Art of the edible kind in downtown Paducah, Kentucky
By Tom Adkinson
December 17, 2021

(Editor’s note: Paducah, Ky., is only 30 miles from tornado-devastated Mayfield and will be a spot many relief volunteers visit. If you want to donate to relief efforts, Gov. Andy Beshear set up Team Western Kentucky. Donations will go directly to victims; no administrative fees are charged.)

A smiling Todd Anderson, a co-owner of Kirchoff’s Bakery and Deli, shows off a hefty deli sandwich. Image by Tom Adkinson

PADUCAH, Ky. – The fabric art at Paducah’s National Quilt Museum is known internationally, but not three blocks away is art of a completely different kind that has been building a reputation since 1873.

It is art created fresh every day. More precisely, it is art baked fresh every day.

The location is Kirchoff’s Bakery and Deli on Marine Way, where the original culinary artist was a young Prussian immigrant named Franz Kirchoff. He and his young bride, Hannah Baumer, baked in a wood-fired oven and sent the aromas of fresh bread wafting through downtown.

Returning patrons know that many Kirchoff sandwiches are big enough to share. Image by Tom Adkinson

Their bakery was only a short distance from the mighty Ohio River, and whenever Franz would hear a whistle as a steamboat pulled in to dock, he would scurry down to greet passengers and crew with a cart laden with baked goods.

One of the red brick walls of the bakery now showcases portraits of Franz and four more generations of Kirchoff bakers who built a tasty legacy in Paducah and the surrounding region.

The Kirchoff operation grew over the years and became a major commercial bakery with its own fleet of delivery trucks that carried loaf bread, pies, cakes, biscuits, buns and other items to an array of grocery stores.

Just inside the entrance is a wall of portraits of five generations of Kirchoff bakers. Image by Tom Adkinson

Those days are gone, but the Kirchoff appeal remains large for people who visit the Market Square area.

They may come for the quilt museum, the display of murals on the Ohio River floodwall, the Paducah Railroad Museum or an event at the Carson Center for the Performing Arts, but the smart ones include a stop at Kirchoff’s.

A Kirchoff cashier proudly displays the bakery’s motto: “Eat Art.” Image by Tom Adkinson

At minimum, Kirchoff’s is a place to indulge your sweet tooth with made-from-scratch cookies (gingerbread and iced shortbread are popular), fresh pies (chocolate bourbon pecan pie has a special Kentucky accent) and two-layer cakes (chocolate, red velvet and a Maker’s Mark bourbon chocolate cake among them).

Specialty breads, of course, are perhaps the biggest attraction. Among them are sourdough, Heidelberg rye, Jewish rye, country French, French baguettes and cranberry walnut. Holiday items include penettone (a sweet Italian bread) and stolen (a German fruit bread with nuts).

Sets of historic photos from more than a century of Kirchoff baking history adorn the deli’s walls. Image by Tom Adkinson

Midday sandwich, soup and salad options attract even more people. Experienced patrons know that a single Kirchoff deli sandwich quite possibly is a meal for two.

Examples are fried green tomato BLT on sourdough, corned beef or turkey Reuben on Heidelberg rye, ham and brie on cranberry walnut, turkey artichoke on garlic roasted focaccia and an Ybor City-style Cuban on handmade Cuban bread.

All of the options inside this historic locally owned business make it easy to act on the Kirchoff motto of “Eat Art.”