An open-faced sandwich of turkey breast, bacon and tomato on toast, blanketed in a creamy Mornay sauce and broiled until golden. Louisville's signature plate.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
Chef Fred K. Schmidt invented the Hot Brown at the Brown Hotel in 1926 to feed the late-night dancers at the hotel's 1,200-guest dinner balls. Schmidt riffed on traditional Welsh rarebit, replacing the bread foundation with toast and turkey and finishing with bacon and tomato. The sandwich quickly became the choice of 95 percent of the hotel's restaurant customers and has anchored Louisville hotel menus and lunch counters ever since. Recipes have been published widely, but the Brown Hotel's J. Graham's Cafe still serves the original.
Common allergens: Dairy, Gluten
Tip from the editors. Use real Mornay (Parmigiano-Reggiano and cheddar), not a quick cheese sauce. The Brown Hotel's original recipe is published; follow it close.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
J. Graham's Cafe in the Brown Hotel serves Louisville's original Hot Brown, the open-faced turkey-and-Mornay sandwich invented here in 1926.
Signature: Hot Brown, Bourbon flights
Order: The Hot Brown, served the way Fred Schmidt wrote it in 1926.
Tip: Walk-in for lunch. Book the Lobby Bar through the hotel for an evening Hot Brown and bourbon.
Wagner's Pharmacy in Louisville has cooked diner breakfast since 1922, the Derby-week racetrack canteen across from Churchill Downs with breakfast plates under $14.
Order: Country ham, two eggs, biscuits and gravy, sweet tea.
Tip: Walk-in counter. Closed Mondays. Breakfast all day Sunday.
Lobby Bar at the Brown Hotel in Louisville pours mint juleps and bourbon flights inside the lobby where the Hot Brown sandwich was invented in 1926, the city's hotel-bar classic.
Signature drink: Mint Julep, bourbon flights
Food: Hot Brown and small plates
Tip: Walk-in. The bar serves the Hot Brown in the evening alongside the bourbon list.
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