Got Bourbon? Kentucky Does

We went to Mammy's Kitchen when we were in Bardstown for Bourbon Fest 2008. The weather that weekend was beautiful, and Bardstown was packed.

This restaurant is a seat yourself restaurant, and rather small. If I was estimating, I woudl guess that it seats maybe 50-75 people. When we got there all of the empty tables needed to be bussed. So we sat down, and a waitress cleared & cleaned the table very quickly.

The employees at Mammy's were incredibly polite, and kind. It was a little frantic due to the festival, but everyone was very calm and nice.

It took a while (probably 20-30 minutes) for our party of four to get our food, but our drinks never got empty. I am certain that the service would have been quicker if we were there on a normal weekend. To me, however, it is more important to have polite service than to have food served quickly. We simply enjoyed catching up with our friends. The manager also came to our table after we had gotten our meal to check on how everything was. That isn't something that I often see in smaller restaurants.

I got a tuna melt with chips, and a salad. My husband got soup and the 'Best grilled cheese in the world." He agreed with the menu that it was a great grilled cheese. I absolutely regret that I forgot to order the tater tots -- you can't find those many places.

The total for four of us (no alcoholic drinks) was under $35.

I'd definately recommend this restaurant to anyone stoppign in Bardstown who was looking for a cute, small restaurant with good food. If you're wanting a fancy meal, however, I'd explore other options.

Also, for a great photo op, in the front window there is a really neat Wild Turkey display, with a real (stuffed) turkey. Unfortunately for me, there was a stroller in the way, and I felt bad asking a person to move their stroller in a busy restaurant.

Bourbon Fest is held every September in Bardstown, and my biggest regret is that I only arranged to visit it one evening. We were invited to visit with friends, and I stupidly expected a cute little small festival. I was hugely mistaken.

There are a plethea of activites, from hot air balloons, to cooking classes, a gala, and artisan displays. The band this year was teh Kentucky Headhunters, which seems to be a trend among the recent years. I highly reccommend going to the website http://www.kybourbonfestival.com if you are considering going. I found this website after I got home, and had to laugh at my lack of planning. It is nice to note that prices are clearly listed on this website, to help prepare you to plan your trip. The activities pricing varies GREATLY, ranging from $5-140 per person. Also, if you are planning to visit the "spirit garden" you need the Kentucky Bourbon Fest lapel pin. I was lucky enough to have a friend purchase mine, so I am unsure of the cost.

We got to the Festival late Saturday evening, and took some time to walk by a lot of motorcyles and classic cars. There were some really nice vehicles, which the men of our group greatly enjoyed.

After that we broused the booths set up by local artists. There were tons of booths. I woudl estimate that there were well over 50. We (on a shorter time frame than I would have propbably planned for) look at some, but didn't have the opportunity to take time to appreciate them all.

My favorite booths were the booths of the Bourbon Distilleries. The fronts of these booths looked like the front of real buildings. It was not until I got inside that I realized these "stores" were really tents that had elaborate frontages.

The "Spirit Garden" was were I spent a bit of time. We went to spend time with friends, so our priority was catching up with the group who was with us. To purchase a drink, you must purchase drink tickets. Tickets are one dollar a piece, and drinks vary. 16 ounce beer cans were 4 tickets, and different bourbons were 4, 6 or 8 tickets. Note: there is a line for the ticket line, and a line for drinks. I would not reccommend buying tickets 4 at a time, however, plan well, because one of the people in our group was stuck with left over tickets at the end of the evening.

I'd reccommend going to the Kentucky Bourbon Fest to absolutely everyone. There is a wide variety of activites for everyone, including people with and without children, and for people of all ages.

See you next year!