Bringing the world to Paducah
Chef Sara Bradley builds culinary connections
Restaurant work often requires people to operate in close quarters, chopping, filleting and frying in kitchens where space is limited. But for Paducah chef Sara Bradley, her passion for kitchens and cooking has opened up the entire world.
Bradley owns the Paducah restaurant Freight House and was recently named a finalist for this year’s James Beard Awards, the restaurateur equivalent of the Oscars. She will learn this month if she wins the award for Best Chef: Southeast. Of that prospect, she says, “It’s a little shocking and overwhelming, but all in all, really amazing.”
Bradley’s competing for the award with four other nominees (including fellow Kentuckian Noam Bilizter of MeeshMeesh Mediterranean in Louisville), and her presence cannot be comforting to any of them, because in the world of high-stakes, high-profile cooking, when Bradley competes, Bradley wins—a lot.
She has bested cooks from bigger cities on a variety of TV cooking contests, including Chopped: All American Showdown and Chopped: Legends, both of which she won. She also finished as runner-up on Top Chef: Kentucky and Top Chef: World All-Stars. Bradley’s also competing in the 2025 season of Food Network’s Tournament of Champions.
“I’m competitive, which is another reason I like cooking,” she says. “Cooking is like competing with yourself. Can I go faster? I remember, very early on, I would time myself on how long does it take me to break down a halibut?”
Excelling in these shows has given her national name recognition and offered her the opportunity to cook in London, Paris, Macau and elsewhere.
Her culinary journey began as a child who particularly enjoyed the traditional foods made by her mother and grandmother. Though she grew up in Paducah, Bradley’s father is from Floyd County in eastern Kentucky and her mother’s family is descended from Jewish immigrants who moved from eastern Europe to Muhlenberg County.
The combination of Appalachian and Jewish food traditions has shaped Bradley’s culinary approach. “Both of those styles of cooking are very much comfort food. So I grew up where food wasn’t just eating,” she says, “it was about the actual experience of cooking and dining.”
Bradley majored in psychology at the University of Kentucky before deciding to go to culinary school as her passion for food took hold. “That also started the journey of me moving to cities with no place to live and maybe having a job when I got there.” Or maybe not. Case in point: in her 20s, Bradley moved from Birmingham, Alabama, to New York City “with a U-Haul and three large dogs.”
She somehow secured lodging, and then looked for work using a restaurant industry practice known as staging (pronounced stodging), in which an aspiring chef offers to temporarily work at a high-end restaurant for free, ostensibly to learn, but often in hopes of getting hired. Bradley staged her way into the food scene and worked at Michelin-starred and other respected restaurants in New York and later Chicago. She lived paycheck to paycheck and recalls when she moved to the Windy City (by this point, with only one dog), she called a childhood friend who lived there and asked, “’Where’s a good place to live?’ And she says, ‘I got a closet that we could fit a twin bed in.’ And I was like, ‘Let’s do it.’”
All the while, Bradley was getting jobs, earning promotions, learning more and carefully observing her employers, noting their strengths and weaknesses as chefs, leaders and businesspeople. “You learn things like, when I own a restaurant, I’m not going to do that to my employees,” Bradley says, “but man, that guy can cook.”
Homecoming
In her U-Haul days, Bradley never imagined returning to Paducah to open a restaurant. That decision happened over time, as she marked more family milestones from a distance. “My brother started having kids. My sister was getting married. I felt like I was missing out on all these really important things,” she says. The connection she’d always felt between food and love and family had been part of why she’d gotten into restaurant work in the first place, and it’s also what led her to come home to Paducah. In 2015, she opened Freight House, which occupies a historic building once used to store vegetables being transported by rail.
She credits her supportive family and “really amazing staff” for much of the success she and the restaurant have had. That trust and collaboration have made it possible for her to fly around the world to appear on cooking shows that, in turn, promote the restaurant.
Freight House has a dynamic menu that offers innovative takes on traditional local food cooked and served with the precision and style of high-end restaurants in big cities. With its interior brick, open kitchen and well-stocked bourbon bar, Freight House feels classy, but accessible and thoroughly Kentucky in concept and practice.
“Kentucky food is a lot about coming from necessity and cooking with what we have,” she says. Bradley’s menu has featured a culinary application for Asian carp, an invasive species that disrupts the local ecosystem, but can be delicious if served with caramelized onion vichyssoise and brown butter potatoes.
Recent standout items included Peanut Butter and Jelly Ribs ($14), with an official description reading, “Sticky ribs slow cooked in Sprite and smoked pork stock … glazed in a preserved strawberry glaze made from the braising liquid and a peanut crust that is made from corn flakes fried in brown butter with toasted peanuts and a peanut chili glaze.”
If it’s unclear exactly what description adds up to, let’s just say that one bite of one of these ribs will hit every tastebud you have with a profound bliss that feels both new and familiar—and that’s the idea. While Bradley prioritizes creativity in cooking, she also believes, “It needs to be nostalgic. It needs to have a story behind it.”
That’s part of the value proposition of her food, which reflects the place where she grew up, and where she and her husband are raising their two young daughters. Far western Kentucky has long been a place of convergence; it’s where the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi rivers come together. If the American South and Midwest were people, they’d probably meet for dinner at Freight House, where the purpose includes more than just providing a great meal.
Bradley emphasizes working with local producers on a variety of menu items, including caviar. One of her longtime suppliers has been America’s Best Caviar in nearby Grand Rivers, which produces caviar from locally caught paddlefish and sturgeon. Owner David Fields first spoke with Bradley not long after Freight House opened when he heard that this new restaurant wanted to add caviar to its menu. “So I called her,” Fields recalls, “and I said, ‘Where are you getting your caviar?’ And she said, ‘Well, I guess from you.’”
In addition to their partnership, Fields has enjoyed the experience of eating at Freight House, which often defies expectations. “I’m a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, but she makes vegetables taste incredible,” he says. “It’s like a flavor explosion.”
More than that, Fields says, “She will go out of her way to help people here, to promote our products, and it inspires me to do that same thing.”
On a recent episode of Tournament of Champions, host Guy Fieri referred to Bradley as “the Queen of Paducah” and while that description may be a little overcooked, there’s no doubt that Bradley’s earned another informal title among locals: ambassador.
Liz Hammonds is director of marketing and communications for the Paducah Convention and Visitors Bureau, where Bradley serves on the board of directors. “Sara has long been a major advocate for Paducah and local tourism,” Hammonds says.
Bradley’s food-world fame and advocacy have contributed to the steady increase in tourism Paducah has experienced since the COVID-19 pandemic. “She uses her platform to lift up other small businesses in Paducah,” Hammonds says. “We’re really grateful.”
“I’m constantly trying to figure out how to say Paducah more on TV,” Bradley says. “It’s a great place to live, a great place to raise a family.”
And, improbably, it’s a great place to earn a national reputation as a chef. Whatever happens with the James Beard Award, it seems likely that Bradley’s work will keep taking her to different spots around the world—and she will keep working to bring the world back to Paducah.
A second helping from Sara Bradley
If you’re hungry for more from Paducah chef Sara Bradley, check out these sources for demos, recipes and more.
Bradley’s Instagram page.
Her YouTube channel.
Freight House website.
KET feature on Bradley’s work with Asian carp.
Bradley’s recipe for Strawberry Basil Pie with Black Pepper Whipped Cream.
Bradley demonstrates cooking whooped vegetables.
Sara Bradley’s Paducah
Paducah chef Sara Bradley has earned a national reputation through her impressive showing on competitive cooking shows like Chopped, Top Chef and Tournament of Champions. She welcomes guests to her restaurant, Freight House, while also encouraging visitors to check out local attractions like these:
Kirchhoff’s Bakery and Deli
Founded by Prussian immigrant Franz Kirchhoff in 1873, this deli and bakery offers visitors breads, pastries, sandwiches and more and serves as a favorite stop in Paducah’s historic Market House Square.
National Quilt Museum
Dedicated to celebrating the artistry of the quilt, this museum features the work of quiltmakers from around the world and hosts workshops and special exhibitions.
The Old Coke Plant
This art deco building was built in 1939 as a Coca-Cola bottling plant. It later sat vacant for years before being renovated and now houses businesses: A Mellow Mushroom pizzeria that features works of local art, the Dry Ground Brewing Company, a yoga studio and locally owned ice cream parlor Forever Sweet Creamery (featured in Kentucky Living in June 2023).
Midtown Market
This locally owned gourmet grocery store and deli specializes in local produce, regionally sourced dairy and organic foods, and gluten-free and vegan offerings, as well as coffee and catering. Midtown Market boasts that it carries more Kentucky Proud items than virtually any other outlet in west Kentucky.
Lower Town Arts District and Downtown
Paducah’s emphasis on the arts helped it become one of only nine U.S. cities to earn the UNESCO Creative Cities designation. Lower Town is a historic neighborhood the city turned into an arts district as part of a successful efforts to use the arts as part of a revitalization effort. Home to artists and art galleries, the area also hosts the annual Lower Town Arts and Music Festival. It’s also a short walk from Paducah’s riverfront downtown, which includes restaurants and music venues.
