Shady Rest - Owensboro, KY

We almost didn’t go to Owensboro. We were already in Paducah, KY—so it would have been a hell of a lot easier and more convenient just to head over to Carbondale, IL and dine at the (17th St Bar and Grill). Then head north straight up I-57 back into Chicago. Surely we would have had a fine BBQ meal in the hands of the Legend, Mike Mills. But, for whatever reason, we turned the car around and backtracked 150 miles just in time to have supper at the Shady Rest in Owensboro.

“Y’all back on another one of those road trips?” We were greeted like strange old friends—curious Yanks with good taste in BBQ. I’m always surprised that they remember us, figuring it’s usually years between visits. This is the type of place that the locals go to and is the least touristy out of all the already not so touristy Owensboro BBQ joints (except, of course, Moonlite BBQ).



When we arrived it was dark so we didn’t notice the For Sale signs plastered all over the building. So we dined happily. Comfortable in our ignorance we ate expertly smoked ribs and pork shoulder. Accompanied by mashed potatoes, mac-n-cheese, gray green beans, coleslaw, and burgoo—the smoked meats were as we had remembered them, except better.

Better, I think because, since our last visit, we have become better home BBQ’ers, eaten in such hallowed halls as Black’s, Central Market in Luling, Smitty’s, as well as Carolina institutions like Allen & Son. And so with all that new experience in tow, you hope that your memories of greatness hold up, but it is easy to be skeptical. So when I took my first bite, I knew that I had nothing to worry about. We had never had the “sliced pork” before, usually opting for the spare ribs. Smoked Boston Butts are pulled into baseball sized hunks and drizzled with their pork dip. In my estimation this is how pork shoulder should be served up. The Pork Dip gets is name from the fact that this vinegar based dip receives a large amount of its flavor from pork drippings. The other glass bottles on the table contain ancient pieces of masking tape with faded print, “mutton” and “hot.” I’m still not sure what kind of animal drippings get mixed into the “hot,” but I suspect it’s a little but of everything. All the dips come to your table warm and in varying shades of glistening murk. If Crayola made a crayon the color of this dip, it would be called “Spiced Grease.” (Not unlike the dregs of LSC’s MaPo Tofu).

Knowing we’d be back in the morning for breakfast, we didn’t hurt ourselves eating, but surely had one of the most satisfying meals in a long while.

::



The breakfast setup is buffet style. Homemade biscuits and gravy, meaty bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, country ham, Johnny cakes with maple syrup, grits, muffins, etc. are all present. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s damn good.







On the way out we took the opportunity to talk to the co-owner Frank Cecil about the For Sale signs. Turns out, he’s just ready to retire. Simple’s that. While he was sawing through a rack of spare ribs for us, we asked him if he thought he’d still be here in the summer. And while no one knows for sure, he thought there’d be a pretty good chance.

The Saturday before the Fourth of July is Frank’s annual BBQ Church Picnic. It’s apparently quite the event in Owensboro—it’s when all of the BBQ mavens come out to show off. Frank loved the idea of a bunch of Chicago food whores coming down to check it out. Piggy and I are definitely going to try and make it down there for this, and we hope you’ll join us.

Thanks for the report and pics ( ). I am SO anxious follow in your footsteps.

And it's only 80 miles between the Shady Rest and Newsom's Country Ham!

ohhhhh, that's SO nice. I didn't know about Shady Rest back in The Olde Dayes when I'd run off with the Blonde Professor from Bowling Green, and was monthly commuting twixt there and KC via Owensboro. What I did was stop at Moonlite on the way out, to take a platter of mutton to friends in St. Louis and KC; and then on the way back grab a mixed platter to take to the kids in BG who, being teenagers and all, didn't want to eat any Mary's Little Lamb. But Moonlite's Owensboro Mutton was famous, as was its black table sauce. (and yeah, it was touristy, but not THAT touristy; except on Sunday afternoon, when all those folks from Indiana would come down) Did you taste any of the mutton at Shady Rest? what was it like? how about the table sauce? Moonlite's mutton, if memory serves, was pretty much sliced shoulder. I don't remember any pulled. But maybe they had some on the buffet.

Sad news about Shady Rest closing. I don't suppose there'll be any takers for the place? So many places like that--the olde folks retire, and the kids want to work in a damn office. Think Uglesic's... etc.

Great pictures. Makes you want to weep, losing a place like that. Tnx for the story.

Geo

Hi Geo,



This is a picture of yesterday's Mutton, and they serve it pulled into big chunks. It's pretty tasty. Goat-ish really.

The table sauces are really something. I think my favorite BBQ sauce lives in Owensboro. It's more like a vinegared au jus, than a sauce. You can buy it by the gallon there.

And yeah, it's sad to see 'er go, but she's not gone yet.

Get down there!

trixie-pea says "This is a picture of yesterday's Mutton, and they serve it pulled into big chunks. It's pretty tasty. Goat-ish really. "

Ohhhh boy, doesn't that look GREAT? "goat-ish", ummm that means *good* !!

I did some checking around a couple of yrs ago when I wanted to try my hand at a mutton shoulder in the ol' Black Diamond. Found several different recipes for Owensboro black dip; what they all had in common was: lots of Wooster sauce [as my dad's Canadian spelling would have it], lots of vinegar, and lots of black pepper. Seems to me that NPR once ran an Owensboro story + recipe. Maybe I'll look for it on google.

t-p then says "Get down there! " ohh you temptress! (Actually, I'll have to drive back to KC from Montreal in June; if I take I-64, it's not THAT far down across the river, is it? 'Spoze Shady Rest'll still be open in mid-June?? Hmmm)

Geo

Oh, trixie-pea, what a lovely tribute. Makes me want to drop everything and get on the road. At the very least, I intend to pass along the info to my family in Kansas City. Vicarious enjoyment is better than none at all.

Geo wrote:Ohhhh boy, doesn't that look GREAT? "goat-ish", ummm that means *good* !!

Get's my vote for the next LTHforum.com quote tagline.

Josephine wrote:Oh, trixie-pea, what a lovely tribute. Makes me want to drop everything and get on the road. At the very least, I intend to pass along the info to my family in Kansas City. Vicarious enjoyment is better than none at all.

Thanks Josephine. When you write about a place with as much character, history and warmth as the Shady Rest, it speaks for itself.

You mentioned having been in Paducah. Any places that you hit around there?

Thomas

Thomas,

I wasn't going to say anything--but since you asked...

We did eat at one BBQ joint in Paducah. Starne's BBQ, not to be confused with D. Starnes BBQ, seems to be held in high regard. I'm not really sure what the draw is though.

Flavorless chopped porkbeefchicken between two pieces of white toast. Stark, dry and downright miserly. Maybe I missed the point, but I couldn't even finish my little sandwich. It was cheap though. I guess that's something.

1008 Joe Clifton Dr
Paducah, KY

Found this today:

http://cgi.ebay.com/BBQ-Restaurant-Real ... dZViewItem

Any takers? The food is really good!

Suzy

sdritz wrote:Found this today:

http://cgi.ebay.com/BBQ-Restaurant-Real ... dZViewItem

Any takers? The food is really good!

Suzy

Wow. This is someone's dream come true, I'm sure.

In the RoadFood Forums today, someone indicated that the Shady Rest was purchased (via bid) on Tuesday, and that the new owner intends to turn it into a Mexican restaurant.

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16882

E.M.

That's a real shame -- we had two superb meals there in July with Trixie Pea and Pigmon. We started our weekend there with a late lunch on Friday and ended it with brunch on Sunday. I thought the pork ribs we ate there were the best of the weekend.



Suzy

Hi,

Reading that thread on RoadFood suggests that its glory days were long before you visited. If you really liked them, which I have no reason to believe you are mistaken. Can you just imagine what they must have been like earlier? Even better, I guess, which must have been something really special.

Glad you were able to make it and report back.

Regards,

We ate at Shady Rest in 1997 on the fateful trip to Mammoth Cave that ultimately led to our three year stint in Lousiville. I think we found it in "Cool Spots -- Kentucky." It was our first experience with Owensboro barbeque -- and, really, my first experience with "real" barbeque of any kind. As I recall it was pretty much perfect and played some, albeit minor, role in our decison to move south. I remember the meal almost as the opening scene in a movie. The photos above brought it all back to me. The lack of atmosphere. The panelling. The elderly folks at the only other occupied table. The Kentucky friendliness of the staff -- which we didn't quite trust at the time. The mutton (again -- my first). And the insecurity, aimlessness and growing desperation of the not very mature, unemployed, almost 30 year-old hipster that I was at the time. The next day we went onto Mammoth Cave (with its wax museum (Walt Disney, Lincoln, Einstein and Sammy Davis portayed in the same sitting room) and Gethsemane Miniature Golf (based on the passion of Our Lord -- really)), and then Sommerset (where we learned about dry counties) and then Louisville where I decided to apply for a job, which I ultimately took, because maybe people in Kentucky really were that friendly and maybe there really was good food there and maybe I could live in a city much smaller than Chicago and maybe it was finally time to get my sh.. together and do something with my life.

I never got back to Shady Rest. We came to like the food at Old Hickory better. It is probably just as well -- going back might have screwed up the memory. But it is sad that it and places like it are disappearing. Kentucky doesn't need another bad Mexican restauant. The world has enough chimichangas and wet burritos.

We also dined at Old Hickory, the first evening of our trip. We ordered pretty much the same thing we had for lunch at the Shady Rest, but I think everyone at the table agreed that our earlier meal was better. I would gladly go back to Owensboro for a meal at Old Hickory and also at Ole South, where we had brunch the next morning. I really felt, aside from the church barbeque where I had the best burgoo of the trip, that the food at the Shady Rest was outstanding.

By the way, for those of you at the LTH picnic, the burgoo was from the church picnic we attended in Owensboro. I was anxious to see how it fared after being frozen, but was unable to attend.

Suzy

Shady Rest is officially sold!!!! It has been bought by a Mexican and will be changing over to Mexican. I have been working there for 30+ years and could not watch this guy take it over and run it down.n [b]Thanks to ALL my Great Customers and all the WONDERFUL MEMORIES you have given me !!!!!!