Wagner’s Pharmacy
The lunch counter across Fourth Street from Churchill’s backside opens at 7 most mornings and is done serving by 2:30 in the afternoon.
The pharmacy that gave the place its name stopped filling prescriptions in 2014. What’s left is the griddle, the gift shop, and walls covered in racing photographs.
A restaurant whose whole business runs on a calendar the rest of Louisville forgets eleven months a year. It’s live through September 27.
Honey-glazed ham and eggs. The glaze caramelizes hard on the griddle, so the edges come out salt-and-sweet and slightly crisp.
Closed Mondays. Opens 7 Tuesday to Saturday, 8 on Sunday, and closes at 2:30. Breakfast is served till 10:30 Tuesday to Friday, so go early for the ham and eggs.
3113 S 4th St, Louisville, KY 40214 · Website →
Tok-sel lima beans at Mayan Cafe
Lima beans are the most boring thing on an American plate until they hit a screaming pan with sesame oil and come out blistered and nutty, finished with pumpkin seed, green onion and lime. That’s Bruce Ucán’s tok-sel, out of the Yucatán, at 813 E Market — on the stretch of East Market that NuLu Fest closes on Saturday.
Serai
Now Open
Malaysian cooking on a street that did not have any
Sebastian Moh has opened Serai in the Frankfort Avenue room DiFabio’s Casapela left behind. Malaysian and Thai spices, local seasonal produce, and a wok. Serai is lemongrass in Malay.
The garlic shrimp in yellow pepper ginger sauce.
Cafecito
Now Open
A coffee truck that finally stopped moving
The tres leches latte people have a front door. Cafecito ran as a truck from 2023 and opened its first permanent shop on September 5 at 1212 S. Fourth, serving 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Check their hours before a Monday visit.
The tres leches latte, then a concha while you wait.
A bourbon flight, trivia and twenty dollars at Whiskey Thief
Whiskey Thief’s NuLu tasting room on Nanny Goat Strut runs Bourbon Trivia on Tuesday nights, 7 to 10. Twenty dollars a head, with a bourbon flight built into the price. Tickets go in advance, and the top three teams take prizes.
A Maryland rye takes the whole night on Frankfort Avenue
Next Wednesday, Bourbons Bistro hands its dining room to Sagamore Spirit: small batch rye, cask strength and double oak, three pours across three courses. Chef Jereme McFarland cooks salmon cakes, a wedge with house blue cheese, then a prosciutto-wrapped pork chop. Six o’clock, the night before Bourbon & Beyond opens.
September 19
11 a.m.–8 p.m.
NuLu Fest
East Market closes for local food and drink booths, regional beer and bourbon pours, and live music. Nine hours, no ticket.
@ East Market Street, 600–900 blocks
September 18
7–10 p.m. through Sunday
September 20
Gaslight Festival
Jeffersontown shuts the square for three days. Friday night runs 7 to 10, Saturday goes 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., with more than 135 craft vendors.
@ Gaslight Square, Jeffersontown
September 18
11 a.m.–4 p.m.
Evan Williams Bourbon Nation Tailgate Party
A tailgate trailer parks in the lot on Whiskey Row for five hours: bourbon sampling stations, food trucks and tailgate games. The Single Barrel Collegiate and Fan Edition bottles go on sale that day. Free to walk up.
@ Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, Whiskey Row
See every Louisville food event this week, day by day →
- The Louisville Originals gift card is back: one card good at a growing list of locally owned restaurants, run by the independent business alliance with Churchill Downs behind it. It ran from 1996 until the program wound down in 2020 and relaunched at the Buy Local Fair at the end of May. Who takes it is listed at keeplouisvilleweird.com.
- Vinaigrette Salad Kitchen closed its Bardstown Road cafe on September 2, its last in Louisville. The two Lexington stores stay open.
- Louder Than Life runs Thursday through Sunday at the Highland Festival Grounds, so South End and Preston Highway kitchens absorb the overflow for four days. Budget an hour for the twenty-minute version near the Expo Center exits.
- Saturday’s Downs After Dark has a biergarten and live music, gates at 5 and first race at 6. The Trackside Smokehaus is putting out bierbratwurst and German smoked brisket. Tickets on churchilldowns.com.
Churchill’s September Meet runs through the 27th. Do you go to the races when it isn’t Derby?