Dinner Dates
All across town, restaurants are offering special events and discounts to lure diners during the summer lull
by Kay West
When the Nashville Originals put their member restaurants’ discounted dining cards up for sale on their website on July 12, they were sold out well before noon that day. The promotion is the first marketing effort of the group of 30 independent Nashville restaurants, organized less than a year ago (though it was many years in the planning stage).
Their latest meal deal is the Summer Dinner Series, a month of consecutive Tuesday dinners at four member restaurants. Proceeds from the series will be shared by Nashville Originals and Second Harvest Food Bank/Nashville’s Table.
The event kicks off Tuesday, Aug. 15, at tayst and continues Aug. 22 at Yellow Porch, Aug. 29 at Fido and Sept. 5 at Wild Iris. All dinners will consist of a five-course tasting menu paired with wines. The tayst evening is $100 per person, and the remaining three are $85 per person. Dinner prices are all-inclusive (gratuity as well), and seatings are limited to about 30 people. Prepaid reservations are required, and can be made at www.nashvilleoriginals.com. The website also displays the menu for each dinner.
Taystee treat
Tayst restaurant continues its Premium Wine Series, featuring exclusively Cru class Bordeaux wines, with two different formats to be held on consecutive evenings. Premier Lite begins at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2, and offers an informal tasting of the wines that will be featured at the following evening’s dinner; cheese will accompany the wine. The cost is $50 per person (tax included). If guests choose to stay for dinner, 25 percent will be taken off the food portion of the bill.
Among the intriguing new starters from Chef Jeremy Barlow are lobster ratatouille, fried green tomato sticks with light cheese froth, and sweet and spicy shrimp beignets with macerated berries and bacon ice cream. Sufferin’ Succotash Salad—arugula tossed with roasted corn, cherry tomatoes, black eyed pea confit and pistachio vinaigrette—is plucked fresh from the produce stand. New entrées include milk-braised pork loin with corn pudding soufflé, grilled cherry tomatoes and heirloom gazpacho; prosciutto-wrapped scallops, grilled and served with parmesan grits; and oven-roasted mahi coated with avocado cream cheese, topped with summer vegetables and served over curry-roasted fingerling potatoes and saffron oil.
The following evening, beginning at 7 p.m., Barlow will present a tailored five-course dinner, paired with first through fourth growths and sauternes. Cost for the dinner is $99 per person (tax included). Tayst co-owner and GM Dan Morrissey says the Premium Wine Series is not a classroom environment, and retailers will not be on site. Guests are invited to simply enjoy wine and dine. Call 383-1953 for reservations.
Bubblacue
One way or the other, you’ll get a kick from the The Palm’s Barbecue and Bubbles Dinner, which will pair Moet & Chandon products with barbecue or barbecue-inspired summer menu items in a four-course dinner for $115, including tax and gratuity. The four courses include coconut-fried lobster with mango fruit chutney, fried green tomatoes with Cajun remoulade sauce and catfish fingers; individual servings of spinach salad with goat cheese and dried cranberries, and a platter of sliced beefsteak tomatoes with bleu cheese crumbles served family-style; petite filet mignon and colossal barbecue shrimp with string beans, fried corn and cornbread sticks; and, for dessert, fresh blackberries and raspberries drizzled with dark chocolate. Each course is paired with its own champagne, beginning with the Moet & Chandon Nectar Imperial Cocktail served in a Mason jar to set the tone. The dinner takes place Tuesday, Aug. 1 at 6 p.m.. For reservations, call Paige Dixon at 742-3193.
Trace element
Summer is the slow season for restaurants, which makes it a buyers’ market. The Trace in Hillsboro Village is celebrating Christmas in July with its 50 percent gift card sale, through July 31. High rollers with tight pockets can purchase a $100 gift card for $50 (and your date will be none the wiser). To take advantage of the deep discount, email Krystal Brown at kbrown@tracerestaurant.com, call 385-2200 or visit the restaurant at 2000 Belcourt Avenue by July 31.
Taking a cue from Greer Stadium’s wildly successful Thirsty Thursdays and Faith Fridays, The Trace cranks up the alliteration for its cost-cutter promos: Martini Madness Mondays ($5 martinis all night long), Tenderloin Tuesdays (two petite filet mignons for the price of one, $28) and Wine Wednesdays (weekly tastings from 6:30 to 8 p.m. that typically present a half-dozen wines paired with food, for $20 per person). And finally, Something for Everyone Sundays: jazz brunch from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., half-price appetizers from 4-6 p.m. and, for folks in the restaurant and bar biz, Industry Night, with half-price drinks all night.
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