From food trucks to high-end dining, Nashville's 2011 menu was full to bursting
The Year in Food
by Steve Haruch @steveharuch
Starters
Even with the national economy slow to recover, Nashvillians were inclined to dine, and 2011 saw an impressive roster of restaurant debuts. At the apex, reservations-only prix fixe chefs' restaurant The Catbird Seat raised expectations for Nashville dining with whimsically awesome inventions like their hot chicken skin with Wonder bread puree. Elsewhere, the highly anticipated Five Points Pizza lived up to hype with impeccable crust and bustling atmosphere in the heart of East Nashville, out-of-towners The National Underground wowed us with their downtown burger and The Wild Hare impressed with a kid-friendly destination on White Bridge Road. And throughout the year, a steady rhythm of restaurant openings sent us to all corners of the city, clamoring for new flavors and endlessly rewarded for our travels. A short list includes: tony steakhouse Kayne Prime (The Gulch), Table 3 (reopened in Green Hills after a fire); Edley's Bar-B-Que and Fish & Co. (12South); Kay Bob's (Hillsboro Village); Joey's House of Pizza (Elm Hill Pike); Luna and Fish & Grits (Eighth Avenue); Fleet Street Pub (Printers Alley); and Green Asia (Nashville Farmers' Market). And that's just the tip of the iceberg lettuce.
Second course
A number of new ventures — and some of the year's most satisfying additions — took over in spaces where others had moved on (or in at least two cases, management decided to reboot with a new concept). In other words, Dark of the Moon may have been a dud, but transformers were all the rage. Off Harding Place on the south end, tiny but charming burger spot Ant B's became tiny but charming hot dog spot Jim's Coney Island, which is now on its second owner. Over by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, french fries gave way to French pastries as McDonald's became Au Bon Pain. Short-lived deli LB's Markethouse in 12South became Tayst chef Jeremy Barlow's new sustainability-themed sandwich spot, Sloco. On Belmont Boulevard, the old Tabouli's space flipped from Mediterranean to Mexican in becoming Chago's Cantina. Off West End, the erstwhile DaVinci's switched to old-school Italian as Vito's Ristorante & Wine Bar. In Midtown, Tavern's pub grub took over what had been Lime, under the same ownership. Over on the East Side, Allium similarly morphed into Germantown Cafe East, while further up the same stretch of road — after Main Street itself transforms into Gallatin Pike — the shuttered Tom's Elite became the new home of Porter Road Butcher (which never did open on Porter Road, but retained the name) and Kathleen Cotter's cheese shrine The Bloomy Rind.
Samplers
Here at the Scene we like to think our fourth annual Iron Fork competition — in which chef Laura Wilson took the top prize for coaxing amazing dishes from this year's secret ingredient, green almonds — was the best of the food and drink events. But in a terrific year, there was plenty of competition — from the Hot Chicken Festival (July) to the Music City BBQ Fest (August), the East Nashville Beer Fest (April) to the Southern Artisan Cheese Festival (September), the Music City Southern Hot Wing Festival (October) to the 12South Winter Warmer Beer Fest (December), the Nashville Soul Food Festival (July) to the Music City Chili Cookoff (October). Not to mention all the monthly night markets at the Nashville Farmers' Market, wine tastings across the city and the first-ever Battle of the Food Trucks, which crowned Riffs Fine Street Food and Cupcake Collection as inaugural champions — savory and sweet categories, respectively — on a beautiful October afternoon at Greer Stadium. Speaking of curbside cuisine ...
Carry-out
Almost every event became a food event by default this year, as Nashville's fleet of food trucks exploded onto the streets. Musicians Corner, Live on the Green, Southern Festival of Books and SoundLand all featured mobile eats alongside the main attractions. Food Truck Tuesdays at Second Harvest Food Bank became a weekly fixture, with 10 percent of sales going to help the area's hungry, and a similar Friday event took root at the YWCA on Woodmont. And even as the city government struggled to come to a consensus on new regulations for mobile food vendors — three public hearings in front of the Traffic and Parking Commission resulted in an indefinite deferral of the issue — everything from brightly colored vans to little more than box offices on wheels turned up everywhere from fine denim boutiques to Army surplus stores, dishing out some of the city's best on-the-go grub to eager clientele.
TV dinner
In fact, it was our food truck scene that garnered the most air time this year, as the mobile-centric show Eat Street visited Music City on two occasions. In June, the Food Network Canada crew taped episodes with Riffs, The Grilled Cheeserie and Barbie Burgers. Surely realizing they were onto something good, cameras returned in October, catching up with YaYo's OMG, Hoss' Loaded Burgers, Smoke Et Al and I Dream of Weenie. Masochistic chefs Aaron Sanchez and Roger Mooking brought their Food Network (USA) show Heat Seekers to Nashville in November. As the show's title implies, these guys go looking for the hot, and Scoreboard Bar and Grill and Mad Donna's happily obliged. In March, recovering masochist Adam Richman came to town with his Travel Channel show Man v. Food Nation, filming spots at Prince's Hot Chicken Shack and Rooster's Steaks. And on the Today show's Nov. 30 broadcast, Travel + Leisure features director Nilou Motamedon heaped praise on Nashville's "foodie scene," calling out The Catbird Seat, Yellow Porch and Mas Tacos Por Favor.
Order-in
Nashville restaurants also got plenty of praise in print form this year, including a laudatory review of The Catbird Seat in The New York Times, which praised "its bold, daring approach to high-end cuisine." Elsewhere: Williams-Sonoma's Breakfast Comforts book included the fabulous grittata from Sweet 16th in its pages; Food Network Magazine called City House's ham belly pizza the best in Tennessee; Garden and Gun went gaga for No. 308 mixologist Alexis Solers; Rolling Stone loved our food — Mas Tacos, Arnold's, Burger Up, Marché and City House — as much as our music; the visiting crew of the NPR show Wait Wait Don't Tell Me thrilled to the burn of hot chicken at Bolton's, dubbing it "Chicken with Punishment Sauce" on their blog; actress Mary Steenburgen launched this year's equivalent of The GOOP Heard 'Round the World, heaping praise on Monell's, Burger Up, City House, Margot and others on her blog while calling Nashville "the most effortlessly hip city in America." Hey, we'll take it. And another round, please.
Email arts@nashvillescene.com.
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