Mark’s Feed Store
1514 Bardstown Road
Louisville, KY 40205
The last leg of our BBQ tour was a stretch from Nashville to Chicago. We rolled into Louisville a little before lunchtime, and we were looking for something to tide us over before we hit Indiana. We had read good reviews about Mark’s Feed Store, and being unfamiliar with Kentucky, we decided to give it a try. The building that houses the restaurant did indeed formerly house a feed store, and is quite an interesting structure, with exposed rafters and a hand-painted sign on he weathered brick exterior.
Turns out Mark’s is a mini-chain in the Kentucky area. Mark’s slightly glossy and carefully appointed interior (think Fridays, but with BBQ) was a bit of a change of pace for us, and we were a little disappointed when we found out that they did not in fact smoke the meat in house. We decided to give the place a chance however, since we were facing 200 miles of nothing but fast food chains ahead. The confluence of motorcycles parked in the lot, gave us an additional glimmer of hope.
The BBQ was Kentucky style, with a vinegar and tomato based sauce. The main protein in Kentucky BBQ pork, so we both ordered pulled pork sandwiches ($6.99) which came with a side of fries. The pork was tender, but a little dry. Fortunately the table was well stocked with sauce bottles, which we slathered onto our sandwiches (that’s where the roll of paper towels at the table also came in handy). In addition to the basic “red” tomato and vinegar-based BBQ sauce, there was also a spicy variety, and a half-mustard and half-tomato sauce. After Sweatman’s we weren’t impressed by the mustard sauce, but M, being a fan of hot foods enjoyed the spicy variety.
Though in the end, this probably isn’t the most authentic place to get some que, we enjoyed our meal at Mark’s Feed Store. It would probably be a very good place to take guests or people who are not up for some of the more rustic joints we visited along the way. As we took our extra-big gulp of sweet tea on the road we bid our BBQ tour farewell. It was a great ride.
Eating The World 