City: Louisville, KY
Category: Restaurants
Address: 425 West Ormsby Ave.
32. Cottage Inn Restaurant
City: Louisville, KY
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (502) 637-4325
Address: 570 Eastern Pkwy.
Description: The Cottage Inn Restaurant started off as a little house along Louisville’s tree-lined Eastern Parkway in the 1920s, and the decor remains simple and unassuming today, with wainscoted beige walls, sturdy wooden tables and chairs, and an oversize picture window offering pleasant views of the garden outside. The menu—unpretentious as well—features a litany of sandwiches and entrees that would have been standards at most eateries across the nation in the 1950s and ’60s: burgers, BLTs and clubs, country-fried steak, liver and onions, pork chops, spaghetti and meatballs, and Salisbury steak. Popular daily lunch specials go for $6.99, and on Wednesday and Saturday evenings, the special is “All U Care to Eat Fried Chicken” with bread and two sides for just $9.99.
33. D. Nally’S
City: Louisville, KY
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (502) 583-8015
Address: 970 South Third St.
Description: Offering no-nonsense home cooking at rock-bottom prices since 1960, D. Nally’s is a tiny diner located on Third Street, midway between downtown and the main residential areas of Old Louisville. Aside from a wide assortment of breakfast options, diners will find lots of greasy-spoon favorites such as fried chicken, patty melts, and steak sandwiches. Closed Sunday, D. Nally’s serves Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
City: Louisville, KY
Category: Restaurants
Address: 1201 South First St.
35. Granville Inn
City: Louisville, KY
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (502) 635-6475
Address: 1601 South Third St.
Description: The place where locals mingle with students, Granville Inn has been popular with the University of Louisville crowd since it opened its doors in 1939. Reputed to serve some of the best burgers in the city, the Granville is also known for its sandwiches, beer, and pizza. Extremely cheap—it’s hard to find anything over $10—and laid back, it’s the quintessential neighborhood watering hole. The best part? It’s open seven days a week to 4 a.m.
City: Louisville, KY
Category: Restaurants
Address: 1830 South Third St.
37. The Rudyard Kipling
City: Louisville, KY
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (502) 636-1311
Address: 422 West Oak St.
Description: Catering to the bohemian in all of us, the Rudyard Kipling opens its doors Friday and Saturday nights for whole-grain pizzas and other bar snacks, including unique soups like their famous burgoo, or soup beans and corn bread. In addition to good Bloody Marys and sangria, there’s a selection of wine and imported beers. The biggest draw, however, is the regular live music, poetry readings, and avant garde theater events that have made the Rudyard Kipling a mainstay among the city’s literati. Located in a historic house that has been converted into a neighborhood watering hole, the Rud—as the locals call it—often opens during the week for special productions and concerts.
38. Third Avenue Café
City: Louisville, KY
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (502) 585-2233
Address: 1164 South Third St.
Description: This popular hangout at the intersection of Third and Oak is easy to find—just look for Elvis. If his mannequin look-alike isn’t at one of the sidewalk tables or on the corner bench outside the front door, he’ll probably be perched on a stool at the bar inside. The crowd around him will most likely consist of a lively mix of students from nearby universities and regulars from the neighborhood who drop in for popular appetizers such as the shrimp cakes, or fried strips of portobello mushroom with horseradish sauce. The eclectic menu features a good array of vegan and vegetarian dishes, such as a black bean and tofu burrito, the vegetarian Reuben, and curry roasted vegetables. Closed Sunday.
39. Amazing Grace
City: Louisville, KY
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (502) 485-1122
Address: 1133 Bardstown Rd.
Description: Located near the busy intersection of Grinstead and Bardstown Road, Amazing Grace prides itself on having a wonderful selection of organic, vegetarian, and natural foods, with only organic produce. Primarily a grocery and health food store, they also have a small, excellent deli with mostly vegan and some vegetarian items. There’s not much room to sit down, so hungry patrons like to pop in and grab a sandwich or a wrap before heading off to enjoy it in nearby Cherokee Park. Soups and a salad bar are available as well.
City: Louisville, KY
Category: Restaurants
Address: 1767 Bardstown Rd.
City: Louisville, KY
Category: Restaurants
Address: 1314 Bardstown Rd.
42. Baxter Avenue Station
City: Louisville, KY
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (502) 584-1635
Address: 1201 Payne St.
Description: Chug chug. Chew chew. That’s the motto at Baxter Avenue Station, an eclectic American eatery with 24 beers on tap and 30 wines for under $30. Over the years, the 100-year-old neighborhood tavern has evolved into a comfortable, casual bistro that the Courier-Journal has recognized as one of Louisville’s 20 most popular. Diners enjoy appetizers like black bean cakes or shrimp and grits, and main courses such as salmon croquettes, smoked pork chops, and bourbon fried chicken, in a comfortable atmosphere by the fireplace or on the heated enclosed deck. Not too far from Bardstown Road and just a few minutes from downtown in the Irish Hill neighborhood, Baxter Avenue Station is closed Sunday and Monday.
43. De La Torre’S
City: Louisville, KY
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (502) 456-4955
Address: 1606 Bardstown Rd.
Description: Open Tuesday through Saturday for dinner at 5:30 p.m., Louisville’s lone Spanish restaurant showcases the flavors of Madrid and other parts of the Iberian Peninsula in a fine dining setting. Entrees include standards such as tenderloin of beef with Madeira sauce and Castilian-style roast lamb, in addition to prepared-to-order paella, the national dish of Spain. Tapas are big at De La Torre’s, and an adjacent bar—La Bodega—specializes in the appetizer-like morsels, with several dozen different kinds. Spanish omelet, spicy mussels, chicken croquettes, and house-made chorizo are some of the more-popular choices.
City: Louisville, KY
Category: Restaurants
Address: 1126 Bardstown Rd.
45. El Caporal
City: Louisville, KY
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (502) 473-7840
Address: 2209 Meadow Dr.
Description: One of the first Mexican restaurants in the Derby City, El Caporal has grown to include a number of locations throughout the area. This one, just off of Bardstown Road and past the Watterson on the southern end, and the one across the river in Clarksville, Indiana, are the two most popular in the chain. Among the usual Tex-Mex suspects in the culinary lineup, you’ll find fajitas, tacos, burritos, carnitas, and carne asada.