Page 90 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2020 SPRING EDITION INTERACTIVE

gorgeous hand-painted designs on the wealth made from bourbon, horses and
walls and ceilings. tobacco,” said Domine. “Drinking, smoking
and gambling made this city.”
In nearby Jeffersonville, which sits im-
mediately across the river from Louisville He added that it’s “the most exuberant
via a half-mile-long pedestrian and cyclist neighborhood architecturally — every
bridge that spans the Ohio, we marveled at home is different,” he said. Also affordable
the city’s remarkable public art initiatives, still — he said “$500,000 will get you a
including several imaginative bike racks mansion in good shape.”
downtown.
This historic neighborhood connects to
And we cracked up at the amusing Louisville’s Central Park, one of 18 city
husband-and-wife act at Schimpff’s Con- parks and several parkways designed
fectionary (www.schimpffs.com), founded by Frederick Law Olmsted, famed for his
in 1891, where Jill and Warren Schimpff, he design of New York’s Central Park.
the fourth generation, demonstrate their
candy-making skills. We drove through the lovely Cave Hill
Cemetery (www.cavehillcemetery.com),
Warren holds a Ph.D. in environmental where you’ll find the graves of George
chemistry and spent his career at Clare- Rogers Clark as well as Harland David
mont Colleges in California. His wife, Jill, Sanders (Colonel Sanders of Kentucky
has a master’s in education. Retiring, they Fried Chicken fame), and Louisville native
bought the business in 1990 to keep it Muhammed Ali.
in the family and moved back to run it in
2000. “We couldn’t see a family business FOODIES FIND FULFILLMENT
die and hoped it would help revitalize
downtown Jeffersonville,” Warren told us In Louisville, we stayed at the historic
while making the shop’s signature cinna- Brown Hotel (www.brownhotel.com) where
mon red hot drops. we immediately ordered a classic Manhat-
tan in its truly gorgeous Old World lobby
HIDDEN GEM bar. This is the place that invented the
Hot Brown in 1926, Louisville’s signature
Back in Louisville, we walked the streets open-faced turkey sandwich with bacon
of Old Louisville with David Domine of and tomatoes, all smothered in a cheesy
Louisville Historic Tours (www.louisvillehis- Mornay sauce.
torictours.com).
We dined at the hotel our first night in its
“Old Louisville is a real hidden gem,” he beautiful English Grill, one of Louisville’s
told us. Indeed, it is the largest preservation most enduring romantic restaurants,
district in the country featuring Victorian featuring a contemporary American menu
homes and buildings, and the third-largest with Kentucky touches and an extensive
historical preservation district overall. wine list. Its shrimp and grits features
fried-green tomatoes along with Finch-
“In the 1960s and ‘70s, you wouldn’t want ville Farms ham and lemon thyme brown
to walk around here at night, But by 1975, butter; its cocoa-crusted Berkshire pork
preservation took off and revitalization chop sports a bourbon blueberry coffee
began,” Domine said. sauce. And of course, you can get a very
upscale Hot Brown here, too. Cocktail: Old-
“Half of these homes were built from the Fashioned.

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