Tuesday, October 27, 2009
First Bite / Restaurants First Bite: The Silly Goose
Posted by Steve Haruch on Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 7:00 AM
The other night I walked into The Silly Goose--the not-even-two-weeks-old restaurant that took Fresh Blends' place adjacent to Ugly Mugs in the Walden complex on Eastland Avenue in East Nashville--and was immediately struck by a few things. First, there was the restaurant's credo--both the fact that it had one, and what it says, which is, in part: "We search for and buy local, organic, sustainably produced, minimally manipulated food." Points for that. And there's a list of local suppliers hand-written on the chalkboard to the left of the cash register.
Then there were the mouth-watering aromas coming from the kitchen--or, more exactly, from directly behind the counter, where food was being minimally manipulated and artfully arranged. I placed my order for a King Kong couscous dish ($9.50), a Saylor wrap ($8) and a Goose Stack salad ($9) and was offered a taste of basil lemonade. Fresh, delicious, and an auspicious first taste, but I opted for a juice of carrot, apple and ginger instead. It arrived with a slice of Granny Smith apple floating on top.
When I got the food home, I found my optimism rewarded. The King Kong is a delicious combination of sesame couscous--spicy, flavorful and rich, tossed with roasted cashews--served with five big, firm shrimp that burst with a nice blend of cumin, spice and citrus-y fresh flavor. The Saylor is a wrap filled with cucumber, red pepper, watercress, avocado, kalamata olive and fresh bits of mint. The wraps and sandwiches come with herbed couscous or greens; we got the couscous, and it was quite good. The Goose Stack is a terrifically tasty heap of fresh greens, goat cheese, mint, basil and that rare salad accessory--big fat slices of blood-red tomato that actually had flavor, all topped with a zesty citrus vinaigrette. A very auspicious first trip, indeed, and I'm looking forward to trying everything else on the menu. (Link here to a PDF of the menu.)
Everything was fresh and made to order, and while I took my food to go, you can eat there and BYOB if you're into that kind of thing. The Silly Goose is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. As always, let us know in the comments if you've tried it.
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