"I try to geographically highlight different restaurants, and Azur is in an area of the city that seems under-saturated with restaurants. Then again, maybe it just pales in comparison to Hamburg.
Azur is situated north of the Liquor Barn in Beaumont Centre off Harrodsburg Road. The chef and staff take pride in offering fine food with good service. Before I write of the food, I will say that this is not the best place for a business meeting of more than two to four people. Perhaps now that the patio is open, you could take up one corner of the patio with seating for eight to ten.
An annoyance when the dining room is crowded is that the room is "acoustically bright," sometimes drowning out conversation at your own table. Friends of mine experienced that, and it really put a damper on things. From my visits, I would say that it is the exception, not the rule.
Now on to the good stuff — Azur has a very ambitious lunch menu, and from the items my guests and I had, the chef has fine control of the kitchen. On the first visit, my guest had the luncheon special, a full filet of tilapia in an orange-butter sauce with artichokes, squash and snap peas. The special was priced at $11.95 and was very good, according to my company. The menu has a specialty salad section from which I chose the chef's salad with bleu cheese rather than the house dressing. At $9.95, I found it excellent due to the special ingredients. This salad had prosciutto de parma, black forest turkey and gruyere cheese along with bacon, chopped eggs, tomato and greens. My only disappointment from the kitchen is when I ordered hot tea and learned that they only offered decaffeinated tea.
I invited another guest to join me on my second visit, and our observation concerning the dining room is its cool, detached feeling. Many, including the two of us, seek out a certain ambiance to enhance the meal. I don't see this as an issue with many business meetings, but if I were recruiting someone for a professional practice or faculty position, then it would come into play.
The sandwich offerings and lunch plate section from the menu offered good variety. My Dominican sandwich on a sourdough panini was too much to eat. The filling of pork tenderloin, thin-sliced prosciutto and lemon cabbage slaw made this a delicious sandwich at $7.95, and shoestring fries came with the sandwich. My guest enjoyed the grilled salmon at $12.95 from the lunch plate section, which was served atop a tomato risotto with grilled spinach on the side.
Azur offers the business community along the Harrodsburg corridor a good spot for a small luncheon retreat.
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