Restaurant Review: Stout Burgers & Beer
When Stout Burgers and Beer invited me out to visit their new location on Bardstown Road , I was pretty excited. They're located in a neighborhood I know well and love -- Bob and my first condo was literally one block away in the quaint Bonnycastle/Deer Park area of the Highlands. It's also a make-or-break location for restaurants; with longtime local favorites and award-winning standouts in walking distance, a new eatery needs more than a cool concept or great decor. The food needs to be outstanding. From start to finish, my experience at Stout was just that: outstanding.
Stout is a Los Angeles-based concept that is slowly opening new locations in select markets. The Louisville restaurant opened earlier this summer; a Nashville location is next. The menu is quite simple: burgers (beef, chicken, or veggie) made with premium ingredients and gourmet toppings (we're talking truffle aioli and rosemary bacon here!), paired with beers that are specially selected to complement and optimize the flavors. The menu even suggests a category of beer that will pair best with your entree!
Stout employs a highly-trained staff. These folks really know what they're talking about. (In the course of conversation, I learned that one of the restaurant's owners is a Cordon Bleu-trained chef!) I wanted to try the signature offering, the Stout Burger, but was a little hesitant to pair it with the recommended IPA. I've never been a fan of hoppy beers, and tend to steer away from them. The bartender patiently asked about the flavor profiles I do enjoy, and gave me a few small pours to help me select an IPA that was both pleasing to my palate and complimentary to my meal.
I wound up with a honey IPA that tasted more like Knob Creek than a traditional IPA. And, let me tell you, it worked perfectly with the burger. I didn't taste the usual hops notes (what I always consider a "green" note; the same flavor profile that keeps me away from rye whiskey); instead, I tasted a sweet, clean flavor that balanced nicely with the caramelized onions, horseradish, gruyere, and bleu cheese on my burger. The serving staff's knowledge, patience, and commitment to the restaurant's concept really does translate to an improved dining experience!
Burgers come at two temperatures: pink and not-pink. I ordered my pink with a side of onion rings. The ingredients were fantastic and well-portioned. Some bites provided a sweet burst of rosemary bacon, others the piquancy of horseradish and bleu cheese, but the flavors never overwhelmed. The beer-battered onion rings were a fantastic side.
Stout's California roots are best seen in its sleek decor. A copper-walled bar with natural woods and exposed bricks leave no traces of the former tapas restaurant that inhabited the space for years. Beer is the primary spirit, but they stock enough bourbon to satisfy most tastes.
Stout would be a great spot for a casual date, an office happy hour, or the next time you crave a really great burger.
Thanks so much to Stout for the great food and lovely dining experience! I did receive a complementary meal in exchange for a review; all opinions are my own.
Patti's 1880's Settlement
That we have come this far in our journey together and not yet talked about Patti's is either a testament to the restaurant's ubiquity or my failure as a guide to all things Western Kentucky.
Patti's is a DESTINATION. In 1975, it started as a family burger joint attached to a six unit hotel. Over time it has grown to two restaurants, a full size hotel, shops, petting zoo, and park that serve over 350,000 people a year.
Located in Grand Rivers, Kentucky, what made Patti's famous was the pork chop.
It's slap your momma good and when accompanied by Patti's bread in a pot with strawberry butter. Well... wear loose fitting clothes is all I'm saying because THEN there's dessert. A veritable smorgasbord of pies and cakes but, if you're asking an expert (AKA me!), skip it all and go for the world famous Bill's Boat Sinker.
The Boat Sinker a rich, dark double fudge pie topped with coffee ice cream, piled high with whipped cream, "drizzled" with chocolate syrup and topped with a cherry. It is FANTASTIC.
Did I mention that all this delicious food is served to you by waiters and waitresses in "traditional" 1880's garb and they sing "Let me call you sweetheart" to anyone celebrating an anniversary?
Y'all, it's an experience.
If you're planning a visit, summer is always good so you can stop by Kentucky Lake while you're there. However, if you're making a special trip, then Christmas is the time to go. The entire park is strung with more lights and every room in the restaurant is decorated with a different holiday theme.
It, as we say in the South, a SIGHT.
We went to Patti's for my senior prom and I've celebrated many a holiday season there as well. I take my own children there to celebrate birthdays and family occasions. It was the first place I took my best friend when she flew all the way from New York City for a visit.
On the phone with her mother in Connecticut, my friend told her mother, who has never been to the South, she was eating the best pork chop of her life.
"Are you at Patti's?!?" her mother replied.
Word gets around is all I'm saying.
~ Sarah Stewart Holland