Since 2000

Central Kentucky basically covers the Blue Grass Region outside Lexington / Fayette County. The core of this region is the double ring of Circle Cities, the county seats forming two circles around Lexington in all directions. The inner ring includes Georgetown, Winchester, Richmond, Versailles, Nicholasville and Paris. Their counties are all directly adjacent to Fayette County, which contains Lexington. They are in turn surrounded by a second ring of county seats further out, in the Outer Blue Grass. This second ring includes Bardstown, Berea, Danville, Harrodsburg, and Frankfort. Both rings feature Old Money towns, with large homes and spacious farms dating back to pre Civil War days. The original source of all that wealth was Hemp. Back in the Clipper Ship era, Kentucky Hemp was the best in the world for its strength, flexibility and durability. Whaling ships, battleships and frigates from every nation in the Western Hemisphere all used hemp from these counties. Almost all of those mansions and beautiful courthouses were built with hemp money. Once the sailing era faded, hemp was replaced with thoroughbred horses and tobacco. (The current generation knows Hemp primarily for its other use, as Marijuana.) The limestone soil contains the highest calcium concentration in the world, producing strong bones in horses and strong nicotene in tobacco leaves. Today, with tobacco in decline, farms are shifting again, diversifying into cattle, sheep and vegetables. However, the Inner Blue Grass remains the greatest concentration of thoroughbred horse farms in the world. Whatever the base, for 200 years these counties have enjoyed wealth and prosperity. Their people are accustomed to the best. A top restaurant in these towns needs to be good to survive, with menus blending very traditional with cosmopolitan cutting edge. And the heart of Central Kentucky dining is the little town of Midway, the smallest population unit in the state with its own restaurant district. We suggest you begin there.