4 Best Restaurants in Kentucky, USA

If you want to learn more about Kentucky's amber elixir, this is the place to come—they have virtually every bourbon currently in production (more than 120 or them). Tasting flights are available. The menu, which ranges from burger to sea bass, includes Southern favorites like pan seared pork chop and bacon-wrapped scallops. Naturally, bourbon is an ingredient in many dishes.

Chef–proprietor Kathy Cary is Kentucky's most honored chef. She emphasizes local ingredients in dishes with Southern and Continental influences; her creations range from Kentucky tapas (a changing selection of light bites) to a nightly version of veal scallopine (sauces and sides change). The contemporary purple and deep green dining rooms will make you feel like you're dining in an elegant private home.

In an antebellum farmhouse that was the center of a horse farm, the Merrick Inn's dining rooms are filled with antiques. Southern fried chicken, pork tenderloin, and rainbow trout are traditional favorites here; there's also a selection of steaks, and lobster tail is available. Old-fashioned desserts include peach Melba.

Though the old corn mill has ground to a halt, the mill wheel still stands at this country buffet 9 miles from Mammoth Cave. The fried chicken is popular, as is the inexpensive all-you-can-eat buffet, which is available at both lunch and dinner. The cuisine here varies from traditional Southern to average-Joe American, and it’s a good place for hearty meat-and-potatoes type dishes.

Most visitors are either shocked or appalled that the Watermill still has a smoking section.