Trip Report: Kentucky Derby

On my first day of Anthropology class in college, the professor asked us to write down 20 things we wanted to do before we died. I came up with about 60 in half an hour. One of the top things on my list was to attend the Kentucky Derby. This year I was finally able to scratch it off my list.
Worried about the weather forecast and my ability to attend such a raucous event with a broken leg couldn't dampen our spirits. We boarded the Delta flight to Cincinnati (about 1.5 hour drive from Louisville) without incidence or event. The only thing I must say is I requested wheelchair assistance from Delta weeks prior to my flight and called to remind them 3 days before my flight. Basically, they give you a wheelchair, but never offered anybody to assist us through security and such. My wife was a trooper and pushed me around.

We arrived at CVG (Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport) and proceeded to board a shuttle to Avis rental car. I booked my rental car through Hotwire. Typically, I can get really good rates on Hotwire for rental cars (not much else though) and this was no difference with a full size car being only $18 per day. When I arrived there was a long line and only 2 attendants working. It took forever. When I approached a desk, the clerk offered to upgrade me to a Chrysler 300M for $10 more per day. After saying "no way", we proceeded to wait 30 more minutes for our full size car. I think it is ridiculous that it takes over 1.5 hours to rent a car (even with a prior reservation). I guess I need to join the preferred service for each rental car company so all I need to do is sign and drive.

The drive down to Louisville was beautiful. We stopped at the Newcastle/Sligo exit along Interstate 71 to meet up with Laraine Stanley of Family Farm Project. I found this farm through Eat Wild (check out my Eat Local & Organic post). We picked up some burgers and short ribs from grass fed Kentucky beef (more on this later) and we were on our way.

Upon arriving in Louisville, we drove through the beautiful Rolling Fields/Indian Hills area to meet up with our hosts for the weekend, Pete & Catherine (and their adorable son, Louis). We "checked" into their beautiful home and quickly ordered some excellent nouveau Chinese food from August Moon Chinese Bistro. We feasted on orange peel beef with Grand Marnier reduction, spicy shrimp with vegetables and sauteed chicken with Chinese vegetables. The menu is a lot more adventurous than what we ordered. The food was much better than most, but too similar to the ubiquitous PF Chang's for me to declare the food excellent. After dinner, Pete treated us to his grandfather's secret recipe for Mint Juleps. I am not at liberty to give away the recipe, but will give you one hint: do not muddle the mint. Instead, place a big stalk of mint in your Bourbon, sugar and crushed ice concoction and enjoy the olfactory effervesence of the the mint tickle your brain as the mint hits your nose with every sip.

The next morning the sky was dark, but our spirits were bright as we prepared for the Kentucky Oaks. This is a precursor, or should I say dry run, for what was to come on Saturday for the Derby. The crowds are just slightly less than the Derby, but the action and pomp is all the same. The quality of horse races make it easily in the top 10 of all races in the world. We pulled up to Churchill Downs with its twin spires even more imposing in the darkened sky. It rained briefly upon arrival, but we enjoyed a comfortable overcast day for the remaindeer. The nice thing about Churchill Downs is it allows you to bring food in clear containers to the event. For both days we feasted on a trio of sandwiches (tenderloin, turkey, country ham), pasta salad (penne with toasted pine nuts, kalamata olives, feta cheese and grape tomatoes), fruit salad and the best brownies in the world (Barefoot Contessa's recipe). Better yet, we could smother the sandwiches with Henry Baines sauce. This is like A-1 on steroids and a Louisville specialty.

As the day ended the skies opened up. Luckily we were safely in the Buick Roadmaster as we made our way to Pat's Steak House. This is another Louisville landmark. You gotta love a place that only takes cash in this day and age. The cocktails were weak, the wine list pathetic and the appetizer list unappealing. Despite these shortcomings, this is a must visit restaurant, if only once. The walls are adorned with vintage photos of Louisville, the waiters adorned with green jackets as if they were all winners of the Masters and the fluffy yeast rolls melted in your mouth. The steaks were okay, the Lima beans were buttery and I loved the family style servings of the rest of the veggies (if you can call canned green beans studded with bacon and cauliflower swimming in creamy cheese vegetables). After stuffing our faces with 24 ounce Porterhouses, there was no room for dessert.

Derby Day. Saturday morning was glorious. The weather was a little brighter than Friday and we actually made it through the whole day with only a brief drizzle. The crowds flooded into the Derby to see hats, celebrities and horses (in that order). Our luck on picking winners was much better. Maybe it was the lucky parking space reserved for us by Lorenzo and his wife, Bonnie. Two free spirits who have the best view of the twin spires of Churchill Downs from their front porch. Inside Churchill Downs was $1,000 mint juleps served in a gold cup, fancy cigar shops in a make shift tent and all the libations and food you could stuff your gullet with. There are so many ticket options for the Derby. Although we basked in the privacy of a 3rd level box on the rail about 50 yards from the finish line, a perfectly acceptable "walk around" ticket that provides you with no seat goes for a health $400. This option allows you to see the stars (we saw Bobby Flay and Kirk Herbstreit) and the races from the comfort of your own two feet. The other option is to brave the infield. This is closer to a rock concert atmosphere than the gentrified surroundings you find in the main gallery. Same race with two totally different experiences. Make sure you reserve time to check out the stables, the paddocks and all of the various vendors poised to sell you goods commemorating your witness of one of the world's greatest sporting events. Even with the 3rd largest crowd in Derby history, the place didn't seem too crowded. The lines for tickets and drinks move quickly and there are plenty of walk around vendors selling $9 mint juleps in commemorative glasses (beware though these are premixed juleps that hardly pack a punch).

Exhausted after a long two days of drinking, gambling and gawking we decided to grill out the grass fed beef treats from the Stanley's farm. We through the burgers on the grill and since they are super lean they took no time to cook. For the short ribs, we boiled them for 40 minutes in salted water with bay leaves, garlic cloves and peppercorns. We glazed them with a mixture of equal parts Cattleman's BBQ sauce, Dijon mustard and maple syrup and threw them on the grill for 10 minutes to finish cooking. The ribs were still loaded with fat and a little dried out from the extreme heat of the grill. Next time, I would simply sear the short ribs with chopped onion and garlic over high heat and then braise them in the BBQ mixture above (making sure the meat was covered with the sauce). The searing would burn off a lot of fat while the braising would make them very tender. Oh well. Live and learn. Since it was Cinco de Mayo, my other buddy, Boz, made the margaritas. They were terrible. For dessert, I had a spoonful of Graeter's Ice Cream.

Sunday morning was recovery time. I quickly jumped in the car and headed to Heine Bros. Coffee for some much needed triple espresso with a splash of hot skim milk. What a perfect pour. For those people who love Starbucks, I cannot urge you enough to try local coffee roasters. You will never drinks that Starsucks stuff again (misspelling was intentional). The only thing that would complement the coffee and my hangover would be Bourbon ball French toast from Lynn's Paradise Cafe, a Louisville destination in and of itself. Unfortunately, the 153,000 people from the Derby had the same idea and my stomach would not wait 2 hours for sustenance. Instead, we feasted on club sandwiches from Louisville Country Club. Of course I smothered it in Henry Baines sauce and finished it off with a slice of homemade Derby Pie, an amazing concoction of Bourbon, nuts and chocolate. We packed up the Chevy Impala rental car and headed back to Cincy for our flight, but not before we stopped from some French Pot ice cream from Graeter's. My wife didn't have her full of Bourbon, so she had Bourbon ice cream and I went with their world famous Chocolate Chip. This is really super creamy vanilla ice cream with soft chunks of milk chocolate. It was a perfect pre-flight snack (the only thing missing was some White Castle "slyder", but I was maxed out on calories for the month already).

Here are some more resources for your trip to the Kentucky Derby or just Louisville in general (which is an incredible city to visit and includes such attractions as Louisville Zoo, Muhammed Ali's gym and museum, the riverfront attractions, Bourbon distilleries, etc.).

Trip Advisor's Louisville (great for hotels)
Go to Louisville
Louisville
Yahoo's Travel Guide to Louisville