Editor’s note: From Oct. 1-8, we’ll be featuring the each of the winners from the eight categories of the Owensboro Times Eat Down the Street Competition. The championship week of the voting competition will begin Oct. 11, when eight finalists will face off for the title of the overall favorite local restaurant. Today, we feature Old Hickory Bar-B-Q, which was voted as the favorite local barbecue restaurant.
After more than a century of serving the community, Old Hickory Bar-B-Q is unquestionably a staple in Owensboro. Owner John Foreman credits the longstanding success to the restaurant’s consistency.
Foreman said consistency in the midst of the last year and a half has been at the core of the restaurant’s operations.
That, combined with attention to detail for each meal they make, is what makes the 103-year-old restaurant unique.
While this consistency has provided them with numerous awards nationally and regionally, Foreman said the awards at the local level are the ones that are the most important to him.
“That’s what matters the most to me, not the national stuff. It’s nice and it’s cool to get things like that but it’s more important here,” Foreman said.
Over the last year, Foreman said Old Hickory has seen much busier days compared to recent years.
After some slow times at the onset of the pandemic, he said the drive-thru window began picking up and getting busier and busier.
The pandemic year taught him that while consistency is important, the restaurant was tasked with how to adapt to the world around them — changes of which were beneficial for the restaurant.
Although they didn’t have their usual holiday season catering jobs, Old Hickory was able to still cater to the crowd their faithful customers.
Foreman said they are thankful for the support they receive from the community and look forward to the customers and supporters in the future.
“I appreciate people that come here all the time. Our regulars, just everybody. That means more to us,” Foreman said. “We’ve had a lot of national recognition over the years, but I put more into local people that I see every day that really support us in what we do.”
