By Anna Meany–

The annual Dishcrawl blindly leads Louisvillians as they enjoy some of the best meals in the “Foodie City”.

“Love food? Love life?” asks the banner on Dishcrawl’s homepage. Why, yes. Louisvillians love food – we’ve got tons of unique restaurants at our fingertips in the Possibility city. Do we love life? Is that even a question in this town?

The event brings food-lovers, restaurant-gurus, winos and beer snobs together for one big party in NuLu.

Dishcrawl comes to Louisville at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16 and encores the following night.

The Cardinal sat down with Tracy Lee, Founder and CEO of Dishcrawl.

What is Dishcrawl? Think pub-crawl. Except without all the stumbling and regret. Food enthusiasts pay one price to enjoy four locally-owned restaurants in the heart of Louisville’s newest neighborhood (so eat lightly!). Lee calls Dishcrawl a culmination of her talents and passion for great food.

Her main offices are in San Jose, CA – miles and miles from our river city. Lee knows how to give a nation-wide company hometown roots, though. She employs ambassadors from each city (Dishcrawl entertains in over 120 cities now) who choose the absolute best restaurants to visit. Tracy has the upmost confidence in Allison Taylor, Louisville’s go-to Dishcrawl ambassador.

Lee says she loves that Dishcrawl provides an “outlet for food lovers to embrace their food-loving selves” and simultaneously sparks the local economy, adding that the event’s success comes from the amount of food traffic it brings to little-known eateries.

So, what’s the catch?

The list of restaurants is nowhere to be found.

That’s right. Dishcrawl won’t tell ticket-holders where they’re dining until two days ahead of time. For food-lovers, including Lee, this list is as sacred as the Holy Grail. Part of the Dishcrawl experience is diving into Louisville’s culture blindly – even if you’ve been here for a while. The folks at Dishcrawl are serious about making this a night to remember.

Vegetarian? They’ve got that covered. Lee says Dishcrawl is sure to “satisfy anyone’s mouth”. Meatless options are available at every restaurant.

And what an appropriate time to talk food – it’s Derby Season! On May 1, Derby Crawl will give foodies another reason to call the first week of May the “least productive work week in Louisville”. This event features food in and around 4th Street Live! and several Derby-specific dishes.

With an already established network of acclaimed restaurants and breweries, Louisville is the perfect city to host an event like this. Lee says Dishcrawl is “focused on re-imagining the way people think about food” – that means getting patrons out of their comfort zone, out on the town, and into the bars and booths of Louisville’s finest.

Visit dishcrawl.com/louisville for tickets and more info.

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Photo courtesy of yellowscene.com