By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier-Journal
Portion control doesn't seem to be a priority at the Fork in the Road Restaurant, a decidedly homespun place that unabashedly focuses on old-school Southern cooking.
These days, retro-Southern cuisine is all the rage, but from the looks of things, the Fork in the Road, like Barbara Mandrell and George Jones, is the kind of place that proudly claims to have been country when country wasn't cool.
 Fork in the Road's meatloaf is served here with white beans and mashed potatoes. By Kylene Lloyd, The Courier-Journal |
The expansive dining room is cheered by red-topped tables and booths, all bedecked with paper flowers on the tables. The walls bear a handful of old farm implements — and a selection of old black-and-white photos portraying the Louisville of yesteryear, from the old Cozy Theater to Fontaine Ferry Park.
The food is ample but inconsistent, and the service is warm and natural, though not always efficient — and woe betide a diner in a hurry if the kitchen finds itself in the weeds.
One night that happened to us, and we waited 40 minutes or so for an order that included meatloaf, country-fried steak and a breakfast dish (breakfast is served anytime). Other dinner options include customary entrees like roast beef, chicken livers, fried chicken, fried fish, chili, pasta and burgers and sandwiches — with no dish costing more than $9.
By then, I was as hungry as someone who actually works for a living, and though that meatloaf ($8.69) comes with two sides from a canonic list of Southern-style vegetables and looked formidable on the plate — a thick slab covered with a tangy-sweet red sauce — I was just as formidable with my fork. It was a savory, coarse-textured meatloaf that had all the hallmarks of good home cooking, leaving me a pretty satisfied customer.
Country-fried steak ($7.99) is a breaded patty of beef, fried to a crisp finish, then slathered with white gravy. That white gravy might be one of the signature dishes at the Fork in the Road. The menu says it's peppered, and peppered it is. I happen to love peppery white gravy. So does my mother-in-law, Roberta. And had that dish been piping hot, Roberta would have been just as happy as I was.
Alas, the breakfast dish ($6.59 for two eggs, bacon, hash browns, biscuits and gravy) arrived in the same sad state — as if it had been waiting patiently for the meatloaf to get itself ready to serve. Overcooked bacon and hash browns in the form of spongy cubes of potato made for a pretty disappointing dish.
Still, we were bucked up by icy drinks served in quart-sized Mason jars — and by mix-and-match coffee mugs, one of which touted the anti-depressant medication Zoloft — just the thing to offset any lingering unhappiness about our meal.
It was clear enough that our server was embarrassed by the whole affair. She returned fairly often in an effort to keep us happy. And though we were too famished to complain, she volunteered that the kitchen was beset by an unusual amount of confusion, allowing that she'd have given us our desserts free, except it wasn't necessary, since desserts are always free on Tuesday nights after 4.
On another visit, the kitchen hummed with efficiency, food whipped its way to the tables with nary a hitch, and everything was lovely, including a steamy order of beef and noodles swimming in rich brown broth and a slice of chocolate cream pie with a firm crust and a tall, creamy, gold-rimmed topping ($2.59).
Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@courier-journal.com.
Fork in the Road Restaurant
4951 Cane Run Road, Louisville, KY
502-448-3903
Rating: 2 stars
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