Flavors of Kentucky

Washington’s annual spring festival is a chocolate lover’s dream.
The 22nd annual Chocolate Festival, April 18-19, will feature a chocolate creations contest, a chocolate candy hunt, handmade chocolates, and activities for children, with a little history thrown in.
Old Washington is a 1700s village in Mason County with many historic buildings and museums, including the Harriett Beecher Stowe Slavery to Freedom Museum.
Festival hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. April 18 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 19. Call (606) 759-0505 or go to www.washingtonky.com.

Watch that sodium
As a health-conscious consumer you might avoid a bag of potato chips because it contains a large amount of sodium. Did you know that there could be more sodium in the pancakes you eat for breakfast than in a bag of potato chips?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released new data that shows Americans eat way too much salt. The typical American diet contains a large percentage of processed foods, and therefore, even cautious consumers can easily exceed the current recommended amounts.
The majority of Americans over the age of 20 should limit the amount of sodium (salt) they consume daily to 1,500 milligrams (mg) to prevent and reduce high blood pressure, according to the March 26 issue of the CDC’s Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report.
High salt diets have been linked to an increase in blood pressure and an increased risk for a number of cardiovascular diseases including heart disease and stroke. Go to www.hearthealthystrokefree.org.

Wallace Station plans a party for Wallace Station the thoroughbred
Wallace Station Deli and Bakery in Midway is throwing a welcome home party for its namesake Wallace Station – the thoroughbred.
The Wallace Station picnic will be at 11:30 a.m. April 14 at Old Friends, the facility for retired thoroughbreds at 1841 Paynes Depot Road, Georgetown. The picnic buffet features gourmet sandwiches, potato salad and lemonade from the deli, and carrots and apples for Wallace Station, the thoroughbred and other retired horses at Old Friends. Wallace Station is a son of Capote and a grandson of Seattle Slew.
Cost is a $10 donation to Old Friends. Call (502) 863-1775. The deli is at 3854 Old Frankfort Pike. Call (859) 846-5161.

Test kitchen creates a new burgoo
In the May issue of Cook’s Country, writer Kris Widican shows how she developed a less than authentic Kentucky burgoo – but with just as much flavor as the traditional stew that takes hours to make.
Widican visited Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn in Owensboro and talked to owner Pat Bosley and some old-time burgoo makers for her article on Kentucky burgoo. One of burgoo makers told Widican: “You really want to know what goes into burgoo? I’ll tell ya: anything that’s free.”
Burgoo began as a way to make use of whatever the hunter brought home, and vegetables from the harvest, cooked in a large iron pot over an open flame.
While in Owensboro, Widican tasted burgoo at all the barbecue restaurants and gathered a half-dozen recipes. She went back to the test kitchen to perfect the recipe for the home cook. Her first stumbling block came when she found out her supermarket didn’t carry mutton. So Widican tested recipes with leg of lamb, lamb shoulder chops, and lamb stew meat.
Widican’s “secret to layers of flavor:” She added black pepper at the end of cooking rather than at the beginning, some lemon juice, and ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce to add richness.

Here’s the recipe.

Kentucky burgoo
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, about 2 pounds
4 lamb shoulder blade chops (6 to 8 ounces each), about 1/2 inch thick
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 1/2 cups baby lima beans
1/4 cup juice from 2 lemons
Brown meats. Pat chicken and lamb dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown chicken, about 5 minutes per side; transfer to plate. Pour off fat from pan and reserve. (You should have about 3 tablespoons fat; if you have less, supplement with vegetable oil.) Add 1 tablespoon reserved fat to Dutch oven and heat until just smoking. Brown half of chops, about 5 minutes per side; transfer to plate. Repeat with additional 1 tablespoon fat and remaining chops.
Cook aromatics. Add remaining fat and onions to now-empty pot and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and flour and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in broth, tomatoes, and Worcestershire, scraping up any browned bits with wooden spoon. Return chicken and lamb to pot and bring to boil.
Simmer meats. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until chicken is tender, about 30 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate. When cool enough to handle, pull chicken into bite-sized pieces and reserve in refrigerator; discard bones.
Add vegetables. Add potatoes to pot and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Add corn, lima beans, reserved chicken, and reserved lamb and simmer until heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Season with salt. Skim fat, if necessary. Serve.

I cannot remember the number of times I’ve bought fish fillets at the seafood counter and been disappointed when I started to cook them. Sometimes they’ve had an off odor, or they’ve been a bit slimy to the touch.

I rarely buy frozen seafood because thawing takes time. But now I’m buying it frozen, thanks to The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s Cook It Frozen techniques.

Equipment
For stovetop grilling and sautéing, use a heavy nonstick skillet or ridged stovetop grill pan with a tight-fitting lid.
Temperature
Pans and oven/broiler must be hot (around 400 degrees) before you start cooking. To test the temperature of a stovetop pan, sprinkle a few drops of water on the skillet; if they immediately pop off the surface, you’re good to go.
The oil
Using a pastry brush, lightly brush frozen fish with high oleic vegetable oils: olive, canola, peanut, grapeseed, soy or safflower. Avoid butter, sunflower or corn oil as they will burn at high heat.
The spices
Avoid seasoning the fish with dry spices before it is placed in the pan. Since the pan is very hot, the spices will burn and stick to the pan. Better yet, season your seafood after you flip it, since seasoning mixtures containing salt draw moisture out of uncooked proteins.
Cook just until done
Fish turns from translucent to opaque as it cooks and, like most proteins, will continue to cook after it is removed from the heat source. To check for doneness, slide a sharp knife tip into the center of the thickest part of a cooking seafood portion, checking for color. Remove seafood from the heat just as soon as it turns from translucent to opaque throughout.

Red Lobster has launched a new Interactive Chef’s Kitchen that provides helpful seafood cooking tips to home cooks. Here’s a video on how to prepare Key West shrimp.

Alaska salmon with orange vinaigrette

1 cup orange juice
1 1/2 tablespoons red onion, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 cup fat-free Italian dressing
4 salmon steaks or fillets (4 to 6 oz. each), fresh, thawed or frozen
1 1/2 tablespoons olive, canola, peanut or grapeseed oil
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
Prepare sauce: Cook orange juice in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until it is reduced to the consistency of syrup (makes about 1/4 cup); let cool slightly.
Place onion, lime juice, mustard, and chili powder in a blender or food processor; add cooked syrup. Blend 10 seconds. With blender running, slowly drizzle in Italian dressing until mixture emulsifies; set aside.
Rinse any ice glaze from frozen salmon under cold water; pat dry with paper towel. Heat a heavy nonstick skillet or ridged stovetop grill pan over medium-high heat. Brush both sides of salmon with oil. Place salmon in heated skillet and cook, uncovered, about 3 to 4 minutes, until browned or well grill-marked. Shake pan occasionally to keep fish from sticking.
Turn salmon over and season with salt and pepper. Cover pan tightly and reduce heat to medium. Cook an additional 6 to 8 minutes for frozen salmon OR 3 to 4 minutes for fresh/thawed fish. Cook just until fish is opaque throughout.
To serve, pool 2 tablespoons orange vinaigrette sauce in the center of each of 4 plates; top with salmon and garnish with chopped cilantro. Makes 4 servings. Each serving: 301 calories, 10 g fat, 126 mg cholesterol, 35 g protein, 15 g carbohydrate, .5g fiber, 460mg sodium, 29mg calcium.

Mediterranean rub salmon

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper blend seasoning
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 salmon steaks or fillets (4 to 6 ounces each), fresh, thawed or frozen
Canola oil or nonstick cooking spray
1 lemon, cut in wedges
In a small bowl, blend rosemary, garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir in 1 tablespoon olive oil to make a thick paste.
Rinse any ice glaze from frozen salmon under cold water; pat dry with paper towel. Press rub mixture firmly onto cut sides of each steak/fillet (not skin); let salmon rest 5 minutes before cooking.
Heat grill or broiler/oven to medium-high heat. Brush grill surface with canola oil or coat broiling pan with cooking spray. Grill or broil 12 to 15 minutes for frozen salmon or 8 to 9 minutes for fresh/thawed fish, turning once during cooking. Cook just until fish is opaque throughout. Serve with lemon wedges. Makes 4 servings. Each serving:
212 calories, 9 g fat, 105 mg cholesterol, 29 g protein, 3 g carbohydrate, .5g fiber, 683 mg sodium, 34 mg calcium.

The National Gardening Association says 7 million households plan to start a new food garden in 2009.
But do you know where to start?
Gardener’s Supply, an employee-owned, Vermont-based company, is offering a new online Kitchen Garden Planner that covers the basics of starting a vegetable garden. Here are some tips to get you started.

Where do I put the garden?

For optimum health and productivity, most vegetables require at least eight hours of full
sun each day. The more sun, the better, so it makes sense to locate your garden in the
sunniest part of your yard. Since your garden will need to be watered at some points
during the growing season, you’ll also need access to a hose — or be prepared to carry
watering cans.

How do I start? Do I just start digging?

New vegetable gardeners may want to start growing in either a raised bed or in a
container that’s specifically geared towards growing vegetables in a small space.

A self-contained raised bed garden that’s about 3′ x 6′ will accommodate a
dozen different crops in a small space – and more beds can be added as enthusiasm and
experience grow. There are a variety of raised bed styles to choose from or you can
just purchase raised bed corners and make your own.

If you have a small space or deck, containers may be the best choice for you. If you
have a sunny spot on your lawn for a raised bed, that will help create a space for a
variety of crops.

What do I need for soil?

Good soil is the single most important ingredient for a productive organic garden. The
importance of good soil can not be emphasized enough. One of the
benefits of containers and raised beds is that they can be filled with a soil blend that’s
vastly superior to the native soil in your yard.

This high-quality soil will ensure that the roots of your plants can grow freely and find
the water and nutrients they need to be healthy and productive. If you’re planning to
dig up your yard, it is possible to purchase a soil testing kit and then amend your soil
with the proper ingredients. But for beginners who just want to get growing
immediately, filling raised beds and/or containers means you can purchase and fill with
great soil right away.

What should I plant?

Fill your garden with vegetables you like to eat. If you’re big on salads, you’ll want to
plant things like lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots. If you love to cook,
you may want to plant onions and peppers, leeks, potatoes and herbs.

Many first-time gardeners plant too much, and then get frustrated and exhausted by
July. It’s important to start small and not go overboard. It’s much better to pick 5-6
different crops and learn by caring for them and watching them grow, then expand the
following year.

Is it better to use seeds or transplants?

Though most of the vegetables you’ll want to grow can be started directly in the garden
from seed, in many cases it’s best to start out with a plant. Starting with a plant can
speed time to harvest by a month or more. In cold regions, where the growing season is
short, a tomato or pepper plant that’s started in the garden from seed will not have time
to mature before frost. You may also find that if you’re only putting in one or two plants
of a particular type of vegetable (such as two tomatoes or one parsley plant),
sometimes it makes more sense to purchase a couple of plants rather than buy an entire
packet of seeds.

Some crops such as carrots and beets, as well as beans and peas do not transplant well,
so they are usually sown directly into the garden from seed. In the case of salad greens,
you’ll probably want to grow quite a few plants, and it is more economical to buy a
packet of seeds than to purchase multiple six-packs of lettuce transplants.

For more tips on vegetable gardening go to www.gardeners.com

Jane Higgins of Lexington recently had brunch at The Marriott Resort at Griffin Gate and asked if we could get the recipe for the restaurant’s pancake bake.

Here it is.

Pancake bake

2 Granny Smith apples

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1/3 cup pancake mix

3 eggs, lightly beaten

¾ cup milk

5 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Cut apples into quarters and remove core. Slice apples; place in a bowl with cinnamon and sugars. Mix well and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine pancake mix with eggs and milk. Melt butter in skillet and add apple mixture. Cook until apples are tender. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Pour pancake mix over apples. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Flip and serve with syrup.

Note: Can be made with any type of fruit, peaches, blueberry, and raspberry.

When you eat macaroni and cheese, you’re eating pasta. When you eat chicken noodle soup, you’re eating noodles.
The biggest difference between pasta and noodles is one key ingredient: eggs.
March is National Noodle Month and a good time to brush up on your noodle and pasta lingo. According to the National Pasta Association they each have a different taste and texture, and some do better in dishes than others do. In order for it to be called a “noodle,” it must, by law, contain 5.5 percent egg solids by weight.
Noodles come in fine, medium, wide, and extra wide options and are perfect for casseroles and soup. Here’s a recipe for making noodles at home.

Homemade noodles
3 cups all purpose or bread flour
5 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
Water, if needed
Make a well in a mound of flour on the counter and beat the eggs in this well, and then mix in progressively more flour by the spoon full. Take a look at the texture. You want it to feel like firm dough. If it looks too firm, or you can’t seem to get all the four into the dough, you can add either another egg, or a bit of water. If it seems too sticky, and is clinging to the sides of the bowl, add a bit more flour until it isn’t.
Knead it for 25 min. It’s helpful to have a little flour at the ready for sprinkling on the counter if the pasta dough gets too sticky. You want the dough to look uniform and silky. Rest the dough for about 30 minutes. This gives the glutens a chance to relax and will make it easier to roll.
Grab a hunk the dough. You want bigger than a golf ball but smaller than a baseball. Squish it into a kind of sausage shape. Sprinkle a little flour on the counter, grab your rolling pin or rolling pin facsimile, and start to roll out the dough. As it gets thinner and longer, keep lifting it up and turning it over. If it’s getting stuck to the counter just sprinkle a little more flour around. Use as little flour as you can, but as much as you need!
Now don’t worry too much about the shape you’re getting here, you just want to try and get the pasta sheet as thin as possible. It’s done when you lift it up, and you can see your hand through the other side of it. Once all the pasta has been rolled out into sheets, just grab a knife and cut it into the shapes you want, don’t worry too much about the precision.

Elmwood Inn Fine Teas has created a special tea blend for Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate. In recent years, the Perryville importer and ­blender has designed ­packaged teas for historic sites such as Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill; The National Archives in College Park, Md.; Winterthur Museum in Winterthur, Del.; and Old Salem Museum and Gardens in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Elmwood owner Bruce Richardson said the tea that the Clays — Lucretia and Henry — might have enjoyed was from China, via London. The tea Richardson has ­created for Ashland is a blend of China black teas from the Yunnan Province. The label bears an engraving of the Ashland estate and ­information about the tea.
Richardson will introduce the product at an afternoon tea at The Woman’s Club of Central Kentucky, 210 North Broadway, at 2 p.m. April 25. He also will be signing his books, including The New Tea Companion, The Great Tea Rooms of Britain and The Tea Table. Each guest will receive a tin of Ashland tea. Tickets are $35. Call (859) 266-8581, Ext. 14. Tins of tea bags will be available in the Ashland gift shop starting April 25.

Barrel Tasting for McConnell Springs

Eleven wineries in ­Central Kentucky will be open March 28 to host tastings of ­upcoming offerings as part of the Barrel Tasting for the Springs, ­benefiting ­Lexington’s McConnell Springs.
A barrel tasting is a one-ounce sample of wine in its final stages before bottling and release of the finished product. The sample is not the finished product, but it might have some of the final characteristics.
Each tasting will give participants an opportunity to experience upcoming wines and discuss the sample. Each winery also will have its ­tasting room open for regular tastings of their released wines.
The tours start at any ­participating winery, and the cost is $20. Partakers will ­receive a commemorative wine glass and a wristband at the first winery they visit. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wineries are: Black Barn – Ashwood ­Cellars, 4200 ­Newtown Pike, ­Lexington; Chrisman Mill, 2385 ­Chrisman Mill Road, ­Nicholasville; Elk Creek, 150 Ky. 330, Owenton; Equus Run, 1280 Moore’s Mill Road, ­Midway; ­Horseshoe Bend plus Long Lick Farm, 1187 ­Lawson Lane, ­Willisburg; Jean Farris, 6825 Old ­Richmond Road, ­Lexington; Lovers Leap, 1180 Lanes Mill Road, ­Lawrenceburg; ­Springhill, 3205 Springhill Road, ­Bloomfield; Talon, 7086 Tates Creek Road, Lexington; and Wildside, 5500 Troy Pike, Versailles.
Call Dick or Annette Mathy at (859) 272-0682 or go to www.mcconnellsprings.org.

Food and entertainment
The Scott County Arts Consortium will hold its March luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Monday at Parish Hall at Church of the Holy ­Trinity, 209 South Broadway, ­Georgetown.
Entertainment will be ­provided by Chords of Course barbershop quartet. Cost is $10. Call (502) 867-7564. The menu includes beef stew with biscuits, coleslaw and leprechaun ­pistachio nut cake.

Nutritional outreach
The American ­Dietetics Association and Bluegrass District Dietetics ­Association are celebrating National Nutrition Month in March. Members of the Bluegrass association will be at Joseph-Beth Booksellers from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday offering free nutritional information. Members of the University of Kentucky Student Dietetic Association will be at Sts. Peter and Paul School next Wednesday and Thursday to talk to students about healthy snacks. Nutrition information is at www.eatright.org.

Naturally good
Eden organic beans received high praise in the January-February issue of Nutrition Action Healthletter.
Twelve varieties of Eden organic no-salt-added beans were acclaimed for being ­naturally low in sodium ­without the refined salt added to most commercial canned beans. A touch of kombu seaweed enhances flavor without increasing ­sodium. The beans are sold at Liquor Barn, Roberts Health Foods, Good Foods Market & Café and Whole Foods.A A

Jay Rayburn recently visited Central Kentucky and found a story I wrote about old restaurants. Here’s his comment:

“Last night my wife found the story you wrote about a year ago on old restaurants in Lexington. What a treat to read it! We lived in Lexington during the 70s and 80s and have eaten at almost all of them. We were especially fond of The Bistro. Sandy and my wife taught together at Lafayette High School. She and Lou hosted a special dinner for us and some of the teachers just before we were married. I was a regular at Saratoga (one of those professors) and you are right–what a bunch of characters. Ted Mims was a friend, too. One night one of those “characters” had had entirely too much to drink. As he was heading to his car, he stumbled. Just then he noticed a police car sitting there watching the people who came out of the restaurant. Instead of getting into his car, he went around the corner, crossed the street and went into Domino’s Pizza where he ordered a large pizza with everything. He told the manager to deliver it and him to his address!

Roger’s was also a favorite. I can’t remember the name of the man who owned it, but he was a professor in the dental school. His son worked in the pro shop in Spring Lake Country Club where I was president. And who didn’t go to Hall’s!

Thank you for the great trip down memory lane. We were in Lexington last week for a function at the Governor’s Mansion and spent lots of time just driving around and looking for some of these places.”

Here’s the story that ran March 30, 2008

   A restaurant manager runs off with the register receipts; another ­restaurant’s namesake gets arrested; feather boas and polyester suits catch on fire (a bad bananas Foster incident); and a notorious rogue cop gets shot on the steps of an upscale restaurant.
A few legendary stories came to mind when we found a box of old Lexington restaurant menus, but they also brought back fond memories of special occasions at places like ­The Saratoga, Executive House, and The Coach House.
The old menus — some still in their leatherlike covers, others discolored by age — were located after a request from cookbook author Regina Charboneau of Natchez, Miss., who came to Lexington earlier this month as part of a book tour. She is collecting old and new menus for the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (www.southernfood.org).
“I think menus are a great way to archive food history. Restaurant menus really tell a story and give a time line for the popularity of ­ingredients and trends,” Charboneau said.
Museum curator Elizabeth Pearce agreed.
“Menus are by their nature ­ephemeral, as restaurants change them daily or seasonally, printing them on material not meant to last,” she said. “People rarely save menus, unless they are marking a particularly important, celebratory meal. This is unfortunate as menus are often the only physical remains of a restaurant’s past.”
We decided to take a trip down memory lane and ask a few readers about their favorite restaurants of the past. If this sparks a recollection, we’d like to hear from you, too. We plan to write an occasional series about ­Lexington restaurants. E-mail your story to swthompson@herald-leader.com.
“Hearing the name of a restaurant can have the same effect as a song you hear for the first time in ages. It transports you back in time to a really memorable day or moment, and the details come flooding back for just a few seconds,” said Gayle Deaton of Beattyville.
The Bistro in Chevy Chase
“Restaurants have always been an integral part of the horse scene and wannabes. That’s where the ­entertainment is,” Donna Potter said.
Potter who owns Catering by Donna, once was a partner in a downtown restaurant called Capers. While attending the University of Kentucky, Potter worked at many of Lexington’s hot spots in the ’70s, including the Bistro at 829 Euclid Avenue in Chevy Chase.
“That was an entertaining place to work,” she said. “There was a lot of money flying around in town in entertainment. People were spending. It wasn’t unusual for me to get $500 in tips a night, and sometimes more, during Keeneland. When the high rollers in the horse business would have a big win — or anyone who had won a lot — they’d be throwing money.”
The little French bistro was the place to see and be seen for about eight years, until owners Sandy Fields and Louis Cease parted ways.
David Larson, who owned The Pampered Chef around the corner on South Ashland Avenue, (it was formerly The In-Between) recalls the Bistro’s glory days. “When I pass by that location today, I laugh and think two things: If only those walls could talk, and if you could somehow harness all the energy expended in that building during those years, you could light ­Lexington for decades,” he said.
When Cease left, Fields kept the Bistro and hired Georgia Feeney, who had worked at the Bungalow and Le Café Chantant, 137 West Vine Street. Cease went on to open La Brasserie at 210 West Main Street in the old Rick’s Place. In ­November 1988, Cease opened C’est Si Bon at East Main Street and South Ashland. which has housed many restaurants including The Stirrup Cup, Le Café Français and Furlongs.
After Fields closed the Bistro, she joined a la lucie owner ­Lucie Slone in a new venture, The Rosebud, in the former site of The Bungalow, 121 North Mill Street.
The Bungalow
The Bungalow was where downtown movers and shakers ate lunch and dinner, and it had a lively bar crowd. “The food was ­fabulous when John Ferguson and Joe Woosley were there,” Potter said. Her first bartending job was at The Bungalow. “I made a killing there, but I never knew what I had.”
Ferguson went on to open Fleur de lys at 216 East Main Street in the old Plaza Café location in ­February 1987. It was destroyed by fire a few months later, and he moved into the old Gabby’s Gourmet Grille spot at 127 South Upper Street.
At that same time, French-born Alain Rochelemagne opened Acajou at 265 North Limestone, a building renovated by Tim Mellin and his brother James. When Rochelemagne left Acajou in 1990, he opened Le Café Français Restaurant and Piano Bar at 535 East Main Street. Tim Mellin, Lynda Hoff and Dale Holland turned Acajou site into Atomic Café in 1992, serving a Caribbean menu.
Rogers Restaurant
Rogers Restaurant, founded in 1923, was Lexington’s oldest eatery when it closed in July 2004. The first time Deaton went to Rogers Restaurant was in the ’60’s; she was 17 or 18 and coming home from the Sweet 16 tournament in Louisville with a friend, a recent UK grad who “was practically drooling by the time we got there,” she said.
Deaton had fond memories of being on a double-date at The Cork & Cleaver, 2750 Richmond Road, (now Columbia’s) after attending UK football games in the ’70s.
“There was a fire in the fireplace near our table, and we had really great steaks, with candlelight to eat them by, and their famous mud pie for dessert. The restaurant was romantic and beautiful and a perfect place to end an autumn Saturday,” she said.
The Little Inn
The Little Inn, 1144 Winchester Road, opened in 1930 as a Prohibition-era roadhouse just outside Lexington’s city limits. It was considered the first restaurant between Lexington and the mountains.
In January, 1989, The Little Inn moved uptown to Chevy Chase to the former site of the Bistro, which had closed in fall 1988. It was a popular spot until August 1989, when a sign was hung on the door that read: Closed for vacation. It never reopened. In January, 1990, the original Winchester Road building was razed.
“It was a very special time, date, to go to The Little Inn on a Friday night for one of their delicious steaks,” Mary Jane Davis of Winchester said. “The first time I went, I was dressed to the nines and remember thinking or praying I would use the right utensils. It was crowded and noisy and, yes, dark.”
The Little Inn was known for its prime rib (a large painting of a prime rib was on one side of the building) — as well as baby-beef liver, frog legs and lamb fries.
The Saratoga
The Saratoga, 856 East High Street, was a Chevy Chase landmark and best known for its characters: bookies, college professors, socialites and city hall types.
Totsie Rose opened it in 1953 and named it after the famous Saratoga Race Track in New York. Ted Mims owned it from 1977 to 1989. He bought it from Ed Whitlock, who had bought it from Rose. Rob Ramsey and Joe Reilly, co-owners of Ramsey’s Diner, owned it for a short time.
A Toga menu, served from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Saturday, featured Mrs. McKinney’s snappy beer cheese ($2.95), fried bologna ($2.50), cold meatloaf on white ($4.95) and fried egg sandwich ($2.50). The hot plate special for a Derby weekend was chicken and dumplings for $6.95.
Festival Market
In the late 1980s, Lexington’s restaurant landscape really began to change.
When Lexington Festival Market opened with a flourish in 1986, it brought Jay’s Seafood, Charlie & Barney’s (now Sawyer’s), and Scores Sports & Stakes Restaurant & Bar. Scores, on the top floor of Festival Market, was owned by David L. Gayheart and Richard M. Noonan. Menu items included Joe B’s trout, filets à la Roy Kidd, ­Sutton’s steak, and steak Claiborne.
Amato’s
In February 1986, former Mayor Jim Amato and friends opened an upscale Italian restaurant at 535 West Second Street, in the renovated West Jefferson Place. The menu featured Italian dishes prepared from recipes collected by Amato and his kitchen manager, Mary Parlanti. Amato’s was sold to Tracy Farmer in 1988; two years later, Amato’s moved from Second Street to Chevy Chase Plaza, and in 1992 it was bought by Geraldo Favaro, who closed the doors in 1993.
Stanley Demos’ Coach House
Demos opened the four-star restaurant in 1969 at 855 South Broadway, and sold it to his daughter, Tootsie Nelson, when he retired to Sarasota, Fla., in 1989. In 1992, Demos’ daughter Tootsie Nelson and her husband Sam sold it to John and Marsha DuPuy. The Nelsons and master chef Tony Seta had opened Tootsie & Tony’s Restaurant and Bar in Hartland Shopping Center in September, 1991.
Tootsie & Tony’s specialties were wood-grilled pizzas, steaks and salmon cooked in a brick oven imported from France. They introduced Lexington to potato rags, thinly grated fried potatoes covered with ranch dressing, cheese, bacon and green onions.
1880 Restaurant
In 1989, Mesut Sakar, who was maitre d’ at Stanley Demos’ Coach House for nine years, opened 1880 Restaurant & Bar at 270 South Limestone. In 1991, Sakar was featured on Bluegrass Crime Stoppers for bilking Lexington banks out of several thousands of dollars.
Allman’s and Hall’s on the River
Johnny Allman opened his first restaurant in the late ’30s on the Kentucky River, and it was there that he used his cousin Joe Allman’s recipes and created a home for beer cheese and fried banana peppers.
The restaurant flooded many times and burned down twice — or maybe three times.
It was Johnny Allman who started a tradition that the Hall family inherited. George and Gertrude Hall started Hall’s on the River in 1965. Hall’s on the River has seen thousands of regular folks drop by as well as former Govs. Martha Layne Collins and John Y. Brown Jr.; Hollywood legends Lily Tomlin. Lee Majors and Raymond Burr; and members of the British royal family.
The Halls’ son, Steve bought the business from his family in 1981 and in 1983 opened Hall’s on Main at North Ashland Avenue and East Main Street in Lexington, where Furlongs is now.
The early chains
As Lexington continued to grow, chain restaurants began to take over the suburbs. In the early ’70s, Lexington was a test market for chain restaurants, and some of the first on the scene were Ireland’s, Steak ’n Ale, Mississippi River Co., T.W. Lee’s, and W.W. Cousins.

Central Kentucky restaurants are celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with menu specials and Irish dishes. Here are some places to party.
■ Arches restaurant at ­Hemlock Lodge at Natural Bridge State Resort Park at Slade is celebrating Saturday with a buffet featuring corned beef brisket and cabbage, salmon cakes, shepherd’s pie, and bubble and squeak potato pancakes. Hours are 5 to 8 p.m. The cost is $16.95. Call (859) 425-4840.
■ Buddy’s Bar and Grill, 854 East High Street, will serve Irish food and ­entertainment beginning at 11 a.m. Tuesday. Call (859) 335-1283.
■ Caros, 113 South Upper Street, will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with McCarthy’s Irish Pub before, during and after the ­parade on Saturday (1 p.m. downtown). Irish stew, corned beef and cabbage and other Irish fare will be served along with the regular menu. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Call (859) 255-0039.
■ Engine House Deli, 9 West Lexington Avenue in Winchester, is celebrating its 25th anniversary on St. Patrick’s Day. Owner Bob Tabor said shamrock sundaes will be served Monday through Friday. Call (859) 737-0560.
■ The Glitz will reopen for the season on St. Patrick’s Day. The restaurant serves lunch Tuesday through Saturday, offering a three-course meal for $19.95. The menu changes every two weeks, and some of the featured items are chicken Florentine with smoked gouda sauce, artichoke pancetta tart, and Thai tilapia. Desserts include the traditional Nonesuch kiss and peach Melba crepes. The Glitz at Irish Acres Gallery is at 4205 Fords Mill Road in Nonesuch. Call (859) 873-6956.
■ Good Foods Market & Café, 455 Southland Drive, will offer an Irish menu Tuesday. The buffet features cod cakes, Dublin coddle, lentil shepherd’s pie and Irish root-veggie stew. Hours are 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Call (859) 278-1813.
■ Tuesday is chicken pot pie day at Hanna’s on Lime, 214 South Limestone, but on St. Patrick’s Day, the special will be corned beef and cabbage, and potatoes. Call (859) 252-6264.
■ Harry’s Bar will serve a free Irish buffet from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day and door prizes will be given to the first 100 customers. Harry’s locations are 3347 Tates Creek Road, (859) 335-6500; 1920 Pleasant Ridge Drive, (859) 264-8023, and 3735 Palomar Centre Drive, (859) 977-2620.
■ Mulligan’s Gardenside Café, 1804 Alexandria Drive, is offering $1 off any Irish-themed item on the menu Tuesday. Call (859) 277-0071.
■ Ramsey’s Diners are serving corned beef and cabbage with Blarney vegetables, Irish stew and soda bread on Tuesday. Ramsey’s will have a float in the St. Patrick’s Day parade on Saturday.

Taste the lobster three ways
Jonathan at Gratz Park Inn, 120 West Second Street, has a deal for lobster ­lovers on Friday and Saturday. Chef/owner ­Jonathan Lundy is flying in fresh Maine lobsters and offering a three-course lobster-tasting menu that includes lobster bisque, lobster fennel slaw, and grilled beef ­tenderloin medallions with a corn pudding-stuffed half lobster tail. The cost is $36. Call (859) 252-4949or go to www.jagp.info. The St. Patrick’s Day menu on Tuesday includes house-made corned beef brisket.

Coney Island comes to Winchester Road
Detroit Coney Island is open at 911 ­Winchester Road, serving the same menu as the location on Lane Allen Road. The specialty is hot dogs, but gyros, ­hamburgers and fish sandwiches also are on the menu. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. ­Saturday. Call (859) 280-9138.

Jimmy D’s adds dinner to its menu
Starting Wednesday, Jimmy D’s East Coast Café, 1395 West Main Street, in Meadowthorpe, will begin serving ­dinner ­featuring traditional Italian dishes. ­Included are ­lasagna, chicken piccata, ­eggplant ­Parmesan and veal marsala. Dinner will be served from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Call (859) 246-1708.

Columbia’s prolongs Night Hawk special
The Night Hawk special at Columbia’s Steak House has been extended for a while longer, owner Greg Penn said. The 8-ounce tenderloin, cooked in garlic butter, is served with a baked potato and Diego salad for $11.99. Columbia’s locations are at 201 North Limestone, (859) 253-3135; and 2750 Richmond Road, (859) 268-1666; and Columbia’s Steak Express at 125 Southland Drive, (859) 313-5300.

Allsports’ all-you-can eat offer
805 Allsports Bar, 805 North Broadway, now is open for breakfast serving all-you-can-eat gravy and biscuits for $3.95. A full breakfast menu is served from 6 to 11 a.m. Call (859) 425-4840.

Experts tell us cooking at home saves money and Clark Countians are honing their kitchen skills during these tough economic times.
More than 800 people turned out Thursday night for the Taste of Home Cooking School in Winchester.
Not only did they learn to prepare a few new dishes, they got an opportunity to visit with owners of several small Clark County businesses.
Court Street Gifts offered samples of sauces and mixes; Barton’s spooned up tiny cups of potato soup; Bailey’s Cafe showed off its dessert line-up, and Ale-8-One gave samples of salsas. A new tea room cafe, The Colonel’s Lady, will open soon at 624 W. Lexington Avenue.
Dana Elliott, the culinary specialist from Taste Of Home Cooking School, prepared 10 dishes that were easy on the budget, and waistline. She made granola, turkey burgers, Asian shrimp salad, mushroom Napoleon, salmon with orzo, Mexican lasagna, Shanghai chicken, fresh fruit tart, and orange lemonade. And the one dish that fit neither category was chocolate and vanilla creme brulee.
There were a few inexperienced cooks in the audience, including my niece Nancy Allen, who was eager to get ideas for new dishes. Nancy was especially pleased with the “goodie” bag that included two Taste of Home magazines, a Ziploc container, a McCormick seasoning packet, and coupons. Everyone in attendance will receive a free year’s subscription to Taste of Home.
The show had several national sponsors who donated lots of door prizes. ZipLoc gave away a giant bag filled with every product the company has on the market; Crisco, bottles of olive oil; McCormick, a spice rack, and Gallo, wines.

Cooking School emphasizes freshly made meals

Trend predictors across the country are saying that 2009 will bring families back to the dinner table.
When you’re trying to save money, one cost-cutting method is to eat more meals at home. “Dining at home is less costly than dining out,” said registered dietitian Tami Ross of Lexington. “Just one fast-food value meal costs more than an entire day’s worth of healthy meals prepared at home.”
Ross, who has a 13-year-old son, works part-time for Internal Medicine Associates and is a diabetes and nutrition consultant to several food and pharmaceutical companies. She understands the “temptation to ‘drive through’ for a quick meal on the go when you have children who are involved in sports and extracurricular activities,” she said.
Ross sees cooking at home as an opportunity for parents to plan healthy meals. “Planning five dinner meals truly only takes about five minutes,” she said.
Studies show that consumers who shop without a list spend twice as much and are likely to make more impulse buys, which are often low-nutrient foods, Ross said.
Ross, who is co-author with Patti Geil of Diabetes Meals on $7 a Day – or Less!, created recipes, cost-wise menus and money-saving grocery tips for an article that is to appear in USA Today on Monday. Their tips will work for anyone who is trying to eat healthy in a cost-effective fashion.
For the first time in decades, more families are cooking together and eating at home, and if people are going to spend more time in the kitchen, then it should be an enjoyable experience.
Sure, you can take the easy way out and open boxes of instant this and that, but freshly prepared foods will be better for the family all the way around.

The menu we’ve selected for my “Sharon’s Cooking School” series includes an Italian romaine salad with lemon vinaigrette; a simple stir-fry dish with fresh vegetables, served over pasta; garlic bread with fresh roasted garlic; and apple crisp.
Once you’ve learned a few simple techniques, you can take any recipe to the next level. If you know how to stir-fry or saute chicken pieces, then next time, stir-fry slices of beef or pork. Change around the vegetables, and you’ve got another tasty meal. Instead of pasta, serve the dish with rice. Fresh-roasted garlic can add tremendous flavor to a variety of dishes, so it’s nice to have that in the refrigerator. And once you learn to make a crisp for dessert, you can vary the fruit and instantly change the menu.

Great cookbooks

One of the best ways to learn to cook, we think, is to watch Mom or Grandma. But since that’s not possible for many people, a good book or Web site will work.
Here are some suggestions:

• Betty Crocker Cooking Basics: Recipes and Tips to Cook With Confidence (Betty Crocker, $25.95) offers how-to photos, ingredients and cooking terms glossaries, illustrated preparation techniques, advice on selecting knives, and understanding cooking thermometers.
• How to Boil Water: Life Beyond Takeout ($24.95) from the Food Network Kitchens includes what to look for in ingredients and how to store them at home; substitutions that work, and how to embellish a recipe once you’ve mastered it.
• The New Kitchen Science: A Guide to Know the Hows and Whys for Fun and Success in the Kitchen by Howard Hillman (Mariner Books, $15) answers such questions as: How can I save an oversalted soup? Why does overcooking toughen meat? Why does cheese sometimes refuse to melt in a sauce? When and why must you scald milk to use in a recipe?
• How to Cook Everything: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food by Mark Bittman (Wiley, $35), in its 10th edition, tackles the fundamentals of cooking ingredients, equipment and techniques – in depth.
• CooksIllustrated.com. No matter what you’re looking for, America’s Test Kitchen has probably tested or tasted it.

Talk to us

If you’re interested in learning to cook or become an accomplished cook, we’d like to hear from you.
Tell us why you want to learn to cook and how we can help. E-mail suggestions to swthompson@herald-leader.com or write to Sharon Thompson, Lexington Herald-Leader, 100 Midland Avenue, Lexington, Ky. 40508.

How to prep the kitchen

Before getting started, you must do prep work.
“You can’t cook chopped mushrooms until you’ve chopped them,” says Elaine Corn, author of Now You’re Cooking and Now You’re Cooking for Company.
Here are some basic prep rules:

• Read the entire recipe.
• Get the ingredients ready to use in the recipe.
• Arrange your prepared ingredients in an orderly way. You can place them in small prep bowls, or in piles on a dinner plate. When you’re ready to use them, simply push them off the plate into the pan or bowl with a knife or spoon.
• Combine chores. If you are making more than one recipe and both call for chopped onion, chop them all in one step. Chopped onion will keep in the refrigerator as long as three days. Garlic can be prepared the same way and can be stored with a little olive oil in the refrigerator for a week.

Follow these tips for food safety

Before heading to the kitchen to begin your cooking lesson, there are two cardinal rules of safe food preparation: Keep everything clean, and keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.
Here’s a reminder of the safety guidelines from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

• Wash hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before starting to prepare a meal and after handling raw meat or poultry.
• Keep the work area clean and uncluttered. Wash counter tops with a solution of 1 teaspoon of chlorine bleach to 1 quart of water. Also, be sure to keep dish cloths clean because, when wet, they can harbor bacteria and can promote their growth.
• Sanitize the kitchen sink drain periodically by pouring down the sink a solution of 1 teaspoon of bleach to 1 quart of water. Food particles get trapped in the drain and disposal and, along with the moistness, create an ideal environment for bacterial growth.
• Use smooth cutting boards made of hard maple or a non-porous material such as plastic, and make sure it is free of cracks. Avoid boards made of soft, porous materials. Wash cutting boards with hot water and soap, using a scrub brush, then wash them in an automatic dishwasher or rinse in a solution of 1 teaspoon of chlorine bleach to 1 quart of water.
• Always wash and sanitize cutting boards after using them for raw foods, such as seafood or chicken, and before using them for ready-to-eat foods. Consider using one cutting board only for foods that will be cooked, such as raw fish, and another only for ready-to-eat foods, such as bread, fresh fruit, and cooked fish.
• Always use clean utensils, and wash them between cutting different foods.
• Wash the lids of canned foods before opening to keep dirt from getting into the food. Also, clean the blade of the can opener after each use. Take apart and clean food processors and meat grinders as soon as possible after use.
• Do not put cooked meat on an unwashed plate or platter that has held raw meat.
• Wash fresh fruits and vegetables thoroughly, rinsing under running water. Don’t use soap or other detergent. If necessary and appropriate, use a small scrub brush to remove surface dirt.
• Use a digital or dial food thermometer to ensure that meats are completely cooked. Insert the thermometer into the center of the food and wait 30 seconds to ensure an accurate measurement. Beef, lamb, and veal should be cooked to at least 145 degrees; pork and ground beef to 160 degrees; ground chicken or turkey to 165 degrees; poultry breasts to 170 degrees; and whole poultry and thighs to 180 degrees.
• Cook eggs until the white and yolk are firm. Avoid foods containing raw eggs, such as homemade ice cream, mayonnaise, eggnog, cookie dough and cake batter, because they carry the risk of salmonella. Cooking the egg-containing product to an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees will kill the bacteria. Commercial foods usually don’t carry salmonella because they are made with pasteurized eggs.
• Seafood should be thoroughly cooked to an internal temperature of at least 145 degrees. Fish that’s ground or flaked, such as a fish cake, should be cooked to at least 155 degrees, and stuffed fish to at least 165 degrees.
• Protect food from cross-contamination after cooking, and eat it promptly.
• Don’t leave cooked food on the table or kitchen counter for more than two hours. Disease-causing bacteria grow in temperatures between 40 and 140 degrees. Cooked foods that have been in this temperature range for more than two hours should not be eaten.
• If a dish is to be served hot, get it from the stove to the table as quickly as possible. Reheated foods should be brought to a temperature of at least 165 degrees. Keep cold foods in the refrigerator or on a bed of ice until serving. This rule is particularly important to remember in the summer months.
• Refrigerate leftovers as soon as possible. Cut meats in slices of three inches or less, and store all foods in shallow containers to hasten cooling. Use leftovers within three days.
• Don’t thaw meat and other frozen foods at room temperature. Instead, move them from the freezer to the refrigerator for a day or two, or defrost them submerged in cold water. You also can defrost in the microwave oven or during the cooking process. If you defrost foods in the microwave or in cold water, cook them immediately.