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After we’d spent the morning in Pineville, we drove east to another small Kentucky town: Harlan. We met up with a member from the local tourism board and had lunch at a local favorite called The Portal. It was voted best restaurant in Harlan for their incredible pizzas. But its big claim to fame is that it was the original home of the Pizza Portal as seen on season six of the hit FX Original show, Justified. People will come from all over the world to visit the Pizza Portal to live out their ultimate Givens or Crowder dreams, but we’ve never seen Justified (and I had to Google those character names...), so we just came for the pizza. We love a hot New York street slice or even some cheesy Chicago deep dish goodness, but we’ve met very few pies we don’t like. The Portal has just about every topping you could want on your pizza, delicious hand tossed crust, and a signature sauce. After drooling over all of the options, we decided on the Central Street Supreme. It had Italian sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, mozzerella, green peppers, onions, olives and all things wonderful and delicious. It was divine! After our time at The Portal we took a quick walking tour around town, and had a visit with the town mascot, an adorable baby possum named Petunia. The mural was created by artist, Lacy Hale, and she wanted to break some
possum stereotypes, and show how cute and important they really are. Petunia is pictured with her tail wrapped around a pokeweed as a nod to Harlan’s famous Poke Sallet Festival. The pokeweed relies on animals to spread its seeds, and possums are one of the only mammals that can handle the toxins from the berries. So, without sweet babies like Petunia, we wouldn’t have Poke Sallet and we’d have a whole lot more ticks and snakes. We left the mural and headed for Moonbow Tipple Coffee and Sweets for the most important part of the day... a latte. Moonbow Tipple has a beaufiul industrial interior, which gave off the perfect vibe for a downtown coffeeshop. After our adventures in Harlan, we finished the day at Sassy TRASH. It’s an eclectic antique shop in downtown Harlan with everything from local art pieces to vintage signs and telephones. You’ll even find locally sourced honey, fresh bread and jams!
