The Foodie’s Guide to The Best Restaurants in NuLu

NuLu is Louisville’s culinary neighborhood. NuLu, aka “New Louisville,” (because wanted our own cool abbreviated neighborhood name) may not be very old, but it has quickly become the city’s foodie hotspot. Recognized as one of “The Best Food Neighborhoods in the USA” by AFAR, the NuLu neighborhood is THE spot for amazing food in Louisville, a city that has also been awarded accolades like “Best Food Cities in the U.S.” by Travel + Leisure. And, yes, we’re VERY proud.

NuLu is full of eateries spanning the gamut from fine dining (including restaurants founded and run by James Beard-award winning and Michelin-starred Chefs) to casual spots to catch up with friends, to some of the best cocktail bars in the country.

And we should know: at Louisville Food Tours, we’ve eaten our way through NuLu more than anyone. For years, we’ve been leading locals and visitors through NuLu on the original NuLu Food Tour as well as the world’s only walking bourbon & food tour. That’s right: we’ve got TWO food tours running just in NuLu, 6 days a week. (Actually 3 if you count our Bourbon Trolley tour, which makes several stops in NuLu!)

We’ve introducing thousands of foodies to the Chefs, bartenders, and restaurants that define this part of the city. We don’t just know where to eat in NuLu, we know why each spot matters, what to order, and which places are worth rearranging your entire trip around.

This guide is the result of years of research, repeat visits, guest feedback, and very full stomachs (it’s a hard job, but somebody’s gotta do it). So if you’re ready to eat like a pro, just trust us: we’re literally professional foodies! And yes, many of the restaurants in this list are exclusive partners with Louisville Food Tours (we really know how to pick ’em).

So without further ado, here is our guide to the best restaurants in NuLu.

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The Best Restaurants for Lunch in NuLu

Some of our favorite NuLu restaurants are perfect for a quick lunch or a casual meet-up with a friend. They’re no-fuss and often no-frills, and most of them are quick service, order at the counter spots – but don’t let that throw you – the food is incredible.

In fact, it’s so good that we launched an entire tour company off it! Our flagship food tour, Secrets of Louisville in NuLu, was designed to feature the best casual eateries in NuLu. Several years and over 4,000 5-star reviews later, it’s still the most popular tour we offer!

Here’s where we recommend:

Feast BBQ

NuLu’s only BBQ spot, Feast BBQ does a phenomenal job of convincing tourists that Louisville is, in fact, a BBQ destination (we are not. Sorry everyone, I’m not sure why people keep coming here thinking that).

While Feast does a fantastic pulled pork – the only BBQ dish that Louisville did, in fact, invent – our favorite pick on the menu here is the Pork Cakes. Think like what you’d get if a crab cake was made from pulled pork: crispy outside, soft and salty inside, and topped with a sweet, house-made BBQ sauce and crunchy slaw. We first tried these on the Secrets of Louisville Food Tour in NuLu and it was our favorite bite of the entire tour!

Biscuit Belly

One thing about Kentucky: we make the best biscuits and gravy in the South. Maybe cuz we invented them!

Yep, that’s right: biscuits & gravy came from the hills of Eastern Kentucky in Appalachia, so you’re welcome to everyone who’s made this Southern culinary staple since!

Locally owned Biscuit Belly (which has since expanded beyond Kentucky) elevates biscuits and gravy to the star of their incredible menu, featuring multiple delicious gravies (we serve a flight of their award-winning gravies our NuLu food tour!). But they take things beyond the gravy into sandwich territory, with a wide selection of delicious biscuit gravies that will leave your belly feeling very, very happy.

My personal favorite sandwich is the Mama’s Boy, which features a fried green tomato and spicy pimento cheese alongside pickles and buttermilk fried chicken. Truly the ultimate in Southern comfort food! And don’t sleep on the pancake corndogs, which are like the marriage of breakfast sausage and pancakes in corndog form with a delicious maple mayo dipping sauce. They’re so freaking good, and a frequently requested staple at our quarterly all-team meetings.

Royal’s Hot Chicken

Hot chicken may be a Nashville creation, but fried chicken? That’s all Kentucky, y’all! So it makes sense that here in Louisville – just 3 hours north of Nashville – we, too, have a taste for delicious, crispy, spicy hot chicken. And Royal’s Hot Chicken nails it!

Fried chicken tenders at royals range in spice levels from un-spiced to Gonzo (a nod to Hunter S Thompson, Louisville native, author of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, and inventor of Gonzo journalism). You can enjoy plan tendies, or stick them in a perfectly dressed fried chicken sandwich or taco. Pair it with a boozie slushy or a chocolate chip cookie milkshake.

Our standard pick for lunch is usually whatever the Slider of the Month is. It switches out regularly, but usually features a Kentucky spin. I’ve seen everything from a Hot Brown Fried Chicken Slider to a Green Chili Wonton slider (which is, surprisingly, also a nod to a beloved local staple and culinary creation – the green chili wontons from the Bristol Bar & Grille!) Round it out with some potato wedges and mac & cheese, and it’s the perfect local Lunch in NuLu!

Oh, and don’t forget to stop for a photo op in front of the Chicken mural. It’s a NuLu must-do.

Goodwood Brewing

At Goodwood Brewing, both the food and the craft beer are “touched by wood,” heh heh. But hey: what’s more Kentucky than aging something in a wooden barrel? Enter Goodwood Brewery, our favorite place to try a rich barrel-aged beer (and the first stop on our NuLu food tour!)

The best items on the menu feature beer: think bourbon barrel stout chili, beer-infused house made sauces, and delicious beer cheese (a Louisville culinary creation), made with their Louisville Lager.

So if you’re feeling like having a beer with your lunch, head to Goodwood!

The Best Restaurants in NuLu for dinner

Our favorite places to get dinner in NuLu are *ahem* on the boujier side of things. Expect sold-out tables, reservation-only dining, and some of the most delicious food you’ll find anywhere in Louisville.

Can’t get a reservation, or can’t decide where to eat? Don’t stress: Book an evening NuLu food tour with us and we’ll take you to 4-5 of the best restaurants in NuLu for an evening of delicious bites paired with bourbon pours and cocktails!

MeeshMeesh Mediterranean

A several time James Beard award finalist, Chef Noam Bilitzer is frequently lauded as one of the best Chefs in Louisville. If you’re lucky enough to snag a reservation here (it took us years!), you’ll be rewarded with one of the best meals in Louisville.

The menu at MeeshMeesh is Levantine, with dishes celebrating the culinary roots of Palestine, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and beyond. We recommending bringing some friends to share the Shefha, a multi-course set menu experience. Standouts on the menu are the whipped labneh and crispy cauliflower!

Byrdie’s

Byrdie’s is the latest culinary adventure from the husband-and-wife team Chef Jenner Tomaska and Katrina Bravo, owners of Michelin-star awarded Esme in Chicago. While Louisville does not have a Michelin-starred restaurant yet, Byrdies is located on the ground floor of a Michelin One Key hotel, Hotel Genevieve.

Byrdies strikes a balance between French elegance and Southern soul, without pomp and circumstance – just really, really good food. Although yes, you can order a bump of caviar and some foie gras, if you’re so inclined.

On our bourbon food tour, we serve a mix of small plates, including salmon tartine paired with a duck-fat washed Old Fashioned (a surprisingly heavenly pairing).

Mayan Café

Founded in 1997 – predating the origins of NuLu – we credit this incredible restaurant with establishing the culinary fame that NuLu is currently enjoying. Good restaurants attract good restaurants, as they say. Are we they? …Maybe.

Anyway, the restaurant has been lauded as one of the best in Louisville for a long time, and with good reason. Mayan Café is a modern farm-to-table restaurant specializing in traditional Yucatán flavors with a Kentucky twist. Chef Bruce Ucán, who is originally from Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, builds the menu around Mayan staples like corn, beans, and squash, paired with locally sourced meats and produce.

There are two must-order signature dishes here. First, the tok-sel roasted lima beans – they’ve got a cult following, and it’s well earned. For adventurous home cooks, here’s a recipe!)

Second is the cochinita pibil, locally sourced slow-roasted pork topped with a flavorful achiote sauce and pickled onions and surrounded by tok-sel lima beans (if you’re following along, that means you get BOTH must-trys in one dish).

But truly, everything on the menu is wonderful. We’ve enjoyed memorable evenings out here for decades, and we’ve never tried anything that wasn’t absolutely incredible.

Sake a GoGo

Sushi?? In Kentucky?? Listen, y’all: while we’re not serving up fish from the Ohio River (we would never) Louisville is, in fact, home to some of the freshest seafood in the entire country. This weird fact that most visitors would never guess is due to our status as the home of both FedEx and UPS. Basically, seafood is fished out of the ocean, put on ice, and then shipped to Louisville – before continuing on to the rest of the country.

• Nerdy Sidebar: Louisville is the most ideally situated city in the entire country in terms of logisics infrastructure, which is why we’re home to the UPS Worldport, a massive shipping facility adjacent to our teeny little passenger airport. It’s HUGE. Order something online? It will probably visit Louisville before it comes to you.

So, yeah: we’ve got some of the freshest seafood in the entire country. And you can try it at Sake a GoGo, the newest experience from local restauranteur Kevin Granger.

In addition to trying some incredible sashimi, nigiri and sushi rolls, we recommend ordering the melt-in-your-mouth Miso Seabass. And don’t skip the Wagyu Carpaccio, served with fun little cubs of jellied ponzu that pop in your mouth with a burst of tangy flavor. The plates are fairly small, so plan to order several things to taste and try.

bar Vetti

Bar Vetti serves up Italian food with a Kentucky twist. If you’re a pasta snob like us (handmade from scratch or bust, y’all), you’ll get why we love Bar Vetti!

While the menu changes frequently to feature seasonal ingredients, which gets a big gold star from us, one thing that stays year-round is the Orecchiette pasta, featuring Jake’s Country Sausage.

Now, the key here is that sausage. It’s the best sausage in Kentucky. It’s made in a gas station in the middle of nowhere, and you’ll have to drive for miles to get it, but it’s got a cult following cuz if you know, you know. And y’all know we make it our business to know that kind of thing, right??

At Bar Vetti, Jake’s sausage is the standout star in a spicy pasta dish, balanced with a generous bed of creamy ricotta cheese to help balance the heat.

Our other go-to items from the menu are the Caesar salad and the chocolate orange budino, topped with savory olive oil and crunchy pecans, for dessert.

• Local’s Tip: While we do love Bar Vetti for dinner, if you can, come here for lunch to take advantage of their 3-course prix fixe menu, which is one of the the best deals in town.

LouLou

LouLou on Market (a truly missed opportunity for a LouLou in NuLu rhyme) celebrates our connection to New Orleans, another river-adjacent city with a Fleur de Lis as their official symbol!

• Brief history sidebar: While “Louisville” and “Louisiana” were not actually named after the same king (Louisville is named after King Louis XVI for his support during the American Revolution, while Louisiana was named for King Louis XIV), our histories have long been connected by riverboat. In fact, one theory about the origins of the name “Bourbon Whiskey” is because Kentucky distillers in the 19th century shipped whiskey down the Mississippi River, and the popular, aged product became known as “Bourbon Street whiskey”. (We’ll tell you about the other theories, and which one WE believe, on a tour with us!)

Our other connection to New Orleans? Really good food – and LouLou serves the best Creole and Cajun food in town. Their shrimp & grits, topped with crispy fried okra and tasso ham, is to DIE for, and beats most of the shrimp & grits we’ve had in actual New Orleans (please don’t be mad at us if you’re a NoLa local!) Their gumbo is also rich and flavorful, with a deep brown roux and alligator sausage.

But perhaps the shining star of the menu here is the Bananas Foster Cheesecake, made with caramelized bananas and topped with a buttery dark rum sauce. It’s so good we serve it as the final dish on our bourbon food tour!

• Local’s Tip: On a nice night, LouLou has one of the best patios in town! Sit outside by the fountain, or on the upstairs outdoor patio, to enjoy the warm evening air.

Last Refuge

Ever wonder if Kentucky has any churches devoted to bourbon? The answer is, of course, yes. Last Refuge is the High Church of Bourbon – welcome to the Bible Belt, y’all!

It’s easy to find: just look for the giant Bob Dylan mural in front of the gorgeous old church. And yes, this is indeed a restaurant created in collaboration with Bob Dylan and his bourbon brand, Heaven’s Door. Expect a lot more Bob Dylan references where that came from – it’s on brand.

While the cocktails and the collection of bourbon – one of the largest in the world, stretching allllll the way up to the roof – are the real star at Last Refuge, the food is incredible, too!

Start with the Friar’s Bacon, made with thick-cut bacon, bourbon maple syrup, and masala. We’re huge fans of the spicy, creamy Sin & Grits (a guest favorite on our Beyond the Barrel bourbon & food tour), and the pizzas are phenomenal. Finish with a dessert of Heaven’s Door Bourbon Balls to pay homage to the holy spirit *wink*.

High Stakes Rooftop Grill

Louisville has some of the best sunsets you’ll ever see. And on a warm summer evening around 8:30 PM, you’ll want to head up to the top floor to High Stakes Rooftop Grill to watch the sunset skyline show, fireside.

But don’t worry: the food here is as good as the views! Our favorites from the menu are the steak tartare, the 16oz ribeye, and the luxurious“Old Fashioned” bread pudding, which is like an Old Fashioned in bread pudding form, complete with luxardo cherries, bourbon caramel sauce and orange.

We love our drinks here as much as we love our food, so turning a cocktail into a dessert is really peak Louisville.

Bonus: The Best Spots for Dessert in NuLu

You saved some room for dessert, right?? Here’s where to go for a sweet treat after your meal (or before, we don’t judge) – any time of day! And yes: they’re ALL featured on our NuLu Food Tour. We’ve got a bit of a sweet tooth!

• Louisville Cream: The best ice cream in town, smack dab in the middle of NuLu and open late. Louisville Cream makes small-batch, gourmet flavors with JD Country Milk (cream-top, glass bottle – the best locally made milk in Kentucky). We love the bourbon smoked pecan with a luxardo cherry mix-in, or the banana pudding with a torched marshmallow topping!
• Muth’s Candies: Home to a delicious Louisville culinary creation, the caramel-and-marshmallow Modjeska, Muth’s is Louisville’s best local, historic candy shop. Definitely try a Modjeska and some bourbon balls!

So, where are you going to eat in NuLu? Hard to decide, right??

Well, let us save you some time: if you book a Secrets of Louisville food tour with us, AND a Beyond the Barrel food tour with us, you’ll get to scratch 12 of the best restaurants in NuLu off your list. TWELVE. In one day!

Though we’d actually recommend splitting it into two days, because odds are you won’t be hungry after the first tour – but still! How’s that for efficient??

• The Secrets of Louisville Food & History Tour in NuLu is an all-ages daytime food tour that visits more casual spots, with a menu that reflects Louisville and Kentucky’s culinary heritage, featuring foods that were invented in or can only be found here in Louisville.

• The Beyond the Barrel Bourbon Food Tour is the world’s only food & bourbon walking tour, and visits some of the best, most exclusive restaurants in NuLu for dishes that pair perfectly with a wide range of bourbon pours and cocktails. It’s an experience unlike anything you’ll find at a bourbon distillery!

We hope to see you on a tour with us soon in NuLu! And hey, even if you don’t join us, if you see one of our groups walking around the neighborhood, give us a wave and say hi!

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About Louisville Food Tours: We are a locally-owned small business running award-winning walking tours in Louisville, Kentucky.

Hope to see you on a tour soon,

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