Vacation at Village Anchor in Louisville

I felt like I was on vacation - sipping wine on a patio of The Village Anchor in Anchorage, Kentucky. The restaurant had such a calm, relaxed ambiance with wonderful service. The distinctive menu ranges from bologna sandwiches to gourmet sea bass and deviled eggs. It's unique comfort food for the southerner in all of us.

We had heard of the specialty drink there, which consisted of pomegranate juice and grapefruit liquor and a sprig of mint among a few other ingredients. So we got one for the table. I?m not a huge grapefruit fan, so I didn?t care for it too much. Others said it was refreshing and they enjoyed it on that hot summer night. We also had a bottle of the Benton Lane Pinot Grigio from Oregon. I loved this wine. It was perfect, cold, crisp, slightly fruity and light. It was perfect for the warm night.

For our appetizers we ordered the deviled eggs, brushetta, and two cobb rollers. Ok, so the deviled eggs were amazing! They had candied anchor bacon one with a dot of hot sauce. Another had sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese which was my least favorite. And the wild Portobello mushroom with truffle oil was luxurious. The brushetta was good ? grilled crostini, goat cheese, tomatoes marinated in olive oil, roasted garlic and fresh basil. I did love how the tomatoes were finely chopped and how it was drizzled with balsamic reduction. It was good, but it was very familiar to me. The cobb rollers stole the show! They were literally fall-off-the-bone grilled applewood smoked pork marinated in brown sugar bourbon and served with bourbon barbecue dipping sauce. It was so delicious. The barbeque sauce was perfectly sweet and tangy. It was like heavenly meat melting in my mouth! I could?ve ordered three of these as my entree and had been fine. By this point, I was quite pleased with how this meal was going!

The potato and Stilton blue cheese soup was rich, elegant and comforting. It would be perfect for a cold January evening, but in the hot weather we still managed to clean the large bowl of it. The bits of bacon and the homemade sourdough crutons gave the soup nice texture. The fried goat cheese salad was full of flavor. The spring mix lettuce was drizzled with a pear champagne vinaigrette, candied walnuts, dried cranberries and fried Capriole Farmstead goat cheese. The B,L.T, & A was also very good. It had candied, thick-cut, peppered Anchor bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado, and chipotle mayonnaise served on sourdough bread. The avocado and chipotle mayo made the sandwich! Also served with this were the sweet potato fries served with a marshmallow fluff with cinnamon on the side. It tasted like candy. Those might have been the best sweet potato fries ever! The cast iron scallops were seared in a vanilla butter and served with grilled asparagus and cherry tomatoes. These were exceptionally tasty with the Benton Lane Pinot Grigio. The Myra?s Fried Chicken was actually the owner?s mother?s recipe ? free range chicken breast and drum stick served with the house-made mashed potatoes and gravy. This dish was good, but I wouldn?t order it again. I think there are better things on the menu than this entrée. We then ordered a bottle of the Elk Cove Pinot Noir, which was complex. It had a very peppery flavor to it; it grew on me. It was a perfect wine to end the meal on. We also had to have dessert. The carrot cake was inimitable! It was double-stacked carrot cake with layered slices of cheesecake. The cream cheese frosting was sweet and mouth watering. The frosting was my favorite part! The banana pudding was unlike anything I?ve ever seen. It came out with a huge meringue on top of it. It was like peeling away cotton candy to get to the banana pudding treasure at the bottom. The warm meringue topping was sticky and sweet and the banana pudding at the bottom had a subtle hint of rum. We sure cleaned that serving dish off quickly!

They have a huge beer and wine list. My fiancé tried several beers he hadn?t had there. He loved it! The Village Anchor is a new restaurant that has amazing food, wonderful friendly service, and comforting ambiance. It is one of the best restaurants I?ve been to in a long time! Definitely worth a trip to Louisville!