So much has happened this week that I feel like I've been in Louisville for a month, not three days. Tuesday is a blur. But yesterday's doings are still fresh and definitely worth sharing.
I agreed to take
Pableaux to the airport but not before we had breakfast. We stopped into the Twig and Leaf (obvious bit of inspiration there) for plates piled high with eggs, biscuits, country ham and twig sticks (read: tater tots). We chatted up Miss Bonnie as we sipped and sopped. I asked her, "Why the name Twig and Leaf?" Her response involved mention of a strip club. I'll leave it at that.
After the airport run, I breezed through a day of interviews all over town (and a Vietnamese food lunch!) with the help of Pableaux's handy GPS gadget that he loaned me. Best. Loan. Ever. I'm hooked. And with all the time I spend on the road, you'd better believe I'll be getting one of these things real soon. Thanks, Pableaux!
The day's interviews were wonderful: the history of the Old Fashioned at the Pendennis Club, memories of legendary bartender Max Allen at the Seelbach, and cocktails, cocktails and more cocktails made by Edward and Jerry at the Seelbach. Edward's Old Fashioned is pictured here. But if you belly up to his bar, make sure to order a Whiskey Sour. And if you belly up to Jerry's bar, ask for a Bufala Negra: basil, balsamic vinegar, ginger ale and Buffalo Trace bourbon. Need I say more?
And what do you do after an afternoon filled with fancy cocktails? Why, head to a bar, of course. I spent the evening with my new friends over at Check's Cafe, where there were plenty of stories, laughs, and lies being shared. Billy the bartender had a club soda waiting for me when I sat down, and Mr. Tinker--Schnitzelburg's Number One Citizen--gave me a couple of t-shirts. I feel like a regular already.
There were some new guys (to me, anyway) sitting at the bar: Josh, Dan and Carl. The first thing to come out of Josh's mouth after I introduced myself was, "I love White Castle!" And he does. He has a tattoo to prove it: the White Castle logo with "What I Crave" written beneath. When I asked him if I could photograph it, Billy told him to put his other arm in the picture, so I'd know where I was. That arm, of course, has the Louisville cardinal, mascot of the University of Louisville. By the way, Josh's record for number of White Castle burgers eaten at one time? Sixteen.
It was a long day but a wonderful one, filled with great stories and good people--what I crave.
