How to eat out every night in Nashville
by Carrington Fox
Forget grocery shopping. There's enough going on in Nashville's restaurants to pack your weekly planner with everything from barbecue to cabaret. Rip out this page and keep it in your wallet, car or calendar. Next time someone asks, "What's for dinner?" You'll be ready.
Monday
Smokin' Monday at Corner Pub
If anything can make you look forward to Monday, it's the porky pilings at Corner Pub on Monday night. With stores in midtown, Bellevue and Green Hills (the last one is no longer affiliated with the others), the Corner Pub brand has a loyal weekly following when it fires up its big barrel smokers to grill ribs, sausage, wings and pork loin. About $20 buys more meat than a man can eat—unless of course that's a challenge, in which case it's worth working your way to the bottom of the heaping plate and polishing off the beans and slaw to boot. Since it's already sizzling on the grill when you get your seat, the food arrives fast, but there's no mistaking that slow-smoked flavor. 4109 Hillsboro Pike, 2000 Broadway, 8058 Highway 100.
Chef-owner Arnold Myint is anything but conventional. So while other independent restaurants declare Monday a day of rest, ChaChah calls the resting chef to the table for an evening of high culinary art. With offerings such as spicy gambas toast with quail egg, bacalao-and-chickpea brandade, squid-ink fideos, pig ear salad with mango, dill and chili, and bison marrow with cardamom-braised shank, Myint hopes to attract an adventurous audience who wants to share and talk about food. "If this goes over, I'd love to add suckling pig, sardines, tripe and razor clams," he says. Call 298-1430 for reservations or email info (at) chachahnashville (dot) com for menu and prices, which will range between $35 and $65, depending on the tasting. 2013 Belmont Blvd.
Tuesday
Batter'd &Fried
When the weekly seafood shipment arrives from the Gulf Coast, B&F owner Matt Charette says his team turns into "shucking fools," as they serve up two-for-one oysters all day long. A half-price half-dozen clocks in at $8.99, and a full 12 costs $13.99. 1008 Woodland St.
This pioneering gastropub-music venue in East Nashville made a quick name for itself with an uncommonly good British-style shepherd's pie. At first no one could believe the Lilliputian kitchen could turn out such a hale and hearty meal as the pan of stewed lamb and beef under a cloud of mashed potatoes and bruléed cheddar. Then they learned about the deal: 1 pie + 1 pint = $10. Consider that the pie arrives in a tin that's perfect for transporting leftovers, and you've got your Wednesday-night dinner taken care of too. 2038 Greenwood Ave. Mafiaoza's
Ask a parent, and they'll say two-for-Tuesday is the hottest family night in town. Ask a beautiful young thing, and you'll hear two-for-Tuesday is the best bar scene going. Clearly the Mafiaoza's mafia has found a formula that works: satisfying thin-crust pizza slices and beer served fast and cheap. The room glows from the fire in the pizza oven and hums with the buzz of a cheery neighborhood hangout. It's cheap and cheesy—but in a molten mozzarella sort of way. 2400 12th Ave. S.
Wednesday
Wing Wednesday at Re'Je's Grab & Go
Starting April 1, the sausage shop located in the twee green cottage next to the doggie bakery in Berry Hill will host Wing Wednesdays. At press time, owner Jennifer Boone-Henry was still testing recipes and polling visitors as to what she should call her secret recipe for wings slathered in citrus-tinged sauce and sizzled on the charcoal grill. If you can't get there on hump day, swing by 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and try a foot-long burger or one of the many sausages—including Italian, Polish, boudin and chorizo—which Boone-Henry scours from across the Internet.2815 Bransford Ave.
Now owned by the same crew that brings you Café Coco off Elliston Place, Italian Market has been gutted and expanded, and the menu has been rewritten by chef Paul Nadeau. There's no catchy name to it, but on Wednesday, $4.99 buys a to-go meal of two all-beef meatballs studded with peppers and onions, rolled in cheese and panko and served over fettuccine with house-made marinara and a breadstick. Or trot in for Tuscan Tuesday when all lasagnas (normally priced $8.99-$9.99) are a dollar off and come with a free side salad for both dine-in and to-go orders. Both specials are available 3 to 9 p.m. 411 51st Ave. N.
Thursday
Dan McGuinness Irish Pub Fish Special
The $6 fish & chips special available all day Thursday at Dan McGuinness' Cool Springs and Demonbreun pubs would make the dead Irish poets smile in Gaelic glee. If sweet and flaky fried white fish isn't your cuppa tea, hold on 'til Sunday night when Danny Mac steps up the fare with Pie and Pie night. All pints are $3, and shepherd's pie is $7. 1538 Demonbreun St. and 9200 Caruthers Parkway.
Friday
The Pie Wagon Skillet-Fried Fish
Any day of the week is a meat-and-treat at Carol Babb's Southern fare landmark. But mark your calendar for skillet-fried catfish day, when Babb and Co. sizzle up the sweet farm-raised fish. Eight-and-a-half bucks (including tax) buys a plate with three sides and a slab of jalapeno cornbread. Babb recommends hobo potatoes, broccoli slaw and white beans. (On Tuesday, skillet-fried hot chicken and three sides is $8.) 1302 Division St.
It's Middle Eastern cuisine with a side of midriff and Middle Eastern music on Friday and Saturday nights from 9 to 11 p.m. The menu stays the same, with a fresh and eclectic repertoire of Mediterranean dishes, but the scenery gets a rhythmic up-tick from a pair of dancers circling the dining room and patio overlooking Belmont Boulevard. 9 to 11 p.m. 2015 Belmont Blvd. The Standard Cabaret
Even New Yorkers have raved about the dinner-and-a-show combo at the historic townhouse, where chef Joe Shaw's Southern-scented menu of carpaccio, braised lamb shank and grilled veal chop comes with a side of sultry singing and music from the baby grand piano. Jazz starts at 8 p.m., and cabaret and Broadway tunes follow from 9 to 11 p.m. ($5 cover for non-dinner guests). 167 Rosa Parks Blvd.
Saturday
Gold Coast Authentic Chinese Lunch
Whenever the bloggers on Bites, the Scene's food blog, get started on the subject of authentic Chinese food in Nashville, one name pops up most often: Golden Coast. On weekends, the restaurant stashes the familiar sweet-and-sour and kung pao staples in favor of a repertoire of authentic recipes. The steam table overflows with congee, seaweed soup, salt shrimp and clams in black bean sauce, to name just a few of the intriguing items. The all-you-can-eat lunch for $10.40 plus tax is a filling—and fulfilling—culinary adventure. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 1722 West End Ave.
Oh, what a beautiful weekend when the French-flavored Sylvan Park eatery shifts course from dinner to the morning meal, trading foie gras and escargots for orange-custard French toast, shrimp and grits, homemade muesli with yogurt, Callebaut hot chocolate and Benton's bacon. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 343 53rd Ave.
Sunday
Ombi Brunch
Under new ownership of longtime bartender Terrell Raley, Ombi is serving a wallet-friendly brunch featuring the likes of lobster-and-brie frittata ($10), Monte Cristo with raspberry dijon ($7) and filet mignon with porcini-port butter ($12). Available 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Ombi's Sunday brunch is a tasty chaser to the weekend's late-night tapas menu. 2214 Elliston Place.
The all-you-can-eat buffet at Tribe's sister restaurant includes an ever-changing array of breakfast and lunch items, with an omelet station and a bananas Foster bar. The $6.50 loaded Bloody Mary includes all you can jam into a glass of vodka and tomato juice—think crabmeat, shrimp and blue cheese-stuffed olives. Four cabanas on the patio make a serene urban spot for sipping $3.50 mimosas. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 1517 Church St. South Street Crawfish Boil
From 2 p.m. until the steampot is empty, the bayou biker bar and restaurant serves all-you-can-eat mudbugs, corn on the cob and new potatoes for $28.95. Or get there at 11 a.m. for Saturday and Sunday brunch of frittatas, waffles and the Skinny Pig (blackened trout with vegetables). 907 20th Ave. S. City House Sunday Supper
Chef Tandy Wilson wanted Sunday to be a day when everyone felt welcome at his Germantown neighborhood eatery, so he designed the menu for people to share lots of things. Meals are served family-style, with big bowls for passing, and prices are a little lower than during the week. Every Sunday, you can count on marinara pizza and meatballs, but beyond that, expect the kitchen to cut loose with some unexpected experimentation. Last summer, they even spit-roasted a whole hog. 5 to 9 p.m. 1222 Fourth Ave. N.
All Week
F. Scott's Speakeasy Phrase
Green Hills' Jazz Age hangout recently expanded its Speakeasy Phrase promotion to the whole week (except Sunday). Whisper the secret flapper-era phrase to the bartender and you'll get a special discounted treat, such as pizza for $1 or flatiron steak and cheese biscuits for $2.75. Speakeasy specials also include beer for half-price and house wine, martini-style drinks and well drinks for $5. To get on the email list for the ever-changing secret phrase, send a message to fscottsjazz (at) comcast (dot) net. Bar opens at 4:30 p.m. 2210 Crestmoor Road.
Email cfox@nashvillescene.com, or call 615-844-9408.
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