By Lee Cole
Having been exposed to home-cooked southern meals for most of my life, I admit that I’m often skeptical of any establishment purporting to serve traditional southern cuisine as its specialty. There’s just something about eating food prepared at a chain restaurant like Cracker Barrel that causes it to lose its so-called homemade feel. So when I finally went to Cottage Inn at the corner of Bradley Avenue and Eastern Parkway, with my predetermined bias toward my grandmother’s homemade meals, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the fine people there had managed to capture that homemade feel of traditional southern cuisine remarkably well.
With its pale stone walls, chimney and relatively small size, Cottage Inn resembles, strangely enough, a cottage. Inside, the decor is understated and welcoming, and though there are a limited number of tables, the atmosphere is cozy and comfortable. Upon entering, visitors are immediately met with the strong aroma of baking cornbread, frying bacon and molasses. The walls are lined with black and white photos of Louisville landmarks, along with other Louisville memorabilia and one particularly good photo of Muhammad Ali. When it came time for us to order, our server was friendly and helpful. While prices vary, most dishes fall between $6 and $10 and the servings are more than generous for such a reasonable price. There was a wide variety of southern favorites on the menu, including country fried steak, chicken livers, country ham and – one of my personal favorites – frog legs. They also had entrees such as lasagna and chicken Parmesan. I ordered the Cottage Double Club, which the menu indicated was the “Best in Louisville!” My dinner companions ordered country fried steak, fried chicken and chicken tenders. The dessert selection included southern favorites like homemade pound cake, as well as chocolate, lemon and Derby pies.
Though we had to wait almost 30 minutes for our food, this was mostly due to the extra cooking time required for the fried chicken. My sandwich, which consisted of pulled turkey, ham, bacon, Swiss and American cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise on three slices of toast, was truly delicious. My side of green beans tasted like it was prepared with butter and brown sugar, in the true tradition of southern cuisine. The country fried steak and mashed potatoes were, of course, smothered in delicious white gravy. The fried chicken was described to me as having the perfect balance of crispiness on the outside and tender, juiciness on the inside. The real high point of the meal, however, was when I tasted the cornbread, which is served to every table. Given the sheer joy with which my taste buds greeted Cottage Inn’s corn muffins, I can only assume that the recipe must contain some concoction of substances meant to cause immediate addiction and gastronomic euphoria. It was one of those rare culinary moments when words fail you and you can only sit dumbfounded and enjoy.
I don’t know exactly what it was about Cottage Inn which made its home-cooked food seem so authentic to me. Perhaps it was because, as indicated on the back of the menu, it has always been family owned and operated and has served Louisville since 1929. Whatever the case, visitors will certainly feel at home and will be treated with genuine southern comfort food.
