One of our trips this summer was to Louisville, the largest city in Kentucky.  We went to try out the many distilleries in town, which are really fun because you can walk to most of them and sample as you go.  But as always when we travel, we also tried to get a good sampling of some of the local food, so here we’re going to show you some of our favorite places that we visited.  We’ll give you our recommendations here, but just know that we do have some images of meat in this post.

One good place that was recommended to us right downtown – which is a good stop in between all the distilleries – was Mussel & Burger Bar.  Despite the name, they do have some good vegetarian options, such as this Mushroom Philly, which is their take on a meatless cheesesteak.  It’s made with three different types of mushrooms, peppers, caramelized onions, and pepper jack cheese, all on a baguette and with a side of fries.

And Cyril had the bacon burger, topped with cheddar cheese and served on a pretzel bun.

Also close to downtown is Doc Crow’s, which is a classic southern-style restaurant.  We started with their very popular appetizer:  the pimento beer cheese, topped with chives and served with homemade chips.

Miriam asked for their stuffed baked potato, minus the bacon – it comes with broccoli, scallions, cheddar, cheese sauce, and sour cream (and you can also get some portobello mushrooms in there too).

And Cyril had their fried shrimp po-boy.

At the end of our meal we shared a slice of their Derby pie, which is a Louisville specialty – it’s made with a chocolate and walnut filling.

We also got our fill of southern food at the Biscuit Belly in Nulu, at the edge of Distillery Row.  Biscuit Belly is a small chain in seven states across the south, and it was really great for breakfast one morning.  Miriam was excited to see that they had some vegetarian biscuits and gravy – this is the Boomer, made with mushroom gravy topping two biscuits – plus a side of cheesy grits.

Meanwhile, Cyril chowed down on the Rockwell Supreme sandwich, with a piece of fried chicken, cheddar, bacon, and an over easy egg, all on a biscuit and covered in sausage gravy.

A little farther away from downtown, in the Germantown neighborhood, we discovered Hammerheads, a dive-type spot that has some really interesting pub food, including lots of meatless items.  We shared a bunch of different things there, including these tots, which are actually fried pieces of grits topped with smoked cheddar, pico de gallo, and a hollandaise sauce.

We also got some tacos made with Beyond chorizo and a jalapeño sauce …

… the crispy mushroom medley, with three types of mushrooms fried and then served with sundried tomato aioli …

… and some of their smoked mac and cheese.

We also got something that surprised us – you probably don’t think of good pizza when you think of Kentucky, but in fact Louisville is home to some highly regarded pizza making at Garage Bar, which is not too far from Distillery Row.  We tried two pies there:  first, their margherita, made with fior di latte cheese.

And also their sweet corn, which you have to ask for without bacon – it’s a white pizza topped with fior di latte, garlic, corn and a cilantro sauce.

And finally, if you’re looking for something sweet, we have to recommend Comfy Cow – they have several locations in the Louisville area, and we hit up the one near the University of Louisville campus.  You can really go all out there – here’s the Big Brown sundae, made with a giant brownie topped with your choice of ice cream flavor plus hot fudge, walnuts, and whipped cream.

But you can also get just some regular old ice cream, which is delicious – here’s a scoop of Comfy Cow’s mint chocolate chippy.

We definitely got a good sampling of Kentucky food on this trip:  we were able to eat at two different Southern restaurants, where we found a couple of meatless dishes (although you may have to ask to alter the menu a little in order to eat vegetarian).  We also had some burgers and sandwiches in the heart of downtown, an interesting sampling of appetizers at a dive bar, some pizza, and good local ice cream.  All in all, we’re happy with what we tried – while it may be a little more challenging to find meat-free meals in the south, what we got shows that it is possible for vegetarians to eat well in Louisville.