Hot Brown Sandwiches on the Roadhouse Lunch Menu
Terrific taste of Kentucky that’s soon celebrating 100 years!
Looking for a lovely lunch this week? Want a terrific taste of American culinary history? The Roadhouse kitchen crew might have just the ticket: the Kentucky Hot Brown, a classic recipe from Louisville’s legendary Brown Hotel, is on the midday menu this month!
This sandwich also makes me think of synchronicities and coincidences. In line with the work of Erik Pevernagie, American writer and life coach Anthony Lombardo defines the two terms like this:
Synchronicities and coincidences are the magic within the mundane. They are sprinkled generously throughout your day, but if you’re not paying attention, you’ll surely miss them.
When we both pay attention and take advantage of them, coincidences can help build momentum. To wit, it turns out that I actually stayed at the Brown Hotel 20 years ago this past summer, when I attended the American Cheese Society conference! And better still, the ACS’s 2026 conference will, by coincidence, be back in Louisville. I’ll be there and will almost certainly swing back by the Brown to taste another Hot Brown at its original best.
Speaking of coincidence, 2026, which is now less than a month away, will mark the 100th anniversary of the creation of this sandwich. As someone whose roots are in being a line cook, I have to laugh a little at the origin story. Back in the 1920s, the Brown Hotel was apparently quite the hot spot for late-night dancing. Late-night partiers, as partiers are wont to do, would head to the bar to get something to eat well after the dinner hour. By far the most oft-ordered item was ham and eggs, something to “start” the new day that was already arriving. The chef, Fred Schmidt, growing increasingly tired of making the same, unglamorous dish all the time, decided to develop a new one! The Hot Brown is what he came up with. Sliced turkey on toasted white bread, topped with a couple strips of bacon and a creamy Mornay sauce—one of the three classic sauces, a list that also includes Hollandaise and Bernaise. Today, 99 years later, the Hotel serves something like 80,000 of them a year!
At the Roadhouse, all of the ingredients, per what I wrote about in the “A Taste of Zingerman’s Food Philosophy” pamphlet, are great to begin with. The bread is the outstanding Bakehouse White. The turkey is from Amish farmers down in Indiana, roasted right here in the Roadhouse kitchen. The bacon was cured in-house by head chef Bob Bennett. The Swiss cheese in the Mornay is what I think is the best Baby Swiss in the U.S. It’s from Chalet Cheese in Monroe, Wisconsin, the oldest cheese co-op in that very dairy-centric state! The gentle savoriness of the turkey, the smokiness of the bacon, the creaminess of the cheese, and the delicious bread all come together to make a pretty marvelous meal! The whole thing comes out piping hot, bubbly, and lightly browned—open-faced and ready to eat. Full-flavored cold-weather eating with a whole lot of history behind it!
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