Food Notes
Triple crown
Katie and Gep Nelson, owners of Yellow Porch and Wild Iris, have recently purchased Cross Corner, a sports bar in the Kroger shopping center on Franklin Road in Brentwood. Previously owned by Katie Nelson’s brother Michael Gross, the bar-restaurant has pool tables, darts, video games and multiple televisions for simultaneous viewing of baseball, basketball and NASCAR. Cross Corner is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, and the current menu leans heavily on typical sports bar fare. Kim Totzke, executive chef for the other two restaurants, has been spending some time at Cross Corner, with an eye toward adding some “fresher and lighter” options to the menu while keeping the staples.
Prime beef
Jane and Michael Stern, the gurus of off-the-beaten path culinary treasure hunts, deemed Nashville’s Rotier’s one of the 10 best places in the U.S. to get a burger. Writing for epicurious.com, a CondéNet Web site devoted to all things food, the Sterns opine: “The hamburger itself is a beaut: a thick, hand-formed patty of ground beef grilled to juicy-center, crunch-crusted perfection. And the way Rotier’s presents it is an inspiration. It is stacked with lettuce, tomato and pickle, and hopefully a layer of bright-orange cheese, and a good squirt of mustard between two handsome tiles of toasty French bread. The package is so tall that it arrives stuck together with a toothpick.” Congratulations to the Rotier family.
Lunch bunch
Zoe’s Kitchen, a Birmingham-based lunch and takeout spot, now has two locations in Nashville. The Vandy Zoe’s, at 2057 Scarritt Place, opened in March; the Green Hills Zoe’s opened last week in the former White Mountain Creamery spot at 4004 Hillsboro Road. According to operating partner Chris Sherrill, Zoe’s makes all of its salads fresh every day, and sandwiches are made to order. Sandwiches include chicken salad, pimento cheese, egg salad and tuna salad, served in roll-ups, pitas, grilled breads or quesadillas. Along with the other salads, pasta and potato salad are also available as sides, on a sampler plate or by the pound. Eat in or take away. The Green Hills location is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Sat. Phone: 627-0800. The Vandy store is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Fri. Phone: 329-9900.
