An outrage! Louisville restaurants got left off Open Table's top 50 list

Jeffrey Lee Puckett | Courier Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption A visit to Shirley Mae's Cafe Shirley Mae's Cafe has been a Smoketown institution for the past 30 years.

Open Table is a handy website that lets you make reservations at 40,000 restaurants worldwide. It also offers users a chance to play miniature food critic via a review and rating system.

That's how Open Table came up with its 2018 list of the 50 Best Southern Restaurants in America, by analyzing "12,000,000+ reviews of more than 27,000 restaurants."

But we have some concerns. One, specifically: There are no Louisville restaurants.

None.

Friends, this is an outrage. There is no way that a place called Root & Bone, in New York's East Village of all places, offers better Southern food than places like Lilly's Bistro, which has fused locally-sourced ingredients into pure deliciousness for decades in Louisville.

Or 610 Magnolia, where Chef Ed Lee has taken his fusion of Southern and Korean cuisines to the national level via "Top Chef."

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It helps that two Lexington restaurants made the list, but only a little. That whole Louisville-Lexington rivalry precludes true happiness.

Merrick Inn, 1074 Merrick Drive, a Lexington staple that specializes in fried chicken, checks all of the boxes, but Distilled at The Sire Hotel, 120 West Second St., seems a little green to be included at the expense of its more august counterparts in Louisville.

Speaking of which, here's a list of five Louisville restaurants that need to be on any list of exceptional Southern-inspired fine dining:

610 W. Magnolia Ave.

This staple began under founder Ed Garber more than 20 years ago and has been sustained by owner/chef Ed Lee, a James Beard Award finalist, and chef Kevin Ashworth.

More: From church potlucks to fine dining, 610 Magnolia chef strives to reach ranks of Edward Lee

More: For 10 years, Louisville chef Edward Lee has been up for a James Beard Award. Did he win in 2017?

1147 Bardstown Road

Chef Kathy Cary was among the nation's first to embrace farm-to-table dining at a high level and has sustained her excellence for 30 years.

More: With a little Southern hospitality and new recipes, this Bardstown Road spot keeps evolving

More: Louisville made the cut for Taste America's prestigious 10-city tour

1007 Bardstown Road

Jack Fry's has been around for what feels like 100 years, all of them delectable. If someone visits Louisville to sample its restaurants and doesn't go to Jack Fry's, that person is straight stupid.

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2217 Steier Lane

Some say that this is where you can find the best fried chicken in Louisville but there's only one sure way to find out.

802 S. Clay St.

Shirley Mae Beard has always ensured that this Smoketown institution is a destination for real soul food steeped in Southern wisdom. You don't need reservations at Shirley Mae's, which might be why it flies below Open Table's radar.

Restaurant Review: Shirley Mae's Cafe has a lot of soul

More: Shirley Mae's featured on ESPN's 'Undefeated'

Jeffrey Lee Puckett: 502-582-4160; jpuckett@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @JLeePuckett. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/jeffreyl.