Louisville: Bourbon, BBQ, Bats, Beef Tongue, Boxing & Beards

Painted Lady

Louisville is home to The Bats, The Derby and The Muhammad Ali Center. It is also home to lots of guys with beards. I am not positive, but I think you have to have a big burly beard to work in any of the hip spots along Louisville’s Main Street. And that is ok with me, as long as they keep giving me good food in great spaces.

We were in town last weekend for the Anthony Bourdain/Eric Ripert traveling show “Good vs. Evil.” It was pretty good. I liked the format, but have heard most of what Bourdain had to say & Ripert didn’t talk nearly as much as I would have liked. I still laughed and nodded my head in agreement a lot.

This was my Valentine’s Day gift to Todd, and to return the foodie favor he took me to 610 Magnolia before the show. Now that was something! If you don’t know, 610 Magnolia is a contemporary Southern restaurant run by Chef Edward Lee, who was recently ousted from Top Chef (unfairly if you ask me & the folks in Louisville). It's in a beautiful carriage house located in Old Louisville at… 610 Magnolia.  When we arrived, it seemed like they were still getting ready for dinner, which was not surprising since we showed up 15 minutes early for a 5:30 reservation. We ate early so we could get to the show on time, which almost didn’t happen. 

We were the only two in the place for a while, but one other couple did show up eventually. It was fun having the whole place practically to ourselves. The staff was very attentive and friendly and the food was just incredible. I had two things I had never had before, squab and beef tongue. As it turns out, I am not a huge fan of squab, but the beef tongue, with an amazing mustard ice cream (!), was the best thing I have eaten… maybe ever.  Ok, it probably wasn’t as good as the truffle gnocchi in Florence. But it was absolutely the best meal I have had in recent memory. I even invented my own tasty treat by combining the cheddar from my cheese plate with the bourbon jelly from Todd's chocolate cake. I hope the Chef approves.

We finished in plenty of time to get to the show, you would think, even though the dinner felt very leisurely. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only one’s trying to get a cab downtown, what with Mardis Gras, Good vs. Evil and Van Halen all conspiring against us. We were not going to make it. The staff even tried to make room for us. All of the running around earlier was prep for the VIP dinner after the show. They didn't have any room. Luckily, our dining room companions were also heading that way & (only in the South) offered us a ride!

So, we made it. We watched the show, met up with some friends and people watched after the Van Halen concert let out.

Bourbon board at Doc Crowe's

Backtracking a bit... we did a lot in our 24 hours in Louisville before the show! Friday night we ate oysters and BBQ at Doc Crowe’s. Remember those beards I mentioned. They have a bunch. They also have a great selection of beer and bourbon if you are so inclined. We had beer and saved the bourbon for our nightcap at the Old Seelbach Bar. We always stay at the Seelbach, for lots of reasons: it’s really nice, it has a turn of the century bar named one of the 50 best bars in London's ''The Independent'', it has a cool Rathskeller and the first time we tried to stay they were sold out... so they set us up at The Brown and gave us a free night’s stay that we used soon after.

Van Halen Tour bus

Hillbilly Tea

Saturday morning we spotted the Van Halen Tour Bus on the walk over to Hillbilly Tea, where we had a superb breakfast (scotch egg with greens & mushroom gravy!) and “remedy” tea, since I was nursing a cold. It was really good and reminded me of what I used to call “potions” when I was a kid: herbal tea with honey & a kick of cayenne. I had the Black Crowes stuck in my head for the remainder of the day. The staff was super friendly and at least two servers wore the requisite beards. The ladies behind us were very curious about the Louisville beard scene and even had their pictures taken with the bearded fellows. Apparently this happens a lot!

Feeling a little better, we headed over to The Muhammad Ali Center. I was especially excited, because I started taking boxing classes a few weeks ago.  How could we not go & see The Greatest of All Time? The first thing you do at the Center is watch an orientation movie. We almost skipped it, but I am really glad we didn’t. It was a good movie and set the tone for what was to come. The Center is about much more than boxing. It’s about Cassius Clay, the boy who became a boxer, and Muhammad Ali, the man who became Champion of the World and spokesperson for many people and movements.

Muhammad Ali Center

I have two favorite parts of the Center. The first is the way they put everything in the context of what was going on politically and culturally at any given time. Presenting Ali in this way shows what kind of man he was, warts and all, how he grew and why he was a hero to so many. My other favorite part is the hands-on room where you can shadow box, hold the heavy bag and get a quick lesson in the ring from Laila Ali (via video).

Before we headed home on Sunday, we had planned on having breakfast (because they don't have brunch) at Proof on Main. Unfortunately, our colds caught up with us so we ate muffins in our room and watched "Ali Rap" on ESPN. Then we drove home and started planning our next adventure: The Blue Ridge Parkway and Washington D.C.

Other things we like to do in Louisville:

Giant Louisville Slugger

Louisville Slugger Museum

 
Louisville Bats Game: The Bats are the farm team for the Cincinnati Reds and Slugger Field has been listed among the top 10 places in America to watch minor-league baseball.

J. Graham's at The Brown Hotel: Home of the Hot Brown

The Brown Hotel: If you don't stay, at least stop by J. Graham's for an original "Hot Brown."

Lynn’s Paradise Cafe: A great breakfast place. It's a little out of the way if you are staying downtown, but it's worth the drive

Waterfront Park: A great urban park with history, events and places to relax and play.

Kentucky Derby: If you can make it in May, go to the Derby at least once.

Falls of the Ohio State Park: We stumbled upon this park last year and really enjoyed it. You can see one of the largest fossil beds in the world, dating back 390-million-years. There is also a series of rapids on the Ohio River that kayakers were playing in the day we were there.

Mike Linnig's Fish House: They have been serving seafood here since 1925. I recommend visiting in the summer, because they have a huge outdoor seating area along the river (the river isn't visible, but it's there & you can walk down to it.).

21C Hotel

21C Museum Hotel: If you aren't the Grand Old Hotel type, skip the Seelbach & Brown and stay here. It's a boutique hotel with a contemporary art museum in the lobby. If you don't stay here, stop by and check out the exhibits, restaurant (Proof on Main) and bathrooms!


Proof on Main: Located in the 21C, it was named one of  Esquire magazine's "Best New Restaurants." If you don't eat here, at least have a drink at the bar and have a look around the hotel lobby/museum.






Walk around and look at public art, architecture and signs. Downtown Louisville has a lot of cool buildings and signs. Main Street is home to the "second largest concentration of cast iron buildings in the nation." I suggest just walking around and looking up.

Todd & Art

Cool old sign: This is what I call a one stop shop!

 

Wayfinder's Guide to Cincinnati: Part 3 Road Trips and why it would be great to have light rail.

I have been meaning to finish this post for weeks, but got super busy at my two jobs. A big chunk of my time has been spent searching for just the right images for a rebranding project I am working on. I love doing image searches. Friday I was looking for images of “business travel" that have nice depth of field and don’t look posed and aren’t of a specific place or type of place, and… well you get the idea.

Most of the images I found that I wanted to use were of business folks traveling by train… which we don’t have…  so I couldn’t use them.

Not only did I have to keep looking, I started to think about how great it would be if we had trains. Then I could go to all of my favorite Road Trip spots more often. Don’t get me wrong, I love Road Trips, driving to cool out of the way spots & finding things I didn’t even know exist, but sometimes I just want to go to Cleveland, have dinner at LOLA, stay one night and not make a big deal about it. I would do that a lot if I could jump on a train. In Ireland, we hopped a train from Dublin to Belfast for a Black Taxi Tour and dinner at The Crown and didn't feel rushed at all. I think people would come here more too….  Just my opinion I don’t have facts to back any of this up. I said I was busy!

Todd on the train from Dublin to Belfast.

So, here are a few of my favorite places to drive for the day or weekend from Cincinnati. Some will probably never have rail options (Red River Gorge), but hopefully I can zoom down to Louisville soon... it's closer than Belfast is to Dublin.

Bloomington, Indiana: Check out the The Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center, "the only Tibetan Cultural Center in the United States since 1979." It has a very big and cool Kalachakra Stupa. We saw HH the Dalai Lama there in 2007. T. Norbu, Dalai Lama’s Brother lived in Bloomington until his death in 2008. Eat some Tibetan food and go to The Farm for brunch or dinner, starring Chef Daniel Orr and the most amazing Bacon & Egg Pizza!

Bloomington Stupa: photo by pravin.premkum

Columbus, Indiana is the most unlikely architectural hotspot in the country, due to Cummins Diesel co-founder J. Irwin Miller's decision to have the company pay architect's fees for public buildings as long as they were chosen from Miller's list. The list included I.M. Pei, Richard Meier and Eero Saarinen. Stop in the visitor's center to see the Dale Chihuly sculpture and get a map for a walking or driving tour.

Valantino Rossi at the Indy GP

Indianapolis, Indiana: We go to Indy every year for MotoGP. We also drive through to go to visit family. We almost always stop at the Mug n' Bun, an old school Drive-In with homemade rootbeer and huge tenderloin sandwiches (an Indiana tradition) and great onion rings! If you have a lot of $$ burning a hole in your pocket go to St. Elmos and get a shrimp cocktail.

Lynn's Paradise Cfae

 We love Louisville, Kentucky. Great food and grand hotels, including a modern version with a contemporary art museum in the lobby. Eat at breakfast at Lynn's Paradise Cafe. Eat dinner at 610 Magnolia (I think. We are going in a couple weeks for the first time & Ed Lee, the chef, is currently doing very well on Top Chef, so I am guessing it's good.). Stay at the Seelbach & drink at it's famous bourbon bar, one of the best bars in the world! Stay at the Brown and have Hot Brown where it was invented. Stay at the 21C and eat at Proof on Main, walk through the museum and be sure to stop in the bathroom. Go to a Louisville Bats game and visit the Louisville Slugger Museum. Heck, go to the Derby if you can!

Lexington, Kentucky is the horse capital of the world. I spent a lot of time there when I was working for Joseph Beth and miss it now that my bookselling days are behind me. Go to Keeneland, the prettiest place to play the ponies ever! Grab a book at Morris Book Shop and a bite Ramsey's. There's lots more, but those are the things I miss most. Oh, and check out the Horse Park if you have time. I haven't been since I was a kid, but always meant to go back.

Bourbon Trail:  I have not actually done this, but I really really want to. Kentucky is Bourbon Country. It has been for a really long time. Explore six distilleries and find out everything you ever wanted to know about “America’s Official Native Spirit.” I have been to Bardstown, which is a great town to base yourself in. You can visit museums dedicated to the Civil War & railroads as well as "sample the spirits." I have also been on the Bourbon Train, which is fun but a little... weird.

The Red River Gorge is a canyon system on the Red River that features high sandstone cliffs, rock shelters, waterfalls, and natural bridges.. Beautiful spot for nature lovers & outdoorsy types. It's one of the best places to rock climb in the country. Go backpacking, camping, hiking & climbing. Or stay in a cabin, and check out the Natural Bridge & zipline tour.

Cleveland rocks. That's something I am not really supposed to say, being born & raised in Cincinnati and all. But I love Cleveland. They have great food, a big lake, great sports fans, RTA and the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame. I fell in love with Paprikash at Balaton and  Chicken & Waffles at  Phil the Fire . Right now, we are planning a trip to finally go to Lola and Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Yes, Ohio has a National Park! And I cannot believe I haven't been there.

Columbus: Full discloser: I haven't been to Columbus in years. And I have family there! But, I should. They have Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream, a happening Art Scene and THE Ohio State.

Toledo, Ohio, The Glass City, has a great museum. Go to the Toledo Museum and check out the Post-Modern Glass Pavilion. The Pavilion houses a world renowned glass collection. The building itself received Travel & Leisure's 2007 design awards for "Best Museum." Tony Packos  is really famous and really good. Have a Cheese Coney in Cincinnati and a Chili Hot Dog here. Which do you like best? Then catch a MudHens game. They have a great minor league baseball stadium... and they are called the MudHens!

Ft. Ancient was one of my favorite day trips as a kid. It features "18,000 feet of earthen walls built 2,000 years ago by American Indians."  How cool is that? You can check out exhibits and prehistoric mounds. Or you can check out the great views on the many hiking trails. There are also many canoe liveries in the Little Miami River valley. I like Morgan's, but am not opposed to any.

Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park

Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park is a 265 acre outdoor art museum. There is also an indoor Ancient Sculpture Museum.

The Loveland Bike Trail consits of over 70 Miles of paved bike trails that go through cute towns and historical sites. Loveland itself has coffee shops, ice cream shops and stuff like that. It's part of a larger Rails to Trails initiative.

Yellow Springs is a village in Green County. It was intended to be a utopia and isn't far off. It was one of the last stops on the Underground Railroad and was the smallest town to prohibit discrimination due to sexual orientation in 1979. I like to do a bit of shopping, look for Dave Chappelle and grab a bite to eat in town. Then I head out to Clifton Gorge for a hike and Young's Dairy for some ice cream and a look at the cow it came from. You can ride here on the Loveland Bike Trail if you want.

Hocking Hills, or "The Hot Tub Capital of the World", is a great place for a weekend getaway. You should definitely stay in a cabin... with a  hot tub! From there you can hike, explore caves, canoe, ride a horse and of course... zipline.