High Ground Cafe was located at 235 First Street.
High Ground takes high road during lunch, by Linda Negro:
I was in a buying mood Saturday and in the market for some shoes for my large, hard-to-fit feet. On the pretense of a lunch, I persuaded a friend to join me
for a trip to Henderson, Ky.
I can usually find shoes on Henderson’s First Street, which is a half-block from the High Ground Cafe.
I did find a comfortable pair of black pumps, but the highlight of the trip was the delightful lunch at the High Ground. I won’t wait until I need another pair of shoes to return.
The cafe/bistro, which draws its name from Henderson’s high-and-dry status during the 1937 flood, sports a large, old-fashioned wooden bar. The cafe is long and narrow and filled with tables coated in mauve and floral tablecloths. Parachutes billow above ceiling fans, and an awning just past the bar gives the place the feeling of an outdoor French bistro.
Historical pictures of Henderson, including some from the flood, line the wall.
Across First Street from the Henderson County Courthouse, the small restaurant has been a tavern and a gourmet restaurant. It offers a menu of traditional burgers, patty melts and chili dogs, plus some creative sandwiches and salads.
I started the lunch with a small salad ($2) and I sampled two of the homemade dress-ings, honey mustard and poppy seed. Both had a stronger vinegar taste than normal, but I like that.
The waiter warned that the honey mustard, which included a brown mustard and cracked mustard seed in a vinaigrette, was a bit hot and strong and offered to bring a second dressing.
I liked the strong taste but took him up on the offer and sampled poppy seed. I found it was not as overly sweet as usual and more to my liking.
The small salad filled a large bowl full and was garnished with some of the best tomatoes I’ve eaten this early in the season.
I was torn by all the delicious offerings on the menu. The hot brown ($3.95), broiled until bubbling hot, tempted me, as did an unusual olive nut sandwich ($2.25) made of cream cheese, pecans and stuffed olives spread on dark rye bread.
The Wabbit salad ($2.25) was also tempt-ing. It offered the things a rabbit would like: red and green cabbage, sunflower seeds and alfalfa sprouts.
The special for Saturday was a gyro served with chips and a small salad, but I was more intrigued by, and finally settled on, another Greek offering, Greek Chicken Salad ($4.75).
Tender pieces of chicken, cucumber and celery were bound together with an unusual smooth sauce made of feta cheese, sour cream and yogurt. The salad was spread open-face onto a toasted pita and then garnished with slivered black olives, chunks of fresh tomatoes and alfalfa sprouts.
The dressing had a sharp tart taste, but the combination was delicious. Although it was a creative, unusual sand-wich, it would have been a little better value if served with chips or a fruit garnish.
We also sampled a curried chicken salad sandwich ($3.25). The chicken, celery and pecans were wrapped in a light, not overbear-ing, curry sauce. I also detected a refreshing hint of nutmeg. We asked that the bread on the sandwich be slightly toasted, and it was perfect.
Although the sandwich was supposed to be served with grapes, egg quarters and chips, none was on the plate. However, a small dish of slaw was served with the sandwich. The slaw had a sweet creamy, rather than a tart vinegar, taste and was good.
We did split an order of High Ground fries ($1), which were a combination of home fries and french fries. They were sliced thick like home fries and then deep fried and sprinkled with a seasoned salt. There were crispy and had a soft, flavorful interior.
The desserts were even better. They were home baked by Charlene Staples, who owns the restaurant with her husband, William, and her brother and his wife, Neil and Cathy Kellen.
The large square of raisin-studded bread pudding ($2) was moist and flavorful, even before the addition of the warm, buttery whiskey sauce.
I couldn’t decide between the carrot cake and cheesecake, so I ordered the chess pie ($2). The waiter had wisely warmed the pie, which made the butter and sugar filling even better. Even the crust was short and tender and delicious.
It was after 1 p.m. when we arrived at the restaurant, so we had the entire place to our-selves. The waiter was attentive to our needs.
He refilled our cola and ice tea glasses promptly.
If I get a long lunch hour I may try to slip over to Henderson for a plate lunch special during the week. Beef stew and cornbread, lasagna, stir-fry pork, barbecue burger, grilled cod and meat loaf range in price from $3.25 to $4.95. And I have yet to sample the black bean soup made from scratch.
