Don’t forget that as part of the fantastic Music City Food & Wine Festival coming up April 24 through 26 in Centennial Park, the Scene's events department is also presenting a preamble of sorts with a series of Intimate Dinners planned across the city in the days leading up to the festival. From fun collaborations to special wine dinners to a visit from a world-renowned chef, these dinners will be once-in-a-lifetime experiences. They also represent some of the city's most exciting destinations.
We’ve finally reached the point where it’s neither too early nor too late to make plans to attend at least one of these special evenings — it’s exactly the right time. So read on and make good choices!
Tuesday, April 21, and Wednesday, April 22
If you haven’t checked out Prime + Proper, the new luxury steakhouse that fronts Broadway on the ground floor of the Grand Hyatt, they’re offering a special progressive fixed-price menu on two nights to help make a proper introduction to the neighborhood. Showcasing their seafood program and outstanding dry-aged meat options, Prime + Proper will take guests on a culinary ride from crab beignets and King Ora salmon through a family-style presentation of a Cowboy Ribeye and two versions to wagyu, crescendoing to dessert duo flourish. Along the way. You’ll also enjoy a salad and side dishes along with a rhubarb sorbet to clear the palate before the beef arrives.
[Details and reservations here.]
Wednesday, April 22
World-renowned Chinese chef Phillipe Chow will visit his eponymous restaurant in Cummins Station in honor of MCFWF to offer a seafood-centric tasting menu for the evening. And if chef Chow is in the house (or really, anytime the restaurant is open), you know that the signature Peking duck will be available as an option, carved and served table side. Optional beef upgrades and wine pairings will also be available, so you should take a serious look at those.
[Details and reservations here.]
It’s pretty much a rule that you can’t be a great hotel restaurant without serving a great burger to salve the souls of hungry business travelers looking for comfort at the end of a long workday. GATHRE at Hotel Fraye has that covered, and they’re leaning in with a playful Burgers & Wine dinner, where they’ll offer à la carte burger options that run the gamut from down-home Southern to internationally inspired. The helpful staff will have great wine pairings ready to suggest for a fun evening, plus you get to sleep in your own bed afterwards!
[Details and reservation here.]
Many people know that Marsh House is an excellent destination for coastal cuisine, but it should also be recognized for its excellent wine program, featuring a cellar of both domestic and Old World banger bottles. For its Intimate Dinner, Marsh House presents a special ode to California wines, specifically to smaller producers who share winemaking sensibilities with their European counterparts. Pay one price for four courses of West Coast-inspired fare prepared with Marsh House’s flair, plus five wine pairings.
[Details and reservation here.]
Reservations will be available all evening at V Modern Italian, and the standard menu will be on offer, but you lucky Bites readers will be in on the skinny. In addition to their regular fare, V Modern Italian will offer a special ode to spring menu that evening, featuring highlights like Spring Stracciatella, a refreshing Peach Salad and an indulgent Vodka Rossa entrée, all paired with premium wines from LUX Portfolio Wines. Do I know what “Red Vodka” is? No, I do not, but color me intrigued.
[Details and reservations here.]
Thursday, April 23
Really, any meal at Tailor is an “intimate dinner” and a special occasion, as chef-owner Vivek Surti welcomes guests into his restaurant like participants at a cheerful dinner party at his home, regaling them with stories of what inspired each course. The chef is also known for his love of bubbles, and he has created a special menu paired entirely with Champagne and Champagne cocktails. If you’re lucky (and Vivek’s insurance agent doesn’t read this article), he might even pull out the old saber for a dramatic bottle opening!
[Details and reservations here.]
They will be celebrating spring at Deacon’s New South with a special multicourse dinner featuring a selection of seasonal dishes, including a chilled spring crab cake, spring strawberry salad with burrata and arugula, bourbon-glazed short rib and airline chicken, along with additional menu options for guests to choose from. To be clear, “airline chicken” doesn’t mean it fell out of the sky or that you’ll have to wait hours to be served. It’s just another name for a breast that is cooked with the wing drumette still attached. The more you know ...
[Details and reservations here.]
While the original location of Culaccino is in Brentwood, this is the Music City Food & Wine Festival, not the I-65 Exit 71 Food and Wine Festival, so this Intimate Dinner will take place at Culaccino Nashville. You can certainly get a great meal at either outpost, but Nashville Yards is the place to go for a six-course Italian feast paired with the outstanding wines of Banfi, a celebrated producer based at the historic Castello Banfi estate in Montalcino, Tuscany. The pairings will run the gamut from spirited white wines to big, bold reds, and the food will be specifically selected to stand up to the wines.
[Details and reservation here.]
If you’ve ever been fortunate enough to enjoy a trip to The Rabbit Hole, the intimate four-seat table hidden away in the kitchen at Henley, you know how the kitchen loves to have fun with their guests. While that may be one of the most “intimate” dinners in town, for Music City Food & Wine Festival, Henley has invited their friends from The Shack & The Skillet —a farm and soon-to-be farm store in Chestnut Mound, Tenn. — to throw a crawfish boil and hootenanny on the roof of the Aertson Hotel. The Roux du Bayou Cajun band will perform Acadian classics while the cooking team boils up crawfish, corn, potatoes and sausage, all served on tables covered with butcher paper as God intended. Your ticket includes a welcome pint courtesy of Bearded Iris, and beers and a Cajun Paloma will be available for purchase. Aiyee!
[Details and reservations here.]
The team at Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery will be celebrating all things honey as their Intimate Dinner offering. From a Grapefruit-Honey Bourbon Spritz welcome cocktail through four courses of honey-inspired food and drink, they definitely hope you’ll “bee” sweet and attend their dinner.
