Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [70]
2840 W. Parrish Ave.
270–684–8143
Owensboro, KY
LD | $$
There’s not a lot of waitress contact at Moonlite Bar-B-Q, where everyone avails themselves of a spectacular buffet. But we have to say that the interaction we have had is a pleasure. Last time we dined here, we arrived a good half-hour before the people we were joining. We were famished. We explained the situation and our waitress suggested we go fill some plates at the buffet and eat awhile. “I’ll have your plates cleaned and places set again, so when they arrive you can act like you haven’t et yet.”
Good plan, for a mere single trip to the Moonlite buffet doesn’t provide nearly enough plate space to enjoy everything that needs to be tasted. The array of foods occupies one large room with salads and desserts on one side, vegetables and meats on the other. There are barbecued chicken, ribs, pulled pork, spectacularly succulent beef brisket, and even a pan of non-barbecued sliced country ham that is firm and salty, as well as a tray of ready-made ham biscuits. And there is western Kentucky’s favorite barbecue meat, mutton. Cooked until pot-roast tender, it is set out on the buffet two ways: chopped or pulled. Chopped mutton is pulverized to nothing but flavor: tangy lamb and wood smoke in a bold duet. The pulled version is a textural amusement park—rugged and chunky with a lot of hard outside crust among soft, juicy chunks of interior meat. Apply your own sauce at the table from the pitchers the waitress brings. One is a dark orange emulsion with gentle vinegar-tomato zest; the other is known as “mutton dip,” an unctuous gravy that is used to baste the mutton as it cooks. For those who need heat, Moonlite also supplies bottles of “Very Hot Sauce,” which is brilliantly peppered and will set your lips and tongue aglow.
Beyond meats, we need to mention the impressive deployment of vegetables, including cheesy broccoli casserole, macaroni and cheese, creamed corn niblets, ham and beans, and butter-drizzled mashed potatoes, plus the western Kentucky soup-stew of mutton and vegetables known as burgoo (pronounced BUR-goo) and crusty corn muffins. Last visit, we also sampled a retro banana salad made with Miracle Whip and chopped nuts. And there are a couple of tables of terrific Kentucky pies.
Mr. D’s
1435 S. Green St.
270–826–2505
Henderson, KY
LD | $
A fiberglass chicken about as tall as a grizzly bear stands outside of Mr. D’s beckoning customers to drive in. While Mr. D’s is a full-menu drive-in with a repertoire of hamburgers, hot dogs, and sandwiches, chicken rules. It is fried chicken made from a recipe popularized decades ago by a legendary chicken man named Colonel Jim, and like the stupendously good chicken at the nearby Bon-Ton Mini Mart (Kentucky), it has a crunchy crust that is spicy enough to make your eyes water.
Because Mr. D’s is a quick-service drive-in with car service only, the chicken you order will be delivered to your window in five minutes or less, meaning that the kitchen cooks it ahead of time rather than to order. This is good if you are really, really hungry, but not so good if you are a crisp-skin connoisseur, because the crust loses its crunch. Make no mistake: this is four-star fried chicken, and puts just about any non-Kentucky fried chicken to shame. But the next time we order some, we are going to do as Henderson tipster Louis Hatchett advises, request that the kitchen cook it to order. If that twenty-minute wait means crust that cracks when bitten, we’ll happily endure it.
Thomason’s Barbecue
701 Atkinson St.
270–826–0654
Henderson, KY
LD | $
Kentucky tipster Louis Hatchett IV brought us to Thomason’s for barbecue beans, which are magnificent—rich and smoky, laced with shreds of meat and so vividly spiced you could make a meal of them—but the barbecue itself is worth a trip, too.
Thomason’s barbecues everything: pork, mutton, beef, spare ribs, baby back ribs, chicken, ham, and turkey. You can get your choice of meat on a plate, which includes pickle, onion, bread, and beans; on a tray, which