Hot Brown Sandwich - Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky

I was fortunate enough to have a Hot Brown Sandwich recently at birthplace, the Brown Hotel a beautiful old hotel, in Louisville.

DELICIOUS!

From Savuer Magazine Jan/Feb 2005

In Louisville, Kentucky, back in 1923, the Brown Hotel was where everything was happening-except the food. By 1926, chef Fred K Schmidt had grown bored with cooking pedestrian fare and he invented a sandwich for midnight munching: open-faced turkey slathered with cream sauce and burnished under the broiler, garnished with tomatoes, and wearing two strips of crisp bacon crossed on top. The Hot Brown was a late-night hit, and the lunch crowd loved it too. ...but the definitive recipe, still used today at the Brown Hotel, is said to come straight from Schmidt, an employee until 1936.

But if you ask me, the best hot brown can be found at the ultra-delightful Lynn's Paradise Cafe in Louisville.

I've eaten Hot Browns all over Kentucky--virtually every restaurant in the state has them on the menu--and I've never had a bad one. It seems to be foolproof. How bad can anything be that is topped with cheese sauce and bacon?

An old hot brown thread is here