Kathy Cary — Chef/Owner

"Food at Lilly's continues to be influenced by our long standing tradition of buying locally from farmers and producers, rather than pursuing fashionable food trends", says Kathy Cary, chef/owner. Susan Reigler, in her valedictory review during her tenure as restaurant critic for the Louisville Courier-Journal, wrote that "If any American city if fortunate, it will have a signature restaurant, an eatery combining a sense of place with the best local flavors. To be truly outstanding, it will have a worldview, too, drawing on many culinary traditions. For two decades, our city has been very lucky indeed to have its own such quintessential restaurant. Lilly's could be found nowhere but in Louisville.

"Chef/owner Kathy Cary grew up here," she continued, "and loves Kentucky food. The restaurant is located on the edge of the Cherokee Triangle, one of the city's oldest and prettiest neighborhoods. And Cary uses ingredients such as catfish, country ham, bourbon, seasonal produce and local artisanal cheeses and meats on an ever-changing menu that honors Southern foodways but doesn't hesitate to draw from Continental, Mediterranean, and Asian techniques. The resulting flavor notes are nearly always pitch-perfect."

She won rave reviews for her debut at New York's James Beard House (a Carnegie Hall for chefs) in 1993, the first chef from Louisville to be invited by the Beard Foundation. She received further invitations, and was honored to appear at the Beard House four more times - before sell out crowds in 1994, 1995, 1996, and in 1999. A New York Times writer concluded, after a culinary visit to Louisville, "My eating expedition could actually have begun and ended happily in a sleek restaurant called Lilly's."

Kathy's culinary concerns extend beyond the kitchen walls in numerous ways. 2010 marks the 17th year of cooking-and-gardening educational program she founded in Louisville: From Seed to Table, as it is called, benefits as-risk inner city teens at the Cabbage Patch Settlement House, through cooking classes, hands-on gardening experience, and field trips throughout the year.

Major features in Wine and Spirits, Food & Wine, Southern Living and Bon Appetit and general coverage in many others have evidenced interest from the national food press in Kathy's cooking. In addition Kathy appeared on the Today Show and on several Food Network programs including the series "Ready, Set, Cook!".

For the 2000 running of the Kentucky Derby, Martha Stewart invited Kathy to tape two cooking segments with her, on Derby food, for Martha's nationally syndicated television program.

Much of Kathy Cary's inspiration derives from her knowledge and love of her own Kentucky roots, where she learned to love food at an early age in her mothers kitchen. Apprenticed to a Cordon Bleu trained chef in Washington, D.C., she later started a small catering firm there and then became a chef at a stylish Georgetown restaurant. She returned to Kentucky, married songwriter/musician Will Cary, and opened her first La Peche gourmet-to-go shop in 1979. Lilly's opened 24 years ago, with its award winning interior designed by Will, and an ever changing menu that makes use of local products from local producers.