Chef Kathy Cary from Lilly's Bistro

My B&B guests are always amazed when they come to Louisville and find that the restaurants here are amazing. They are top notch, with most of the owners and chefs having been trained in some of the finest culinary Arts schools and restaurants in the world. One of the most popular is Lilly's Bistro, owned and operated by Kathy Cary, who is also the executive chef there.

Much of Kathy Cary's inspiration derives from her knowledge and love of her own Kentucky roots, where she learned to love food at an early age in her mother's kitchen. Apprenticed to a cordon Bleu-trained chef in Washington, D.C., she later started a small catering firm there and then became a chef at a stylish Georgetown restaurant.

She returned to Kentucky, and opened her first La Peche gourmet-to-go shop in 1979. Lilly's opened 24 years ago, with a menu that reflects Kathy's French-inspired use of traditional Kentucky ingredients with unexpected, contemporary twists.

Food at Lilly's continues to be influenced by our longstanding tradition of buying locally from farmers and producers, rather than pursuing fashionable food trends," says Kathy Cary, chef/owner. Kathy uses ingredients such as catfish, country ham, bourbon, seasonal produce and local artisanal cheeses and meats on an ever-changing menu that honors Southern foodways but doesn't hesitate to draw from Continental, Mediterranean and Asian techniques.

Kathy also heads a celebrated catering operation, known as La Peche. She is known and admired both regionally and nationally. The Louisville Dining Guide summed up Lilly's as "the most influential and celebrated Louisville restaurant of the past decade

Kathy has been honored to be selected as one of the few James Beard Award Nominees in the category of "Best Chef of the Southeast" – annually from 2002 through 2006.

A New York Times writer concluded, after a culinary visit to Louisville, "My eating expedition could actually have begun and ended happily in a sleek restaurant called Lilly's." (courtesy of Louisville Originals)

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610 Magnolia, Louisville KY: unusual restaurant, amazing food, creative chef

Located in the heart of historic Old Louisville on an out of the way side street is 610 Magnolia, from the outside, a small, unpretentious building with no indication that it is, indeed, one of the finest restaurants, and maybe the finest restaurant in Louisville. If you were to walk by during the day, you would never guess that on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, an extraordinary chef was creating extraordinary cuisine.

Offering his guests a combination of southern hospitality and urban sophistication, he has created an interior which is a simple statement in elegance with the original wooden beams along the ceiling, mullioned windows, and French doors leading to alovely garden patio. Inside the restaurant are highly polished mahogany tables, Frette linens and Riedel crystal that add up, along with the unsurpassed wine list, to a truly unique dining experience.

Chef Edward Lee has been cooking professionally for 10 years in America and Europe, training under Chef Frank Crispo in New York. At 25, he opened Clay, a successful Asian-inspired restaurant in the NoLiTa section of Manhattan. "I was the chef, the manager, the dishwasher and the host there. After five years, I was looking to rise to the next level."

He discovered 610 Magnolia eight years ago, while researching the best American restaurants. A regular customer in New York who was also a Louisville native, told him about the restaurant and its eccentric chef, Ed Garber. When Lee visited Garber during Kentucky Derby week 2001, they began a mentor-apprentice relationship that resulted in the passing of the torch from one Ed to another. Garber closed 610 Magnolia in July. Lee, in partnership with businessman Brook Smith, reopened 610 Magnolia on September 11, 2003.

610 Magnolia has reopened, in 2003, under the leadership of Edward Lee, a former innovative New York City chef who has studied under Ed Garber, the former chef and proprietor. The restaurant is now open to the public three nights a week. The restaurant focusses on New American cuisine, blending the eclectic with classical European techniques to produce a contemporary and exciting approach to dining that has always been the benchmark of 610 Magnolia. Chef Lee brings to the diners of Louisville a top tier dining experience comparable to the finest restaurants in this country.

Chef Lee believes that a true dining experience requires an entire evening. So there is only one seating nightly. "Your reserved table is yours for the whole evening,” he said. “That's what it takes to make a dinner memorable." The menu changes week-to-week depending on the seasons. The restaurant is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tables will not turn. Reservations are required. A full bar serving a small a la carte menu opens at 5:30 p.m. 610 Magnolia is also available for private events.

Photos: courtesy Dan Dry
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Who knew?.......Amazing restaurants in Louisville

When I moved to Louisville and opened my bed and breakfast almost 15 years ago, I had no idea that the city was fifth in the US for conferences or that it was filled with amazing restaurants! Of course, both of these facts are major advantages for Innkeepers and their businesses, as well as for business and leisure travelers.

However, it is the restaurants which seem to generate the strongest reactions from visitors. They are surprised and impressed with the mere number of them, the creative and widely varying cuisines found in each, and the extremes to which the owners and chefs will go to please their customers.

I have guests who come into town, after having done their research, with a list of restaurants they want to visit and why. For example, lots of visitors have heard about Lynn's Paradise Cafe and want to go there......and Jack Fry's .......and, Lilly's. I have been to all three and, let me tell you, they are very different from each other.

Lynn's is a unique experience, as you can see on this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-YdPM58XeE . Is it any wonder why travelers would be curious about this restaurant? And, the owner is as unique as the restaurant.

Lynn's Paradise Cafe
Jack Fry's offers a totally different ambience. Moody, sophistocated and upscale, this restaurant is one of my favorites. It reminds me of the little intmate places with soft tinkling pianos (think Bobby Short) you can find in New York or Chicago. I would also group Buck's, which is in walking distance of my Inn, into this category.

And, I can't leave out Lilly's. Owned by Kathy Cary, Lilly's is a charming Kentucky bistro often touted by local food columists. "If an American city is fortunate, it will have a signature restaurant, an eatery combining a sense of place with the best local flavors. To be truly outstanding, it will have a worldview, too, drawing on many culinary traditions. For over two decades, our city has been lucky indeed to have its own such quintessential restaurant. Lilly's says Louisville." (Susan Reigler, Courier Journal)

There are many more fine restaurants here , too numerous to mention. They run the gamut from steak house to vegetarian; from American cuisine to Asian fuse.; from easy-on-your-budget to expensive. But they all are extraordinary

Timothy's White Chili

Timothy's was a wonderfully eccentric eatery, opened by Tim Barnes in the early 1980s, on East Broadway in Louisville, Kentucky. They served continental style food and frequently displayed a "now sauteing" neon sign in the front window. Most Louisvillians will remember it and, although I wasn't introduced to it until I moved here almost 15 years ago, I still remember going there with friends to savor some of their awesome "White Chili".

In March of 1991, Bon Appetit did an article on Timothy's and published the White Chili recipe. I was ecstatic when I found it and have been making it ever since. When Tim died in the late 1990s, the restaurant closed and reopened in Indiana in 2003. They still have his chili.

This year, I spent the Christmas holidays in the southwest visiting my daughter and her boyfriend. They have a great house with 4 cats in Austin Texas. I had a wonderful week of Christmas, zoning out on food, wine and card playing. We all three love to cook, so instead of going out to eat, we spent every night cooking for each other. I cooked two nights and guess what I made for them...and their friends? Yep! White Chile. And they loved it! So I've decided to share the recipe with you ..........just go easy of the hot stuff. My mouth is still smarting!




Yield: 6 servings

2-3 8 oz. cans Great Northern Beans
2 LB chicken breasts
1 ½ tsp. oregano
1TBL Olive oil
¼tsp grnd cloves
2 med Onions, chopped
¼ tsp Cayenne
4 Garlic cloves, minced
6 C. Chicken stock or broth
8 oz. Chopped mild green chilies
2tsp. Grnd cumin
3 C. Monterey Jack; grated
1/2 C. Sherry

Garnishes: Salsa, Chopped fresh cilantro, Sour Cream

Saute chicken in heavy large saucepan. until just tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool, remove skin, & cut into cubes. Heat oil in same pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and saute until translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in garlic, then chilies, cumin, oregano, cloves, and cayenne pepper and saute 2 minutes. Add beans and stock and bring to boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 1/2 hour. Add chicken and 1 cup cheese to chili and stir until cheese melts. Continue to simmer for another 1/2 hour. Add sherry 5 minutes before finished cooking. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle chili into bowls. Serve with remaining cheese, sour cream, salsa and cilantro. (recipe edited by Aleksander House)