Start with a hot brown and a bowl of burgoo at the Old Talbott Tavern on Court Square, then book skillet-fried chicken at Toogie’s Table and finish with bourbon bread pudding. That covers the big three of Kentucky eating in one Bardstown day. Add pimento cheese, fried green tomatoes and a bourbon dessert and you’ve eaten your way through the state’s greatest hits. Country ham and bourbon balls take a little more hunting, and this guide tells you where to look.
The Kentucky eating list at a glance
| Dish | What it is | Where to order it in Bardstown |
|---|---|---|
| Hot brown | Open-faced turkey sandwich under Mornay sauce, bacon and tomato | Old Talbott Tavern, Mammy’s, Scout & Scholar, BBC Kitchen & Bar |
| Hot brown pizza | The same flavors on a pizza crust | Cafe Primo |
| Burgoo | Thick stew of mixed meats and vegetables | Old Talbott Tavern |
| Skillet-fried chicken | Pan-fried chicken, crisp, golden and very nostalgic | Toogie’s Table |
| Pimento cheese | Cheddar, mayonnaise and pimentos, the South’s favorite spread | Mammy’s (Kentucky BLT), Five Brothers (fried pimento cheese balls) |
| Fried green tomatoes | Unripe tomatoes, cornmeal-crusted and fried | Old Talbott Tavern, Mammy’s, BBC Kitchen & Bar |
| Catfish | Fried fillets, a small-town Kentucky staple | BJ’s Steakhouse, Toogie’s Table, Mammy’s |
| Bourbon bread pudding | Bread pudding with a bourbon sauce | The Rickhouse, Toogie’s Table |
| Chess pie | Simple, custardy Southern sugar pie | Old Talbott Tavern |
| Bourbon fudge | Handmade by Trappist monks | Abbey of Gethsemani Welcome Center |
The hot brown
The hot brown was invented at the Brown Hotel in Louisville in 1926, per the hotel’s own dining page, and it has been the state’s signature knife-and-fork sandwich ever since: sliced turkey on toast, blanketed in a cheesy Mornay sauce, broiled until blistered and topped with bacon and tomato. It is rich enough to count as dinner.
In Bardstown, the classic place to order one is the Old Talbott Tavern, where you eat it under 1779 stone walls. Mammy’s Kitchen serves a hot brown for lunch and a hot brown breakfast in the morning, which is either genius or a dare. Scout & Scholar Brewing lists one next to its smash burgers, and the Kitchen & Bar at Bardstown Bourbon Company has one on its lunch menu. For a lighter, shareable take, Cafe Primo on North Third makes a hot brown pizza, a local twist worth ordering for the table.
Burgoo
Burgoo is Kentucky’s party stew: a thick, slow-simmered pot of mixed meats and vegetables, historically cooked in big kettles to feed a crowd. Every cook swears by a different recipe. Bardstown’s bowl to beat is at the Talbott, where the tavern’s site notes that USA Today put its burgoo on a Top 10 list in 2019. Order a cup as a starter and a bourbon from the bar, and you’ve done the tavern properly.
Skillet-fried chicken
For 84 years, Kurtz Restaurant on East Stephen Foster Avenue was the fried chicken place in Bardstown. It closed in December 2021, and the limestone building reopened as Toogie’s Table, named for Marilyn “Toogie” Dick of the Kurtz family. The skillet-fried chicken is the legacy dish, but it wasn’t on the posted dinner menu in September 2026, so call (502) 275-0891 to ask which day it’s served, and order cast-iron cornbread either way. Dinner runs Wednesday through Saturday, with a Sunday daytime service, and Toogie’s own site links to OpenTable reservations. If fried chicken is the whole point of your trip, book it first.
For a more casual version, the Kitchen Table at Jim Beam in Clermont serves fried chicken with spiced honey at lunch, and Bardstown Bourbon Company’s Kitchen & Bar is known for its fried chicken sandwich.
Pimento cheese, cheese dip and beer cheese
Pimento cheese is the Southern snack that shows up at every porch party. Mammy’s Kitchen puts it on a Kentucky BLT with fried green tomatoes. At the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience, Five Brothers Bar & Kitchen deep-fries pimento cheese into balls and serves an Elijah Craig bourbon cheese dip, both on its menu. Kentucky beer cheese, the sharp, spicy spread served with crackers all over the state, isn’t a fixture on Bardstown menus, so the bourbon cheese dip is the closest local cousin. Order it with a flight.
Country ham
Salt-cured, aged and intensely savory, country ham is a Kentucky treasure that is oddly hard to find on a Bardstown menu. No restaurant in town makes it a headline dish, so ask at breakfast counters and at Mammy’s or Pat’s Place whether it’s on that day. The better bet is the ham’s home turf: Lebanon, in neighboring Marion County, throws Ham Days every September (September 19-27 in 2026), which Visit Lebanon calls one of the oldest festivals in the state. It pairs with a Maker’s Mark visit on a Loretto and Lebanon day trip.
For biscuits, the My Old Kentucky Home state park runs a $25 culinary class featuring “three unique biscuits and farm made jams,” listed on its admission page.
Bourbon desserts, fudge and bourbon balls
Bourbon finds its way into dessert here. Bourbon bread pudding is the house finale at the Rickhouse, and Toogie’s Table makes a bourbon caramel version. Five Brothers at Heaven Hill serves a bourbon ball chocolate cake, a slice-sized tribute to the famous candy.
Bourbon balls themselves, those cocoa-dusted, liquor-laced chocolates, are a Kentucky holiday tradition, and the best local buy is a short drive away. The monks at the Abbey of Gethsemani make bourbon fudge and fruitcake sold at the Welcome Center, a stop Kentucky Living put on its candy trail. Both sell out near Christmas, so shop early in the season.
Bourbon on the main course
In the Bourbon Capital, the whiskey doesn’t stay in the glass. Scan any dinner menu downtown and you’ll find it working as a glaze, a brine or a sauce. The Rickhouse serves a bourbon-glazed pork chop and bourbon blueberry salmon. Toogie’s Table brines its pork chops in bourbon. The Talbott does bourbon walnut chicken and bourbon barbecue ribs, and Mammy’s has a bourbon burger, bourbon chicken and, at breakfast, Bourbon-Bon pancakes made with a local maple bourbon. None of these will get you tipsy, and all of them are a fair souvenir of where you are.
Ordering tips
Portions in Kentucky run generous, so split a hot brown if you plan to eat again before bedtime. Weekend breakfast lines at Mammy’s can stretch past 50 minutes, so arrive near opening. The Sunday cinnamon roll there sells out. At the Talbott, service can be slow on busy nights; order the burgoo and a drink first, then decide on mains. Vegetarians will find the classics tough going, since most are built on turkey, ham, bacon or chicken, but fried green tomatoes, pimento cheese and the bread puddings are meat-free.
Something to drink with it
Kentucky food is built to share a table with bourbon. An Old Fashioned or a neat pour alongside the hot brown is the local move, and the bourbon cocktails and food guide covers where to order a proper julep in town. My Old Kentucky Home also runs a $35 mint julep class. Beer drinkers can pair burgoo with a house pint at Scout & Scholar.
A one-day Kentucky food crawl
Start at Hadorn’s Bakery at 7 a.m. for a Yum Yum, or at Mammy’s for a hot brown breakfast. Mid-morning, tour a distillery, then eat pimento cheese balls and a bourbon cheese dip at Five Brothers before its 4:30 p.m. last call; the distillery restaurants guide has the options. Take a cup of burgoo at the Talbott in the late afternoon, then finish with skillet-fried chicken and bread pudding at Toogie’s. Pace yourself, and have someone else drive if the bourbon flights keep coming.
In season, the Bardstown Farmers Market on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday mornings sells honey, jellies, breads and pastries, good for a picnic or a jar to take home.
