It was time for a good burger. Show us what ya got, Lexington.

Brittany directed us to Sidebar Grill - partially because it's the only place she told us she would permit us to eat a burger and partially because her cousin owns it. But it also came highly recommended from a bartender at what ended up being my favorite brewery in Kentucky.

I ordered the burger with all the fixins, including cheddar cheese. I also got the side of sweet potato fries. The burger was juicy and flavorful. Toppings were fresh. Sweet potato fries weren't so much fries, but rather just roasted potatoes - regardless, excellent. With a tasty sweet honey butter dipping sauce.

OK, Lexington, you got good burgers, too.

Grade: A

Azur came highly recommended in the "fine dining" category, and we wanted to hit up at least one of those while in Lexington. We had made reservations and arrived to find a not-too-busy restaurant. We asked if we could sit out on the patio. It had just rained and was drizzling a bit still, but since it was covered, we thought it wouldn't be too chilly. We were seated near the pizza oven, so that combined with the heaters provided for some warmth.



We were first served with some bread and butter - both on the cool side, so nothing super exciting here.

For an appetizer, we tried the fried green tomatoes, which came with bourbon smoked salmon, pimento cheese, peach marmalade and pickled okra. It is certainly a unique combination of ingredients, but I'm not sure it totally meshed. Each component individually was tasty, but I guess I didn't "get it" all together. But points for trying.

My main entree was the woven shrimp. That just sounds fancy, right? These three plump shrimp are covered in a tasty batter, wrapped in the filo dough and pan-fried. They're piled atop a bed of coconut and sweet corn risotto with a red chile and honey sauce garnish.

This dish is really something. I love the crunch of the filo, and the batter has a great flavor. The sweet corn risotto adds a touch of sweetness, while the honey chile glaze adds just a bit of spicy. Very well-balanced and just damn good.

The only downside was that there were people smoking outside while we were trying to eat. I know it's a patio and all, but I just wasn't expecting that. Not a fan.

Grade: B

Limestone Blue is a great little cafe and art shop in downtown Lexington. They feature local beer and wine and are a cool hangout for folks to gather.



We ordered an appetizer of the beer cheese, which came with carrots, celery and a spinach tortilla crisp. Beer cheese seems to be a big thing, and a lot of places have their own varieties of house made ones. This one was a bit on the spicier side and pretty creamy.

For my main entree, I ordered "Mojo's Beer Cheese," which was house made beer cheese, local pulled chicken, bacon, lettuce, tomato on grilled focaccia. I opted for the side of macaroni and cheese, which for the day was the special baked potato mac and cheese.

Holy tastebuds, batman. First off, the bread is delicious. The beer cheese was nice and melted, and the chicken was moist, tender. A perfect combo of salty, crunchy, crisp, cool. And the macaroni and cheese was excellent. More cheese (sensing a theme here?) and crisp potatoes. So good. I'd prefer all my mac and cheese like this, thanks.



Grade: A

Kentucky has a lot of French influences, which is seen throughout city names, the statues and even the restaurants. A La Lucie is easy to spot with its leopard print awning and twinkling lights around the windows. The interior delivers with light pink napkins, leopard print booths, red tin ceiling and French-inspired paintings. Think Moulin Rouge.

We had made reservations and were seated in a booth on the right side of the restaurant. There was a little confusion with the first server who seated us and then the other who took our drink orders. It seemed like they were rushing and a bit disorganized - that's when we learned the waiter who was supposed to be working that night had an allergic reaction and had to go to the hospital (there was sesame in a dish he didn't realize). So the actual chef was helping fill his place. And Lucie herself was in the back cooking.


As we look over our menus, Vicki realizes she hasn't brought her reading glasses. Long story short, Vicki ends up with Lucie's reading glasses to read the menu.

I ordered the seafood casserole, a house favorite. It has lobster, scallops and shrimp baked in a mornay sauce over rice. Mmm. But before that - Vicki had ordered their featured appetizer of the day which had mini crab, shrimp and salmon salads. Very fresh and crisp.

We were also brought out a basket of bread and butter. Neither was particularly warm, but it was still salty, garlicky, delicious.

And THEN I also had a salad. So, we're like three courses deep at this point, right? The salad was not bad. Nothing memorable, though.


Our entrees came out not long afterward. Vicki had ordered the buttermilk fried quail, which was mind-blowing. The meat was perfect and tender, the batter was crisp, salty and flavorful. The mashed potatoes and cream gravy perfectly complemented the crisp quail. Delicious.

My dish was amazing. Cheesy and creamy and everything my diet had been missing. It's rich and delicious.

Dessert looked too good to pass up. A lemon cake, a creme brulee and a bread pudding. We lined all three up along the center of the table and just took turns taking bites of each. The lemon cake was the most refreshing after such a heavy meal.

The creme brulee was delicious, but I've had many in my lifetime, so I was hoping for something slightly different.



The bread pudding was good, but not my favorite of the bunch. I think the cake was the best. But I am very, very picky with my bread pudding. This was good.

Overall, we had a great time at dinner, and our meal was really great. The service was lovely, and everyone was so kind. A great experience all in all.


Grade: A

Bella Notte is located near a mall with beautiful shrubbery and accents, paired with a perfectly branded and beautiful building dressed to the nines with a traditional rustic vibe ... which made me think it was a chain restaurant. I panicked for the first 10 minutes of arriving for fear that I just wasted a dinner in Lexington on a chain restaurant before I asked our server. After she said they are not a chain, I let out a sigh of relief and realized how impressive it was to have such a cohesive, polished image.


We were seated and delivered fresh-baked, warm bread with an oil and herb mixture made right in front of us. This was delicious.

Vicki ordered an appetizer of a tuna bruschetta. It was on their seasonal menu - and it wasn't bad, but not my favorite. Fresh slivers of tuna steak would have been fresher and tastier.

We split two entrees because we couldn't decide: the penne gorgonzola with sundried tomatoes, grilled chicken, bacon and a creamy gorgonzola sauce and the veal saltimbocca with fresh sage leaves, award winning La Quercia prosciutto, wood fire grilled and served with creamy parmesan orzo pasta, grilled asparagus and roma tomatoes.

They noted on their menu that their veal comes from a local farm that has free-range calves, who are never penned and allowed to roam free with a completely natural diet of only fresh mothers milk an no artificial ingredients or fillers.


The penne gorgonzola dish I knew I'd love. It has me written all over it. It was rich, creamy, indulgent. The very smart thing, though, is the sundried tomatoes. This is sundried tomatoes used well. The flavor is often concentrated and kind of intense because it's so salty - but that pairs perfectly with the fatty richness of the dish. Beautiful.



The saltimbocca was more of a gamble since I hadn't had it before. The sage was prominent and tasty. The veal was delicious, and the cheesy orzo underneath added that creamy component to this entree. I liked the gorgonzola pasta dish better, but this was also delicious. Home run, on all accounts.

Grade: A

In the middle of visiting distilleries, my friend Vicki and I needed to grab a quick lunch. Our initial choice was closed because it was Memorial Day, but Alfalfa was on our to-do list, and it was nearby. So, we quickly changed direction and made it our destination.

Alfalfa has a cool vibe with lots of mutli-colored chalkboards, exposed brick walls and little hipster touches. They were serving their brunch menu for the holiday. Usually, when I go to a new place, I have studied the menu and chosen the best option. Here, I hadn't had that luxury. So it would've been nice to know what they were known for or what other people suggest.

But the quiche stood out to me. I didn't want anything super heavy, and the fresh veggies sounded delicious - a zucchini, squash, asparagus and swiss cheese! I got it with a side of grits.

And, it was all just fine. There weren't a ton of veggies in the quiche - save for a few on the top. I didn't taste much swiss. But it wasn't bad! Just average. And the grits had virtually no flavor, save for the bits of shredded cheese on top. Overall, I just wasn't super impressed. Nothing super flavorful, nothing too exciting.

Grade: C

My friend Vicki and I traveled to Kentucky to visit our friend Brittany. While in the area, we decided to embark on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail - mostly because I've always wanted to learn a little bit more about bourbon, and what better place to do it?

The basic idea is to take tours of nine distilleries famous for making bourbon across the state of Kentucky. The state has a promotional campaign going on where you pick up a "passport" at the first distillery you visit and get stamps from each one. If you fill up the passport, you receive a "free" (read: most expensive free) T-shirt.

I strategically planned this trail to fit within three days while Brittany had to work, so that the remaining days can be spent in Lexington while Brittany was able to spend time with us! When I say strategically, I mean it. Most tours are from around 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. or so and are held on the hour and are about an hour long. Plus we spent each evening back in Lexington. So factor that in, plus meals, plus travel time, and you have a pretty tight schedule.

Here was our basic outline (which changed a bit to accommodate for not getting into the tours we planned, etc.):

SUNDAY May 24Leave Morgantown at 6 a.m.One hour lunch somewhereTravel: 5 hours, 4 minutes to LouisvilleArrive at Evan Williams 528 West Main St., Louisville, KY 40202. Tour at 1 p.m. $12 [tour is one hour long]Travel 15 minutes to Bulleit 3860 Fitzgerald Road, Louisville, KY 40216Tour at 3:00 p.m. $10 [one hour long]

MONDAY May 2510 a.m. Town Branch Alltech’s Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company 401 Cross Street (near the intersection of Versailles Rd. and W. Maxwell St.) Lexington, KY 40508$10 tour for one hourHalf hour to Woodford Reserve 7855 McCracken Pike, Versailles, KY, United States Noon tour for one hourLunch for an hour2 p.m. tour for one hour Wild Turkey Distillery, 1417 Versailles Road, Lawrenceburg, KY 40342 

TUESDAY May 26Leave Lexington at 8 a.m.9 a.m. tour at Four Roses 1224 Bonds Mill Road, Lawrenceburg, KY, United States $5 tour11 a.m. arrive at Makers Mark 3350 Burks Spring Rd, Loretto, KY 40037Tour is $912 lunch until 1 p.m.2 p.m. tour at Heaven Hill Distillery 1311 Gilkey Run Road, Bardstown, KY, United States 3:30 p.m. tour at Jim Beam 526 Happy Hollow Road, Clermont, Kentucky 40110

DAY ONE



We drove straight from Morgantown to Louisville, grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, our first stop along the tour. It was right in downtown Louisville and had an impressive display that stretched from the top to the bottom floor. We stood in line before the place even opened, but once we got in, we were put on a later tour (already throwing off my schedule). SO, if you're able to buy any tickets in advance, do so.

I didn't know much about Evan Williams before the tour, but it was very interesting to walk through the facility. You're led through these various rooms in the building, which emulate times in history. The immersive history was fun, and it ended with a tasting. My thoughts? Well, it was strong, and I couldn't tell much of a difference. I did notice that a little bit of water helps sweeten the flavor just a bit. Also, this is the first of many times we were told that all bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. Bourbon is a kind of whiskey - one that has to be 51 percent corn. I also made note that I was a fan of the rye whiskey. And I tried my first bourbon ball (mmm), and we did get to take a fancy little glass home.






Once our first tour was out, we were ready to head back to our hotel defeated. Being pushed back 40 minutes would push us out of the timeframe for the second tour I had planned. But I called Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience just to double check. Somehow, they had one tour remaining. Game on. We booked it out of town and toward our next distillery. We were within maybe a minute of arriving when we were stopped at the gate. The kind woman, Ms. V., was chatting with us about West Virginia and having a good time, but I was nearly climbing out of the car to get to the next tour. Somehow, we made it just in time to catch the last tour of the day.

My main takeaway from this place was that they are very new comparatively to the other distilleries. And we (maybe not so legally?) signed a barrel because Vicki carries a sharpie with her. That was pretty cool. When bourbon is aging in the rickhouse, there is some natural evaporation - that's called the angel's share (cute, right?). So when you walk in, it smells... lovely. The tasting for Bulleit was also strong - but that's because we didn't really know how to taste it yet.