I had lunch yesterday with my youngest daughter (Stephany) and future son-in-law (Rusty) at Old Hickory here in Owensboro. It’s one of our favorite places to eat – lunch or supper. The food is just outstanding. Truth be told, simply sitting in the parking lot with your nose pointed upward is a other-worldy experience. The experience only gets better when you go through the doors.

They’ve recently added mashed potatoes and gravy to the menu and I wanted to hug them for it. Stephany ordered this as one of her sides, along with macaroni and cheese. Rusty went with the macaroni and cheese and green beans, which I’m pretty sure he could eat his weight in. He ordered the “Combination” Plate which came with his choice of 3 meats, in addition to two sides. One of his meats was ham because, this is something you really need to know, Old Hickory has THE best ham in the world. True story.

He also had ribs which looked amazing. I can’t remember what the third meat was because I was busy enjoying my own meal. (Although I did eye that ham!)

Stephany and I almost every single time order chicken, ham, or chopped Bar-B-Q pork. They’re just EACH so outstanding, ordering something else seems silly. However, curiosity got the better of us and we BOTH ordered a catfish plate.

Seriously? We entered one of the best Bar-B-Q restaurants in Kentucky and we ordered catfish? How strange for mother and daughter to both lose their minds at once. The catfish wasn’t bad, by any means, but if I’m going to be honest, it doesn’t at all compare to every other meat on Old Hickory’s menu. Again, it’s not bad (it’s actually crunchy and flavorful), it just simply gets overshadowed by the world’s best ham, chicken so good you want to weep, and pork bar-b-q that makes you wish you had 2 mouths so you can enjoy it twice as much.

If you read very many of my Kentucky Restaurant Reviews on Genuine Kentucky, you know how I feel about sides. I hate (with a cruel and unusual hatred) for a restaurant to focus solely on it’s meat items. It’s as though they say, “We have great steaks, what does it matter if our baked beans taste like microwaved pork ‘n beans?!”

It matters, buddy, it matters.

Old Hickory obviously doesn’t rest on the laurels of it’s spectacular meats, their sides are so remarkable that you actually have to sit and think before choosing, With most restaurants, you order the same sides each time because they’re the only two worth ordering! Old Hickory plays a different game with their sides – every single one of them is mind numbing-ly delicious. It causes a real dilemma, to tell you the truth.

• Potato Salad – Excellent
• Cole Slaw – Excellent
• Bar-B-Q Beans – Excellent
• French Fries – Excellent
• Onion Rings – Excellent
• Green Beans – excellent

And now they’ve gone and added mashed potatoes and gravy that are also Excellent.

Another pet peeve is when restaurants overcook their fries or home potato chips. Someone needs to tell them that food continues to cook when it’s removed from the oil – so if you allow it to become a little dark in the oil, it’ll be positively brown when it makes it to the plate.  This never, ever happens at a couple of restaurants and Old Hickory is one. Perfect fries and/or onion rings each and every time.

The Bar-B-Q Plates each come with pickle, onion, bread (our catfish came with wonderful fried cornbread!), the meat(s), and two sides.  The meats include mutton, pork, beef, ribs, mutton ribs, chicken, chix strips, turkey, ham (did I mention that it was the best in the world?), and catfish.

Sandwiches include: Sliced mutton, chopped mutton, sliced pork, chopped pork, sliced beef, sliced turkey, sliced ham, sliced ham and cheese, chicken, hamburger, cheeseburger, grilled cheese, and catfish.  They also serve chili (but it’s seasonal), burgoo, and bean soup (with cornbread).

If you have room for dessert after all of the excellent food, you can choose between various fruit cobblers (blackberry, apple, cherry) or pecan pie.  Order your dessert “A la mode” for just a little more.

Old Hickory gets extra bonus “Genuine Kentucky” points for serving Coke products.  Oddly enough, that’s one of the first things I notice about a menu!

Just to give you an idea of how much our family LOVES Old Hickory, we don’t just frequently eat there for lunch or supper, we gave them the ultimate compliment in October of 2010.  Our oldest daughter (Emily) and my now son-in-law (Dill) were planning their wedding.  We all looked at the many different choices for catering and unanimously chose Old Hickory.  One of the most important dates in our family’s history and we invited Old Hickory to the celebration.

Everyone loved the food and asked where it was from… as well as how to get to the restaurant.  And they hadn’t even tried the ham!!!

Old Hickory is on 228 Washington Avenue in Owensboro Kentucky – Off of Frederica.  There’s a large parking lot, with parking on either side of the restaurant.  Use the map below for directions – I don’t want you to miss out on this outstanding food.

It’s the flavor of Owensboro, and it’s really something to enjoy.