Derby Days

For as long as I can remember, I have viewed The Kentucky Derby as an almost mythical experience. My family went to the racetrack in New Orleans to have lunch in the clubhouse as an annual family outing. One particular year I remember picking the winner 8 out of 10 races.  If a horse was pretty to me, or I liked the name, or the way he cocked his head, that was it. Very scientific.

I have watched the Kentucky Derby most years of my life on television, saying to myself…one day.This year, that day arrived. 

Immediately after the 150th Run For The Roses last year, I got onto the website for The Brown Hotel just to see if there were any rooms available. Strangely, there was one room for one night: May 2nd. It was only $268 so if I forgot about it that wouldn’t be a crisis. It seemed a fluke and indeed it was, but I didn't expect to use it.

It was a complete shock when Tom died abruptly, and I don’t know what triggered the memory that I had the room. But I had a room! I had a room booked at The Brown Hotel… Derby Central! After I let that sink in, I called my DC sister, whose wanderlust may now exceed mine. She was in immediately. We called the other two sisters, who were a much harder sell. The sisters started traveling together in 2013, when the DC sister’s daughters included us in the 55th birthday party for her in Albuquerque  for the annual balloon festival. A bucket list item for her. That was followed by the 2014 Eat Club European cruise, and a 2022 weekend at The Breakers. No more travel for me after that except to see the kids. 

It behooved me to make this happen. After a little coaxing, the other two sisters were in. I called the hotel about adding two more nights because Derby weekend is a three-night minimum package. The other two nights would be $1,748 apiece.The package included shuttle service to and from the airport and a brunch the Sunday following the Derby.

The confirmation email suggested two vendors for purchasing tickets to The Derby. It is possible to buy them directly, but we went with their suggestion. The following day I received a call from an agent at Derby Experiences. Activities surrounding the event are widely varied. The Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks the previous day are the basic duo, but there are tours of distilleries, a grazing event called The Taste of Derby, and a party at Mrs. Brown’s (yes, the Kentucky Browns,) presumably to gawk at celebrities.

We just wanted the Derby, but the Oaks was attached to it, and that was fine. We didn’t want to do the Bourbon tour mainly due to a lack of time. But the grazing event seemed appealing, even at $425 pp. Our Derby Experiences package was $1,604 pp, including the Kentucky Derby and Oaks, and the Taste of Derby.

What I didn’t know until arriving in Louisville was that the events leading up to the Derby run an entire week, with the pre-Derby culminating on Thursday, which is called Thurby. Festivities for the big day are well underway on Thutby.

At the airport in Baltimore as our connecting flight boarded, women showing up to board were wearing their fascinators, with husbands managing boxes of spectacular hats. When we arrived in Louisville we were greeted by a young lady offering us Bourbon Balls. Lining all the concourses were gigantic pots containing dozens of red roses. This theme continued at the hotel with the same large pots and  vases of roses in each window. 

Doormen and valets had carts with stacked boxes for only hats. On the ground floor of the hotel Madame Foo Foo operates a hat boutique outside the gift shop. It started out as a Derby thing but is now year-round. These gorgeous works of art are featured in a Garden & Gun profile worth a read. https://gardenandgun.com/articles/what-makes-a-great-kentucky-derby-hat/. A portion of her sales goes to rescuing horses.

After perusing her wares, we made our way to J. Graham’s Cafe for the famous Hot Brown in its place of origin. I loved the look of this place. It was old but so interesting! There were two sizes of Hot Brown. We got the large version to split. Often things that are iconic can be disappointing. This was not. It came in a ceramic skillet that it filled to capacity.

At the base was some white bread, hardly a promising start. This was topped with a large and too-thick hunk of tender roast turkey. On top of the turkey was a thick blanket of Mornay Sauce that was toasted and bubbling. It was finished with some Pecorino Romano cheese and some scallions. Two slices of crisp bacon were crossed  at the very top. 

This was superb. The turkey seemed too thick at first but was tender enough to pull apart, and who among us doesn’t think Mornay Sauce is divine? A creamy cheese sauce ipso facto improves the lot of everything. Add to this crisp bacon, and could anything be amiss?

After savoring this Hot Brown and the festive atmosphere here, we made our way to the hotel lobby. On the second floor of The Brown Hotel, it was hopping! 

A wonderful piano player was at the ivories, with a basket of warm chocolate chip cookies on the other end of the grand piano. Waiters with complimentary mimosas and champagne milled about. In the far corner a cheese bar was being set up by Rind and Roses, and Pappy & Co. had samples of their Bourbon Balls and Maple Syrup (flavored by the elusive & prized Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon Whiskey.) My sister was delighted to see Bourbon Balls. She had already decided in the airport that she liked them rather well.

The other two sisters had driven from Nashville, and they didn’t arrive until all this fun was concluding. On the plus side, the cheese bar was just opening, and we got to sample a few cheeses, including one with fenugreek.

We went upstairs to get ready for the Taste of  Derby. It was a lovely day with considerable breezes. The venue was about six blocks away. We decided to walk.

A few blocks away the downtown area gets to be a happening place. We had to detour when we got there because a block party was getting underway. I was impressed by this first glimpse of Louisville, how clean and free it was of the usual unpleasantness so rampant in American cities circa 2025.

We arrived at the Convention Center to see a red carpet and a set-up very familiar to me, since I have been through many such events in my time with Tom. Guy Fieri was at the first stop posing for pictures with guests. It was odd to see the host of a show called “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” by the foie gras and cold-smoked salmon. On the other side of this section was ceviche..We could have had our fill of these, since no one else seemed interested.

There were about ten of these stations, with lines at the back for more familiar things like short ribs and meatballs. The last two “regular things” were by far the most popular menu items there, but there were some in-between dishes as well. When it became clear that I had to actively find something to eat, I did just that. 

There was Burgoo, the Kentucky version of our gumbo. The chef was happy to see me take a few portions off his hands, but especially since I knew what it was. I was not expecting to like Burgoo, but it was very good. Besides beef and pork, as well as sausage, it had the trinity, and bits of corn and lima beans. I’m sure this chef version served over pimento cheese grits was an exemplary example of the humble local dish, but it worked for me. And the chef.

I also went to have the Vindaloo Frito Pie. Since I have never been a Frito fan, the only place I have ever eaten this corn snack is at grazing events. The last time was with chili and cheese at The Taste of L.A. years ago. In each case they ladled the stew right into a bag of Fritos. Clever but a challenge to eat. I do really like Vindaloo, so I was glad to be able to patronize this empty station. 

Another one I made myself eat a bit because I felt sorry for the chefs manning the station was the Tea Braised Chicken with a mango/mustard sauce. There wasn’t much to this dish, so I only got one or two of these. The tea braising is something I never really notice, but the mustard and mango sauce was weird. 

There was another poultry station featuring duck breast as a unique twist on British pie, which excited me when I saw "duck confit," but I passed on closer inspection to see duck breast.

There was a long line for the meatballs because who doesn’t love meatballs? This line might also have been for Dylan Dreyer, who was there to have her picture taken with the Today Show cookbook. I had to be told who this was, but I knew she was someone because people wanted to be photographed with her. The meatballs were a nice size, a nice texture, and the sauce had that soul-satisfying marinara flavor. It was dusted with Parmesan cheese.

The short ribs were served over sweet potato puree, but what was interesting about this dish was all the “:extras.” The chef was from L.A. and he was meticulous about adding finishing touches to this dish, whose flavors all by themselves are plenty enough. With  tweezers he dropped a few grains of what seemed like raw rice on top, and there was a slice of hard boiled egg, some chopped greens and other things like cutouts of carrot and potato that were completely superfluous. This would have been better over mashed potatoes, period. To me, at least.

The desert table had Derby Pie, which sounds good but isn’t really. It’s like a chocolate chip cookie in a pie shell. There were decent shortbread cookies, and Bourbon Ball ice cream. This was vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips, and of course, Bourbon. The ice cream offset the Bourbon and this went down too easily.

This event would have had more value to us had we availed ourselves of the Mint Juleps, which flowed along with plenty of Woodford Reserve. We walked back to the hotel to get ready for Churchill Downs the following day, and downtown Louisville was partying! 

The next day was a little gloomy, but it was also sometimes sunny. We arrived at Churchill Downs by shuttle bus from the Expo Center, and we drove there from the hotel. I had to pinch myself as we lined up for a photo at the Paddock Gate. It was a feast for the eyes. The fascinators, the hats, the dresses, the suits, the festive electricity in the air! 

We were told that there would be stadium seating and stadium food. But our stadium seating was what seemed like a mile from our stadium food, so we ate first. There were tents for Herradura and Woodford reserve, and Old Forester, and a big Derby superstore whose signature bags ran out the afternoon of the Oaks, so this was a buying crowd.

The food was a big disappointment, though I was told it was stadium food. I just don't hang out in many stadiums. A very long row of about 15-20 booths serving fried food of every imaginable variety. We started on the left with delicious roasted nuts in a cone. This booth was shared with the most popular item(s): the chocolate strawberries on a stick or a frozen cheesecake on a stick.

It went downhill from there: fried cauliflower, fried jalapeño poppers, fried green tomato BLT, meatball sliders, 

cheeseburgers, mac’n’cheese covered with either pulled pork or brisket, and topped with fried onion rings. The hot dog was decent, and served with housecut chips! Huh? 

There were mediocre chicken or beef empanadas, an Asian dish of chicken and noodles, and Italian sausage and peppers.

We walked to our seats, passing another round of this same food on the way. There were snack stops like popcorn and wrapped sandwiches and chips, in case we got hungry on the long walk?

The alcohol menu included the “Lily” in a signature Derby glass featuring vodka and cranberry juice with some TripleSec and Sweet and Sour mix. The “Spire,” which was served in a signature copper cup embossed with Woodford Reserve on one side and Kentucky Derby on the other. This one was Bourbon, cranberry juice, and lemonade. And of course the Mint Julep in a signature glass.

Our seats were so far away from the finish line any horse that passed us had a rider who was already standing but we were still inside Churchill Downs! The big screens were fine. Our section of the grandstand offered pretty good chicken nuggets with fries, and pizza, as well as more of the berries on a stick. And endless alcohol.

For a brief moment one of my sisters wondered if the menu on Derby day would be different. It seemed unlike;y, and it was…not different. Another full day of ordinary stadium food. And cigars that were everywhere. Women were smoking cigars. Men were sometimes smoking two cigars at once. I have never seen anything like it. But for all its negatives, it was a terrific time, and I’ll never forget it.

The last day of the weekend was a brunch at the Brown Hotel as part of the package we bought for the Derby. It was one of those hotel ballroom spreads which are not by definition awful.  I had high hopes for this one because each day in J. Graham’s Cafe they had a breakfast buffet which was very appealing. Knowing that I would be eating all day dissuaded me from getting this buffet. I reminded myself that the one to conclude our stay would have all this and more.

It did, and maybe I should have just stuck with the omelet station and salads. The hot entrees were uninteresting, with one exception. It had burgoo at the end of the line. While the first taste of burgoo was a gourmet version, this was more the regular fare. It reminded me of minestrone soup. The Campbell’s version, which I think might be better. 

In this entire three-day adventure, only the Hot Brown and the burgoo at The Taste of Derby were worth eating, as well as the cheesecake on a stick at the Derby itself. But I wouldn’t expect sensational food  for our priced tickets anyway. The Kentucky Derby is usually referred to as The Kentucky Derby “Experience,” and it is indeed that. Worthy of a spot on the Bucket List, and even worthy of the effort and expense to check it off.