Pilot View Market | Where the locals eat

OVER THE LAST 100 YEARS OR SO, the building where winding Ironworks Road intersects with Schollsville Road in Pilot View has seen it all. It’s been a post office, stagecoach store, dentist’s and doctor’s office. But it’s always been a gathering spot for the Clark County community about 8 miles east of Winchester.

For the last three years, Pilot View Market owners and Clark Energy consumer-members Keith and Julie Staton, who raise vegetables on their nearby farm, and are mainstays of the Winchester/Clark County Farmers’ Market, have offered a full menu, 6 a.m.–6 p.m., seven days a week.

“The majority of our customers, we’re on a first-name basis,” Julie says. “When I see them pull up, I know what they want and have it ready and to them before they even sit down.”

A recent lunch visit was like stopping by the kitchen of a favorite aunt. Julie’s signature beer cheese burger (the restaurant is on Kentucky’s Beer Cheese Trail) and home fries were chased with a slice of airy cheesecake and strawberries grown by the farmer at the next table.

“I create the menu for the lunch specials at the end of each month for the following month,” Julie says. “I try not to repeat the same special within a six-week period.”

While she prods regulars to try new dishes, Julie is also open to their suggestions. The Redneck Hot Brown, a breakfast menu staple, is the creation of “one of our locals.”

“That’s what I love about the store and this community,” Julie says. “This is just home.”

With gas pumps outside and basic necessities and seasonal produce inside, Pilot View Market is a convenient stop at 7695 Ironworks Road east of Winchester, (859) 556-2622.

Pilot View Market’s Redneck Hot Brown: Click for the recipe!