Hot on the Trail of the Hot Brown

What do you do when you learn that it’s the 100th anniversary of the Hot Brown Sandwich? Choose one: Group A, book a flight ASAP to Louisville, where it originated; Group B, wait ‘til you reach the end of this story, then book your flight; Group C, yawn and turn the page (but you’ll regret it).

The Hot Brown was devised by the chef of Louisville’s Brown Hotel when party-goers showed up around midnight, demanding ham and eggs to forestall a hangover. Looking at a mound of use-it-or-lose-it turkey he had on hand, he devised an open-faced sandwich composed of thick-cut turkey breast topped with bacon under a final flourish of creamy, cheesy Morney sauce. He ran it under the broiler, slapped on a tomato slice and made history.

Today, the Hot Brown is on many a menu throughout town, some straight-arrow and others with variations, like using crumbled bacon bits or cherry tomatoes. There’s even a Hot Brown pizza. And I arrived hungry.

First stop, the lobby bar in the Brown Hotel. (Go straight to the source, right?) Here, in a classy but relaxed setting (live piano music, white tablecloths topped with candles and rosebuds, all boosted by an extensive Bourbon list), out it came: tiny toast points, mounds of juicy turkey, two bacon strips, bits of tomato and a flood of rich and creamy Mornay. It turned out to be my favorite of the hunt (and maybe it should be, at $32).

Biscuit Belly, where I headed the next morning, mixed it up a little. Out it came in a white skillet, starring biscuits with an egg on top. Lunching at The Café, a maroon skillet arrives lined with shaved deli turkey and cheese with a signature tang. “It’s a hangover cure,” swears the manager. The menu also sports Hot Brown tater tots. This space shares quarters with a stoneware company that produces a handmade ceramic Hot Brown platter with the recipe inscribed.

At Lou Lou in NuLu (the city’s indie shopping/dining ’hood), that New Orleans-themed storefront delivers a mighty Hot Brown, weighty with turkey topped with bacon crumbles, as well as a Hot Brown pizza. Wild Eggs, today’s lunch go-to, presents a classic version, while the dive-y Sidebar on Whiskey Row also piles a platter with Hot Brown fries, along with a Hot Brown burger. All of them call for an Old Fashioned, the city’s official cocktail. I sipped one in solidarity.

While you’re in that neck of the woods on Main Street, stop in Old Forester for a 90-minute tour of its distillery — the first, in 1876, to sell its Bourbon in bottles. You’ll learn that by law, Bourbon must be composed of a minimum of 51 percent corn, then stored in barrels charred (as you watch here) to impart extra flavor. The tour ends with a tasting of four Old Forester samples, varying by age and proof.

Fortunately, between sips and bites, Louisville is ready for visitors. And the most-visited day is — drum roll — Derby Day. But if your travel plans don’t include that first Saturday in May, fret not. Tours of the Churchill Downs racetrack and museum are offered all year round. They begin with a surround-sound filming of the iconic race, starting with the song that belongs in every local hymnal: “My Old Kentucky Home.” (Even this outsider from Minnesota was fumbling for her hankie.)

If baseball is your sport of choice, steer for Main Street’s Slugger Museum and Factory to follow the path of a bat from forest sapling to a league hitter’s grip. Shopping ops, too. A hitter of a different ilk gets his own museum downtown: the one-time world heavyweight boxing champ and native son, Muhammad Ali. Follow his life story leading up to his principled stance as a Vietnam War conscientious objector rather than be sent to fight other oppressed brothers of color.

While ambling along Main Street, pop into the Frazier History Museum, which hails famous Kentuckians, from George Clooney to Colonel Sanders. I became enmeshed in the expedition of explorers Lewis and Clark and the travails they encountered. (Will they choose the right fork in the river? Scrounge enough food to survive?) Exhibits hail Kentuckians’ inventions, too, including — wait for it! — the disco ball.

The neighboring Kentucky Museum of Arts and Crafts is a small but finely-curated Mecca for viewing/shopping for high-quality local art, the quirkier the better. That’s actually also the perceived goal of the free museum within the avant 21C Hotel (You’ll spot it by a two-story repro of Michelangelo’s bare-nekkid David on the sidewalk). Its restaurant is well worth a visit, too.

One of the newest kids on the museum block is the Roots 101 African American Museum, tracing the Black experience from a race of African kings to today’s bold names in the sports, academic and entertainment arenas. Museum founder Lamont Collier hands me a weighty set of chains and manacles to experience the despair its original wearer endured. Follow the story from outright torture (hello, KKK) to subtler humiliations (Aunt Jemima and Uncle Tom) and today’s version heralded in the account of our own George Floyd.

Raconteur David Domine leads daily walking tours spiced with juicy tales of Old Louisville, a neighborhood that boasts genteel stately homes in a beauty pageant of styles — Victorian to Queen Anne, Arts & Crafts to Federal — that originated in the 1880s and ’90s. They often arise from well-tended gardens near car-free walking paths, fanning from the grand green nucleus of Central Park (louisvillehistorictours.com). The gayborhood is vibrant here.

Then head just steps from downtown to NuLu, to patrol block after block crammed with bars, cozy cafes and indie boutiques such as Jones & Daughter. (Here, a needlepoint pillow proclaims that “‘Fancy’ is my second-favorite F word.”) Velvet Outlaw’s wares careen from mushroom candles to leather cuff bracelets, while Paxton is the final word in men’s clothing. Muth’s has been selling candies since 1921, while Red Tree delivers a trove of unique and craveable home accessories.

If you, too, wish you were in the land of cotton, where old times are not forgotten, check out gotolouisville.com. Then weep no more, my laddie, O weep no more today … for your Old Kentucky home, far away. Just get packing.

Pride Festivals:
Kentuckiana Pride Festival in NuLu (parade, live music, vendors) will be in mid-July.
The 10th Louisville Pride Festival will be Sept. 6 along Bardstown Road.