Legendary riverman, Johnny Allman (1906−1989), spent thirty-four years in the restaurant business on the Kentucky River. In 1944, he and Charlie Stevens leased and operated the Boonesboro Beach Resort hotel and restaurant. Two years later, Allman opened his own restaurant about one mile north, on the Clark County side. His place specialized in catfish, sirloin steaks, and beer. He was joined by his cousin, Joe Allman, whom Johnny credited with the invention of beer cheese (then called “snappy cheese”) and fried banana peppers.
Johnny sold that place and started a new Allman’s Restaurant in 1949. In 1951, he sold that business to Carl Johnson, who kept the name Allman’s Restaurant. Steve Hall later changed that to Hall’s Restaurant.
Five years later, Allman was back, opening another establishment, the Fisherman’s Inn, across the road from Hall’s. This was my favorite during high school and college in the sixties.
Allman’s suffered through numerous floods but always reopened. In 1974, the restaurant was destroyed by fire, and he rebuilt it. Less than two years later, it burned again, and Johnny Allman retired from the restaurant business.
