You may be asking yourself where the hell I’ve been. Fair question. I guess I should have given you some warning that I’d be out of town…for a week. I went up to Louisville (yes, again! I was there just 3 weeks ago!), this time for a conference. Trying to eat well while traveling is always a challenge for me (see this post), and this trip was no different. There were some definite hits, some egregious misses, and some challenging situations. But I did my best to make the best of it!

HITS:

  • Lynn’s Paradise Cafe: You may have seen this sassy little place on the Food Network’s Throwdown with Bobby

    My God, how I've missed you.

    It tasted much better than it looked, I promise

    Flay. (Sidenote: I think Bobby Flay is a complete ass. “Oh, you’ve been making this fantastic dish for years? I’m going to come in and do it better than you.” Big ego, anyone?). We went in for brunch on St. Patrick’s Day, and the first thing I saw on the menu was Vegetarian Biscuits and Gravy. Of course, I had to order it. It was, after, my three-year vegetarian anniversary. And I haven’t had biscuits and gravy since, which is a shame, because they’re so delicious. Since it was St. Patrick’s Day, I went crazy and ordered a mimosa, not knowing it would be so damn big (or green, for that matter) . But man, I didn’t go wrong with my order: veggie biscuits and gravy, green mimosa, and cheese grits all made for a fantastically unhealthy but absolutley delicious meal.

  • Toast on Market: I forgot to take pictures here because I was too busy stuffing my face. This breakfast/brunch spot was an absolute treat. Sometimes it’s hard for places to get the simplest orders right, but when I ordered two eggs over easy with a side of hashbrown casserole, I was NOT disappointed. The eggs were huge, cooked perfectly, and the hashbrown casserole was really, really tasty. My friends were similarly thrilled with their meals. I would definitely reccommend eating here if you’re ever in Louisville. (Another plus: it’s cheap!)

MISSES:

  • Cafe Magnolia at the Galt House: In all honesty, this was our fault. After wandering around our first morning in

    This is just laughable.

    Louisville trying to find Toast (and when we did, we found that it was closed on Mondays!), we ended up in this hotel restaurant. We should have known it was going to be bad when the chef’s specials were a cheeseburger and chicken fingers. We also had a stunning view of the interstate. The menu had zero vegetarian options, so I decided to go for the fish sandwich now that I’m eating seafood again. MISTAKE! Just look at that thing. I’m not sure why peppers and olives stacked up on top of a fish sandwich sounded like a good idea, but when I ate it, I found out: it was bad, and they were meant to cover up the crappy fish. So I slathered it with tartar sauce, and nibbled a bit, and eventually settled for filling myself up with coleslaw and fries. Total meal failure.

CHALLENGES:

  • Cozy Corner Restaurant: We ended up here after a tour of the Maker’s Mark distillery, which is about 90

    Zero. Vegetarian. Options.

    minutes from Louisville. It’s exactly what you’d think: a small bar/restaurant that served anything that was fried (including frog legs). I was travelling with 3 friends who are not vegetarian, and I never, ever, make a fuss when we end up somewhere that isn’t quite veggie-friendly. Having learned my lesson about ordering fish in a land-locked state, I sucked it up and ordered a grilled cheese with tomato and fries. Actually, it was listed on the menu as a grilled cheese with ham, so I just asked for the cheese-and-tomato-only version. Aside from the couple smoking at the table next to us (really! I had no idea people could still smoke in restaurants in some parts of the country!), I ended up having a decent meal, washed down of course with a good-old-fashioned Miller Lite.

  • Mark’s Feed Store: My friends all really wanted to go to this BBQ restaurant, and I really hate dragging the group down, so off we went. Apparently, they’ve got really good food- my friends all agreed- but I wasn’t really able to tell because I didn’t get much of a choice. The only non-meaty thing on the menu was the “veggie platter,” which was basically 3 sides. I got the potato salad, baked potato, and side salad (I must have been feeling very potato-y). It was fine (I mean, how hard is it to mess up any of those things?) but not really a meal, and certainly not a memorable one. Eating veggie at a place like this is hard, but not impossible. Just be prepared for really boring food.

So that’s my trip to Louisville, food-wise, anyway. I didn’t really eat the most healthy meals, so I’m really looking forward to cooking for myself this week and not eating anything fried for a while. Eating while traveling is alway hard, but even more so when you’re vegetarian. I guess three years of vegetarianism still hasn’t gotten me skilled at it. What suggestions do you have for choosing good, healthy places when you’re in a new/strange town? How do you negoiate your own food preferences when you’re traveling with friends who don’t eat the way that you do? Let me know what you think!

Leigh