The downtown shopping scene offers ev-
erything from hand-tooled cowboy boots
(Aiken Dry Goods) to Barbour jackets and
scarves (Equine Divine). Plum Pudding,
Aiken's gourmet kitchen shop, has been in
business for 40 years. There are in-house
cooking classes, fine dinnerware (C E Co-
rey's Aiken-themed plates and cups are
popular with the fox hunting crowd), and
local barbecue sauces.
Linda's Bistro is two streets over from
the center of town on York, and owner/
chef Linda Rooney stresses that horse-
men and women can come with breeches
and boots – no dressing up required for
her place (or any restaurant in Aiken for
that matter). Rooney was raised outside
of Montreal, but the lure of the racetrack
was strong. She headed to the U.S., even-
tually galloping for Woody Stephens both
in New York and in Aiken before becom-
ing involved in steeplechasing. When she
hung up her tack at age 40, Rooney began
her culinary career: first in New York City,
making shortbread and pastries for clients
such as Dean & DeLuca, and then in Aiken
where she progressed from a food cart to
a small restaurant in the Alley, and final-
ly to her charming two-story restaurant/
home on York Street.
