Welcome to Louisville, in Kentucky, in the US.
This is day two of our tour.
Day one didn't disappoint.
That's mainly because Mike went ahead the week
beforehand to get some clear recommendations
for the community.
The lesson that we wanted to teach the other guys
was that you shouldn't just Google things to do in the city
and go and do those things.
We got a ton of amazing stuff lined up,
and it starts with a local delicacy.
The reason we were up at the crack of dawn
was that Kern's Kitchen--
the name of the inventors of the famous Derby Pie--
were making pies that morning, and invited
us to see the production process and eat some.
Cheers.
Cheers!
But first, let's talk about Derby Pie.
Named after the famous Kentucky Derby horse race--
by pulling a name out of a hat--
this is a sticky-sweet chocolate and walnut
pie with a recipe so secret only the head chef knows
it makes it behind a curtain.
That recipe is five decades old, and served
in hotels, restaurants, and homes across all of Kentucky.
And it was good.
Look.
A prong of fork has pierced a pocket of warm chocolate.
Is it frowned upon not to use a fork?
Nope.
Oh that's good pie.
It's so rich, but then that--
the walnut has kind of a--
nuts have almost a bitterness to them,
with the richness of chocolate.
Obviously a lot of sugar going on there, and it's-- ah,
so good.
This is the Ohio River, which runs alongside the north
part of Louisville.
It forms a state line separating Kentucky and Indiana,
and is also great for activities like stand up paddleboard yoga.
Yes, you heard that right.
Barry forgot his swim shorts, so we sourced an alternative.
What the-- They're massive!
Looking good.
Why are you wearing matching shorts?
We go shopping together.
That is Mimi, our instructor, the most patient person
in the world.
You're OK, mate.
James stole the show, though.
And that was us done.
With our zen fully topped up, we split up
to cover the next part of our itinerary.
For Ben and I, that meant Hi-Five Doughnuts
in the trendy industrial Butchertown neighborhood.
Hi-Five Doughnuts-- cool place.
Started as a tent, became a food truck.
Now they've got a shop.
They make everything from scratch.
And this is Vietnamese Coffee Doughnut
washed down with cold brew.
Coffee is always good.
But I remember the coffee in Vietnam as being really strong,
and then with that really sweet condensed milk.
And here, the fried dough that's chewy and fluffy
at the same time.
Oh, yeah.
I've got a really strong taste of coffee.
It tears and it chews.
I'd say it's a cross between the fluffiness of brioche
and the chew of pretzel bread.
Best donut I've ever had, easily.
So we've split off from Mike and Ben,
and Mike's told us to come here to the Stevens & Stevens Deli
to have--
Benedictine?
Any idea what that is?
No.
Benedictine is a spread with cucumbers and cream cheese,
and it was invented by Jenny Carter Benedict from Louisville
in the early 20th century, and is a Louisville staple.
This is where you realize that Mike
got some pretty good recommendations, because this
is an iconic Louisville recipe that the rest of the world
hasn't caught on to yet.
That is a good sandwich.
It has a lot of cream cheese.
With the bacon, it kind of evens out the fat.
Does that makes sense?
Oh, mate, your beard.
There's a whole tub of cream cheese in the sandwich.
It's not going to not go in my beard.
Next stop on Mike's magical mystery tour of Louisville
for me and Barry, he's asked us to come here
to the Seelbach Hotel.
Now this, as well as being one of the grandest hotels
in the whole city, is actually where Al Capone, Lucky Luciano,
and a load of gangsters during the Prohibition era,
would come here to drink, gamble, plot.
And they've even got secret passageways
underneath the hotel to evade the cops.
Mike's told us we have to get the Seelbach cocktail.
We'll drink that, and then we'll go meet them somewhere else.
Not only that, but I was told the hotel
was where F. Scott Fitzgerald was
inspired to write his novel The Great Gatsby.
The character Gatsby was even based on one of the gangsters
Fitzgerald met whilst visiting.
Meanwhile, Evers and I met Andrew from Chef Space.
It was here that we learned that Louisville has the highest
number of independent restaurants per capita
in the US, second only to New Orleans.
That's why the food is so good here.
Kentucky is well known for horses,
and here in Louisville in 2015, there was the third installment
of Gallopalooza Art Exhibition-- that's 50 life size horse
statues dotted around the city--
and there's a map.
Welcome to Horse Art Hunters.
Horse art.
Horse art!
Horse art.
There!
Horse art!
Stop-- stop!
It's raining.
The things we do for horse art!
There she is.
Oh, look and see.
You can see it.
I need to get in.
Sneaky car park horse art.
20% of horse art hunting in Louisville, done.
Can you do better?
Right.
We've kicked Mike off the voiceover
to tell you about this bit.
In the last episode, Mike tried to teach us a lesson,
because apparently we didn't do enough due diligence on some
of our restaurant research.
And our punishment was to watch everyone else eat our food
at our restaurant choices.
It was torture.
So as we were in Kentucky-- and Mike loves fried chicken more
than anything else--
we thought we'd get some revenge.
Muah-hah-hah.
Shut up, Jamie.
I'm done.
I don't mind.
This is-- this is not a problem.
The sweet hoisin.
The pickle.
The marination.
The bite and the crunch of that fried chicken,
with the soft pillowy bun.
Oh no.
I have not had a better fried chicken sandwich than that.
They literally ordered everything I love.
Look at that!
That's the best--
When you break into it, and it steams,
then you got that golden crisp on the outside, that
gets a wow and two thumbs up.
You zoomed out, right?
I'm as far out as I can, aren't I?
Come in closer.
Oh no.
I was going the wrong way.
I found things now.
Mike, you've done an amazing job at organizing all of this.
Thank you.
I can actually eat this?
I didn't say that.
You know I have a format.
I don't think it's fair.
I had some pent up frustration to release,
so throwing sharpened steel implements
at painted wooden targets seemed a fitting remedy.
And it also happened to be next on our list.
Barry!
[INAUDIBLE]
Oh!
Don't worry.
At least Barry didn't do well.
Oh.
If there was one sport Jamie's made for, it's axe throwing.
Here he goes.
It's safe to say Evers hasn't found his calling.
What, what?
What?
I'm going to stick to horse art hunting.
Our final destination on our local tour guide of Louisville
was a restaurant so frequently recommended,
we had to finish up at Milkwood.
Described as southern inspiration
plus ancient flavors, plus urban cocktails.
This was a local recommendation, and this is
what I think of the restaurant.
It's nice.
Thanks, Jay.
It's hidden under a theater.
You wouldn't know it was here.
And therefore, it feels a bit like a hidden gem,
and that we stumbled on something that was special.
I ordered the pork shoulder, and the more
you go towards the middle, the more you
get the texture and the flavor.
And by the time you get to the end,
you realize what an amazing pulled pork shoulder it is,
and it's absolutely doused in a glaze which is really sweet.
The first mouth, you're like, that's pretty good pork
shoulder, and then it keeps going, keeps delivering.
That's amazing, isn't it?
Bulgogi beef tartare with smoked coconut on top.
I think I can honestly say I've never tasted anything
like that in my life.
It is so unusual.
I reckon I probably had some preconceptions about Louisville
that were based solely on bourbon,
and I had no idea that there was such an independent food scene
and a real community of people who love food and are
doing amazing things with food.
Louisville has so much going on for it.
It had the beautiful greenery and waterside.
Not gonna lie-- a whole bunch of ideas
that I'm already jotting down and trying to steal,
including trying to hack the recipe for Derby Pie.
48 hours in Louisville is a phenomenal whistle stop tour.
We have experienced so much, and it's not over yet.
We're now heading to Iowa.