All about Lexington...

[msudogsrule]

Hopefully this answers most of what you need to know, from a Bulldog who has been here a decade. I know I am leaving places out (for those of you who live here), but I think this covers most of what you guys want to know.

Bars (I don't usually recommend anything near/on campus... it is like asses-to-elbows in those):
• Anything around Cheapside Park (Central Bank Pavilion) downtown. A lot of them.
• Shamrocks off Richmond (short drive from downtown, best sports bar IMO). Some of the best pub food and cheap beer.
• Charlie Brown's off Euclid. Good food, cheap beer.
• The Beer Trappe also off Euclid. Lots of micro-brews available here. Small bar, but one of the best selections. Very knowledgable staff. There is no food at this one.
• West Sixth, Blue Stallion and Country Boy are local micro-brews. Their bars have the best beer, but little food. WS and BS have TV's, I don't think CB does.

Food:
• A lot of good places off of Cheapside Park again. I really like The Village Idiot, but there are so many good places to eat there.
• Malone's off Tates Creek is a great steakhouse.
• A handful of nice eateries are on Euclid in the Chevy Chase area. I like Puccini's for pizza.
• Richmond Road, Nicholasville Road and Hamburg have all of your chain places.
• Marrika's on Southland has great German food and a really good bar with a huge selection next door.
• If you have kids, they will love Gatti-Town. You will probably hate it. It is like a gigantic Chuck-E-Cheese, and has its own movie theater.

Things to do:
• Keeneland. Try to make time for it if you are in town, since this is the last weekend of the Fall Meet.
• Kentucky Horse Park. About 15 minutes north of town, but if you like horses it is not to be missed.
• Outlet Mall. We have a big regular mall, which has some renovations being done, but there is an outlet mall about halfway between Lexington and Louisville. About a 30-45 minute drive.
• Bourbon Trail. There are a lot of distilleries within a quick driving trip from Lexington. They offer cool tours and samples on every day but Sunday.
• Arboretum. The Arboretum is next to the football stadium, but it is free and pretty big. Lots of nice trees and foliage to see.

 

[Xenomorph]

Nice post. Thanks!

We may brave the asses-to-elbows for drinks and watching Bama and Auburn Saturday night. Looks like that section of S. Limestone is an easy walk from downtown.

 

[msudogsrule]

It is. Cheapside Park IS downtown, however, and caters more to the older crowd (>25 years old).

 

[jakldawg]

For the microbrews: no love for Lexington Brewing

Alltech/Kentucky Ale; whatever they're technically called?
If you like barrel-aged stuff, they're worth a look. I had some of their barrel-aged pumpkin ale last week. I was expecting to not like it, but it was good. Of course, if you think pumpkin beers are incredibly overdone (which they are) and aren't into the whole barrel-aged beer thing, then it's basically a glass full of trendy nonsense. I also like their stout, but you're not going to chug few while you tailgate (without a nap).

 

[msudogsrule]

They don't have a bar like the other three. Only reason I didn't include them.

 

[vhdawg]

Bars (I don't usually recommend anything near/on campus... it is like asses-to-elbows in those):
• Shamrocks off Richmond (short drive from downtown, best sports bar IMO). Some of the best pub food and cheap beer.
• Charlie Brown's off Euclid. Good food, cheap beer.

Seconded. Get the fried cheese bites at Charlie Brown's. Also note that it was a favorite hangout of the legendary Lexington native Jim Varney, thus the Ernest poster on one wall.