Wandering Wednesdays: Lynn’s Paradise Cafe

Aug25 by Cary

Lynn’s Paradise Cafe is a funky joint located in Lousiville that could best be described as Cracker Barrel on acid. All the food served there is a unique take on down home, comfort food staples, with a slight “funkification” added to each item to make it a little special.

We started with the Rueben quesadillas, which are just a neat take on the typically heavy sandwich. While I’m never one to pass on a good Reuben, sometimes the mixture of rye bread, corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing is just a bit much. Grilling the sandwich ingredients between two tortillas, and then providing a Thousand Island dipping sauce that had been spiked with Jim Beam is a great way to enjoy the delicious tastes and textures of a Reuben and still have room for something else.

Sarah had two chicken breasts topped with bacon and smothered in a cream sauce. Lynn’s has a myriad of side dishes from which to choose. The mac and cheese was truly casserole style, with a crunchy top and cheesy creamy filling surrounding the noodles. The rosemary cabbage was done well and the rosemary added just enough flavor without being overwhelming.

Each entry comes with your choice of 2 sides. You gotta love a place where banana pudding is considered a side!

Fried green tomatoes were sliced thin and featured a light, but very crispy breading. While sometimes thin sliced tomatoes don’t hold up, these maintained their integrity and were able to hold up the spicy remoulade dressing that had been spiked with more than a little bit of cajun seasoning.

I tried a special that night, which happened to be a spicy fried catfish dish, and ordered the cheese grits (can you tell I like grits?) with roasted garlic mashed potatoes (as well as a few sneaks from Sarah’s plate). The catfish were breaded with a cornmeal mixture that I haven’t quite tasted anywhere else, but remained crispy with a hint of spice (but weren’t spicy like some other catfish we’ve tried). The cheese grits were creamy and cheesy, but maybe could have used a little bit of bacon or little more roasted garlic to push them over the top. The mashed potatoes were a little bit chunky, which I consider a good thing, and featured a heavy dose of roasted garlic to round things out.

In all, Lynn’s is truly a sight to behold, both for what’s on the walls, and definitely a place to get a good meal.

Lynn’s Paradise Cafe

984 Barret Ave
Louisville, KY 40204

Wandering Wednesdays: Kreso’s Family Restaurant

Jul7 by Cary

On our recent trip to Louisville, we had plenty of time before we had to be in town, so we decided to take our time and enjoy a bit of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, specifically taking time to visit both the Maker’s Mark and Jim Beam Distilleries. Since much of the trail is in largely rural areas, there wasn’t much to choose from, but we managed to find a unique place in none other than Bardstown, Ky.

Kreso’s Family Restaurant is tucked into a restored theater in Bardstown’s downtown district, and features everything from burgers to (surprising to us) german/eastern european dishes.

The Bosnian salad was a mixture of cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, feta cheese and eggs on fresh Romaine lettuce. The dressing was a light house vinaigrette with a distinct lemon flavor. It was very refreshing after a hard morning of touring distilleries.

Having had an excellent experience with Jaeger-Schnitzel in a tiny place in Mobile, Alabama, I decided to give Kreso’s Weiner-Schnitzel a shot. What came out was a tasty, lightly breaded and fried chicken breast that had been pounded flat. The chicken had a light poultry-ish seasoning that I augmented with the lemon slice, which pared well with the lightly seasoned egg noodles that it came with.

Sarah chose the goulash, which featured a meaty concoction with a rich sauce on top of the same noodles that came with my dish. The meat was tender and the sauce featured an interesting (in a good way) combination of carrots, onions and parsley in a medium beef broth.

Kreso’s Restaurant

218 N 3rd St
Bardstown, KY 40004

Wandering Wednesday: Wild Eggs in Louisville, KY

Jun30 by Cary

Brunch is one of those things we don’t always pamper ourselves with, and it takes a special place that bridges the breakfast/brunch divide. Breakfast is sometimes hearty, sometimes light, but brunch is one of those times where you can blow your diet with loaded french toast, mimosas and bloody mary’s, or steak and eggs, and no one will bat an eye. After all, it’s brunch!

We lucked out and found a great local institution on our last trip to Louisville in the form of Wild Eggs, a breakfast/brunch/and lunch place that focuses on various egg dishes, but more so fresh ingredients all around.

As I’m always on the lookout for sometime I’ve never tried before, or wouldn’t be able to try again for a while, I decided to give the breakfast burrito a try. Stuffed with Chorizo, eggs, cheese, and other veggies, then topped with fresh pico de gallo and avocado chunks, it was a savory, cheesy mess. The Chorizo is not something we see often or try often in Nashville, but when mixed with fluffy eggs, you just have to make sure each bite includes some burrito, black beans, avocado, and home fries. Talk about a way to start your day!

We also ordered a side of the “grits of the day” which basically consisted of cheese grits with a good deal of garlic and oniony goodness.

The Surfer Girl Omelet had spinach, mushrooms, onions, cream cheese, avocado and sprouts. I was a little nervous that the cream cheese would make the omelet heavy, but it was surprisingly light and did not take over the omelet. The Everything Muffin contained poppy seeds, roasted garlic, onion, and sesame seeds. That’s a lot going on in a little muffin, but the flavors were very light and the muffin had a sweet buttery taste. It was very good and a nice complement to the omelet. I was a little disappointed in the potatoes. They had very little seasoning and can’t really be described as anything but average. If I were to go back, I would get the grits.

Wild Eggs

3985 Dutchmans Ln
Louisville, KY 40207

Wandering Wednesdays: Pie Kitchen in Louisville, KY

Jun23 by Sarah

Cary and I have been traveling quite a bit this summer, and since we have a plethora of traveling stories, we thought we’d start a “Wandering Wednesday” segment in addition to our normal posts about Nashville restaurants and recipes on Tuesday and Thursday. Hope you enjoy the series! Our first installment consists of one of those great things, Pie!

Whenever I am on vacation, I like to look for great dessert places for a little after dinner snack. While we were in Louisville, we found the Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen, which I will refer to as the Pie Kitchen in this post. (However, in Louisville, I kept referring to it as the Pie Hole from an old TV show we used to watch. It amused me to no end.)

The selection was phenomenal. They had a variety of cakes, pies, cookies and many flavors of ice cream. This picture is just a small representation of what was present in the store.

We picked out our pies and took them back to the hotel for a late night snack. The chocolate chess pie above was delicious. The rich dark chocolate pie had a smooth texture with a crunchy top.

This is the chocolate meringue pie, which did not photograph well. To be quite honest, it didn’t measure up to Sunset’s glory. The meringue was flat and had a funny taste like too much vanilla had been added. Maybe it’s just us, but meringue is just one of those things that doesn’t need to be fussed with too much. Quite honestly, every other thing we had was fabulous, the chocolate meringue just fell flat from the high standard set with their other offerings.

Even with the small meringue disappointment, we enjoyed the Pie Kitchen very much and went back the next evening. This time we tried the chocolate pecan pie also known as a Kentucky Pie. The combination of the crunchy pecans with the chocolate is fantastic, and there was a slight bourbon-y finish. The crust was light and flaky, an excellent contrast the gooey filling.

Finally, we tried something neither of us had ever had the pleasure of before, a strawberry rhubarb pie. Before this pie, I had never tried rhubarb. The pie was delicious with a very nice strawberry flavor, but I couldn’t distinguish a separate flavor of rhubarb, which very well may be how a strawberry rhubarb pie is supposed to taste! The tangyness of the filling coupled with the sweetness of the strawberries could only have been made better with a little (or a lot) of Cool Whip topping.

When we return to Louisville, the Pie Kitchen will be definite stop. We may even branch out and try the ice cream, cakes or cookies!

Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen

5606 Bardstown Rd
Louisville, KY 40291

Louisville Kentucky: Maker’s Mark

Jun17 by Cary

We we had the chance to travel to Louisville a while back, and in addition to dining at the luxurious Brown Hotel , also decided to give the Maker’s Mark Bourbon House & Lounge a try given the area’s bourbon history and culture (and well, because it’s the only one).

We started with the goat cheese skillet appetizer with warm flatbread. A tangy, yet slightly sweet combination all at once. No bourbon yet, though.

My entrée was a bourbon marinated grilled ribeye with crispy fried onions, a tangy, yet smokey and sweet bourbon barbecue sauce, and a small bit of Lobster and white cheddar cheese mashed potatoes. The steak was tender and not overpowered by the bourbon marinade or BBQ sauce, but the potatoes, while creamy and a bit decadent, didn’t seem to have much lobster. Nevertheless, I was there for steak anyway, and it was delivered as expected.

One highlight that drew us (mainly me) to the restaurant was the opportunity to sample a wide variety of bourbons. Unfortunately, several of their top flight bourbons were unavailable, but at least the restaurant was willing to offer anything else on their list as a replacement. While several of my secondary choices were also unavailable, it was nice to simply be able to test several different bourbons and compare and contrast their different qualities.

Sarah tried a spinach pasta with lobster and shrimp. The sauce was a bit too sweet for her, and the overall dish was a little too decadent for dinner (we like to save our decadence for dessert anyway).

Overall, the Maker’s Lounge is a cool place to try some “bourbon culture” in the land of bluegrass. It’s definitely a good choice for a night out in Louisville, and I’d recommend anything on the menu that didn’t seem to try to meld too many tastes at once. Anyway, we had lots of other experiences in Louisville and have some other great stories to tell you about in the future, not the least of which includes another KY favorite, the Derby Pie.

Louisville, Kentucky: The Brown Hotel

May29 by Cary

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you could just pick up and leave it all? Well, we certainly have, and as part of Nashville Fork’s continuing mission of exploring not only Nashville, but also other cities we have the pleasure of visiting, we thought we’d tell you about a recent, spur of the moment trip to Louisville, KY. There’s nothing quite like leaving work early and instructing your wife to be home early, so the two of you can spend the weekend in a historic hotel, with beautiful accommodations, and one that is famous for no less than a piece of southern history. The Brown Hotel is the quintessential southern hotel, with a beautiful lobby, plush accommodations, and a distinct flair for classic, upscale southern dining.

After a rough week, you can see Sarah’s selection for our first evening (a traditional Kentucky mint julep, with Maker’s Mark Bourbon), and mine (just barely on the side) a Marker’s Mark and Diet Coke. Let’s just say there’s something about a hotel where you can walk down from your room, sit down in the lobby, and order your drink and a southern classic just minutes after checking in.

The Brown specializes not only in its Hot Brown Sandwich, but takes a lot of pride in it’s Cheeseburger, shown below. The burger is top quality beef smothered with delicious cheddar cheese in it’s purest form. The crispy fries are are nothing to shake a stick at either, but the main course was no less than the completely decadent Hot Brown.

The Hot Brown’s combination of roast turkey, bacon, bechamel sauce, and tomatoes makes for a combination with so many flavor profiles, it’s almost hard to separate each one. One bite might be the salty bite of bacon, while another might be the cheesy good ness of the sauce combined with juicy roast turkey. In all the hot brown is definitely worth traveling for, and might be something we at Nashville Fork try to recreate come Thanksgiving.

The Nashville Fork

Category Archives: Louisville