Lynn's Paradise Café: quirky décor, artful cuisine - and toys!
Arguably Louisville's quirkiest restaurant, Lynn's Paradise Café has long been a favorite, best known for its huge breakfasts, eclectic lunch and dinner menus, retro décor and hideous lamps. Now Food Network has catapulted this offbeat restaurant into the national limelight.
All across America, foodies are learning what Louisvillians have long known: Lynn's provides huge portions; artful preparation with fresh, local ingredients; and a fun, kitschy atmosphere with old-fashioned toys and humorously ghastly lamps. (Some are the prize winners of the annual Ugly Lamp Contest that owner Lynn Winter began staging in 1999 at the Kentucky State Fair.)
Lynn's Paradise Café features hometown cooking with a twist, whether it's Lynn's signature Bourbon Ball French Toast with its tropical fruity sauce, Cajun-spiced fried catfish with a mustard shallot sauce, or the dressed Bleu Grass Burger, a half-pound patty of Kentucky grass-fed beef with Kentucky handmade gourmet, organic white cheddar and Gorgonzola.
But the free-wheeling atmosphere begins before you even get in the door. Outside of the restaurant, Lynn's provides quirky concrete statuary, a leafy arbor with seating in the warmer months and a fountain in the form of a giant coffee cup regularly filled by an accompanying giant coffeepot.
Once inside, diners discover a whitewashed tree that rises literally through the ceiling. The staff is as friendly and eclectic as you'd expect in a place that's at once both homey and surreal.
Lynn Winter bested Bobby Flay in a breakfast matchup on his Food Network show, Throwdown! with Bobby Flay. The Original Highlands neighborhood restaurant has also been featured on some other Food Network shows, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The New York Times, "The CBS Evening News," The Wall Street Journal, Esquire magazine and USA Today.
Lynn's Paradise Café accepts reservations for any size party at any time. Crowds at Lynn's are common — particularly for weekend breakfast — so reservations are suggested to avoid long waits for tables.
- by Ivonne Rovira, Louisville Reporter for HelloMetro
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Ivonne RoviraA graduate of the prestigious Columbia University School of Journalism in New York City, Ivonne Rovira worked as a reporter for the Miami News, The Miami Herald and The Associated Press. She has written articles for The National Catholic Reporter and The Courier-Journal. For more than 15 years, Ivonne wrote and edited articles aimed at middle-school children.
