Owners Jessica Mach and Stewart Davis are serving up some pretty tasty Vietnamese food out of a renovated Butchertown mechanic shop that retains its industrial feel with stripped-to-cinderblock walls and exposed pipes. Classics star on the menu, including banh mi with sandwich bread baked in-house and pho with meat-rich broth that’s cooked for more than 12 hours. There are also vegetarian options.

Gone vegan but completely miss junk food? Morels Cafe may be the place for you. At Morels, Stanley Chase, maestro of the Louisville-based Vegan Jerky Company, offers “vegan food that doesn’t suck.” In this case, “not sucking” means manufacturing soy, seitan, and other alternative-meat versions of fast-food classics, like the pulled “pork” sliders, which won Chase an award when Morels was just a food truck; the Egg McBluffin; and the Farby — an improbably beefy, cheesy sandwich on a soft toasted onion roll that does an amazing impression of an Arby’s Beef ’n Cheddar — the side of curly fries included.

Papalinos Pizza founder Allan Rosenberg returns to his roots with his second pizza place after dabbling in a variety of other cuisines with Anoosh Bistro, Cena, Fontleroy’s, and Citizen 7. The Hall, built inside an old cafeteria space, is determinedly downscale, promising “great pizza, shi**y beer.” (There’s also a full bar and some non-shi**y beer.) Full pies and pizza by the slice are on the menu, joined by garlic knots, wings, hoagies, and salads. There’s also an arcade room with a shuffleboard table and video games, as well as plans for live music.

Rocco Cadolini, who has family ties to Louisville, closed his semi-eponymous restaurant in New York and opened a restaurant with the same name in a space on Bardstown Road. Roc offers a broad menu of Italian classics, including burrata fresca, fried calamari, and zucchini, plus a selection of house-made pastas, Aperol spritzes, panini, branzino, and more. The engaging chef Cadolini can often be found prowling the tables, charming patrons, and encouraging their enjoyment.

La Chasse is a few years old now, but has been garnering new buzz since chef Andrew Welenken took over the helm of the sprawling restaurant on Bardstown Road this year. Taking his cues from la chasse (the hunt), Welenken pairs wild boar with Benton’s bacon and complements fried rabbit with Weisenberger grits and sauce financiere. There are also cocktails and a large selection of European varietals in the inviting space. Try not to miss the crispy sweetbreads with wild game hash.

Raw wood, pale walls, and Edison bulbs adorn this small restaurant opened by husband-and-wife team Jason and Aenith McCollum. The relaxed and casual atmosphere makes Chik’n & Mi a great place to enjoy the pair’s “Asian-inspired comfort food,” which includes ramen, fried chicken, craft cocktails, and, lately, a Sunday brunch featuring fried chicken biscuits with sweet and spicy jaew bong hollandaise.

Just as they set the standard for baguettes, croissants, and other breads at Blue Dog Bakery & Cafe eight blocks away, owners Bob Hancock and Kit Garrett raise the bar for sustainable, humane meats at Red Hog, which does double duty as both a butcher shop and restaurant. The rotating menu appears on a blackboard near the open kitchen, and there’s a full bar with craft cocktails inside the artfully restored gas station off Frankfort Avenue. During daytime hours, the butcher shop offers hot and cold sandwiches along with cuts of pork, beef, lamb, and house-made charcuterie. Plus, Eater Restaurant Editor Bill Addison is a fan.

In Anchorage, not far from the magnificent estate of one of America’s pizza magnates, Tom Edwards uses flour he mills himself (in a building he built himself) to make some amazing pizza and baked goods. Under the name Louismill, Edwards has been supplying non-GMO flour and bread to Louisville since 2015, and now he’s moved and expanded his operation to offer pizza along with breads, breakfast, and hospitality at MozzaPi. The aforementioned pizza magnate insists that better ingredients make better pizza — and MozzaPi is proving him right.