I spent a few days in Nashville recently. Thanks to all the LTHers that posted on this thread before me...it made my trip much more enjoyable. Here's where my wife and I went -- My iPhone camera focus busted recently
, so the food pics are all blurry...I'll spare you from those.
Shortly after arriving at our hotel in the West End, we walked to The Gulch (West Loop-ish IMHO, with a touch of Wicker Park) to check out
Arnold's. It was even better than we expected. Off to a great start...thanks LTHers.
The smokers... We tried 2 meats...the roast beef and the brisket. Don't miss the roast beef. As for sides, we loved the greens, mashed potatoes,
dressing and the fried okra. Don't miss the desserts...I loved the spicy chocolate pie. This joint is legit.
Like the rest of Nashville, construction is nearby.
Front of Arnold's
Just a cafeteria...the line was efficient and the place was hopping. For reference, here's the daily menu...
Daily menu. To prevent a food coma, we walked to the downtown area. We stopped in the
Union Station Hotel (a former train station) because it looked cool.
Union Station Hotel clock tower
50+ foot high stained glass barrel vaulted ceiling We worked off a couple of the "threes" from
Arnold's and checked out the downtown. A stop into the
Robert's Western World honky tonk was enjoyable. It was a much less commercial music venue than many of the other spots which were teeming with bachelor and bachelorette parties. See what I mean:
And whenever there's a bachelor party, there's always some of this...which seems sacrilegious in this part of the country:
After we spent some time downtown, we trekked to the East Nashville. This is where the hipsters (and uber drivers) live. I hit a few spots, but was generally unimpressed with their hipster part of town. I spend a lot of time in Logan (and Portland)...The Nashville food scene is burgeoning, so this neighborhood may take some time.
While waiting for
Holland House to open, we checked out
Mas Taco...
At best, this is
Big Star without the beverage program. Its a small-ish shack with an outdoor space. Supposedly people queue for hours to get there hands on the tacos or elotes. Coming from Chicago, this isn't worth the hype. After a couple tacos and a terrible horchata,
Holland House opened.
Mas Taco Holland House is a cool space and boasted a promising bar. Unfortunately, the cocktails and Za'atar fries were middling. The service wasn't too friendly either. It wasn't unfriendly, but we were sitting at the relatively empty bar at 4 PM and there wasn't a ton of attention from the bartender.
Holland House We walked several blocks away to
No. 308, a "newer" dive bar - think a lighter
Slippery Slope without the dancing. Super friendly service, but the cocktails were a tad rough.
No. 308 Enough for East Nashville, we headed back to The Gulch to try to locate
404 Kitchen (a little internet humor for those still reading). I don't have any good photos of this spot. It is small - about 50 seats and it is attached to a 4 room hotel and reminds me of a Land & Sea project. Those considering staying there should keep in mind that there's a shitton of construction nearby, so it may not be the as cool as the photos look online. This meal was definitely a highlight of the trip. Keep an eye on chef Matt Bolus - his perspective reminded me of chef Virant, though with a more Southern influence.
The following day I checked out
Hattie B's in the West End. It is well documented on this thread, but I'll add a couple notes. I was unimpressed with the sides, but really enjoyed the chicken. I haven't been to
Prince's, so I don't have much to which to compare. As for spice level (they offer 6 options), I tried the medium (4th hottest) and damn hot (2nd hottest). I don't have a spice tolerance commensurate with many LTHers (ATK papaya salads can kick my ass), so for reference, I think next time I'd opt for the Hot (3rd hottest). I could probably work my way up to the damn hot though. This place has a definite
Parson's feel (or should I say that Parson's has a Hattie B's feel?).
Hattie B's West End I headed over to
Peg Leg Porker, which we saw when we were at
Arnold's. I had enough room to try a pulled pork sandwich. I wasn't that impressed.
Peg Leg Porker ...perhaps I should have skipped BBQ in Nashville...I wonder why I kept thinking about 'que:
Later that afternoon, we took a Segway tour. This was a lot of fun. I'd highly recommend it as a way to see the city, while being entertained riding a Segway.
Here's a shot of the capital...just before my first Segway thunderstorm:
Capital I also saw some entertaining garbage cans in Printer's Alley...
Johnny Cash
B.B. King
Recycle Bin (cans only) I headed up to Germantown to check out
Rolf and Daughters, which locals kept raving about. I only had an hour to stay, and was disappointed to leave. I'll definitely check this place out next time. Great cocktails, great vibe, great bites. I was trying to compare the menu to a Chicago place and all I could come up with was a mashup between
The Publican and
The Bristol (perhaps
Nightwood?).
R.A.D. We headed across town to a navy blue house which is the location of
The Patterson House and
The Catbird Seat.
Patterson House was the first stop. Behind this door...
Patterson House entrance ...is a library/waiting area. Once you cross the velvet curtains (think
The Violet Hour), you enter the large cocktail bar. I knew that some of the DNA of this place was from
The Violet Hour...other than the velvet curtain, the menu is similar and similarly broken out by spirit. There are some differences though. The bar is large and square. The space is loud too (relative to TVH). I enjoyed my brief stay too. The drinks were spot-on and the bartender was friendly and knowledgeable. I had heard some service horror stories about the place, but didn't experience them.
We headed outside and down the stairs by this sign...
Beyond the door was a small waiting room which housed a couple chairs, some Champagne, and elevator and a sign that said to "wait here". We did and shortly thereafter a hostess exited the elevator, poured us some Champagne and escorted us up to this dining room...
Post-service pic of The Catbird Seat Almost all of the 32 seats overlook the "U"-shaped kitchen. The twelve-or-so course menu had a decent start and ended strongly. Here's the menu...excuse the photo quality...
I enjoyed
The Catbird Seat, but I'm not raving about it. It probably would have been a more interesting/exciting/ground breaking experience had I not been to intimate high-end spots like
El Ideas,
Elizabeth,
L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon. I don't think it is worth scheduling your trip to Nashville based upon your ability to score a reservation here. However, it was a very good value (~ $380 total for 2 people w/1 pairing!) and the service was great.
The next day we (and seemingly the rest of Nashville) went to
Biscuit Love for brunch. We tried a variety of their biscuit sandwiches and thought they were very good to excellent. This is what the now-closed
Endgrain should have been - just a compact menu of breakfast and lunch biscuit sandwiches made with high-quality ingredients.
Our last dinner was at
Husk. It is located in the former mayor's house. Here's a photo shortly before the tornado warning sirens went off.
Husk The interior isn't quite as charming as the exterior looks. The bar is downstairs, next to this closet of goodies...
I enjoyed my short time at the bar. The upstairs dining room was weirdly decorated. Thought the space is newer, it looked very early nineties. Weird. It was still comfortable though. Of all the dinner places we tried, this seemed the most southern. We tried a charcuterie dish, an elaborate vegetable medley - think a five small vegetable dishes on a large plate, some catfish and others. It was a very good meal and a good sendoff.
Mentions:
Arnolds Country Kitchen605 8th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 256-4455
Mas Tacos Por Favor
732 Mcferrin Avenue, Nashville, TN 37206
(615) 543-6271
Holland House Bar and Refuge935 W Eastland Ave, Nashville, TN 37206
(615) 262-4190
No. 308407 Gallatin Ave, Nashville, TN 37206
(615) 650-7344
The 404 Kitchen404 12th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 251-1404
Hattie B's Hot Chicken112 19th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 678-4794
Peg Leg Porker903 Gleaves St, Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 829-6023
Rolf and Daughters700 Taylor St, Nashville, TN 37208
(615) 866-9897
The Patterson House1711 Division St, Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 636-7724
The Catbird Seat1711 Division St, Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 810-8200
Biscuit Love316 11th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 490-9584
Husk37 Rutledge St, Nashville, TN 37210
(615) 256-6565
Non-foodUnion Station Hotel1400 Fort Negley Blvd, Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 242-7301
Robert's Western World416 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 244-9552
Segway of Nashville Tours300 Commerce St, Nashville, TN 37201
(615) 244-0555
Thanks again to everyone else who contributed to the thread to help make our trip enjoyable.
-matt