This week marks the 75th Hopkinsville Rotary Club auction. Throughout the week, the Rotary Club will give grants to local organizations as well as raise money for loans and scholarships for local students. Since its inception in 1951, Hopkinsville’s Rotary auction has provided more than $11 million to help Christian County scholars further their education after high school.
Hopkinsville’s Rotary prides itself on its philanthropy. It also prides itself on providing Hopkinsville with great food during auction week, available at the Rotary Diner. The Rotary Diner is in the Memorial Building on South Virginia Street and is open for lunch (11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Tuesday-Friday) and dinner (5 p.m. – 8 p.m., Monday-Saturday).
Brendan and I went to the Rotary Diner for lunch and dinner on Tuesday and sampled generously from the menu. Here are our top picks:
Sandwiches
Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwich: This was my favorite sandwich. The BBQ is smoked out back, so it’s super fresh, moist and has a strong hickory flavor.
Fried Bologna Sandwich: Made with a generous wedge of chunk bologna, sliced four ways to soak up more flavor from the grill, this is a comfort meal.
Cheeseburger: This is a good, standard cheeseburger. As with the other meats from the Rotary grill, it’s got a great smoky flavor, and you can tell it was cooked on a real grill. They keep it simple with a slice of American cheese (in my opinion the best burger cheese).
Also available are a pork chop sandwich, hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken strips. The Diner has a toppings and condiment table where one can dress their sandwich as they wish. Sandwiches are $6.50, and you can make it a plate (with two sides and a bun or slice of bread) for an additional $3.50.
I should also mention that despite our abnormally large order at lunchtime, our food came out quickly. So, if you work downtown and need to grab a quick bite to eat at lunchtime, the Rotary Diner is your place!
Sides
The sides are, in my opinion, where the Rotary Diner shines. We tried nearly all of them. Hands-down, the hot slaw took the cake. This was my favorite menu item, as well Brendan’s. This spicy, crunchy coleslaw has a real bite to it. The mayonnaise base adds some tang but also helps keep the slaw from being too hot.
Tied for a close second were the green beans and potato salad. These green beans are just like my North Carolina grandma used to make—salty, soft and not too vegetably! The potato salad is also a solid option. It has good body and perfectly balances creamy with tangy. Note to vegetarians: both of these sides seem to have had meat in them. The baked apples were delicious as well.
The Diner offers a vegetable plate, which is three sides, for $6. Friday night only, they also offer white beans as a side.
Dinner specials
Aside from lunch options being available at dinner, the Rotary Diner is offering four different dinner specials throughout the week: jambalaya was Tuesday ($5 per bowl), a smoked pit chicken plate on Thursday ($9.50 ¼ plate, $12 ½ plate), a catfish fillet plate on Friday ($11.50), and a 6 oz. ribeye sandwich on Saturday ($10.50 for the sandwich, $13 for the plate).
Jambalaya is a new addition to the Rotary Diner menu this year, and there has been a lot of buzz about it, so I knew I had to try it. When I left the Memorial Building after lunch, the cooks were already preparing the jambalaya. It must have been a hit, because when I returned at 6:30, they had sold out!
Also available at dinner is pizza by the slice.
Desserts
The Rotary Diner also has a dessert counter with a wide variety of baked goods, each $3. From strawberry crinkle cookies to carrot cake, they offer pretty much whatever your sweet tooth desires. I sampled several baked goods, and the no-bake cookies were the winner for me. Made with chocolate, oatmeal and magic, they melt in your mouth.
Boston Butts
I would be remiss if I failed to mention the Boston Butts. If you live or work downtown, you probably already know about these—because you can smell them smoking blocks away! The grill crew has 300 pork butts smoking in a gigantic smoker stoked with hickory and oak logs outside the Memorial Building. Each butt is normally $50, but the Rotary announced Wednesday night that they’re discounting them to $40 for the remainder of the week. They’re available until they’re gone, and the grill crew assured me they will all sell. So, if you want one, you’d better get it soon!
So, this week, if you find yourself wondering what’s for lunch, or dinner or both—make your way down to the Rotary Diner. Have a meal, build community and help finance Hopkinsville’s future.
Grace Abernethy is a historic preservationist and artist who specializes in caring for and recreating historic architectural finishes. She earned her Master of Science in Historic Preservation from Clemson University in 2011 and has worked on historic buildings throughout the eastern United States. Abernethy was a recipient of the South Carolina Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation Award in 2014 and won 2nd place in the Charles E. Peterson Prize for the Historic American Buildings Survey in 2011. She and her husband, Brendan, moved to Hopkinsville from Nashville in 2020. She works as an independent contractor and is a board member of the Hopkinsville History Foundation.
