Around page 75 of Cooking With Curtis Grace, there is a recipe for Zucchini Bread. It makes two lightly spiced, delightfully moist and nutty loaves of quick bread. This is the best Zucchini Bread I have ever tasted and it is probably the only recipe for Zucchini Bread I will ever use.

Three loaves of Zucchini Bread on a wood cutting board.

Our Favorite Zucchini Bread

It’s August. Gardens in many areas of the country are brimming with an abundance of zucchini and summer squash. I wish I could say the same of my garden. Though we planted early enough, during a bright and promising week in early June, I have only a few small zucchini on my plant and they are taking their own sweet time in maturing to the picking stage.

So, here I am, anxiously waiting. Craving Zucchini Bread I remember the summers when my oldest son would use our garden fresh zucchini to make this favorite bread several times a week. He and his friends ate whole loaves of it. There were afternoons when the boys took over the kitchen and made the bread themselves. His friends would help with the grating or mixing. At times they would add chocolate chips to the batter or sprinkle extra sugar on top to make a crispy crust.

I loved the boys’ enthusiasm and the way they incorporated their new ideas. For the most part, though, our Zucchini Bread recipe has held up well as the base for our favorite late summer nut bread these past twenty five years or so. It is a recipe from a source that I treasure and has a story of its own…

A loaf of Zucchini Bread sliced open on a cutting board.

Where it All Began

When my husband and I were engaged, and visiting his hometown of Paducah, Ky, he took me out to dinner one evening. The restaurant he chose was a family favorite. It was located in a beautiful Victorian house. Built in 1886, it was once the home of a great nephew of William Clark, the explorer who gave his name to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. This wonderful restaurant was called the Ninth Street House.

The Ninth Street House was the epitome of Kentucky-style southern hospitality. In the evenings its windows threw veils of warm light out onto the lawn and sidewalks. Piano music drifted through the windows and onto the patio. Just inside the front door, at the base of the stairway, Judy, the organist from my husband’s church, played jazz standards, classics and other familiar tunes on a baby grand piano. Occasionally guests of the Ninth Street House would sing along.

In the dining room, the ambiance was casual southern style. Cane backed chairs offered comfortable seating at cloth draped tables. Soft lights and candles cast a warm glow on place settings of bright china. Large casual stemware welcomed generous pours of wine as guests were put at ease and made to feel at home.

The Front Entrance to the Ninth Street House restaurant in Paducah, KY.

Kentucky Style Hospitality

The menu at the Ninth Street House varied. There were several choices of entrées each evening. The menu changed according to what Curtis Grace, owner and chef, found available and created with it. Curtis would chat with you if you stopped by the kitchen and if not he would stop at your table after your meal and ask what you thought of it. He was a master at creating a sense of delicious home cooking executed with imagination and style.

Over the years we found our way back to the Ninth Street House whenever we could. When we visited friends or family in the area we made a dinner date at the Ninth Street House, if possible. We also attended a number of family celebrations there. The last was for my sister-in-law’s wedding rehearsal dinner in 1994. That evening, as we walked to our car after dinner, we saw Paducah’s horse drawn carriage pull around the corner and on impulse took a tour of the handsome river town by moonlight. It was a memorable evening.

What does this have to do with Zucchini Bread? Well, one thing I clearly remember about dinner at the Ninth Street House was the bread basket. Just seated, a server brought it to our table. Inside, wrapped in a napkin were small slices of breads, both sweet and savory. A nut studded Zucchini Bread was our favorite. As a first taste it set expectations for a satisfying meal while smoothing the edge off of an afternoon’s hunger.

Two Cookbooks -Cooking with Curtis Grace and Cook Talk with Curtis Grace.

Recipes from Curtis Grace

The Ninth Street House has been closed for years now. The house itself still stands at the edge of the Lowertown Arts District in Paducah. The house is well maintained but is now a private residence. What remains of the restaurant are many fond memories and two wonderful cookbooks my mother-in-law gave me. These books are filled with recipes for southern style home cooking with the slightest upscale twist from Curtis Grace and his Ninth Street House restaurant.

I use these cookbooks regularly to find inspiration for seasonal delights. They are the source of my recipes for Beehive Peaches with Bourbon Sauce and Cold Peach Soup. Without even looking I can tell you that around page 75 of Cooking With Curtis Grace is a recipe for Zucchini Bread that produces a delightfully moist and nutty quick bread. It is the best and possibly the only Zucchini Bread recipe I have ever used. I have also used it as a base for making Carrot Cake Bread. You will find a list of other variations we’ve tried in the notes below. The recipe makes two big loaves and uses a good quantity of zucchini for those whose harvest basket is overflowing with the stuff. For my part I may still need to make a trip to the market for my zucchini this season but it will be worth it.

Enjoy!