THE BLUEGRASS DISTILLERY AT ELKWOOD on Leestown Pike in Midway has just added a new piece to its bourbon campus with the opening of the Idlewild Cafe in a remodeled outbuilding near its 1830s mansion, which serves as its iconic centerpiece. The cafe is the brainchild of award-winning baker Beth Carter, who operates Bee’s Bakery in downtown Frankfort. Idlewild Cafe offers a “sip and stroll” menu along with lunch sandwiches and paninis, salads, soups and treats from Bee’s Bakery. “We wanted to offer something for visitors to Elkwood that has a ‘wow’ factor, something that says Kentucky,” Carter said. Co-owner Sam Rock added, “We are in the final stages of creating a true Bluegrass and bourbon experience, and this cafe builds on what we have done with the house.” Among the menu items is the “Bluegrass Colossal,” an all-things Kentucky sandwich with beer cheese, country ham, pimento cheese, fried chicken, lettuce, tomato and benedictine on a jalapeno-flecked cornmeal bread using the distillery farm’s blue corn milled at Wiesenberger Mill. Pictured from left, co-owner Ben Franzini, Faith Bowens, Braedon Nemeth, Carter, Woodford County Magistrate Liles Taylor, Midway Mayor Grayson Vandegrift, Midway Councilman Ian VanSteenbergh and Rock (Photo by Scott White)
Ribbon Cutting -Idlewild Cafe
