It feels like most of the restaurant news in the past couple of weeks has been bad news (closures, closures and more closures). So I figured it might be a good time to share a few less weighty topics to kick off the week.
First of all, International Market chef-owner Arnold Myint has been on a heckuva run lately. His book Family Thai: Bringing the Flavor of Thailand Home was included on a lot of year-end best-of lists. I mean a lot, a lot. To wit:
- L.A. Times: 33 Favorite Cookbooks of 2025
- The Kitchn: Best Cookbooks of 2025
- Amazon: 20 Best Cookbooks of 2025
- Epicurious: 14 Stand-Out Cookbooks for Fall
- Serious Eats: 26 Best Cookbooks for 2025
- Bon Appetit: 14 Stand-Out Cookbooks for 2025
- Southern Living: Best Southern Cookbooks for Fall
- Eater: 15 New Cookbooks We Are Excited About
- Washington Post: 14 Favorite Cookbooks of 2025
- The New York Times: The 14 Best Cookbooks of 2025
- Chowhound: 21 Best Cookbooks of 2025
I’m not sure how long the sale will last, but as of this past weekend, Amazon was running a 50 percent off sale on the title if you somehow haven’t picked it up yet.
Since being named a James Beard nominee for Best Chef: Southeast in 2024, Myint has become even more of a fixture on culinary competition shows, including two different series from Alex Guarnaschelli. I don’t want to spoil anything, but if you have a couple hours to kill while you’re waiting for the next tranche of episodes of The Traitors to drop, I suggest watching these two episodes back to back: Alex vs. America, Season 5, Episode 3 — “Alex vs. Thailand”; Wildcard Kitchen, Season 3, Episode 1 — “Alex vs. America’s Champs.”
The first series is streaming on many services, and you can watch the second episode in its entirety on YouTube.
January is always slow in Nashville restaurants, and if you are willing to leave your cave and dine out, you can find some amazing deals at local favorites — they want to keep their staffs busy and cashflow coming in. I saw a couple specials from my friends at Nicky’s Coal Fired that were so good I had to reach out to make sure I wasn’t reading them wrong.
Tony and Caroline Galzin assured me that I wasn’t crazy (at least not in this particular instance). They are indeed offering their delectable coal-fire-oven-cooked pizzas on Tuesdays for only $10, for dining in or carrying out.
“Surely that must only be for a cheese pizza or some personal-sized 8-inch pie,” I queried. They assured me that it was simple — any of their full-size pizzas that normally sell for $16 to $25 are available for a Hamilton every Tuesday in January.
If that isn’t enough, Nicky’s is also reprising their successful prix fixe menu option from last year’s Nashville Restaurant Week, this time in the form of a Thursday Date Night deal. For just $30, two diners can choose from two salads or Nicky’s craveable coal-fired, marinated olives, all served with housemade focaccia. Then pick two from a list of four pizzas and four pastas and share a single dessert from options of tiramisu, cannoli or a chocolate almond torte.
You know what you can’t buy for less than $30? Two Baconator Combos and a large Frosty to split for dessert at Wendy’s. That wouldn’t be a proper date night anyway, so see you Thursday at Nicky’s!
