Get Ready for Nashville Scene Taco Week!

Taco Tuesday is great and all, but here at the Scene, we feel that the humble street snack deserves an entire week of adulation. That’s why the folks in our events and marketing department are bringing back our super popular Taco Week promotion from Dec. 4 to 10, when 40 Middle Tennessee restaurants compete to find out whose taco creation is numero uno.

The participating restaurants are each offering special $5 taco deals during the week, but you, dear reader, have an important role to play in the proceedings. First off, let's talk about courtesy. Because these specials are so outrageously generous, there will probably be some longer wait times and lines, and restaurants may run out of stock before you get your order in if you show up late during service. Be patient. Be kind. Be early! Also, since they’re doing you a solid with these special prices, be sure to order a drink and maybe a few other things off the menu to help them out. Maybe even a drink special featuring Black Sheep Tequila, which is partnering with the Scene on this big week.

As you taste your way around Taco Town, snap photos of your favorites and post them on Instagram or Twitter (formerly known as a usable platform). Then tag @nashvillescene and use #SceneTacoWeek23 as your hashtag for the chance to win prizes including the grand prize of a taco fanny pack, taco ornaments, $200 in gift cards to participating locations and a signed guitar from Black Sheep Tequila. You can also vote for your favorite at the official Taco Week website for even more chances to win.

The week will begin with the official kickoff fiesta at Live Oak Music Row Nashville on Monday, Dec. 4, from 5 until 7 p.m. There you can enjoy drink specials, giveaways, photo-booth fun and chow down on one of their SIX #SceneTacoWeek23 specials, including a dessert taco!

You’ll need to do some advance planning to maximize your enjoyment, so here are a few suggestions to make the most of it. Definitely hit some of the city’s old favorites like Pancho & Lefty’s for steak alambre, Ladybird Taco for their popular chorizo, egg and cheese with the addition of crunchy potatoes for a little extra texture, Pie Town Tacos for some hot chicken goodness on a tortilla and Bakersfield for a similar chorizo and papas taco. Do your best not to get confused by Taco Mama and Taco Mamacita. The former is offering an ahi tuna taco while the latter promises their spicy Sloppy Jose.

In addition to the regular suspects, it’s always fun to find taco goodness in unexpected places. Bad Axe is serving a succulent smoked tri-tip taco along with hurling hatchets, and Tee Line wants to remind you that the sport of curling exists in years that aren’t Winter Olympiads, so you can snack on a smoked brisket taco while you slide and sweep the stone across the sheet toward the house. (I swear that is an actual sentence written in English.)

Punk Wok has created a hybrid wonton/taco filled with spicy ahi tuna for Taco Week, and Flat Tire Diner in Old Hickory has entered the chat with a couple of rolled chicken tacos slathered with smoked poblano crema. 

If you're a consommé connoisseur, birria is still hot, and no less than five restaurants could create their own birria subdivision. It’ll be tough work, but worth it to try versions from Brown’s Diner, Chago’s Belmont Cantina, Family Tacos, Garden Fresh Food Market and Germantown Pub to find out whose birria is the baddest. 

If you want to play along, but you’re not eating meat, or maybe you just need a break after trying 20 tacos, vegetarian options are available from some of your favorite spots, including Graze’s fried plantain taco, Saint Añejo’s Buffalo cauliflower taco and two meatless offerings from Live Oak, an avocado taco and an apple pie dessert in a cinnamon shell.

For more info and to view the full list of participating restaurants and their specials, visit the event page.