Ever Heard of Healthy People 2010

The idea was to educate the entire United States population about the benefits of eating daily portions of fruits and vegetables. In turn, health would be improved and various diseases would decline in the population. The last report indicated that no state reached the Healthy People 2010 national objectives for fruit and vegetable consumption. Change is slow but they are still pushing the objectives. Learn more by going to www.healthypeople.gov

Good-bye Lake AZUR

Since AZUR opened in 2004, we have been plagued with water run off from the 2,500 s.f. of patio every time we had a hard rain. We tolerated it for years as one of those "trade offs" of having such a large area of hard service with a slope to the side of the restaurant. We even christened the water that would stand on the patio for a few hours "Lake AZUR". Finally, we hired professionals to perform an analysis and to design a solution. AZUR is implementing the solution this weekend. Basically, we are adding a long trench drain to the outside edge of the patio awning to catch the water as it comes down the hill, thus, preventing it from pooling in the middle of the covered patio. We are anxious to see it tested to say the least. Good-bye Lake AZUR?

AZUR Brochure Revamping

After nearly five years, we thought it was time to revamp the AZUR brochure graphics and content. It's interesting to see how media has evolved in just five years. In the past, we had the industry standards such as: address, phone number and website. Now, we added the blog, Twitter and Facebook to our information. In fact, they have become our primary means of communicating what we're doing at the restaurant on a daily basis because it's almost in real time. Though the brochure does accurately portray our overall concept, but it is just a snapshot in the continuum. Tomorrow, something may inspire us and we'll pursue it which changes AZUR a little moving forward.

distilled AZUR May Chef Series Dinner

AZUR has completed and posted the "distilled AZUR" May Chef Series dinner which will be held on Thursday, May 28 at 6:30 p.m. Executive chef Jeremy Ashby is well pleased with the final result. Utilizing distilled spirits is relatively uncommon in the culinary world with the exception of rum. This dinner will present vodka, rum, gin, whiskey (bourbon) and brandy (cognac) in each of the courses, respectively. The concept for this Chef Series is deconstruction of the ingredients used to produce the spirits as well as using the spirits themselves within each course. This is a very unique offering and one of the most complex from a culinary perspective that AZUR has offered to date. More info at http://azurrestaurant.com/chefseries.aspx. We are really proud of this one and have received many comments of interest. For reservations, call 859-296-1007.

What's in a Name - AZUR?

To make a long story short, AZUR restaurant & patio took Azure (a blue sky or purplish blue) from the English dictionary and dropped the "e" to make it our own. Years later, we often see that our old friend - Spellchecker often corrects the spelling to "Azure" when it's used in print media. Not a big deal - what's in a name? We'd rather be known for our innovative cuisine. Plus, the vast majority of our loyal customer base easily make the connection to AZUR. For those of you that are slightly confused if you see "Azure" mentioned in reference to a restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky, they meant to write AZUR. We don't even want to discuss the pronunciation variations.

Craving Morels

Just received a report that Morels [mushroom] are popping up out of the ground. These tasty fungi treats are a favorite of many. The best way to prepare is simple. Egg wash with coating of flour, salt and pepper. Then fry in pan of butter and serve. Look for AZURInsider in the woods of Southeastern Iowa this coming Saturday. Maybe Friday!

Don't Miss Patios and AZUR

In the current issue of Southsider magazine, AZUR was included as a "Don't Miss" patio in Lexington, Kentucky. We appreciate being included and work very hard to make our patio not only attractive and inviting but also festive. This includes hosting live bands and special events such as the Labor Day weekend Latin Bar-B-Que on the patio. To view the excerpt for the article, please follow the link http://azurrestaurant.com/Azurout.aspx