The Business Traveler: The After-Hours Tour of Louisville

(MoneyWatch) 

This feature is part of our ongoing series of second-city itineraries for business travelers.

Whether you're in Louisville for meetings with Humana or for an update with your regional banker, you'll have plenty to do once the business day is over. Although it still feels courtly, the city is Kentucky's prosperous and bustling corporate hub, with a skyline dominated by architect Michael Graves' black marble-clad Humana building.

Louisville's waterfront park

Nestled at its feet is one of the largest extant stretches of 19^th-century cast-iron facades this side of New York City, housing bars, restaurants, museums, and a theatre. The four-block square around the health care giant's headquarters boasts dozens of bars and eateries fit for any budget, from street vendor corn dogs to the upscale Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse (325 W. Main St.). The gentle winters and humid summers of Bourbon country mean abundant outdoor activities are on offer, or you can stick with the cultural and culinary options in the well-lit, well-patrolled downtown.

6:00 p.m.

Wake yourself up after all that conference-room face time. Bike rentals are everywhere; pick one up and join the swarm of young professionals pedaling or jogging in the new Waterfront Park. The 85 acres of playgrounds, fountains, man-made hills and grottoes begin a few blocks east of downtown (a short cab ride). Watch an amazing free show at Waterfront's Louisville Extreme Park, a skateboarders' paradise that's considered one of the best in the country. Or stroll along and discover the vendors and music acts, usually clustered near the Tumbleweed Southwest Grill, a popular hangout with a sports bar feel and a magnificent setting overlooking the Ohio River.

7:00 p.m.

For a different cultural appetizer, head back downtown to Main Street and into the art galleries of the 21c Hotel. Founded by heirs to the original maker of Jim Beam, 21c was named the best U.S. hotel by Conde Nast's Traveler. Its collection of 21^st-century art is scattered through below-ground galleries, the lobby, the spa and bathrooms—and at your feet.

21c Hotel

Around the corner from the check-in desk, step over Abbas Kiarostami's "Sleepers," projected onto the floor, and you'll find Proof on Main. This is the place to rub elbows with the city's political and cultural elite after business hours. Great bourbon, of course, is the main attraction, but you can make a meal out of the 21c's famous buffalo burger. On your way out of 21c, visit the excellent gift shop for your own coaster-sized portrait in oil by local artist Shayne Hull.

7:30 p.m.

Continue on the Urban Bourbon Trail, a tour of local bars (many now defunct, but others still pouring) once patronized by folks like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Al Capone. Tourists are outnumbered by local corporate types winding down after a long day. Feel free to strike up conversation: Louisville likes to think of itself as a small town, and the locals are friendly to strangers.

The Bristol Bar & Grille, just across the street from 21C, offers excellent stir fries and salads, as well as classic "Louavull" comfort food—try the flaky chicken pot pie. The setting is casual, with bistro-style tables; if you're dining solo, you'll be comfortable reading a good book while you eat. Bistro 301, one block south of Main, is more of a fun steak 'n' chops place for an enthusiastic group. Try the Tortellini Diablo, a cheese-filled pasta spiced up with andouille sausage. One of the best deals in town is the Mayan Cafe, around the corner from 21c. It features locally grown meat and produce in dishes like huevos motulenos with fresh eggs, homemade chorizo and fried plantains.

8:00 p.m.

After you've pioneered the Trail—and if you feel steady enough for more heady entertainment—you can probably score last-minute tickets at the renowned Actors Theatre of Louisville, which mounts classic plays and original productions on three different stages. Curtain calls can start as early as 7 p.m., though on festival days, from mid-February to early April, there seems to be a play at almost any hour, and the theatre closes for two months over the summer.

For a moderately priced meal, try the theatre's own excellent Intermezzo Café. If you've got a generous per diem, go for a post-show bite at Vicenzo's, a northern Italian restaurant of starched white tablecloths and whispery waiters, located in a lovely old bank building just a 5-minute walk around the corner from Main.

9:00 p.m.

Walk it all off down by the river. A brief stroll around the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, host to musicals and comedy acts on tour from New York, will bring you out onto the Belvedere, a landscaped platform dotted with statues that extends over the edge of the Ohio River. It's a down-home tradition to dangle your feet in the waterfall of one of the walk-through fountains as the sun sets, and the Belvedere often hosts music acts in good weather and vendors who will sell you everything from pulled pork to fried candy.

10:00 p.m.

Yes, there is late nightlife in Louisville—although it rarely goes on past 1 a.m. Head for Washington St. (one block closer to the river from Main, on the eastern side of 2^nd Ave.), which hosts several bars and live music venues. You can find everything there, from hip-hop to rock to country. Tight jeans go with Armani here, not cowboy hats.

The Basics

_{Places to Stay}

• _{21c Hotel, 700 W. Main St., 502-217-6300}

_{Things to Do}

• _{Actors Theatre of Louisville, 316 W. Main St. 502-584-1205}
• Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, 501 W. Main St., 502-562-0100

_{Places to Eat}

• _{Tumbleweed Southwest Grill, 2301 River Rd., 502-893-0323}
• Bristol Bar & Grille, 614 W. Main St., 502-582-1995
• Bistro 301, 301 W. Market St., 502-584-8337
• Mayan Cafe, 813 E. Market St., 502-566-0651
• Vincenzo's, 150 S. Fifth St., 502-580-1350

Dan Bischoff, an art critic in New Jersey, was born and raised in Louisville and visits often.