Mom’s Lasagnas

Nashville Restaurants and FoodMom’s LasagnasThis dish (really dishes: the recipe is for both meat and veggie lasagna) is not for the faint of heart; they cost more than $125 dollars in ingredients alone (for 2 hefty size lasagnas) and take about 3 days to make. It goes without saying that when in doubt, buy the better product because the end result is simply better. In my family, there is a long

Castrillo’s Pizza

Nashville Restaurants and FoodCastrillo’s Pizza1404 McGavock PikeNashville615-226-2900Every neighborhood should have a good pizza joint. That means a place that is not a chain. It means pizza with a unique style and a couple of other specialties to boot. A friend who lives in Inglewood tipped us off to Castrillo’s a while back and this has been the first time we’ve had a chance to check it out.

Carol Ann’s Home Cooking Café

Nashville Restaurants and FoodCarol Ann’s Home Cooking Café407 Murfreesboro RoadNashville615-259-2551It’s interesting to see restaurants “re-brand” and go through various marketing changes. The addition of a new logo, ad campaign and website can help a restaurant reach new customers. You want to make sure the ad campaign reflects who you are and for this reason I was a little puzzled by Carol Ann

Royal Thai Nashville

Nashville Restaurants and FoodRoyal Thai120 19th Avenue NorthNashville615-321-6104Sometimes you just have to go with the standby joint. It’s the restaurant that doesn’t jump out as a must do, but when faced with adversity you can turn to for a decent meal. Royal Thai in Nashville is our standby joint. The other day we went out with friends to Fatoush, only to find them closed a half an hour

Low Country

Low CountryEdisto and CharlestonSouth CarolinaYou can’t beat your first trip to a new place. Our friends Jackie and Don invited us to share a beach house on Edisto beach, joined by our friends Jennifer and Ian. Despite many cocktails we have managed to remember the best parts. Actually, cooking at home proved to be the best bet. You can see the shrimp boats go out in the morning and if you visit

Jack’s Bar-B-Que

Nashville Restaurants and FoodJack’s Bar-B-Que416 Broadway 615-254-5715And 334 W. Trinity Lane 615-228-9888NashvilleJack Cawthon has been in the barbecue business since 1976. He started with a catering operation and opened his first restaurant, downtown, in 1989. He followed in 1991 with the Trinity Lane location. I prefer Trinity Lane. There are less tourists and the staff is quite fun.If you

Ríchard’s Louisiana Café

Nashville Restaurants and FoodRíchard’s Louisiana Café4420 Whites Creek PikeWhites Creek615-299-9590A songwriter/chef writes tunes and cooks up authentic Cajun food, in a cozy little restaurant that also serves as a jam session H-Q. Only in Nashville. And luckily, the food is top notch to boot. It’s the work of someone who believes in fresh ingredients, a careful touch in the kitchen and plenty

Mary’s Old Fashioned Pit Bar-B-Que

Nashville Restaurants and FoodMary’s Old Fashioned Pit Bar-B-Que1108 Jefferson StreetNashville615-256-7696Mary’s Old Fashioned Pit Bar-B-Que has been catering to lunch crowds and late night diners for years. The Jefferson Street joint keeps some amazing hours: 8am to midnight during the week and until 2am on the weekend. It used to be take-out only. Recently they expanded with indoor seating.

Knockout Wings

Nashville Restaurants and FoodKnockout Wings1300 Jefferson StreetNashville615-320-3222Knockout Wings knows how to turn out big orders. I arrived at 11:30am one weekday to find one person picking up an order for ten and another person picking up an order for 15 people. The Jefferson Street restaurant has a loyal following, including Fisk and TSU students. The owner is a TSU grad, so he knows what

Gold Rush

Nashville Restaurants and FoodThe Gold Rush2205 Elliston PlaceNashville615-321-1160The Gold Rush has been turning out good bar food for years. It’s the type of place that draws loyal regulars, visiting rock and rollers and bar hoppers. They serve up a big menu that ranges from typical bar fare to more creative cuisine. The Bean Rolls are standouts and come in a variety of styles from spicy

Arnold's Country Kitchen

Nashville Food and RestaurantsArnold's Country Kitchen605 Eighth Ave SNashville615-256-4455There are plenty of Meat and Three joints in Nashville. Arnold’s Country Kitchen sits on top for one big reason: quality. They put quality into every dish on the menu. Everything is exquisitely seasoned. You won’t even have to think about reaching for the salt and pepper. It’s Meat and Three done right.You

Meet the Working Girls

Nashville Restaurants and FoodMeet the Working GirlsJoeltonOkay, so we’ve been busy lately and we haven’t had any exciting new restaurant reviews. So, we thought we would introduce you to the working girls and the fine sandwiches they helped Katie create the other day.The working girls are our chickens, Pinky and Laverne. The fancy Polish guy is their new rooster friend Lenny. The new Lenny

Fido

Nashville Restaurants and Food
Fido
1812 21st Avenue South
Nashville
615-777-FIDO

7/11: See dinner updated below

Nashville leaves a lot to be desired in the breakfast department. Sure, you can find a Waffle House just about everywhere. What’s missing are the mom and pop diners that sling hash. Here in Nashville the coffee houses have attempted to fill that void with homey atmosphere and unique

Best of India

Nashville Restaurants and FoodBest of India5815 Charlotte PikeNashville615-352-5335It’s always hard to judge a restaurant by the buffet line and it seems especially tough at an ethnic restaurant. You wonder if the food is just dumbed down for the cheap eats crowd. Now, we happen to be proud members of the cheap eats crowd, but we also demand good food. And with Indian restaurants in Nashville the

El Jaliciense Taqueria

Nashville Restaurants and FoodEl Jaliciense Taqueria6321 Charlotte PikeNashville615-354-5600Guacamole can be a revealing appetizer at Mexican restaurants. There are dozens of different styles, some regional and some just a matter of taste. One thing that remains standard at all good Mexican restaurants: the Guacamole has to be fresh and homemade. We were off to a good start at El Jaliciense. We

Prince's Hot Chicken Shack

Nashville Restaurants and FoodPrince’s Hot Chicken Shack123 Ewing DriveNashville615-226-9442This Nashville legend lives up to the reputation. The fried chicken is unlike anything else around: incredibly spicy and amazingly tasty. Hot Chicken is a Nashville specialty thanks to Prince’s and it really needs to be about more than the heat. Prince’s delivers. The batter is a complex mix of spices that

Scoreboard Bar and Grill

Nashville Restaurants and FoodScoreboard Bar and Grill2408 Music Valley DriveNashville615-883-3866Just across from Opryland lies working class tourist land. It’s a kind of worn strip mall area, where you can wander around the Willie Nelson Museum, see Ernest Tubbs' original tour bus or even go to church at the Stardust on Sundays. This area also happens to be a real neighborhood for folks who

Thai Taste

Nashville Restaurants and FoodThai Taste395 Haywood LaneNashville615-834-9250The Nolensville Road restaurant scene continues to expand into a true avenue of the world, adding Thai to the many ethnic choices available. Thai Taste is on Haywood Lane, perched on a hill just off Nolensville Road. It’s not much from the outside. As for the interior, the owners have managed to turn a cinder block

PM Restaurant

Nashville Restaurants and FoodPM Restaurant2017 Belmont Blvd.615-297-2070A big menu is also a big responsibility for a restaurant. Can you turn out salads, sushi, Thai food, Asian fusion and even a great burger all on the same night? We can’t answer for everything on the menu, but PM restaurant in the Belmont area was right on target with our items on a recent Friday night. Best of all the food

Real Deal Bar-B-Q

Nashville Restaurants and FoodReal Deal Bar-B-Q
Clarksville Hwy/West Hamilton
Nashville
615-262-2646Update 5/10-Real Deal has recently moved across the parking lot and inside the strip mall. They have counter service and a couple of tables.
The big, red metal Real Deal Barbecue shack has been a fixture on Clarksville Highway in Bordeaux for years. They've moved inside recently and now the cooker

Ed's Fish House

Nashville Restaurants and FoodEd’s Fish House1801 Dr. D.B. Todd, Jr. Blvd.Nashville615-255-4362Ed’s has been around since 1972, and is the original Hot Fish joint in Nashville. That’s good if you like Hot Fish, but if you don’t beware…there isn’t much on the menu except for Hot Fish and a few sides. The term Hot Fish is the subject of a bit of debate. Sure, who wants to eat a cold fish sandwich?

3 Crow BarNashville Restaurants and Food3 Crow Bar1020 Woodland StreetNashville615-262-3345Bar food can be more than fried sticks o’ fat. Bar food can actually be quite good, but you have to go looking for it. 3 Crow Bar opened a few years ago in the space formerly occupied by the legendary Slow Bar. The prime Five Points location in East Nashville makes it an important part of the neighborhood.

Whites Creek Farmers Market

Nashville restaurants and foodFarmers Market4409 Whites Creek PikeWhites Creek at Old Hickory Blvd.Whites CreekJust a quick break from our usual restaurant reviews to talk about a happy development for people on the northside of Nashville. Folks in Whites Creek now have a pretty neat Farmers Market. It's located just south of the intersection of Whites Creek Pike and Old Hickorly Blvd, just down

400 Degrees

Nashville Restaurants
400 Degrees
319 Peabody StreetNashville
615-244-4467

Update 1/11: They have moved near downtown to 4th and Peabody street. We'll have an updated review soon.

400 Degrees jumped into the Hot Chicken fryer last year. They’ve got some serious competition in town, but it seems like they’re up to the challenge. It’s a small store front at the intersection of Clarksville

Eastland Cafe

Nashville RestaurantsEastland Café97 Chapel Ave.Nashville615-627-1088How does an East Nashville Bistro qualify as a Hole in the Wall? I know the Eastland has had a number of rave reviews, but the café is a neighborhood spot in the best sense of the word. Parents are comfortable bringing kids; the kids enjoying running around. Some people are there for cocktails and appetizers; and others are

International Market

Nashville Restaurants and FoodInternational Market2010 Belmont Blvd.Nashville615-297-4453The International Market is a Nashville institution that has experienced a curious reputation change, due to Nashville’s rapidly developing restaurant scene. When they opened in 1975, Southeast Asian cuisine was a new thing for Nashville. The International Market introduced people to Thai food and helped

Piranha’s

Nashville RestaurantsPiranha’s113 2nd Ave. NorthNashville248-4375There’s something to be said for taking the versatile sandwich to new levels of perfection. Primanti Brothers restaurant in Pittsburgh figured it out years ago. They had more potatoes than they could handle one day, so they decided to put the fries on the sandwiches. The result, when combined with cole slaw, is one heck of a

Center Point Bar-B-Que

Nashville RestaurantsCenter Point Bar-B-Que1212 West Main StreetHendersonvilleOpen 7 days615-824-9330There’s lots of folks in Sumner County who have been raised on Center Point Bar-B-Que. The 41 year-old Hendersonville Landmark is best known for the signature “Three Little Pigs”. The Krystal (White Castle) style mini-sandwiches feature moist, minced pork, with pickle and a bit of sauce. The pork

King Fish

Nashville Restaurants and FoodKing Fish708 Monroe Ave. NorthNashville615-242-5700The fish sandwich business has apparently become so red hot in Nashville that there is a bit of a fish war developing between area restaurants. I love hot fish, so I’ll jump into the deep water and start reviewing some of the better joints. I’m going to start with one of the newer kids on the block. King Fish is hard

Bad Ideas in Marketing: Flood

Bad Ideas in Marketing Part FourYou may have seen the artist renderings of the Signature Tower building in Nashville. The pictures used on the company web site provide an interesting, and believable, look at how the building will appear on the Nashville skyline. Yesterday, I was thumbing through my wife’s June copy of Gourmet magazine, when I noticed this ad for the Signature Tower on page 111.

Bad Ideas in Marketing

Bad Ideas in MarketingPart threeI have checked and I don't think this sign fell down this way. So, that begs the question...why is it upside down? The business doesn't exist anymore. Maybe this was their way of saying goodbye? Or perhaps it was intended to make people look, kind of like an upside down newspaper ad. Either way, it seems like another Bad Idea in Marketing.

Bad ideas in marketing: Riding Moors

Bad Ideas in MarketingPart TwoThis is either one of Nashville's best hidden tourist attractions or another bad idea in marketing.

Bad Ideas in Marketing: No pizza here

Bad Ideas in MarketingPart OneEd's Fish and Pizza House has several signs featuring their name. Which may be one reason they don't want to change their name, despite the fact that they don't serve pizza anymore, a fact of which the nice chef spinning the pizza is happy to inform us. At first glance this seems like a Bad Idea in Marketing, however the more I think about it I could be wrong. My

Bro's Cajun Cuisine

Nashville RestaurantsBro’s Cajun Cuisine3214 Charlotte Ave.Nashville(615) 329-2626Monday-Thursday Lunch onlyFriday open until 8pmClosed Saturday and SundayThere’s something about a New Orleans lunch joint. It’s a friendly bustle of smiling faces and plates of steaming food. Everyone sits elbow to elbow, because there never seems to be enough room. Places like Johnny’s and Mother’s come to

Miss Saigon

Nashville RestaurantsMiss Saigon5849 Charlotte PikeNashville, TN615-354-1351Closed TuesdaysIf you can tell the popularity of a place by the Sunday lunch crowd, Miss Saigon is doing well indeed. The Sunday we visited was crazy busy. Every table was filled and people just kept coming in the door. Despite it all, the staff did a good job keeping up and the food didn’t show any signs of stress. That’