This weekend I headed down to the good ol’ town of Louisville, Kentucky for a friend’s wedding.  Another place to check off of my world travel list, this quaint little city has some great food, Bourbon, and hidden gems.

Activities

I’ve always considered myself a big city girl, so I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at Churchill Downs to an enormous venue and incredible atmosphere.  Apparently when it’s not the Derby, Derby gear is not required, but we went all out anyway.  Flowing colorful sundresses, hats, and fascinators made the experience even more exciting.  Churchill Downs serves their fair share of Kentucky famous mint juleps, and you shouldn’t head to the racetrack without one.

Having a large group of people, we decided to check out the Urban Bourbon Trail. By visiting six of the participating restaurants/bars and getting a stamp in your passport every time you order a drink, you can get a free t-shirt that says you participated.  One of my favorite stops was Bristol Bar & Grille which features a short, creative drink menu of house-made cocktails that made it to the Best of Louisville Magazine.  Here I had my favorite mint julep. The second was BLU Bar, in the Marriott downtown, which had the most amazing chocolate julep martini.  Highly Recommended, along with their yummy pretzel bar snacks. If you choose to stay at the Marriott, this is a great centralized meet up location before your night or dinner out.

For those interested in baseball, the Louisville Slugger Museum has the world’s largest bat!

Lastly, I wanted to note a wood-fired pizza place and bar, Garage, that is exactly how it sounds.  I wish I had more time to spend here, but it was mentioned by some of the townies for a great day or night out. 

Eats

Being the foodie I am, I made sure we hit up a few key places in Leweyville.

Harvest was by far the best I ate in Louisville, serving farm to table fair, and very similar to DC’s Founding Farmers.  We went for brunch and were able to try a variety of menu items.  Among the best were the open faced sunny side egg sandwich with bacon & beer cheese fondue, gravy biscuit, french toast and shrimp  & grits.

We also hit up Jack Frye’s, which is a cute little restaurant that dates back to 1933 filled with historic photographs from the times and a menu of rich, flavorful food.

Bristol, as mentioned above, had incredible jalapeno cheese wontons that we couldn’t get enough of.

Another easy, fun meal was Dish On Market (also on the Urban Bourbon Trail). Most of my party ordered the chicken and waffles.  I tried a curried chicken salad sandwich on a pretzel croissant  – a meal that includes three of my favorite things? Why not!

A Nice Town for a White Wedding

I had a great time the entire weekend with some of my best friends in the world.  I am a very lucky gal!