Chicago to Nashville-good eats near I-65 exits

Heading down I-65 from Chicago to Nashville with a stop over in Bowling Green. Can only make a few pit stops and would love some good recs for BBQ or southern style food not too far off the exit ramps. Nothing fancy and we can always eat in the car and would love to take some BBQ or fried chicken home. Looking for places open on the weekend. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

2 place's that i stop when through this are are .

1) k &r hog wild bbq
lebanon,in.
exit 140 just east of I-65
765-482-4100

2)JUCY'S BBQ
7626 LAGRANGE rd
pewee valley,ky.
502-230-4285

i might would call them first before you you make that stop

Not BBQ and not very southern, Shapiro's downtown is a quick off and on I-65 if you go through Indianapolis rather than take I-465 around the city. Definitely worth stopping for! You can search for Shapiro's to see plenty of LTH love.

Thank you for your help. We ate at Hog Wild-good bbq and friendly staff. It was nearly empty at 8 pm on Fri night. Hope the place is doing ok. Web site boasted sports bar with multiple tvs but we did not see a single one. Ate more BBQ at Smokey Pig in Bowling Green KY. WONDERFUL stuff. Just the right amount of smoke and uber friendly folks. Nice back room overlooking a river. It is off the first North exit for Bowling Green about 5 miles toward the city. Not to be missed. (I have lost their card)

OK, after doing lots of research on this board and roadfood and most of it being from 2010 or sooner, anything newly found along the route. Have lots of spots within the planned Louisville/Nashville/Cincy/Indy stops, but looking for un-previously mentioned newfound spots in-between.

Thank you for the already found Jon Byrd's stop.

Going 65 down to Nashville stopping at Louisville to check out the baseball bats. Then on the way back meandering the Bourbon Trail, hitting a baseball game in Cincy, then coming back 74 through Indy to 65 and home again

If you search on "Louisville" you'll find lots of neat place recommended. If you go to see the bats, you should also make a quick visit to the museum at the KY Derby, well worth the stop.

Geo


edited once

The Kentucky Derby is an event at Churchill Downs, well worth the stop.

Robin Garr is a Louisville writer who was one of the first posters on CompuServe and writes extensively on the Louisville food scene. We also writes extensively on wines.

http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/

Hello All,

I'm going to be on a road trip, part of which will go from Nashville to Chicago. I'm looking for suggestions on where to stop for good food.

I'm thinking lower-cost, home cooking kind of food...

Also, if you have any suggestions of roadside mini-attractions (sites, interesting locations, etc.) along the way, those are welcome too!

Thanks!

tentaguasu wrote:Hello All,

I'm going to be on a road trip, part of which will go from Nashville to Chicago. I'm looking for suggestions on where to stop for good food.

I'm thinking lower-cost, home cooking kind of food...

Also, if you have any suggestions of roadside mini-attractions (sites, interesting locations, etc.) along the way, those are welcome too!

Thanks!

Hi tentaguasu-

I merged your post into an existing thread. A search for Nashville yields other possible ideas. (see here.)

Anytime I am down near Indy, I try my darndest not to miss the chance to eat at
Grays Cafeteria!
http://www.graybrotherscatering.com/

The best pie in the universe.
The best breaded pork tenderloin- OMG

Take I-67 just S from the 465 loop in Indy
Gray Brothers
Cafeteria. 555 S. Indiana St., Mooresville, IN - (317) 831-5614.

Here is my post about it in Roadfood:
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/fb.ashx?m=613893

irisarbor wrote:Anytime I am down near Indy, I try my darndest not to miss the chance to eat at
Grays Cafeteria!
http://www.graybrotherscatering.com/

The best pie in the universe.
The best breaded pork tenderloin- OMG

Take I-67 just S from the 465 loop in Indy
Gray Brothers
Cafeteria. 555 S. Indiana St., Mooresville, IN - (317) 831-5614.

Here is my post about it in Roadfood:
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/fb.ashx?m=613893

Just wanted to bring this back up to add that Mrs. JiLS and I celebrated her birthday on Sunday in part by dining with my father at Gray Bros. It was outstanding, as always. The pie selection is great; they had a rhubarb unadulterated with strawberry or custard that made Mrs. JiLS's day. The consistent high quality of the fried chicken here belies the fact that it's being produced in massive quantities; don't ask how they do it, but do go try it. Irisarbor, on your recommendation, I almost tried the breaded pork tenderloin, and will next time, but it had been a few years since our last visit, and I felt I needed the fried chicken baseline.

I'm driving down to Nashville for a week for the NBBQA Conference & Trade Show and wanted to see if anyone has updated info or recs along the way.

One particular detail that may affect what/where we can stop - I am driving as far as I can make it Saturday night. I finish teaching a BBQ Class at 5pm, then I'm gonna try to pack the kids up and travel as far as we can Saturday night - and hope they just fall asleep, limiting the "are we there yets?"...so my stops will be limited to 1) places that are open at night 2) quick grab spots or 3) sunday morning/lunch depending on how far we get Saturday night before I need to crash..

Naturally, I love BBQ, fried Chicken, and all things southern...so anything along those lines down I-65 would be appreciated.

In Nashville, I've got hot chicken on my radar - and Husk (twice) .....

Looking forward to my trip -

If an overnight stop in Louisville is not out of the question, there are lot's of options there.

Time's not on your side. I happen to drive to Indy and Louisville in the evening for work a bit (within my not-worth O'Hare limit), and Nashville less often. Nice towns down 65, but not great options for late eats with kids. You lose an hour in IN and KY, get it back in Nashville. After leaving Chicagoland, there's virtually nothing until West Lafayette (and that's not much), where XXX drive-in is good and open late. Best bet for sleep might be to stop in Indy which is well-covered here, though much of the LTH love for Indy centers on breakfast and lunch spots that will be shuttered when you arrive but open in the am if you stay overnight there. You could also roll into L'Ville at 10 or 11 on a weekend night and eat well, but the well-covered places I'm thinking of would not be great for kids at that time on a weekend. The drive from L'Ville to Nashville is nice and you'll want to see it in the daylight. Be safe-- the whole region has been pounded by the weather this winter and they don't handle it well. I'd take driving in white-out snow in Michigan or Wisconsin over an ice storm in Indy or KY any day.

I suppose this goes here. Heading down I-65 on a trip to Cincy a friend and I decided to forgo fast food and found our way to Bekah's Westside Cafe, an anachronistic, spartan diner maybe a mile off the highway in what appeared to be downtown Lebanon. My friend had been fantasizing about country-fried steak and damn if that wasn't the special of the day. I opted for the tenderloin sandwich, which was huge (the bun looked like a fez on a manta ray), and it proved to be a very respectable rendition of the style. There were plenty of other menu options I'd love to have tried (the biscuits and gravy looked killer). If you find yourself north of Indy at lunchtime you could do far worse, as long as your culinary pleasure center doesn't require art of any kind on the walls.

Bekah's Westside Cafe
212 S Lebanon St.
Lebanon, IN 46052

We've made a habit of checking in at The Garage Bar (http://www.garageonmarket.com/) during our travels along this corridor. The most recent visit was pretty ridiculous as it happened to coincide with a street festival (there were live goats and streets closed), a beer event at The Garage Bar, and tip-off of the South Regional Final in the NCAA Men's Tournament at the nearby arena. Nevertheless, we were fed very quickly with delicious food. The pizza is very solid (imported oven, bags of Caputo pizza flour abound). The ham sampler is very nice. The craft beer and bourbon list is strong. And it's fairly easy to jump off I-65 and back on. We bring our kids with little issues.

Yo -
Looking for real deal Nashville Hot Chicken - close to I-65. We actually might spend the night in or near Nashville, but if we only stop for a hot minute, I'll still need to get my Nashville Hot on, but just close to the highway. Anyone have a best bet close to I-65?

seebee wrote:Yo -
Looking for real deal Nashville Hot Chicken - close to I-65. We actually might spend the night in or near Nashville, but if we only stop for a hot minute, I'll still need to get my Nashville Hot on, but just close to the highway. Anyone have a best bet close to I-65?

Prince's is the place and they have a location about 4.5 miles east of I-65. It appears it's the only location that's currently open.

=R=

Prince's Hot Chicken Shack South
5814 Nolensville Pike
Nashville, TN 37211
(615) 810-9388

That "other" board I frequent had an awesome road trip to Nashville last year,
and here is a great trip report about some of the places we hit.
We especially like Monells, and five daughters bakery.
Also loved the Italian place we had timpano at-
Coco’s was the name of that place!
So fun.
I was less impressed than most at Husk. Oh well.

http://forums.roadfood.com/Biscuits-BBQ ... 71641.aspx

I'll also post my pix if I find them