Southern Kentucky dining guide: Where to eat in Corbin, Cumberland Falls area

After a day of exploring there, I’m regretting all the times I by-passed Corbin on the way to somewhere else.

I’ve missed the great food at The Wrigley Taproom and Eatery, the bumper-car scene at the Root Beer Stand, the creation story of KFC at the Harland Sanders Café and Museum. Not to mention the wonderful hiking opportunities the region offers.

No more.

From my experience, you’ll have trouble going wrong at the Wrigley but no matter what, try to sample the house smoked salmon. The day we were there for lunch it appeared on the Smoked Salmon Taco BLT, one remarkable dish that isn’t on the menu every day. But it was by no means the only great thing.

Menu standards like the house-made black bean burger and the Brussels sprouts roasted in the Wrigley’s own honey-ancho sauce were also wonderful, with fresh ingredients and a fresh approach to preparing them. Open Tuesday through Saturday, when there’s a brunch, you will not be disappointed at this local restaurant that’s earned shout-outs from Forbes, Food & Wine and Top Chef Judge Graham Elliot as well as the locals who have kept it going for six years.

And, you’ll understand where the name came from when you see the almost perfectly preserved Wrigley’s Gum sign painted on an old brick building that now forms one of the interior walls of the café.

Kind of a different scene that’s also well worth experiencing is the Root Beer Stand (once an A&W franchise, the owners chose a simple but descriptive alternative name when they went out on their own) across the street from the high school.

If you don’t find a spot to light, don’t worry, a carhop will track you down and direct you to something that wouldn’t ordinarily be considered a parking place where she’ll take your order. A local told us that just watching the dance of vehicles is worth the price of admission.

Too full from the Wrigley, my companion and I limited ourselves to root beer floats made with the house-brewed signature drink and they were great. Coach Cal tried it when he visited two years ago as well as what he described as the “unbelievable hamburger and hot dog.”

Certainly no one should leave Corbin without seeing the Harland Sanders Café and Museum. Warning: right now the museum is closed, apparently due to some combination of rehab work and COVID concerns. But, the drive-thru is still open if you want to sample fare from this early location and see how it matches up.

Also, you can look in the windows at the retro café and there is an interpretive timeline outside that you can see anytime. You’ll learn that in 1927 Harland Sanders opened a gas station in Nicholasville where, born promoter that he was, he advertised “free air.” The museum, we’re told, opened September 9, 1990, for the centennial of Sanders’ birth, and “millions of visitors continue to make the pilgrimage.”

Corbin is located in one of the most beautiful areas of Kentucky with the Daniel Boone National Forest and Cumberland Falls State Park nearby. I’ve made many, happy trips to Cumberland Falls but on this trip my hiking buddy and I tried a couple new outings to enjoy the area. In the morning we took the short-ish hike into the unfortunately-named but beautiful Dog Slaughter Falls where the Cumberland River and Dog Slaughter Creek meet, producing a broad and tall waterfall.

In the afternoon, fueled up from our peripatetic lunch in Corbin, we took on the almost six-mile out and back on Sheltowee Trace to Vanhook Falls closer to London. People with better judgment might try to split the hikes between two days but seeing those beautiful falls, swollen with spring rains, was worth sore feet and stiff legs the next day.

This is by no means a comprehensive look at the best places to eat or hike in the Corbin area. Just down the road from the Dog Slaughter trailhead is Cumberland Falls State Park with wonderful hikes and lodging. Other local eating options in Corbin that were recommended to us for this dining guide but will have to wait for next time:

▪ Si Senor Mexican Restaurant where, among many other options, you can get a lengua taco (look it up) along with many more familiar offerings.

▪ Bubby’s BBQ and the somewhat higher-end (with a trivia night!) Shep’s Place, under the same ownership.

▪ Another favorite is Season’s Restaurant where diners can enjoy standards like prime rib and spaghetti and meatballs as well as Hawaiian chicken and other more adventurous fare in a beautifully decorated setting.

▪ Brooklyn Brothers Pizzeria, with Italian staples as well as pizza.

This story was originally published July 26, 2021 at 6:00 AM.