Pat’s Place

Bardstown is a beautiful village surrounded by distilleries. Because it is on the bourbon trail, it attracts a fair number of travelers, and it has several tourist-attraction restaurants. You will find some out-of-towners at Pat’s Place, but the clientele is mostly local and the ambience is unspoiled small-town.

Located in what used to be a department store, it is a spacious room where regulars come for breakfast and lunch every day and dinner Thursday through Saturday.

Hamburgers are the specialty. Craggy, hand-pattied lovelies, they are fairly thin but juicy, with agreeable crusty edges. All sorts of configurations are available, including a bourbon burger that comes glazed with sweet, aromatic sauce. It’s not intoxicating, but it’s a reminder of exactly where you are. And it tastes good!

If bean soup is listed on the specials board, get some! It is a silky Mid-South brew with deep pork savor, served the country way — capped with a hoe cake just right for dipping into the bowl.

If banana cream cake is on the dessert menu, think twice about having a slice. Those who like licking raw cake batter off the beaters might enjoy its extreme moistness and dense texture, but to me it is overwhelming. With its nuts and thick icing, it is reminiscent of Italian cream cake but more sweet than svelte.

When I stopped in for lunch, I couldn’t believe how omnipresent my waitress was — at my table and at all the others all the time. Then I realized she was actually two people — identical twins.