When 
You probably know what I am talking about. It's that same bar menu that you see in pretty much every small town, corner, or chain bar you go to. The same fine sandwiches (one of them being a club, another being a chicken sandwich). The same five takes on burgers: sure, one might be called BBQ Bacon and the other "Cowboy", but they are basically the same thing.
Nachos, the same ten appetizers, fish and chips... You know what I mean right?
Thankfully, we were able to find a couple of places that were just different enough that they stood out for us. Parlour was one of those.
We actually happened upon Parlour purely by chance as we were walking back to our hotel from the riverfront area of Louisville one day. We saw their slogan "People, Pizza, Pints" and it immediately grabbed our attention.
We had been trying to figure out what we were going to do that evening for dinner. The NCAA Men's Final Four was taking place and while we thought it could be fun to sit at a bar and watch the game, we knew that could end up being quite expensive.
In addition to that, our hotel room was kind of nice as far as hotel rooms go, so we ultimately decided to grab an early dinner at Parlour, get enough food that we had some left overs for a snack later, then we stopped at a liquor store and grabbed a fifth of Captain Morgan and some Coke and Diet Coke, and watched the basketball games from the comfort of our hotel room.
It was actually a pretty awesome evening.
Parlour is actually a small local chain in the Louisville area from what I am seeing on their web page. The location we visited was separated into two sections. There was the front section which they quickly ushered us through and then this back section with a small stage and a bunch of different bar style games.
We weren't really sure why they didn't let us sit in the front, but we were the only occupied table in this back section. Perhaps we didn't look southern enough or they were trying to keep the front open for the crowds they knew would show up for the basketball games later that night. Who knows. Maybe we were just reading into it too much.
I don't have any pictures of the front, but trust me when I say this back area is quite the contrast in decor to the front. Where the back has pallets on the wall the front was quite trendy and modern with fireplaces and what appeared to be cozy booths.
The one good thing about being thrown back here alone was the fact that service didn't seem to be an issue. There were two or three wait staff who promptly attended to us.
As I said before, we planned on getting enough food so we could have a snack later. You are going to think
As you saw in the opening photo and again here, I started my dinner out with some wings. Paired with a pint of Yuengling lager, it was a delicious combination. These wings were smoked and while they didn't quite have the crisp I was hoping for due to being smoke and not deep fried, the sriracha bourbon sauce the put on them was "on point". In fact as the kids these days would say, they were "bussin".
The sauce was the perfect combination of sweet and heat. It was a happy hum that had my lips tingling for a good half hour after I finished the wings. That's the kind of heat I like. Burns a little and then lingers, but isn't absolutely painful going down.
We also got an order of cheesy bread that ended up being larger than the pizza we also ordered. We ate maybe four to six pieces between the two of us and then took the rest back in a to-go container.
We also got an 8" Hawaiian pizza that we both maybe ate one piece of before we took the rest back to our hotel with us. It was quite good and the pineapple wasn't super overpowering like it can sometimes be on a Hawaiian pizza.
When I met my wife she wasn't a fan of ham or any kind of pork at all. It's funny how her tastes have changed over the years. The pizza had the perfect amount of toppings and the dough was cooked well while still being light and flaky.
We busted the left overs out around 10:30 that night while we were watching the second of the two Final Four games in our room. As I said, even then we still had leftovers that lasted us until we left the city two days later.
I think Sunday morning we even had left over pizza for breakfast before we headed down to Laretto for the Maker's Mark distillery tour.
To be fair, I am sure there are a lot of places in Louisville that are great spots to eat. The fact is, many places were closed while we were down there, and a fair number of other ones seemed a bit too fancy for us.
Maybe we never will.
The good news is, there are tons of places like Parlour that we are still able to explore and enjoy. We just might have to sit in the back part of the bar to do it! :)
If you ever get to Louisville and you are looking for a place to get some decent wings, or a great pie, I definitely recommend checking out Parlour.
All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or
