks, and grandmother’s divinity. Wild Thyme owner and chef Allison Davis demonstrate how to make her peanut brittle. Class is $45 per person and includes recipes for the candy. Cookbooks will be available for sale; sign up at wildthymecooking.com.
▪ Looking for a tasty gift ideas? Check out the annual Three Toads Farm holiday gift guide, including Mrs. Toad’s gourmet jams and jellies and the gourmet jam-of-the-month club. Plus holiday amaryllis and paperwhite bulb kits and Three Toads flower workshops.
▪ Boone Creek Creamery’s Kentucky Proud Store, 2416 Palumbo Drive, can put together holiday gift baskets with jam, jellies, soaps, salsa, cutting boards, candy, candles and more. Customize or choose ready-made baskets. Shipping available. Call 859-402-2364 for more information.
▪ Love Thai food? Check out this (relatively) new place: Archa Nine Thai Kitchen, 162 Old Todds Road. Open Tuesday through Friday for lunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and for dinner 5 to 9 p.m., and open from noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Lunch specials daily, with vegan and gluten-free options. Call 859-309-2726 for reservations.
▪ J. Render’s, 3191 Beaumont Centre Circle, celebrates Wine Down Wednesday every week with half price bottles of wine from 3 p.m. to close, $6 select appetizers and $1 off all wine, beer and cocktails daily from 3 to 6 p.m. Nine new craft cocktails to try. Call 859-533-9777.
▪ Bourbon Barrel Foods’ Hot and Spicy Kentuckyaki Sauce was named a finalist in the pantry division for the 2017 Good Food Awards. Bourbon Barrel Foods, 1201 Story Avenue in Louisville, will find out if they are a winner on Jan. 20. For more information or to buy products, call 502-333-6103.
▪ Due to construction delays, the opening of Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, coming to 2500 Polo Club Boulevard in Hamburg, will be delayed until late winter, the company said. The opening originally had been planned for December.
▪ T.W.’s Corner, a new sports bar and American restaurant, has opened at 201 East Main Street in Georgetown. T.W.’s serves breakfast, including on-the-go items, and lunch, featuring soups, sandwiches and more. Open daily 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, closed on Sunday. Call 502-603-8222 for more information.
▪ Copper & Kings, 1121 E. Washington Street in Louisville, also will host Hamcrafted: A Hams-on Workshop for the Country Ham Enthusiast on 6 p.m. Dec. 8. The class includes a lesson on the history and heritage of country ham with author Steve Coomes, demonstration of curing and preparation from Kentucky State Fair award-winning curers Chris and Steve Makk and paired country ham and American brandy tasting. The cost is $35 per person, which includes a signed copy of Coomes’ book “Country Ham: A Southern Tradition of Hogs, Salt and Smoke.” For more information or to reserve a ticket, visit evenbrite.com.
▪ Lexington-based Fazoli’s has launched an expanded catering program featuring new menu items, available for pick-up or delivery in Lexington and all of its corporate-owned restaurants nationwide. Fazoli’s plans to introduce its new catering menu across all franchise locations by spring 2017. The new menu features items such as creamy basil Alfredo penne with chicken, baked fettuccine Alfredo with chicken, an antipasto platter and tortellini pasta salad, as well as triple chocolate cheesecake and brownie platter. Minimum $150 order for delivery. To place catering orders, call 888-329-6547 or place online at fazolis.com at least 24 hours in advance.
▪ Jefferson’s Bourbon founder Trey Zoeller has several small-batch releases lined up for the fall and winter, including Jefferson’s Presidential Select 20-Year, which debuted this month. This is a blend of 17 barrels of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey aged more than 20 years for a whiskey that’s smooth with spicy undertones from the rye. It retails for $200. Jefferson’s Pritchard Hill, a bourbon aged in wine casks that impart aromas of blackberry, black cherry, licorice and dark chocolate, will be released in December. It will retail for about $90. And in January, Jefferson’s Flatboat Experiment with New Orleans chef John Besh, will be coming. That bourbon will be sold a live auction with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the John Besh Foundation.
▪ The 21c Museum Hotels in Lexington and Louisville have expanded their offerings of private selection spirits to include Old Forester 21c Selects Single Barrel 2016, for $55; New Riff O.K.I. 21c Selects Private Barrel 2016, $75; Whistlepig 21c Selects Private Single Barrel 2016 for $120; Buffalo Trace 21c Selects Single Barrel, for $48; and Copper & Kings 21c Private Cask Brandy, for $90. The limited edition bottles are available in the hotels’ gift shops and by the drink in the restaurant bars.
▪ After Dec. 9, the LexGo Eat column will be in the paper once a week, in Friday’s Weekender section. Submit food and restaurant news to Cheryl Truman, ctruman@herald-leader.com or 859-231-3202. Deadline for inclusion in the Friday column is noon on Tuesday.
This story was originally published December 6, 2016 at 10:14 AM with the headline "School Sushi to move to Shorty’s spot in new year."