Published: May 14, 2008 10:55 am            

Our Best gets set to open in Jeffersonville

A few years ago, Kenny Way sat in an empty lot on Louisville’s Preston Highway faced with a difficult proposal that would expand his mom-and-pop business, Our Best Restaurant out of rural Smithfield, Ky.

“I didn’t mention it to any of my family, because I had to make sure of what the risk was,” he said. “I had a lot of thinking, a lot of soul searching to do.”

The developer who made the proposal was a friend of his and a customer of the Smithfield location. As that Louisville location was eventually being built, he remembers the friend saying that Jeffersonville should be his next market.

“I thought: ‘There’s nothing wrong with good Hoosiers. They choose bad basketball coaches over there, but we don’t hold that against them,’” Way joked.

The Louisville location has been up and running since November and the restaurant’s first Indiana location is set to open on June 3, just off of Holmans Lane in Jeffersonville.

They’re partnering with Louisville-based Icon Properties LLC for the expansions. Further plans include a restaurant in Sellersburg and a location on Bardstown Road in Fern Creek, said Kenny Way’s son, Aric Way. Aric Way is overseeing the Jeffersonville expansion.

“It’s pretty much just country cooking,” said Justin Richardson, who manages the Smithfield store.

Fried chicken, fish, pork chops and fried green tomatoes are among menu items.

“Most of the entrees cost about $12 to $13,” he said. “We don’t have any $50 steaks or anything like that.”

Though the Jeffersonville location is being housed in completely new construction, it features a rustic look similar to that of the original Smithfield store. The floors are a dark, shiny brown hardwood and the tongue and groove walls are adorned by vintage feed signs. It’ll seat about 180 people and employ between 50 and 60, Aric Way said.

The restaurant gets its name from a brand of flour, called “Our Best,” that was formerly produced by Smithfield Milling Co., which ceased production in 1987. The mill sits across the street from the Smithfield location and houses the restaurant’s gift shop.

For most it’s a novelty, but many Hoosiers already know about Our Best’s food. The business is considered to be a “destination restaurant,” meaning that customers come in from all over to visit.

Kenny Way said prominent Jeffersonville residents, such as Mayor Tom Galligan and Warren and Jill Schimpff — owners of Schimpff’s Confectionery — have been visiting the place for years.

Aric Way noted that the restaurant was featured in last year’s “A Taste of Jeffersonville.”

“We had a good time, good reception,” he said.

They plan to serve up cornbread, fried green tomatoes, fish, cobblers and pies at this year’s “taste” as well, he said.

That event is 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday at Kye’s.

        

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