It isn’t often that regional dishes cause a stir beyond their borders. But when they do, they’re usually here to stay. The Kentucky hot brown is a shining example of that. You could argue that the dish put Louisville’s Brown Hotel on the map. ​​Often described as a cousin of the Welsh rarebit and the croque-monsieur, the hot brown is credited to the hotel’s enterprising chef, Fred Schmidt, who conceived of the open-face sandwich back in 1926. “At that time, we had dinner dances, and when the band would go on break, our guests would routinely retire to the restaurant for a bite to eat,” said Mark Salmon, long-time Brown Hotel employee and keeper of hot brown history. Salmon explained that Schmidt’s late-night-snack invention evolved out of creative ingenuity, using “items he had on hand.” What emerged was a rich, savory, stick-to-your-ribs dish, comprising thick Texas toast stacked with roasted …