Derby City’s longest-standing Vietnamese restaurant is tucked into a south Louisville strip mall. Founded in 1993 by Vietnamese immigrant Alex Lam, who passed the business to his son Phillip in 1992, the nondescript eatery features a wide ranging menu including appetizers, noodle soups, rice dishes, vermicelli noodles, and vegetarian options. Regulars have their favorite orders memorized by their corresponding codes on the menu. Try the K8, or hu tieu sa-te, a spicy bowl featuring rice noodles in a broth infused with lemongrass, broccoli, bean sprouts, and peanuts, served with a choice of chicken, pork, or beef. To ease the fire of the spice, order a Vietnamese iced coffee.

Celebrity chef Edward Lee presents a modern menu with Southern flair at 610 Magnolia, where every dish focuses on locally sourced produce. The team at the Old Louisville restaurant is constantly experimenting with fresh and unique flavor combinations, changing offerings weekly since the eatery’s opening in 2003. Recent highlights have included butternut squash and goat cheese agnolotti, seared scallops with braised radish, and carrot cake served with bourbon praline ice cream. Reservations are required at this upscale dinner destination.

Tucked away in Old Louisville, on the bottom floor of the historic Mayflower building, Buck’s Restaurant is a gem and has been a go-to special occasion restaurant (complete with live singer/pianist) for locals since opening in 1992. As part of the Urban Bourbon Trail, the bar also offers more than 50 bourbon selections, as well as Kentucky-themed, bourbon-based cocktails. Manager Karen Shane especially recommends the New York strip served with crab legs and shrimp, followed by a mocha dacquoise — the eatery’s signature dessert — which consists of three layers of toasted almond meringue with mocha buttercream, rum Chantilly, powdered sugar, and chocolate drizzle.

Safier is well known amongst the downtown weekday lunch crowd, but the casual, walk-in Mediterranean eatery is open weekends too. Owner and head chef Youness El Mesyah serves scratch-made Lebanese dishes and daily Indian specials, including a plethora of vegetable-based options and halal selections. Go for the popular vegetarian platter, which comes with four choices of grape leaves, hummus, falafel, mutabbal, rice, tabbouleh, mujadara, or spinach pie.

A Louisville landmark, downtown’s historic Brown Hotel is home to the world-famous hot brown, invented here in 1926. The famed dish consists of roasted turkey breast, toast points, Mornay sauce, and pecorino Romano cheese baked golden brown, all finished with bacon and tomatoes. Chef Dustin Willett oversees the hot browns and the rest of the menu, including indulgent slices of the hotel’s decadent Derby Pie, which pairs perfectly with a handcrafted cocktail or bourbon flight for dessert.

Chef Noam Bilitzer, originally from Israel, began bringing Eastern Mediterranean flavors to Derby City through pop-ups at Wiltshire on Market. After the longtime Louisville restaurant closed its doors, Bilitzer took over the space and opened Meesh Meesh in 2023. The menu boasts flavors from Palestine, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and other cultures, including shawarma-spiced chicken thighs, harissa grilled shrimp, and herbaceous falafel. Don’t miss the award-winning, house-made hummus with schug, crudites, and herb tehina, and finish your dinner with some Turkish coffee and warm chocolate babka.

You can’t miss La Bodeguita De Mima. Just drive down East Market Street in NuLu, and you’ll see the bright yellow, two-story building that was designed to evoke 1950s Cuba. The restaurant is run by chefs and cousins Fernando and Yaniel Martinez, who offer traditional Cuban flavors for dinner seven days a week, with occasional weekend and holiday specials. Try the pollo asado: a mojo-marinated, half-roasted chicken, topped with mojo onions and served with gravy, rice, black beans, and sweet plantains. For dessert, order the habano de chocolate, a chocolate cigar made with almond cake, Nutella mousse, and chocolate ganache, served with coffee ice cream.

Set at the bottom of the AC Hotel by Marriott in NuLu, bar Vetti is known for chef Andrew McCabe’s pasta dishes and pizza. Order one of seven pies on the menu, but be sure to add a cup of spicy Calabrian aioli on the side for dipping. End the night with a signature cocktail or espresso, or try one of four desserts with a recommended amaro pairing. The chocolate budino — made with orange caramel, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, pecans, and whipped cream — is not to be missed.

At Mayan Café, chef Bruce Ucán serves dishes rooted in traditional Mayan cuisine utilizing local ingredients. Ucán, who identifies as Mayan Indian, hails from the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. He can often be found shopping for ingredients at local farmers markets. While everything on the menu is worth a taste, a visit to the NuLu restaurant wouldn’t be complete without an order of the tok-sel lima beans, topped with a blend of roasted, ground pumpkin seeds, lime, salt, and sesame oil. For an al fresco dining experience, reserve a table on the patio, which opened in 2024.

In 2023, celebrity chef Edward Lee expanded his reach in Derby City with modern Korean steakhouse Nami, located in the Butchertown neighborhood. Named one of the best restaurants of the year by sources like Esquire and USA Today, the two-story eatery focuses on flavors inspired by traditional Korean recipes with hints of Lee’s creativity sprinkled throughout. Guests can pick from standard seating — where they have access to a menu of kimbap, bibimbap, Korean barbecue, and more — or grill tables, where they can also cook their own meat in addition to the full menu. For dessert, try the taiyaki, a fish-shaped treat stuffed with chocolate pecan pie filling and yuja whipped cream. There is also dim sum-style brunch available on Saturdays and Sundays and a karaoke room upstairs.

At the Copper & Kings distillery in Butchertown, visitors can take a tour of the facility and learn how the company uses copper pot stills to forge American brandies that are influenced by American whiskey and music. Then they can head upstairs to the rooftop bar and restaurant, where Josh Lehman leads the kitchen and has created a menu inspired by Kentucky’s seasonal fare. Dinner offerings include country-fried mushrooms, salmon tartine, sesame scallion pancakes, and an umami burger with charred scallion aioli. Sunday brunch is particularly lovely on the roof.

Any Louisville restaurant list would be incomplete without a mention of Jack Fry’s. Established in 1933 by Jack Fry and his wife Flossie, the bistro offers Southern-style cuisine with French influences. The eatery was a hangout for local sportsmen whose historic photos still hang on the restaurant walls. Beloved dishes include the ricotta gnocchi tossed in Calvados cream sauce with roasted mushrooms and broccolini; spicy fried oysters served over Weisenberger grits with country ham; and the prosciutto-wrapped chicken saltimbocca served over creamy polenta and roasted brussels sprouts, and finished with lemon-caper berry thyme jus.

Set in an 1800s brick building in the Butchertown neighborhood, Pizza Lupo is run by husband-and-wife owners Adam Turla and Sarah Balliet, whose brother, chef Max Balliet, heads the kitchen. The restaurant serves about a dozen wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizzas, which locals have voted the best in town. The Sfincione, for instance, consists of cooked tomato and anchovy sauce, Calabrian breadcrumbs, shallots, garlic, and mozzarella. The restaurant also offers a few non-pizza bites, such as braised cabbage and smashed potatoes, as well as a wide selection of wines.

When Norwegian Liz Huot and her husband Jesse toured his native North Dakota, they noticed a lot of Scandinavian restaurants, but their home in Louisville lacked anything similar. So they opened two businesses side by side: Øskar’s Slider Bar and Smør Nordic Bakeri. The sliders at Øskar’s are an easy introduction to Scandinavian flavors for unfamiliar locals, served a la carte so guests can try multiple varieties; options include the banana pork and lefse sandwich (pork braised with bananas and miso, house Norwegian potato flatbread, pickled red cabbage) and the venison sausage slider (spiced venison and pork sausage patty, Swedish mustard, onions caramelized with tart cherries). For dessert, pop over to Smør for skolebrød (cardamom dough filled with vanilla bean pastry cream, glazed, and topped with coconut) or a Smørk (brown-butter chocolate chip cookie loaded with Swedish mørk syrup and house-made toffee).

This rustic eatery is a meat lover’s paradise. As the name suggests, the place specializes in game sourced from local farmers who pride themselves on supplying high-quality meats. Some of owner Tim Lewis’s offerings include roasted bone marrow, buttermilk-fried frog legs, and meatballs and burgers made with kangaroo, rabbit, venison, and elk. A few vegetarian burgers and a bunch of meat-free sides are also available, and all diners can enjoy the beer and bourbon selection. Note that no reservations or call-ahead seating is available.

Owned by Kevin Grangier of Belle Noble Restaurant Group, Le Moo is known for its eclectic steak menu, which boasts prime cuts of rib-eye, filets, and 10-ounce grade A5 wagyu from Miyazaki, Japan. The interior space offers an intimate, moody vibe, with exposed brick walls, low lighting, and private dining areas separated by curtains. With outside seating, the restaurant can accommodate more than 200 guests, making it an ideal venue for wedding receptions and other large parties. On the weekends, Le Moo serves a decadent brunch buffet (including steak) with a drag show to match.

It’s worth the drive to visit the Jim Beam distillery (technically the James B. Beam Distilling Co.) in nearby Clermont, Kentucky, if only for a meal at the Kitchen Table, the on-site restaurant that offers a seasonal, locally sourced menu. Chef Brian Landry has crafted a creative menu of venison poppers, pulled pork empanadas, fried catfish, and a hot brown pizza. Of course, every dish pairs great with all the available bourbons.

Owner Jared Matthews calls Lou Lou Italian/Cajun with a Mediterranean twist. A Southerner through and through, Matthews was born in Louisiana and spent some time in Alabama before moving to Kentucky, so his love for Cajun food runs deep. His menu ranges across crawfish etouffee, jambalaya, pasta carbonara, and a classic gyro, plus an extensive wine and cocktail list. Restaurant regulars will recommend ordering the Lou Chicago, a Chicago-style, double deep dish pizza loaded with cheese and three toppings of your choice.

Owned and operated by husband-and-wife team Kris and Adrienne Cole, this breakfast and lunch spot features an ever-changing menu of dishes made with locally sourced ingredients, served in a bright and cheery Instagram-worthy space. Guest favorites include the avocado toast (made with toasted wheatberry bread, grapefruit, microgreens, and everything crumbs) and the farmhouse breakfast plate (eggs, skillet potatoes, sourdough toast,  seasonal preserves, and sausage).