Getting your appetites warmed up: Lexington Burger Week is back

The beefiest week in town is back: Lexington Burger Week returns July 10-16. This year there are 46 participating restaurants, each preparing one-of-a-kind burgers for $5.

Diners are encouraged to be patient because restaurants may run out of the specials, and to order more than the bargain burgers.

The big trend this year: peanut butter and various jellies on burgers, such as the WTF! (What the Flavors) Burger at Columbia Steakhouse, 201 North Limestone, which has organic peanut butter, grape jelly, crispy bacon bits and sriracha on an eight-ounce ground chuck burger served on a toasted bun.

Details of all the burgers and restaurants are online at lexingtonburgerweek.com. Get a passport and track your favorites. Last year more than 61,100 burgers were consumed during Burger Week.

LexGo Eat will be sampling burgers live on Kentucky.com’s Facebook page during Burger Week with various celebrity tasters. Stay tuned for more details.

▪  Blue Door Smokehouse is open. Really. Don’t believe Google. The Lexington barbecue joint posted a note to its very loyal following last week saying that Google has marked the restaurant as “permanently closed” but it isn’t.

▪  Today marks the start of Ramsey’s Corn Daze (and Maters too!) Festival where all four restaurant locations (Zandale, Andover, Harrodsburg Road and Tates Creek) will feature fresh-picked Kentucky Proud corn from Gallrein Farm in Shelbyville, and local fresh tomatoes from various Kentucky farms. Ramsey’s daily features 28 fresh veggies on the menu including corn on the cob, fried corn, creamed corn, okra-corn-tomatoes, Parmesan deep-fried corn on the cob, fresh tomatoes, tomatoes and cottage cheese, and more.

▪  As part of its dinner series Fork + Bottle, Lockbox, 167 West Main Street, will host a four-course dinner plus cocktail hour featuring Country Boy beer at 6:30 p.m. on July 20. Co-founder Daniel Harrison will lead a presentation on each beer as it is paired with dishes crafted by executive chef Jonathan Searle.

The dinner will kick off with passed canapés followed by a four-course dinner including country ham salad biscuits with hot mustard and pickles; watermelon and avocado salad with feta, basil and sweet chili vinaigrette; and a beer-brined cornmeal fried North Carolina catfish with pickled ramp tartare sauce served with hot vinegar slaw, Kentucky tomatoes and southern eggy potato salad.

Tickets are $45 per person and limited seating is available. For reservations, call 859-899-6860.

The next upcoming Fork + Bottle dinner will be Sept. 28 and will feature 1792 Bourbon.

▪  GirlsGirlsGirls Burritos, inside the Best Friend Bar at 500 Euclid Avenue, is now open Wednesday evenings from 5 to 11 p.m. and has Saturday brunch from 1 to 5 p.m., available as eat-in, take-out and delivery. Vegan, gluten-free and vegetarian options available, including housemade tamales, crispy tofu, black beans, tacos and nachos.

▪  Willie’s Locally Known, 286 Southland Drive, now has online to-go ordering available. Go to willieslocallyknown.com for more information.

▪  BurgerFi, 141 Rojay Drive, is celebrating summer with new treats, including the Very Berry Wafflewich featuring vanilla custard and tropical berry jam in between two sugar-glazed waffles. With every purchase, $1 will go back to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital from July 4 through mid-September. The Summer BBQ Burger is available now, featuring double natural Angus patties topped with pulled pork, sweet BBQ sauce, pickles, and crispy made-to-order slaw with white cheddar and American cheese. And the Fi Lime Fusion is the eatery’s newest signature Coca-Cola beverage exclusive to BurgerFi. This lime-colored sparkling beverage features juicy citrus notes and tart lime flavors that enhance the sweetness of savory BBQ flavors of the burger.

▪  Barton 1792 Distillery, 300 Barton Road in Bardstown, is having patio sundown monthly musical events, with good food and bourbon sampling, on the third Thursday of each month through October. The event, which begins at 5:30 p.m., is free with food and drink sales will be offered. On July 20, country singer Sarah Martin will perform with acoustic guitar, and Pollo will have a truck on site serving up some gourmet chicken. On Aug. 17, Joseph & Martina Costa, also known as “Terra Bella,” will perform and Wok ’n Bowl will be on site with delicious Vietnamese food. Sept. 21, North Carolina native Casey Clark will perform and Smok’N Cantina will be serving up some southwest street food with a BBQ twist. Oct. 19, Scott Southworth will perform the October Sundown event and Lexie Lu’s will be on site with fresh burgers, quesadillas and more.

▪  Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, coming soon to The Summit at Fritz Farm, will have Tuesday Tastings featuring half off glasses, carafes and bottles of wine every Tuesday through September. This promotion excludes house wine, but does include sangria. The pizzeria also continues with its new Summer Selections menu, available through Aug. 31.

This sweet summer menu starts with a fresh Strawberry Spinach Salad drizzled with strawberry vinaigrette, feta cheese, red onions, toasted almonds and sliced strawberries, followed by the main course, Barbecue Chicken Pizza; a fan favorite covered in Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce, chicken, smoky bacon, red onion and topped with fresh cilantro. Satisfy any sweet tooth with either seasonal desert option, Strawberry or Blueberry Cheesecake. Grimaldi’s Summer Selections menu is available for a limited time. Additional ongoing promotions include the Stoking Social Hour, where guests can take advantage of $2 off draft beers, $2 off glasses of wine, and $2 off the Bruschetta Trio and Antipasto platters, Monday through Friday from 3:30 p.m.-6 p.m.

▪  The fourth annual Bourbon Women “Sip-osium,” a three-day bourbon excursion and education weekend, will be Aug. 25-27 in at the Brown Hotel Louisville. The Bourbon Women Sip-osium includes distillery tours, meetings with master distillers, cocktail crafting, and tastings of fine and rare bourbons. Maker’s Mark chairman emeritus Bill Samuels will deliver this year’s keynote address, and renowned nosing expert Nancy Fraley will guide attendees on identifying bourbon’s signature aromas.

This year’s agenda includes also a visit to the Brown-Forman Cooperage; the only distillery making its own barrels; dinner at the Frazier Museum; behind-the-scenes tours at Buffalo Trace, Jim Beam, Barton’s 1792, Kentucky Artisan Distillery and more; expert-led panels on the evolution of modern bourbon, the truth about bitters, and the differences between bourbon and Tennessee whiskey; and an exclusive President’s Sampler Bourbon Tasting from Bourbon Women president Susan Reigler’s extensive private selection, including a 1970s-era Maker’s Mark

Registration for Bourbon Women members is $250; non-members $300. Tickets for the President’s Sampler are an additional $125 each.

▪  The Kentucky Bourbon Festival has launched a new logo to jump-start the September 2017 celebrations as well as the festival’s first official message on responsible drinking. The new logo features an original illustration of a Glencairn nosing glass — the tasting glass of choice for many master distillers — holding a bourbon pour. Wherever space allows, the fresh new logo will also feature the festival’s inaugural corporate responsibility messaging, which reads:

“Bourbon is a good thing.

Too much Bourbon? Not a good thing.

Consume with care.”

Tickets for the 2017 Kentucky Bourbon Festival, which is Sept. 11-17 in Bardstown, are available online at KyBourbonFestival.com. Join bourbon enthusiasts from all over the world, along with master distillers and brand ambassadors, to enjoy Bluegrass-inspired culinary creations, live music and entertainment — including a headline performance by Sundy Best on Sept. 16.

This story was originally published July 4, 2017 at 1:57 PM with the headline "Getting your appetites warmed up: Lexington Burger Week is back."