Be here during Restaurant Week!

Immerse yourself in Lexington's cuisine scene during Lexington's first Beyond Grits Restaurant Week, July 25 through August 3. The list of participating restaurants is impressive, and keeps growing. Enjoy specially priced prix-fixe dinners that are downright decadent-at a fraction of the normal check!  $25 menus range from chef’s special selection, dinner for two or multi-course dinners (depending on the restaurant.) No tickets are required. White-tablecloth restaurants and pubs and everything in between...as long as they are local restaurants.  No chains...just the Lexington innovative cuisine that is building our reputation as a dining destination. Get more information at Beyond Grits.

Road Trip!

Lexington is a great drive in destination for many people. Our location at the crossroads of I 64 and I 75 makes us very accessible. Once here, having a car is a definite advantage.  We are surrounded by lush landscapes in every direction. You will definitely want to get out and wander the back roads.  Head out on an arterial road from downtown Lexington in any direction, and within minutes you will be in horse farm country.

If time is short, just take Broadway heading north. The road changes name and becomes Paris Pike. Years ago, the road from Lexington to Paris was a narrow two lane road with no shoulders and lined with crumbling rock fences. The beautiful road you travel now is the result of years of negotiating, lobbying, planning, regrading and rebuilding. The Paris Pike Project has won national acclaim and serves as a model for highway projects through sensitive historic landscapes. This remarkable road between Paris and Lexington passes through some of the finest real estate in the Bluegrass Region and is home to hundreds of Thoroughbreds, each with their own story and each representing the hopes and dreams of horse owners and trainers.

Need help finding good prices before you head out?? Check out this link: www.visitlex.com/gas-prices.php.

Psychedelic Coffee

Hanging out at the café at Third Street Stuff and Coffee is kind of like hanging out in your grandma’s kitchen; if you had a grandma that practiced voodoo, was related to Jackson Pollock, went to poetry slams and voted for O’Bama  It’s warm and cozy, cluttered and colorful, politically correct and more than just a little wackie. Just like in grandma’s kitchen, you feel at home, and you know you aren’t going to leave without something sweet.

Sit still long enough and things start to emerge, much like a Magic Eye painting. The colors start to organize themselves into chairs and tables.  Random words on the walls are really patron’s impromptu poetry. You note the coffee is Fair Trade, the paper products are made from sugarcane, they use corn-derived plastic products. You take note of a hand-written sign: “Warning: Handle the honey with caution because it tends to explode.”

The last time I was there, it was for a latte and some of their locally made breads. While I enjoyed my latte at a table, the line at the counter grew till it extended out the door. Being politically correct sometimes take a little longer, but it’s not the kind of place where you need to be in a hurry anyway. You won’t get the full effect. Again, much like a Magic Eye painting!

If you go:
Third Street Stuff and Coffee
257 North Limestone (not 3rd Street!)
Lexington, KY 40507
(859) 255-5301
Mon.-Sat.: 7 a.m.-11p.m.
Sun.: 9:30 a.m.-11 p.m.

(originally published at http://www.visitlex.com)

Culinary Cunundrum

 So, in an effort to impress friends from California, friends who have rarely left the state of perpetual sunshine and all things “hip/cool/phat/dope”, the land of wine snobs (perhaps rightfully so), a state whose official flower is a poppy for gosh sakes……….Anyway, in an effort to impress these timid travelers to the Midwest, or South, or whatever we are (they certainly didn’t know) we took them out to dinner.  As we who live here know, Lexington has more than its share of cutting edge chefs, Culinary Institute of America graduates, and precocious young men and women cooking way beyond their years. So what did our Californians want to sample? Fried chicken. I mean, come on, fried chicken? Don’t they DO that in California?  Or maybe California’s ban on trans fats had them yearning for something a little more decadent than California could provide. Didn’t they want to go to Jonathan’s for Duck Confit with foie gras brioche bread pudding, or the Malone's for some Kobe beef? Or Jean Farris for some grilled Mahi Mahi with cilantro infused basmati rice?

Of course in the end, to be a good host, we acquiesced. And off to Ramsey’s we went, where they chowed down on fried chicken, kale greens, creamed corn, macaroni and cheese and fried green tomatoes. And the Key Lime pie and the Combo pie from Missy’s Pies next door. Their only disappointment? No bones. In the chicken. (originally posted on http://www.visitlex.com)

Lexington is the place to start!

Even National Geographic Traveler understands that Lexington is the best place to start the Kentucky Bourbon Trail! We made the Best Spring Trips of 2013 list, alongside some very prestigious international destinations. Check it out here:
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/best-trips-spring-2013/#/barrels-kentucky-bourbon-trail_64197_600x450.jpg
We may be the Horse Capital of the World, but we know how to do Bourbon, too!

For your planning pleasure!

Have you seen the new 2013 Visitor Planning Guide for Lexington? You can view the digital version here:
http://www.visitlex.com/lexington-visitor-guide.php

Great article on the craft beer movement in Lexington.

Really, is there any debate?

Why Lexington is considered the Horse Capital of the World

If you have more reasons, we'd love to hear them! Send an email to vacation@visitlex.com or add a comment below.

In fact, if you can think of a reason why Lexington is NOT the Horse Capital...we'd be curious to hear about that as well!