With the Fourth of July falling on a weekend this year, you already knew it would be an entertaining week in Nashville — even before the hordes descend on downtown to watch the pyrotechnics. The best news is that it will be a great week for locals as well as tourists. Here’s the scoop for how to entertain yourself with a 70 percent chance of fewer encounters with Marge from Minneapolis or Bucky from Dothan. (Unless Marge and Bucky are smart enough to do their pre-trip research here on Bites ...)
Four Walls continues to be one of my favorite cocktail emporia in town, located in an intimate alcove of The Joseph at 405 Fourth Ave. S. It's not exactly a speakeasy, though you still might have to ask someone how to find it — but there’s no password or secret knock or any of that rigamarole. Just attentive personal service and an outstanding mixology staff.
As a precursor to the Fourth, Four Walls has invited some friends from Houston to join them behind the bar for a special two-night collab Wednesday, July 2, and Thursday, July 3, from 5 until 10 p.m. This is a return visit, as the Four Walls staff headed to Bandista at the Four Seasons Houston in December.
To celebrate Independence Day, the combined bar staff will be mixing and shaking red, white and blue cocktails. Four Walls’ lead bartender Mickey Stevenson and Bandista’s beverage manager Johnathan Jones will represent the home team, while the Bandista crew will whip up cocktails like the Colada Cosmico — a tropical combination of Corsair Vanilla Bean Vodka, macadamia, pineapple served three ways and coconut space dust. For a more spirit-forward and complex cocktail, the Rob Ahoy features Corsair Triple Smoke American Single Malt, Tempus Fugit Crème de Banane, Smith and Cross Jamaican Rum, Punt e Mes, and a lemongrass fog ... whatever that is. You can bet I’m going to find out!
For the 19th consecutive year, the Music City Hot Chicken Festival will take over East Park on July 4 from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. The celebration of Nashville’s most iconic dish will actually kick off at 10:30 a.m. with an antique fire truck parade to symbolize what it might take to put out the capsaicin-induced fires that attendees will encounter from booths representing the royalty of local hot chicken purveyors.
Among the restaurants offering their wares to the wary will be: Prince’s Hot Chicken, Hattie B’s and Hurt’s Hot Chicken, along with lesser-known but still reputable poultry providers Eugene’s Hot Chicken out of Birmingham, Chicken Shack Express, Mama Joy’s Hot Chicken + More, Bill’s Hot Fish & Chicken and Nashville Chicken & Waffles.
An annual highlight of the festival is the amateur contest, where home cooks compete to make the finest fiery fowl and claim the title of king or queen of hot chicken. There will also be music throughout the festival from DJ Tone Zone, Southern jam-rock darlings LadyCouch, folk singer Charlie Treat and country- and folk-influenced Ivory Coast native Peter One.Â
Additionally, there will be a kids' zone to keep the young'uns entertained. Although the festival is free to attend, a portion of food and drink sales will go to support Davidson County’s public parks, while also supporting local hot chicken businesses and the intrepid entrepreneurs who operate them.
Finally, stretch out the holiday fun with a visit to Lona downtown in the basement of the Noelle at 200 Fourth Ave. N. on Saturday, July 5. That's when they’ll be celebrating the second appearance of “Cinco de Lona.”
The monthly party features $5 tacos and drinks, including tequila shots, Mexican draft beers and margaritas. You’ll be hard-pressed to beat that deal anyplace in town, plus you can work off the calories from those inexpensive tacos dancing to the Latin rhythms of a live DJ. ¡Salud!
