Old Owl Tavern Dinner Menu

Tavern Dinner Menu
Breakfast | Inn Lunch | Inn Dinner | Tavern Lunch | Tavern Dinner
The Old Owl Tavern
Beaumont Inn, Harrodsburg Kentucky

Appetizers

Junk Fries 6
There is intense negotiation going on betwixt the Federal Government and the Old Owl’s powers that be over whether or not an order of Junk Fries would be a suitable substitute for the American Dollar as it’s value continues to decrease in relation to the Euro, which can’t hold a candle to the Junk Frie. Seasoned fries, cheese, scallions, bacon bits, and Ranch dressing.

Titan-Town Quesadilla 10
Grilled chicken strips, roasted peppers and onions, and assorted cheeses wrapped in a 12-inch Tomato-Basil Tortilla, with sour cream and salsa on the side.

Spinach-Artichoke Dip 7
Another Old Owl Tavern favorite! Served with little crustinis, it’s so easy to eat even prehistoric man can do it. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Fried Green Tomatoes 5
Beautiful, ripe, full red tomatoes that we slather in a harmless green wash in order to cut corners, these slices are double breaded in our light special breading and deep fried, then served with ranch on the side.
Disclaimer #1: They’re really just green tomatoes from the start.
Disclaimer #2: Disclaimer #1 was at the behest of Johnny Cochran, our legal counsel.

Chicken Toughers 6
For some reason people often times serve frozen chicken in strips and call them Chicken Tenders when they are actually quite tough. To play along with this ruse, our fresh sliced Toughers are extremely tender and juicy. Have them fried or grilled, and add $.50 to make them Buffalo-style.

Fried Banana Pepper Rings 5
There is a pepper, most notably from the Alsace region of France and the Quebec territory of Canada, that is said to resemble to middle toe on the left foot of Benny Hanna. As things get lost in translation, this pepper came to be known as the Banana Pepper. We’re frying them and serving them with a spicy mustard dipping sauce.

Jerronhimo’s Pork Pot Stickers 6.5
Pork that sticks to a pot seems to be quite a fashionable idea these days. It’s all the rage in most Cosmopolitan cities across the globe. Try ground pork, cabbage, onion, and spices from the Orient, folded in empanada dough, then fried and served with Sweet-N-Sour sauce.

Match-Maker’s Dialogue:

Sung to the tune of “Mister Sandman”
Hungry Diner: Oh Mr. Sandman?
Mr. Sandman: Yes?
Hungry Diner: Make me a match. Make it the tastiest, that I’ve ever seen. Give me one top, on a delicious bottom, and tell me that my days of endless hunger are over.
Mr. Sandman: The choices are listed below. Really? Like I got time for this.

Directions: Pick a top. Pick a bottom.

Tops :
Grilled Chicken Breast $10
Blackened Chicken Breast $10
Fried Chicken Fingers $10
Grilled Shrimp (5) $13
Blackened Shrimp (5) $13
Grilled Salmon $12
Blackened Salmon $12

Bottoms:
Alfredo, Pasta Primavera, Gorgonzola Alfredo, Caesar Salad,
Fresh Garden Salad Mix

Directions/Disclaimers:
*The price listed to the side of the TOP includes the price of the BOTTOM.
**Add Chopped Country Ham or Cottage Cheese for $.50 each.
***Add $.50 and make Fried Chicken Fingers Buffalo style.

****Mr. Sandman was fired for having a ‘potty mouth’.

Entrée Salads

Chef’s Salad 9
City Ham slices, Turkey breast, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, cheeses, and hard-boiled egg on a bed of fresh mixed greens. Essentially, a cornucopia of deliciousness.

Buffalo Chicken Salad 12
Mixed greens topped with buffalo chicken fingers, celery, carrots, and bleu cheese crumbles.

Chicken Salad Plate 12
Whether on the menu or not, this little platter seems to be one of the most requested Old Owl items of all time. Fresh fruit, homemade Beaumont Inn chicken salad, and cottage cheese served on a bed of leaf lettuce.

Entrees
(Served with choice of two side items.)

Traditional Kentucky Hot Brown 10
Toast points, roasted turkey breast, country ham, tomato slices, all covered in a rich Mornay sauce, and topped with crispy bacon. As classic Kentucky as they come, and they come classic. Why just yesterdee . . . .

Southern Fried Catfish 9
Tender catfish filet in seasoned corn meal, fried golden brown and served with homemade tartar sauce. We select only Catfish filets with proven winning records, and we pay special attention to those adept in backstroke and butterfly.

Lawrence’s Fall-Off-The-Bone Baby Back Ribs 15
Quite possibly the signature dish of the Old Owl, these ribs have created such a following, they attended Paris Hilton’s NYE Bash, turned down an offer to star in a 90210 spin-off, have their own E! True Hollywood Story to be aired later this summer.

Grilled Chairman’s Reserve Ribeye 20
Lawrence, our resident grill master and all-around great guy, takes much pride in his 12 ounce Ribeye, to which he applies his secret rub (a blend of herbs and spices that only he and his dog Blackie are privy to) and grills to perfection.

Smoked Pork Chop 12.5
This monster thick chop is slow smoked and topped with a Blackberry and Bourbon glaze-a combination a formidable as steak sauce and boot leather.

Pan-Seared Tilapia 14
By popular and downright forceful demand, we’re offering this tender, flaky white fish filet that’s Pamesan and herb crusted, pan-seared and topped with a lemon-butter.

Downhome Country Fried Steak 14
An 11 oz. delicious masterpiece of culinary art, it’s served with whipped taters and some gravy. No kidding, this thing is huge!!!

Almond-Sauteed Chicken Breasts 12
Boneless chicken breasts dredged in a mixture of roasted almonds and seasoned flour, then sautéed and topped with Jerry’s special Bourbon Brown sauce.

Grilled or Blackened Salmon 14
For those of you health conscious individuals, this should strike a bit of your fancy. Have your six to eight ounce fresh salmon filet grilled or blackened, and then served with a Cucumber-Cilantro sour cream sauce.

Burgers & Specialty Samiches
(Served with a choice of two side items and a pickle spear.)

Big George’s Burger 9
Cheddar cheese and bacon burger served with lettuce, tomato, and onion.

Uncle Reb’s Burger 9
Our take on a Black-n-Blue burger with blackened seasoning and melted bleu cheese crumbles, lettuce, tomato, and onion (heretofore referred to as LTO).

The Duke’s Burger 9
A burger topped with BBQ sauce and crispy fried onion rings, and LTO.

Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwich 8
This is a traditional pulled pork barbeque sandwich. Traditional, in the sense that we roast the pork slowly, very slowly, and that we make it with lots of love.

Crab Cake Sandwich 14
A homemade crab cake, sautéed a golden brown (technically speaking, we aim for the color of a hillside as a gentle autumn breeze sweeps across the innumerable and indistinguishable dormant blades of straw) topped with a Chipotle aioli and served with LTO on a toasted bun.

Corned Beef Reuben 12
Slow-roasted corned beef, with sauerkraut, homemade 1000 Island dressing, and Swiss cheese on Marbled Rye bread.

Philly Cheese Steak 9
Griddle-sizzled shredded Philly steak, topped with fire roasted peppers and onions, topped with melted Swiss and served on a hoagie bun.

Veterinarian’s Vegetarian Burger 9
Veggie burger with LTO.

Maker’s Mark BBQ Shrimp BLT 13.5
There’s a lot going on here, including Maker’s Mark barbequed shrimp, Romaine lettuce, tomato slices, crispy bacon, all on grilled sour dough bread.

Good enough to beat you in a foot race.

Sides

Slow Cooked Seasoned Green Beans Deep Fried Onion Rings
Specialty Salad (pea, broccoli, pasta…) House Recipe Seasoned Fries
Carolina Cole Slaw Fresh Garden Salad
Secret Recipe #9 Potato Salad Sheila’s Baked Beans
Twice-baked Potato (Add $1.00)
Salt-Encrusted Baked Potato (Add $2.00)

At the Old Owl TAVERN, nothing is more valuable to us than the happiness of our loyal customers. Please understand that while we strive to ensure your satisfaction, special requests only delay this process. We appreciate your understanding in regards to the fact that during peak times, some requests will prolong food preparation, and we reserve the right to disallow some substitutions and requests. Thanks for your cooperation.

The Old Owl Story

There is a bit of a discrepancy where the story of the Old Owl is concerned. It seems historians tell one story, whereas those fond of whimsical tales of magic and make-believe will tell others. Somewhere in the middle is actually not true either.

Records will show that descendants of the present owners were distillers of what was then referred to as Kentucky Owl Sour Mash Bourbon Whiskey, “The Wise Man’s Whiskey”. The distillery, located in north Mercer County, was one of many distilleries operating prior to the Prohibition Era. The walls of the Old Owl TAVERN are adorned with photographs of many of these distilleries.

Today, many years since Prohibition, Mercer County remains a ’dry’ county, although a local option allowing by the drink sales of alcohol was passed within the city limits of Harrodsburg in 2003. Construction began on the Old Owl TAVERN shortly thereafter. Construction may be the wrong word, because the TAVERN is within the original footprint, even the original walls of The Historic Beaumont Inn (circa 1845), now owned and operated by five generations of the Dedman family.

Yes, indeed, that is the story that history tells. But if you search deep enough, and uncover the real truth, you’ll find that the original Old Owl was much more than a distillery. The owl, a revered figure in nature for it’s cunning, quiet elegance, and useful service, is often portrayed as the epitome of wisdom and knowledge. Truth be told, owls have been linked to some of the greatest minds of all time. In certain circles it is whispered that the majority of this great country’s Founding Fathers, at least three fourths of all the great Italian Renaissance artists/artisans, those responsible with designing the Great Wall of China, the inventor of the ’water wing’, Adolph Rupp, Robin Hood’s half brother, and many more are known to have been fans of the owl. The Old Owl is not simply a catchy reference to a distillery that once belonged to the great great grandfather of the guy who is probably upstairs washing dishes right now. That’s not it at all. It’s a long-held secret tradition of like-minded men and women who enjoy casual dining and good drinks in a relaxing atmosphere that, if so provoked, will grab a bar napkin and jot down a good idea that one day may cause a revolution or at least keep a young child afloat.

Cheers,

The Old Owl