Restaurants near picnic opportunities?

[Robin Garr]

So I'm thinking that the current need to get takeout food comes with a problem: By the time I get lunch home from the restaurant, it's usually tepid. Which raises the question: What good restaurants, open for lunch, are situated close enough to nice picnic grounds to get your chow from eatery to picnic table while it's still steaming? Or does such an animal exist?

Great topic! My wife and I have been doing a lot of pick-up/picnicking. One of our most important metrics is the French Fry soggy test. The park must be close enough to avoid any such sogginess, regardless of packaging. Another important feature is crowd control. Some parks, I'm looking at you Seneca, are just too busy. So, we prefer the smaller, less crowded parks.
The easiest, closest opportunity is Louie's Hot chicken and Camp Taylor Park. They are literally separated by a parking lot.
Other easy/tasty combinations:
River Road BBQ and the park just north of it overlooking the river.
Several restaurants are close to George Rogers Clark Park: Oskar's, Monnik, Check's, Four Pegs.
This past weekend we hit up a new combo: The Fish House and German Paristown Park (probably the smallest park in the city).
All of these parks provide ample shade to go along with proximity.
ETA: Stevens and Stevens and Cave Hill Cemetery also work well together.
Oh, how could I forget Barry's Cheesesteaks (best cheesesteak in the city IMO) and Joe Creason Park, which also works well with Oskar's.
As you can tell, we've got this down.

[Robin Garr]

Great info, Steve! I made the mistake of posting this on my Facebook and the HotBytes FB first, and now everyone is posting over there. But thanks for getting things started here, too. Pile on, everyone!

Payne Street Bakehouse, Red Hot Roasters, and Ciao are right near Breslin Park. If you're willing to expand out, that also covers Gravely/Mayan Street Food, Agave & Rye, and Spinelli's. Though Agave, Gravely, and Spinelli's might be a little closer to Irish Hill Park or Cave Hill Cemetery. Naive and the Butcher Block restaurants aren't that far from the new Lynn Family Stadium, which has open seating and a five-a-side soccer court. Colonial Gardens and its restaurants (and Sister Bean's) are right across New Cut from Iroquois Park, and on the other side, Iroquois Pizza is also near the park.

[Robin Garr]

Thanks, Ron. Good suggestions. I like that Lynn Family Stadium idea. Damn. Last year I thought I'd be watching a bunch of games there in 2020.

Thanks, Ron. Good suggestions. I like that Lynn Family Stadium idea. Damn. Last year I thought I'd be watching a bunch of games there in 2020.

You and me both. I kept my season ticket money in the team and I have right of refusal for socially distanced seats, but I'm just not comfortable (yet) with attending a game until they work out all the kinks. Every game seems to be getting better, I'll say that for them, but there are still issues that they have to work on.

That's also why I haven't gotten my Racing Louisville tickets for next season. I'm not sure how long this thing is going to go on, and I'm afraid to take another big financial leap (for a humble public employee).

Brown park is behind Baptist East hospital. Their tables are spaced pretty far apart. It would be a 5 minute drive from Hikes Point, or St Matthews, (from the opposite direction) Shelbyville Rd area or even a piece of Taylorsville Rd from Browns Lane. Im not sure what restaurants are opened in that area. WW Cousins? Wild Eggs?

Brown park is behind Baptist East hospital. Their tables are spaced pretty far apart. It would be a 5 minute drive from Hikes Point, or St Matthews, (from the opposite direction) Shelbyville Rd area or even a piece of Taylorsville Rd from Browns Lane. Im not sure what restaurants are opened in that area. WW Cousins? Wild Eggs?

We picked up fish from Moby Dick on Shelbyville Rd. and ate there. Neither the fish nor the fries had time to get soggy.