Professionally, I dine out for a living, but on Tuesday, March 29, I will be Dining Out for Life, and I am inviting all of Nashville to join me. DOFL is a citywide fundraiser for Nashville CARES that brings together diners and restaurants to help fight HIV/AIDS. (Nearly a dozen eateries in outlying counties are also signed on as official DOFL restaurants.) The concept is simple: eat at a DOFL restaurant on March 29, and at least 20 percent of your total bill will be donated to Nashville CARES. To boost attendance and personalize the evening, each restaurant is assigned a host who extends invitations to friends and colleagues to get a party together for dinner (or, in some cases, lunch). But invitations are not required: simply visit www.diningoutforlife.com to pick a restaurant from the list of 60 participants—the highest number yet for this 3-year-old event. Then call the restaurant to make reservations. As if eating, drinking and visiting with friends for a great cause weren't enough incentive, all DOFLers will be eligible to register for a drawing that will award two round-trip tickets on Southwest Airlines to the destination of your choice.
Easter finery
No fried pies, but plenty of good Southern stuff on the menu for Martha's at the Plantation's wildly popular Easter Sunday brunch, beginning at 11 a.m. on March 27. Breakfast/brunch items, entrées (including my fave, Low Country shrimp and grits with country ham gravy), regional specialties like chicken croquettes and crawfish cakes, and classic sweets like strawberry-rhubarb crisp and white coconut cake are on the special holiday menu. Reservations are a must; call 353-2828.
Send tips to kwest@nashvillescene.com.
