Restaurants in Louisville, Kentucky, offers a chance to enjoy fine regional cuisine and southern hospitality, whatever your budget and style.
For funky casual dining, check out Lynn's Paradise Café. Just look for the giant red coffeepot on Barret Avenue in the Highlands neighborhood. If you don't have a reservation, you will probably spend time waiting for a table, but that's a good excuse to explore their eclectic gift shop. Diners sit at formica tables adorned with Lynn's trademark ugly lamps. (In warm weather, outdoor tables are available.) Breakfast, which is served all day, includes a variety of delectable omelets and huge pancakes. Other menu favorites include Mom's meatloaf, sweet potato fries seasoned with cinnamon, homemade cobblers, and the mouth watering macaroni and cheese featured on Oprah. Not surprisingly, all portions are huge. Annual events include the Paradise Pajama Party every New Years' Day where prizes are given to every diner wearing sleepwear.
"God Bless Our Local Farmers" is printed on the menus at Lilly's, an upscale casual restaurant on Bardstown Road in the Highlands. Owner/chef Kathy Cary is well regarded for her creative use of fresh local produce. The menu also includes favorite recipes she collects from her travels. Cary also owns Café LaPeche, which is further east in the Holiday Manor Shopping Center on Brownsboro Road. In addition to gourmet casual dining, this restaurant is known for its gourmet-to-go service and is an excellent place to get great food for the road.
For two decades the Highlands has been an artsy neighborhood known for its diversity.There is a plethora of galleries, trendy boutiques, antique shops, and small ethnic restaurants along Bardstown Road, the anchor of this community.
Azalea, an upscale casual restaurant on Brownsboro Road in the east end, is about a ten minute drive from the downtown area or the Highlands. Their chefs create five specials each day in addition to their full lunch and dinner menu. Their signature appetizer is a whole sizzling catfish filleted at your table. A well stocked humidor and extensive wine list are available.
Enjoy new southern cooking as you relax in old southern charm at Limestone Restaurant, an upscale casual restaurant which is near the Hurstbourne Parkway exit of I-64 in the St. Matthews neighborhood.
Located downtown at 5th and Market Streets, Vincenzo's offers casual upscale dining for lunch or dinner. The menu selections reflect the European heritage of the owners.
Dine at the Oakroom at the Seelbach Hilton or The English Grill at the Camberley Brown when you want prim and proper elegance with your gourmet meal. Both are located in downtown hotels steeped in local history and have won numerous awards. Their upscale ambiance matches the high end menu choices offered by top chefs. The Oakroom is located in a lavishly furnished dark paneled room with brass chandeliers that was the hotel's gentleman's billards parlor in 1907. Both restaurants have regional favorites in their entrees as well as a wide variety of continental choices. Both have extensive wine lists and a large selection of bourbons.
Fifteen miles northwest of Louisville in Starlight, Indiana is Joe Huber Family Farm and Restaurant. Heaping bowls of country favorites such as fried chicken and fresh green beans are passed family style. A specialty is fried biscuits with fresh apple butter. This site also offers tractor rides, a duck pond, and a petting zoo for children, and a winery for the adults. Strawberries, apples, or pumpkins can be picked in season or purchased at the Farm Market. The Starlight Strawberry Festival held every Memorial Day weekend attracts thousands of visitors.
Note: Reservations, which are recommended year-round, are mandatory during the Kentucky Derby Festival which is held the two weeks before the Kentucky Derby running on the first Saturday in May.
