My visit to Kayla was centered around the Kentucky Derby. Once in a lifetime, no? We crafted our giant hats, headed down to Louisville and got our bet on.

I keep this blog as not only a chronicle of my adventures - mainly in West Virginia - but also to note fun places I go with friends, all the while centering it around food, which is a common gathering place in our culture. Really, I like to be able to document places I go with fun people and having fun times. The restaurants are just a portion of that and usually are just representative of a larger conversation or experience.

So, my only review I can accompany with this trip is the mint julep. As soon as I got in, I bought one. It's bourbon, mint, sugar and water. And it's terrible.

But the races were just one giant party in the infield. A fun one.

Mmm BBQ. Indiana isn't really known for its BBQ - not like the Carolinas or Texas or Kansas. But Harley's, I think, gave 'em a run for their money.

First off, it's super easy to win me over with super sweet service. The owner, I'm assuming, recognized my friend Kayla (though she hadn't been there in months) as the girl from WV. I told him I was also from WV, and he went on about WVU. Winner. Super cool guy who genuinely cared about how we liked our food.

I ordered a half and half pulled pork and brisket platter, which came with two sides. I chose potato salad and macaroni & cheese.

Totes good. They have a spicy and a sweet sauce, and I mixed the two for the meat. Smokey and delicious.

The sides were good, too. I like a good mustard potato salad, the mac and cheese wasn't decent, too.

He also brought out a couple chicken drumsticks for us to try - amazing. By the end, I was totally stuffed and had to roll out the door, but it was worth it.

Grade: A

Indiana is an interesting place. They have towns called Ireland and Holland. A flood swept out towns called English and Leavenworth so they made new ones by the same name. And there's a town called Santa Claus - where everything looks like Christmas - and it houses Holiday World (a theme park that has an area devoted to Christmas, Halloween, Fourth of July and Thanksgiving + a storybook forest type and a splashin' safari).

Holland has an ice cream shop near a windmill called - wait for it - Windmill Chill. Cash only, but a pretty large menu for an ice cream shop. I got a medium chocolate and vanilla swirl cone. I don't think you can mess this up, but it was really tasty.

If I wasn't feeling so exhausted after the day, I probably would've gotten out to check out the windmill. But oh well.

Grade: A

Acropolis is Greek-themed (go figure), with figurines and fake green plants lining the dining areas.

The menu had a bunch of lunch specialties, and a few caught my eye. But first, we were brought a basket of pita chips with this sort of cinnamon butter. It was odd, considering the pita chips were savory - garlic, etc.


First came a small, basic salad. A bed of romaine lettuce with a piece of tomato and some feta (I do like feta!). These salads bore me so much. Add some veggies, would ya. I ordered the gyro tortellini, which was lamb/beef with tortellini in a creamy garlic sauce. This was a typical dish I would order (mm carbs), with the added greek twist of the lamb meat. I was a fan. Creamy and hearty.


And then dessert! Baklava. It wasn't as crunchy as I've had - more soft, but good.

However. I don't know if it was the tortellini or salad or dessert or whatever. But I definitely was not feeling great later. And neither was Kayla.

Grade: C

I went to Indiana to visit my friend Kayla, who moved out there for work. I hadn't been, so she had me traveling all over the place, trying all kinds of new restaurants. I know most of you don't care, but I had fun. I'll keep these next few posts brief.

The Overlook overlooks the Ohio River. The menu is comfort, classic country food. I ordered the chicken cordon bleu. It came with two sides - I went for mashed potatoes and cole slaw.

The chicken cordon bleu was pretty baller. Swiss cheese, ham and chicken rolled in breadcrumbs and pan-fried and topped with a butter sauce. I loved cutting into it and just having Swiss cheese ooze out. I mean, awesome.



The mashed potatoes were not homemade, I don't think, but kind of reminded me of school lunch. Which isn't bad - I actually kinda liked them. Plus there was a thick, country gravy to top it off with. The cole slaw was very good. For dessert, I had their special, which was a peanut butter pie. I've had better peanut butter pie, and the chocolate was pretty bitter, but I mean, I'm splitting hairs. Overall, pretty good.




Grade: A