A basket of fried cornbread is a fine way to announce the meal at Our Best in Smithfield. Depending on the plate and the day, it may arrive as a complimentary opener or as an accompaniment: thin, crisp cornbread fritters in one telling, corn-bread pancakes in another. In either form, it sets the country-kitchen tone quickly.
This is a restaurant built for a proper sit-down meal rather than a hurried bite. The food runs toward hot Southern standards, the portions are notably generous, and the dining room has the relaxed, home-like character that makes an extra side dish seem like a sensible decision.
The Plates Have a Kentucky Accent
Country ham with pinto beans, mashed potatoes, and gravy is about as traditional a combination as you can put on a table in this part of Kentucky. At Our Best, that familiar plate is one of many routes through a menu full of sturdy country cooking.
Meatloaf, roast beef, country-fried beef steak, fried chicken, fried fish, chicken livers, and greens all fit the picture. A roast beef sandwich comes with homemade gravy, which is a nice detail for anyone who regards gravy as more than a condiment.
Fried chicken can be paired with green beans and peas, while the chicken livers invite a more old-school order with traditional vegetables and cornbread alongside. Grilled liver and onions with brown gravy offers another option for diners who still appreciate a dish that many modern menus have quietly abandoned.
Do Not Skip the Fried Green Tomatoes
Fried green tomatoes stand out among the starters and sides. They make sense beside fried fish or bluegill, but they also give a meat-and-three-style plate a little brightness and crunch.
The bluegill dinner has been served all-you-can-eat, with crisp fried fish, beans, and fried green tomatoes making a particularly satisfying spread. Fried fish, country-fried steak, and chicken-fried beef steak offer plenty of other ways to follow the fried-cornbread opener.
Side dishes stay close to the classics: lima beans, pinto beans, green beans, peas, and mashed potatoes with gravy. They are the sort of sides a table may start sampling from one another, especially when several people order different entrées.
A Dining Room Made for Lingering
Our Best has the neat, attractive look of a small-town country restaurant that takes its dining room seriously without making a fuss about it. Fresh flowers on the tables add a simple homey touch.
The room can be quiet enough for an easy conversation, though popular meal periods can bring a livelier hum. Couples, families, and larger mixed-order groups all fit comfortably into the rhythm of the place.
Service has a welcoming, accommodating manner, and the meal moves along without much ceremony: settle in, choose an entrée, add the sides that sound right, and keep sweet tea on the table.
Sweet Tea and the Dessert Case
Sweet tea belongs naturally with this food, especially when the plate includes salty country ham or a gravy-rich roast beef sandwich. It is the uncomplicated companion to a meal that does not need cleverness to be satisfying.
Dessert extends the home-cooking theme. Peach, blackberry, and cherry cobblers have appeared with ice cream, and coconut cream pie, chocolate pie, cherry cobbler, and other pies provide a strong argument against leaving immediately after the main course.
Pies can also be ordered to go by calling ahead, useful when a lunch stop turns into an excuse to bring dessert home.
Breakfast and Lunch Have Their Own Appeal
The country approach begins early. Breakfast offerings include biscuits with sausage gravy, bacon, and pancakes, all well suited to a morning when toast and coffee alone will not quite do.
At lunch, a quiche of the day provides a change of pace from the fried and gravy-laced classics. It is a useful option on a menu with enough range that a table can split between a lighter lunch choice and a full country plate without anyone feeling shortchanged.
An Easygoing Smithfield Stop
Our Best is in Smithfield, Kentucky, and has become a meal stop that people are willing to work into a longer drive through the area. The appeal is plain: familiar dishes, prepared in the generous style people hope for when they pull into a country restaurant.
The restaurant operates on a walk-in, first-come, first-served basis rather than reservations. It can be busy at popular meal times, although the pace of seating and service can vary with the crowd.
There is a free parking lot with plentiful parking. Meal checks have commonly landed around $10 to $20 per person, leaving room in the budget for fried green tomatoes, an extra side of cornbread, or a slice of pie.