It usually pays to act early, especially now that a favorite local restaurant has announced earlier hours and two food, drink and music festivals are offering special discounted pricing for avians that rise at daybreak.
The first news nugget comes from Vivek Surti and his team at Tailor. In conjunction with the release of a new summer menu, the restaurant is now offering two slightly earlier seatings at 5:30 and 8 p.m., Thursdays through Sundays. I caught up with chef Surti at The Nashville Food Project's annual Nourish fundraiser last week, and after I hugged him to thank him for his transcendent salad course, I asked how people were reacting to the new early-bird hours. He said, “People are asking me when we’re going to open at 5!” I guess we’re all getting older ...
The new menu does look exciting, with a summery tomato sandwich topped with a crunchy masala onion aioli, a watermelon pani poori that promises to be a one-bite flavor explosion and a barbecue plate featuring beef short ribs from Bear Creek Farm. Surti is also excited about a new ingredient on the Tailor menu: squid. The squid is fried and served with a grilled corn bhel and a sweet and spicy pepper chutney. That’s definitely worth leaving the house a little early for!
If you’re a fan of beer and jam bands, well, I think we’d get along just fine. You probably already have the annual Touch of Brews festival on your calendar, scheduled for Sept. 27 and 28 in Sevier Park. But don’t wait much longer to buy your tickets, because 2-for-1 early-bird pricing ends at the end of July.
Take advantage of the discounted ticket prices to enjoy two days of live music, including in-and-out privileges over the weekend, multiple beer options, activities for kids and food trucks. New for 2024, the Hollywood Feed Dog Zone will give dogs a place to grab a snack and fresh water and even go off-leash (in a controlled area). So feel free to bring your pups.
Children under 12 (and dogs) get in free with an accompanying adult (human), and tickets are available at the festival website.
A first-time festival coming to Nashville is also offering early-bird discounts for anyone who’s willing to act quickly. I shouldn’t have to do much convincing to talk you into buying tickets for the upcoming Pizza City Fest Nashville coming to First Horizon Park on Oct. 19 and 20.
The Pizza City Fest is the brainchild of award-winning food journalist Steve Dolinsky, who has written and podcasted about the many styles of pizza in his home base of Chicago and beyond. He has leveraged his relationships with pizzerias around the country to put on four editions of Pizza City Fest in Chicago and Los Angeles, and Nashville will be the first of his fests to welcome pizza pros from locations other than the host city.
Dolinsky has arranged for 20 different pizzerias to attend the festival each day, so it might just be worth signing up for the two-day ticket — especially if you want to sample the multitude of pizza styles on offer, ranging from Detroit, Chicago deep-dish and tavern style to Sicilian, Neapolitan and Roman.
In addition to the unlimited pizza samples, other local vendors will be in attendance to provide salads, snacks and sweets. Beverages will be available for purchase, and live DJs and bands will entertain the crowd from second base as the attendees enjoy pizzas in the outfield cooked in 10 large ovens arranged around the warning track.
There will also be educational seminars happening throughout the day, where pizza chefs, authors and experts will share their knowledge with us amateur pizzaiolos. The official charitable partner for Pizza City Fest Nashville is The Nashville Food Project, and the organization will arrange for pickups after each day of the festival to coordinate recycling/composting of leftover, raw ingredients.
Early-bird tickets are now on sale at the Pizza City Fest website with discounted pricing until Aug. 18. You’ll save $20 off the regular price. Regular tickets will be on sale for $89, and VIP tickets ($150) allow guests admission one hour early and include special reserved seating, a dedicated bar, restrooms and a swag bag. VIPs can get in at noon, while regular tickets will have from 1 until 5 p.m. to snarf down all they can eat.
If you need more convincing, here’s the amazing roster of pizzerias and vendors who will be attending:
Saturday, Oct. 19
Participating Pizzerias/Bakers
312 Pizza Co
Bella Napoli
BoomBozz Pizza & Watch Bar
Calabria Brick Oven Pizza (Mt. Juliet)
Dicey’s Tavern
Five Points
Goodfellas (Chattanooga, TN)
Hog & Hominy (Memphis)
King Dough (Indianapolis)
Mikey’s Pizza
Mystery Light
NY Pie
Roberta’s
Rock ‘n Dough
Slice Midtown (Memphis)
Soulshine Pizza
Troup’s Pizza (Vestavia Hills, AL)
Uncle G’s Pizza (Birmingham, AL)
Union Loafers (St. Louis)
Salads: Ophelia’s Pizza + Bar
Snacks: The Secret Bodega
Sweets: Colts Chocolates & Campione’s Taste of Chicago
Panel Discussions and Demos
2 pm: “The Dough Whisperers”
Paulie Gee - Paulie Gee’s (Brooklyn, NY)
Michael Hanna - St. Vito Focacciaria (Nashville)
Robert Garvey – Robert’s Pizza & Dough Co. (Chicago)
Moderator: Ann Walczak, The Infatuation
3 pm: “Pizza Night at Home”
Alexandra Stafford – Author, “Pizza Night”
Moderator: AJ Jacobs, Comedian
4 pm: Book Signings
Music
12 pm: Jerry Pentecost (DJ)
2 pm: Jon Radford (DJ)
4 pm Patrick Sweany’s Tiger Beats
Sunday, Oct. 20
Participating Pizzerias and Bakers
Bar Vetti (Louisville)
Camacho’s Famous (Clarksville)
Campione’s Taste of Chicago (Gallatin)
FAB Pizza
Gio’s Chicago Pizza
Il Forno
Mag Mile Pizza
Original Valentina’s Pizzeria (Madison, AL)
Pastaria
PennePazze
Pinky Ring Pizza (Madison, TN)
Pizza Grace (Birmingham)
PizzaVia (St. Louis)
Robert’s Pizza & Dough Co. (Chicago)
Slim + Husky’s
Slim’s (Birmingham)
Snacks: Chauhan
Sweets: Fat Belly Pretzel & GELATANO
Demos
2 pm: “Pan Style Like a Pro”
Justin De Leon – Apollonia’s (Los Angeles)
Moderator: Mackensy Lunsford – Senior Dining Reporter, The Tennessean
3 pm: “Stop Using Store Bought Dough!”
Joe Carlucci – Original Valentina’s Pizzeria (Madison, AL)
4 pm: Book Signings
Music
12 pm: Gordon Persha (DJ)
2 pm: Megan Coleman (DJ)
4 pm: Weird Pals
