UK Campus

The University of Kentucky campus is surrounded by 18 eateries : seven true sit down restaurants, two Pizza outlets, one classic 1950s style drive in, two breakfast houses, a chile outlet, and six fast food franchises. The campus is also three blocks from downtown and six blocks from Chevy Chase, each with its own dozen restaurants (see pages on Downtown and Chevy Chase). So students living in the dorms on the northern (downtown) end of campus are within a short walk of 36 restaurants representing every nationality and type of food. If you're driving to campus just to eat at one of these restaurants, be careful with parking. After 4:30 pm you can park practically anywhere, but if you park in a restricted area during a week day, you're almost certain to be ticketed, towed or have a cast iron "boot" placed on your tire. There is legitimate parking at Mcdonalds, Chipotles, Joe Balogna's, Fazzoli's, Cane's and the Mellow Mushroom. The buildings here are Old Main (upper left) and the Registrar's Office (right). They sit on the crescent drive that is the main entrance to campus. From either building you can look down across the wide lawn and see several of the restaurants reviewed here.

Banana Leaf is something different. All the other Indian restaurants in town feature cuisine from Central or Northern India. Banana Leaf focuses on Southern India and Malaysia. The first differences show up in the appetizers. Most of them are deep fried, but we like the Chicken Satay (grilled marinated skewers with cucumber, onion and spiced peanut sauce), and the Dahir Chicken (grilled with green chili, curry leaves and yogurt) because they're not, and they're delicious. There are six soups, of which our favorite is Raita (tomato with onion, carrot and yogurt). Eight breads are offered, but in South India rice and lentil pancakes are an alternative to bread, and four of these are also on the menu. Among the entrees, we like the Mutton Varuval (lamb pan fried with onion, dry chiles and spices), and Fish Curry (Tilapia with garlic, onion, tomato and curry sauce). Save room for one of the six desserts. This is a small storefront restaurant and you may have trouble getting a table. Banana Leaf serves a lunch buffet, but the menu is different. You want to go at dinner to experience the more interesting items.

Gumbo's is the campus Creole restaurant. It offers a very simplified menu : four appetizers, 11 "big bowl entrees," and four Po Boy Wraps. Among the appetizers, we really like the Crawfish Cheese Dip (dark red chili powder, cheddar cheese and crawfish etouffe served with tortilla chips). The stuff is addicting. You'll end up wanting to order a second batch to take home. While we're not big fans of Po Boy Wraps, these are pretty creative, particularly the Chicken Red (slow cooked chicken, Cajun hot sauce, red onions, and celery all drowned in bleu cheese crumbles). The entrees are grouped by heat : four mild, four medium, and three served with a bucket of ice water. If you're just in for a pleasant lunch or dinner, any of the mild choices is fine : Jambalaya (Creole style with tender chicken, sausage, bell peppers, onion and celery), Bourbon Street Chicken (slow cooked in butter hoison (dark soy with a hint of sweet potato, rice, and mild chili peppers) sauce), Garden Creole (shrimp in zesty tomato sauce, golden roux, bell peppers all in white wine), and Gumbo (chicken and andouille sausage, onions and bell peppers cooked for four and a half hours in a deep brown roux). In our opinion, this Gumbo is why you come here. Anybody who names their restaurant "J. Gumbo" better know how to make it, and they do. However, if you want a little more heat, you can step up to the Etouffe (crawfish, chicken and/or shrimp (your choice), onions and celery in their golden roux with a dash of red white and black pepper), Bumblebee Stew (yellow corn, stewed tomatoes, onions and black beans in a sweet and sauce butter sauce), Red Beans and Rice (slow cooked red beans with yellow onions, smoked sausage and Cajun spices on a bed of white rice), and White Chili (Cajun white beans, stewed tomatoes, onions, cilantro, jalapeno and dill). Notice the Bumblee Stew and White Chili are vegetarian. If, however, you consider eating a test of your manhood, you can try the Drunken Chicken (chicken, garlic, olive oil, stewed tomatoes and Cajun spices slow cooked in beer), Voodo Chicken (chicken, spicy Cajun tomato sauce, garlic, crushed red pepper and voodoo spices slow cooked), and the Jean Lafitte (both the Bumblee Stew and Voodoo Chicken topped with cheese and sour cream and wrapped in a tortilla). HOT!!

Joe Bologna's is synonymous with Lexington Pizza. Joe opened the town's first pizzeria back in 1972 on Euclid Avenue, catering to UK students. By 1989 he had outgrown the original location and moved into an abandoned church. The conversion to a restaurant is worth a visit just to see. The bar is where the altar was, these are the original 1891 Eastern Kentucky pine floors, and Joe's is one of the few restaurants in America with 41 stained glass windows. But the main reason to visit Joe is his pizza. He's still there, and it's still great. You can order the crust you want. Most people order the thin, and it's excellent, very crisp, perfectly baked. But if you want yours a little or a lot thicker, just tell them. With four decades of students now bringing their children back, Joe's is a matter of tradition. Two of those traditions are the Fried Banana Peppers and the Breadsticks. The sticks are drowned in garlic butter and the banana peppers are crisp and delicious. Most people consider them the best in town. The All Time favorite pizza at Joe's is the Lite Supreme, a thin crust light on cheese and heavy on toppings. It has homemade sauce, onions, green peppers, hot peppers, green and black olives, zucchini slices, shredded carrots and tomatoes, mushrooms, pineapple, and grated romano cheese. Or there's the Meatball Pizza, a medium crust piled high with sliced meatballs, marinara sauce and mounds of mozzarella sauce. The Hawaiin is a thin crust with ham, green peppers, pineapple, barbeque sauce and mozzarella cheese. 120 West Maxwell. Four blocks from Vine Street.

McDonalds is the all time fast food giant, and you can still feast on a Double Quarterpounder With Cheese, Large Fries and Triple Shake so thick you eat it with a spoon. However, even McDonalds has moved on. Their Wraps are very good in Ranch Grilled, or Chipotle Grilled Barbeque. The Grilled Chicken Sandwich is listed by the American Heart Association as the heart healthiest item on McDonalds menu. Grilled Premium Chicken Breast Strips are also great, as are six kinds of salads, especially the Premium Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad or the Asian Salad. McDonalds offers Paul Newman's Own Dressings in six flavors. These are nationally noted for their low fat, low cholesterol content. McD's still offers the sugary desserts, but the Fruit Yogurt Parfaits and Baked Apple Pie Slices avoid that problem. There's also Low Fat Milk, Apple Juice, Dasani Water, Orange Juice, and Iced Tea. For a caffeine fix, there are five flavors of iced coffee.

Notice the unusual blue and white decor on this McDonalds. Corporate headquarters says this is the only McDonalds painted these colors, in respect with UK's blue and white school colors.

Sav's Grill offers a West African menu. It's Lexington's only African restaurant and it's very good. The restaurant is a modest double storefront at the corner of Limestone and Maxwell. You order at one counter, move down to the pickup counter, take your tray and find a table. There are only a dozen tables and in its year of operation owner manager Mamadou Savane has drawn quite a following, so lunch hour can get very crowded. Sav himself serves up the food from a dozen large bowls along the wall. The Lamb Ragout, Cornish Hen and, on weekends, Ribs, are excellent. We really like the Attie'ke' ("Kay Kay") Salad. If you're hungry enough for an appetizer, we recommend the Fried Plantains. They're delicious, but you get a dozen and they're filling enough to be a lunch all by themselves. The bowls are wonderful. The most spectacular is the Peanut Goat with Fufu, but there are various beef, chicken and vegetarian dishes, all made with palm oil. You can choose rice, couscous or fufu as the base of any dish. Cups of Piment (Habanero) Sauce are always optional. Beverages are part of the adventure. The coffee is interesting, there are fruit sodas and Jamaican ginger beer. You can usually park across the street.

Smashburger certainly lives up to its claim as the Gourmet Burger outlet. Their schtick is they smash the Angus Beef patty on the grill to sear the beef and seal in the flavor. The menu consists of seven $6 burgers, three $4 hot dogs, three $7 salads, seven $3 sides, two $4 floats and a milk shake. You get what you pay for. These will probably be the best burgers and dogs you've ever eaten and the sides, salads and floats are way above average, too. Even the bread is special, an extra rich egg, chipotle or multigrain (your choice) bun. We (not usually big fans of burgers or fast food) are particularly impressed with their Baja Burger (pepper jack cheese, guacamole, lettuce, tomato, onion, chipotle mayo and fresh jalapenos) and BlueGrassBurger (Wild Turkey Bourbon sauce, applewood smoked bacon, melted cheddar cheese and fried banana pepper rings). But the Chicago Dog (mustard, tomatoes, pickles, peppers, relish and onions) is a close runnerup. A neat alternative is the Bourbon BBQ Ranch Chicken Club Salad (strips of buttermilk seasoned chicken, chopped applewood smoked bacon, diced tomatoes, onions, cheddar cheese, romaine & iceberg lettuce, Wild Turkey Bourbon bbq sauce and buttermilk ranch dressing). Our favorite sides are the Smash (Russet) Fries, Haystack Onions, Sweet Potato Fries, Fried Pickles and Veggie Frites. This being Kentucky, you MUST try the Ale 8 One Float, especially if you're already an Ale 8 lover. No one else has it, and it's great. Or there's bottled beer or wine by the glass. A spacious patio lets you relax in the shade and see a mile up Euclid Avenue.