A Summer Saturday in Central Kentucky: Blueberries and a Local Lunch

June 20, 2011

I made a vow to myself when we moved back to central Kentucky from southern Brazil. Regardless of where I live, I promised myself that I will take full advantage of whatever seasonal food I can find in the region.

Once we arrived in Brazil back in 2007, I realized right away just how much I missed berries – blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. While I grew up with many of these fruits, as an adult I had lived in Kentucky five years and had only gone blueberry picking once. That isn’t exactly what I call taking full advantage.

Sadly, I let the same thing happen while I was in Brazil. I marveled over all the tropical produce – passion fruit, guava, multiple varieties of bananas. Yet, there were weeks when I made excuses to avoid walking the 20 minutes to the feira and many unfamiliar pieces of produce that I didn’t investigate and try.

Never again.

Now that we are back in central Kentucky I will go berry, peach and apple picking one or more times a year. I will eat fresh strawberries out of our garden until I don’t think I can take another bite. I’ll continue to try new foods that I see at the market and I will plant new plants in our garden despite how many times I fail to succeed.

So as you can imagine I’ve been watching the calendar, weather and Facebook closely to learn when blueberry season would begin. For us, that was this past Saturday.

It got off to a rocky start. The timing had to work out right because we also wanted to do a farm tour in the morning and had a baby shower to attend that night. We went for our morning run and then the storms rolled in. The farm tour was canceled and I whined the whole drive home because I had really wanted for my husband and I to go picking together. It was just about our only free weekend.

Things looked up though. The big blob of green, red and yellow dispersed about 11:00 am and the picking commenced!

We like going to Reed Valley Orchard in Paris, KY, about an hour and fifteen minute drive from where we live. They have several rows of berries all covered by netting to keep the birdies out.

We picked for about an hour and a half and walked away with 7 lbs of blueberries and a couple handfuls of raspberries. I told you I was taking full advantage!

It’s difficult for me to make many things with fresh berries because I enjoy them as snacks and on yogurt and cereals so much. As I begin to freeze some of them for later use, I’m still contemplating what I might make with a few.

Our day continued with lunch. While we were in the area, we decided to stop by the Windy Corner. I had heard about this place before, but it is out of the way of my typical routine so this was our very first visit. Set in the middle of Kentucky country and horse farms you will find Windy Corner with its beautiful food inspired mural on, well, a corner.

I haven’t stopped raving about this place since we went on Saturday. It is owned by Ouita Michel one of our well known chefs in the area. I am so happy to finally find a place around here where the ingredient sources, creativity in the menu, and food quality is worth the price and (for us) the drive.

The menu boasts Kentucky without being too traditional. I love tradition, but I’m so tired of being forced to celebrate fried chicken and pimento cheese just because it’s popular here. I snapped a few photos of the menu. The paper menu shows all of the farms and companies who provide the ingredients used at the restaurant.

There is an extensive list of Po’ Boys with a Kentucky twist and the grass-fed burgers are some of the most creative I’ve seen. I will definitely be trying the nut burger with peanut sauce and coleslaw on our next visit! There are tofu options for the non-meaters out there. Even the salad dressings can get a foodie all excited with options such as Smoked Tomato Ranch, Balsamic Miso and Cider Honey Vinaigrette.

We both went for the Kentucky Po’ Boy with BBQ pork, bourbon barrel beer cheese and fried pickles on a brioche roll. There were lots of great salads to upgrade to for sides, but we decided to save that money for dessert.

My husband wished the pork had been smoked, but I happen to be one that tires of always eating smoked meat so I welcomed the change. I now feel that fried pickles should go on every sandwich. This was so good!

After finishing our sandwiches my husband announced he was getting a brownie. I decided not to object because it was chocolate after all. Look at this thing! This is a standard side plate by the way, not a tea saucer. It was huge, and amazing! It was so thick and rich in the inside, it was like eating fudge. I think we could have handled two more people to help us eat it though.

If you find yourself in the Lexington, KY area, the Windy Corner is one of my top picks for casual dining. Definitely plan to go and I’ll meet you there!

Between summer, blueberry season and a delicious meal from local farms it couldn’t have been a more perfect weekend. This is one promise that is going to be pretty easy to keep.

Reed Valley Orchard
239 Lail Lane
Paris, KY 40361-8804
(859) 987-6480

Windy Corner Market
4595 Bryan Station Road
Lexington, KY 40516
(859) 294-9338

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  • Danielle June 20, 2011 at 1:28 pm

    I love reading about places I’ve been and saying, “I’ve been there!” We went to Reed’s last year for their blueberry festival and we had such a good time, despite the 90 degree, humid weather.

    And Windy Corner is one of our favorite hidden gems. My husband got the same sandwich you did and thought it was good but thought there were too many competing flavors going on. You MUST try their grain salad the next time you go! It is, hands down, the best! Their cakes are really good too and such a steal at $3.25 a slice. I highly recommend the white chocolate raspberry (I think that’s what it was). Yum, now my mouth is watering!!

  • Anna June 20, 2011 at 2:59 pm

    I immediately fell in love with blueberries as soon as I tried them. I really don’t know why we don’t have them growing in Brazil.
    I’m dying to go to a farm to pick some juicy summer fruits.
    That look like was a fun day for you…with some yummy food involved. Have a great week Lori. 🙂

  • Joanne June 21, 2011 at 5:24 am

    I love your resolution to take advantage of more local food! I’m kind of ashamed that I’ve never been apple picking even though I live in THE BIG APPLE. Lame.

    Oh my lord that brownie looks INSANELY good.

  • Peggy June 21, 2011 at 6:54 am

    Sounds like a great weekend trip to me! We’ve just had errand after errand to run these past couple of weekends that it’s all just been a blur! Hopefully we can make it out to one of our local farms and make a day of it like you all did!

  • Juliana June 21, 2011 at 2:58 pm

    Wow Lori, how fun being able to pick blueberries and having a great lunch…thank you so much for sharing the pictures. Look forward to see what you are going to make with all the blueberries 🙂
    Hope you are having a great week!

  • Olga @ MangoTomato June 21, 2011 at 7:12 pm

    I went blueberry picking last year and had such a great time. Some of the photos are so similar 🙂 Gorgeous.

    And there is nothing but WOW to say about the brownie.

  • gastroanthropologist June 22, 2011 at 3:24 pm

    Lovely pictures and that sandwich – I want one now!
    I’m going berry picking in mid-July in Pescadero…can’t wait. And my parents backyard is covered with blackberry bushes…though we’ll have to wait till August for those.
    I love berries fresh too, and overeat till I get a stomache…
    My husband and I have been planning a USA roadtrip for over two years now…I’m going to have to make sure we cover Kentucky in the summertime.

  • Viv June 23, 2011 at 12:22 am

    fruit picking has been on my list of to-do’s this yr! i i went strawberry picking months ago but when i got there, they were over-picked the day before ><
    looking at your basket of blueberries makes me extremely jealous 🙂 i know what you mean – i love eating berries fresh so much that it’d be hard to freeze them!

  • kat June 23, 2011 at 6:32 am

    Oh fried pickles are the best! We pig out on them at the State Fair every year. I see all those blueberries & can only think of homemade jam

  • OysterCulture June 25, 2011 at 6:37 am

    Wow, first the blue berries and then that incredible fried pickle topped sandwich. My virtual taste buds were overwhelmed.

    I love special farms/restaurants like this. They are really inspiring.

    You’ve made me think of all the things I want to make with blueberries.

    On a separate note, I just moderated a panel on doing business in Brazil and could have used you or your husband. I ended up with some great speakers but every one said, now if you were only in Miami it would be easy.

  • Mindy June 26, 2011 at 11:55 am

    I’ve been trying to get to Windy Corner since it opened, but with two little ones, it’s sometimes difficult on the weekends. I’ll have to try to get over there when we get back to the States, though! And I definitely need to check out that orchard in Paris!

  • Fresh Local and Best June 26, 2011 at 9:01 pm

    Oh my! What a wonderful day this must have been! It’s been a long while since I went berry picking, but I think it is a must summer event. I’m so jealous of all of the blueberries you picked. If it were me, I would just eat them fresh. I could eat myself sick of blueberries and do it all over again the next day!

  • Lori June 28, 2011 at 4:17 am

    Danielle – It’s a great place!
    Anna – I missed them so much when we were in Brazil. I did hear they had started to grow them in the south of the country, but never saw any fresh.
    Joanne – It’s easy to pass by those experiences for sure.
    Peggy – It’s definitely worth the time!
    Juliana – Thanks, it was a great day.
    Olga – Yeah the brownie was pretty darn amazing! 🙂

    Gastroanthro – Actually I’d highly suggest you squeeze us in in October. 🙂 Horses are racing, distilleries are gorgeous with the fall foliage and the temps are much less cooler and less humid!

    Vivienne – Bummer. It’s difficult to time it right at some orchards. Fortunately because it rained right before we got there, there were lots left.
    kat – I considered jam, but I just couldn’t part with the fresh ones. 🙂 Love fried pickles too!
    OysterCulture – We would have loved to help. 🙂 Sounds like it went well though despite the geographic location!
    Mindy – It’s definitely one of our favorite orchards in the area. They have a huge variety.
    FLB – I’m about there. Ha, ha! With a little one you have all kinds of excuses to take him berry picking in a few years. 🙂

  • Marianne (frenchfriestoflaxseeds) July 1, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    Fried pickles on a sandwich sounds spectacular, especially with bbq sauce. Yum!

    And I’m much like you – rarely do I get out to do any berry picking, even though there are so many places to do so around me. This year I think I will make an effort to get some of the wild blackberries for my freeezer.

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