New German Café Opens Downtown in Elizabethtown

Key Takeaways

• The 109 N Mulberry German-American Café soft-opened Monday night downtown, from Kentucky chef Janine Washle, "The Flavor Queen" — a German and Appalachian comfort-food concept
• A free members-only special report on the new café is live at HardinLocal.com, with a bonus video (Nate's menu reveal plus the Experienced Eater taste test) you can only watch there
• The full café menu is posted on Nate Bryan's and Hardin Local's Facebook pages, and online at theflavorqueen.com/109-n-mulberry
• Bluegrass Meats holds its grand opening downtown this Thursday in the old Dairy Queen building, now with indoor seating
• Mall moves: Victoria's Secret closed Sunday (return unclear); Spencer's is moving to a bigger spot in B110 behind Visionworks; Bath & Body Works reopens in September

Summary

Nate Bryan's Business Buzz led with the story everyone has been waiting on: the new 109 N Mulberry German-American Café, which soft-opened downtown Monday night. The café comes from Kentucky chef and caterer Janine Washle, known across the state as "The Flavor Queen" from her TV cooking segments, and it pairs German classics with Appalachian comfort food. Nate walked through the breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus on air and posted the full thing to Facebook right after the show.

For Hardin County, it's a feel-good week for downtown. A second new restaurant, Bluegrass Meats, opens Thursday in the old Dairy Queen building, and over at the mall, Spencer's is confirmed for a bigger location while Bath & Body Works plans a September return.

The free members-only special report on the café is the one to grab — it carries a bonus video you can't see anywhere else.

Full Article

The headline this week is a new restaurant downtown, and Nate Bryan had been waiting to talk about it. "This just happened earlier today. I've been pushing for it. I've been wanting it. People have been asking, what is the menu for 109 North Mulberry?" The 109 N Mulberry German-American Café soft-opened Monday night, and the menu reveal was finally ready to share.

The café is the work of Janine Washle, the Kentucky chef and caterer who goes by "The Flavor Queen" thanks to her television cooking segments. The concept blends German cooking with Appalachian comfort food, and the menus Nate pulled up on screen ran the full range. Breakfast surprised even him — "I just didn't think they would serve breakfast," he admitted, pointing to the Big "E" Benedict and the potato pancakes. Lunch is where he's headed himself: "It's got pretzels, and I love me some pretzels," along with German potato salad and bratwurst. The dinner menu, which won't run during the soft-opening stretch, drew his eye to the sorghum pork belly. "That sorghum looks good," he said. As for the prices, Nate kept it simple: "Most of that stuff seems pretty reasonable to me."

Here's how to get the full picture. Nate posted the complete menu on his Facebook page right after the live stream, and it's on the Hardin Local page too — like both so you catch it. The full menu also lives online at theflavorqueen.com/109-n-mulberry. And for the deep dive, Hardin Local built a free members-only special report on the café at HardinLocal.com. As Phil put it on air, "If you want to go read the full special report on this specific restaurant, once we get done, go to HardinLocal.com." It includes a bonus video that combines Nate's menu reveal with Britten and Michele's live taste test — watchable only on the site. Creating an account is free, with no credit card and no paywall.

Downtown's second piece of good news is Bluegrass Meats, which opens Thursday. The barbecue spot is moving into the old Dairy Queen building on Mulberry, "basically right across from the Eton Police Department," Nate noted, and diagonal to Pritchard Community Center. They had hoped to open earlier in the week but hit internet issues — "which makes it hard to run a restaurant, I would think," Nate said — so they pushed the date back to get it right. The big upgrade is indoor seating, something their old Dixie Avenue location never had. Nate plans to stop by Thursday or Friday and check in with owner Tommy Barney.

Two new downtown restaurants in one week had the panel asking whether downtown is becoming a real food destination. Nate ran through the lineup — the Smashburger at StrEAT Kitchen, J.R. Neighbors, Impellizzeri's, HubHaus, Social Food Hall, and the bar-and-music scene at Bourbon Barrel Tavern. "If I'm going to go eat, sit down somewhere, it's probably going to be downtown," he said.

Out at the mall, the news is a mix of one goodbye and two updates. Victoria's Secret had its last day Sunday, and Nate, who was there, said it was packed. Whether it returns is still unclear — the team has seen renderings but nothing confirmed. Spencer's, on the other hand, is locked in for a new, bigger spot: B110 on the right side, directly behind Visionworks. And Bath & Body Works is set to reopen in September. The bigger question hanging over the mall is the anchor space Victoria's Secret leaves behind — more than 20,000 combined square feet that Nate expects will go to a large retailer, with Burlington a name he keeps hearing.