Need Tips on Kentucky

June 16, 2005 9:26 AM

Looking for tips and suggestion for my long weekend in Kentucky.

A good friend is getting married in rural, eastern Kentucky (Eagle Cliff/Cliffview) and I'm looking for things to do/places to eat on the way there from/to Louisville. Any good spots off Highway 64 to stop for lunch? Anywhere you might recommend spending Sunday night on the way back to Louisville? Any Kentucky experience we should be sure not to miss?

posted by donovan to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

Well, Louisville itself is what I would recommend... I would eat at Lynn's Paradise Cafe and spend some time either on Bardstown Road or on Frankfort Avenue (lots of restaurants, book and record stores in both places).

I used to live in Lexington (before that Louisville) and would recommend eating at Kashmir, but that's off the highway by quite a bit. You could also eat at Joe Bologna's maybe. Both of those places are in the campus area of University of Kentucky.

I'm not sure where Cliffview is (mapsonus has nothing)... If I knew I maybe could suggest more. I'm maybe headed to Louisville this weekend, actually...
posted by Slothrop at 10:13 AM on June 16, 2005

Thanks Slothrop. Cliffview in in Rogers which is a few miles from Campton (off the 33). Lynn's Paradise Cafe looks like a winner!
posted by donovan at 10:42 AM on June 16, 2005

Lynn's is a good bet, Sunday morning will be crowded, but I usually go back to Louisville (where I grew up) during Derby week so my experience of Lynn's is a bit amplified.

Ramsi's Cafe on the World - 1293 Bardstown road is good for dinner - I wanna say their kitchen stays open later than some. Casual with good veggie selection.

Depending on the time of year, you might see some fireflies. My fiance is from Fresno and had never seen 'em outside of a Disney ride.

If you want a drink in a vintage L'ville drinking establishment, I'd say Seidenfaden's, a basic Germantown bar. No frills, cheap drinks and a few hipsters.
posted by asparagus_berlin at 12:52 PM on June 16, 2005

Don't know which way you are driving to get to Louisville but if you are going through Lexington, Loudon Square Buffet is a bit off the highway in Lexington but one of the best greasy spoon buffets in the country (if you like that sort of thing).

Also, not in Kentucky but in Indiana: about halfway between Indianapolis & Louisville is a little town called Columbus, Indiana. Columbus has some of the most amazing architecture you can find in a town of any size in the US. (yes, really.) 39,000 people and absolutely stunning buildings. This page does a good job telling the story.
posted by smash at 4:25 PM on June 16, 2005

Mammoth Cave. World's longest cave (not that you have time to see much of that length).
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:02 PM on June 16, 2005

WOW! Smash, how do you know about Loudon Square?!?! I used to eat lunch there quite a bit when I worked in Lexington and no one I knew in town (save one coworker) knew about it. It actually wouldn't be hard to get down there from the highway, just go straight down Broadway until you hit Loudon, maybe three miles or so off the highway. Right on Broadway on the right (heading south). It also features quite a bit of artwork by someone who did the Bob Ross school of landscape painting, which ups an already high surreal quotient.

Another Louisville recommendation would be 'El Mundo' on Frankfort Avenue. Louisville is supposed to have good Vietnamese restaurants (clustered in the south end near the airport actually) given a reasonably large Vietnamese immigrant population, but I can't think of any particular names...
posted by Slothrop at 8:19 PM on June 16, 2005

Loudon Square is mentioned in Road Food (I have an earlier version). That book is one of 3 books I always take with me on road trips and I've never had a bad meal at a place it suggests.
I knew Loudon Square would be great when I first walked in because it was very quiet - despite being half-full - because everyone was too busy eating to carry on long involved conversations.
Excellent place. If I make it back to Lexington I'm definitely making a return visit.
posted by smash at 6:49 AM on June 17, 2005