Supper-club inspired restaurant opens in The Galt House Aug. 27

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Diners will be treated to both a feast for the eyes and the palate when Swizzle Dinner & Drinks opens to the public on the 25th floor of The Galt House Hotel on Aug. 27. Swizzle is the latest restaurant to open as part of the hotel’s $80 million renovation and follows in the footsteps of Walker’s Exchange in reimagining a bygone era of Louisville culinary history.

Perched 25 stories above River Road, Swizzle is inspired by a supper club of the same name that operated on Chestnut Street in downtown Louisville in the 1940s and 50s. Back then, the spot was named for the drink stirrers that could mix a patron’s cocktail with just a quick swirl and was billed as the “headquarters for grand food.”

“The golden era of supper clubs elevated a restaurant dinner to an evening-long social experience, with refined yet approachable food and cocktails,” said Scott Shoenberger, president and CEO of the Al J Schneider Co. “Our goal with Swizzle’s menu is to reimagine these classic American dishes with new, modern flavor combinations.”

Featuring the area’s best prime steaks, chops, sustainable seafood, local produce, and made in-house sauces, Swizzle’s expansive menu offers surprises at every turn. Appetizers include favorites such as lobster bisque and fried calamari, and chilled seafood includes lump crab cocktail served with both traditional cocktail sauce and ginger lime cream, and a fresh selection of East Coast oysters. Steaks can be dressed up with a variety of sauces including Argentinian chimichurri or Swizzle’s signature steak sauce, and accompanied by add-ons such as lobster tail, grilled bacon, or bone marrow.

Anchoring the menu is a well edited list of Swizzle Throwbacks, featuring Filet “a la Swizzle”, which is served with a tomato confit tart, grilled bacon and wild mushroom mornay sauce, and cedar plank roasted salmon with crispy broccolini, garlic mashed potatoes, and sundried tomatoes.

“Our hope with this menu is that diners will find the kinds of dishes that recall fond memories of celebratory nights out, but that something new and intriguing will catch their eye as well,” said Chef Mike Putnam. “We want our guests to have as much fun trying our menu as we did creating it.”

Behind the bar, the emphasis is on time-tested classics with impressive presentation. The Smoke on the Water, for example, is the house old fashioned, served with a smoke bubble on top to be popped, and a classic martini is dressed up with an “everything bagel” spice rim. In the Swizzle section of the menu, retro cocktails like the Singapore Sling—a fruity, gin-based concoction with pineapple and cherry—are prepared with fresh fruits and juices and served with a signature swizzle stick, while the molecular cocktail features flavored cocktail pearls and citrus foam and is served in a large miso spoon.

“Our cocktail menu is designed to have an element of theatre to it,” said Westley Harris, general manager of Swizzle. “So much of the original supper club experience was about entertainment, and the ‘wow’ moments you would tell your friends about the next day. These cocktails give you something to talk about.”

For more information about Swizzle, please visit www.swizzle25.com