Profile of Ruby

I've not mentioned anything about the whole Jeff Ruby-OJ kerfuffle on purpose. Mainly because it was celebrity gossip, not restaurant news. But I did enjoy this article from the Louisville Courier Journal, profiling Mr. Ruby. It gives some good insights into his personality, and I feel I understand him a bit more.

It's often said that you can't hate a person after you understand where they come from. I've said some less than laudatory things about Jeff Ruby here, but I've never met him. I'm going off his public persona. So I'm glad I got a chance to read about him with this article.

I think that the spread of his empire to Louisville, Belterra and further outside of Cincinnati has produced mixed results in his original restaurant, the Precinct. But I still think that's a great steakhouse. It's hard to eat at any of his restaurants and not think about him, which I don't think is necessarily a good thing. I'd like to judge a restaurant on its own merits, but he makes that difficult. The same holds true with Jean-Robert de Cavel, but they just happen to be the two most important restaurateurs in the city.