Nashville Friday Five: Ways to Make the Most of Mardi Gras

Fat Tuesday falls on March 4 this year, which means you’ve got more time to celebrate Carnival than you will until 2030 (the next time it’s in March, not February). At least four of the five ways we suggested celebrating last year are still in play, but here are five more. 

1. Order a FatBelly Pretzel king cake

In the words of PretzelDaddy Levon Wallace: “This year’s cake features layers of sweet and tender pretzel dough, lots of butter, sugar and Ceylon cinnamon [a Sri Lankan varietal that has a delicate flavor]. It’s fragrant with orange and lemon zest, Tahitian vanilla bean, enrobed in a decadent cream-cheese-infused icing and topped with malted PretzelCrunch bits. Ooh La La.” 

If you know Wallace, you know he doesn’t do anything halfway (see The Hot Muff), so the fact that he’s “ooh la la”-ing this confection says it all. Pre-order your cake now for pickup at Gumbo Bros. in the Gulch between Feb. 28 and March 4. You can also order a king cake at Henrietta Red or Spicy Boy’s. 

Know your NOLA: What is a king cake?

In most countries, a king cake is associated with the Christian tradition of Epiphany, a feast day commemorating the visit of the Magi (aka three “kings”) to baby Jesus, which is important because it marks his physical manifestation to the world. 

However, the cake tradition can likely be traced back to the ancient Roman Saturnalia, a festival that celebrates a truly miraculous event: the longer days that come after the winter solstice. The holiday came with some seriously debaucherous traditions, including a sacrifice at the temple, banquets, nonstop partying, gag gifts and a carnival atmosphere that superseded Roman social norms. Gambling was welcome and “masters provided table service for their slaves” to celebrate “liberty for all” — which obviously ended immediately after the festival, so ... still not great for slaves, Rome. They also elected a "King of the Saturnalia” to preside over the merrymaking, much as Mardi Gras krewes do today. 

2. Build Your Own Crawfish Crawl

Limited-time

Hit up Tennessee Brew Works on March 1 and 2 for mudbugs by the basket, boiled in TBW’s Hippies & Cowboys IPA. No cover charge, dogs welcome!

Get tickets now for Billy Link’s boil at Bringles Smoking Oasis on April 4. It’s $45, all-you-can-eat, and easily the best boil in Nashville. Buy your tickets early and get there early — they will sell out and run out. Link, a true Cajun legend, brings his mini-lobster-sized crustaceans up from Louisiana himself, and when they’re gone, they’re gone. 

Recurring

Gumbo Bros has boils starting at noon on Saturday and Sunday during crawfish season. Check their Instagram account for the most up-to-date info, and check out drink specials through Fat Tuesday including a creamy frozen rum drink (Baby Cakes), NOLA Milk Punch and king cake Jell-O shots, which I have ... so many questions about. The food menu is also getting the Epiphany treatment with debris fries, mini boudin balls, crawfish queso and Cajun wings.

Spicy Boy’s is the East Nashville go-to for weekend boils all season long. Check Instagram for times, and pair your mudbugs with their diabolical Painkiller and a slice of king cake (which you can also buy whole for $35).  

3. Host Your Own Boil

South Coast Seafood has been bringing shrimp, oysters and fish from the Gulf to landlocked states since 2016, but their star menu item has always been crawfish. (They’re actually the folks behind the aforementioned TBW boil ⬆️.) Louisiana native Carlyn Perez owns his own crawfish ponds and drives back to Braithwaite weekly to pick up the mudbugs. That means, of course, that his food is always fresh — but it also means he sells out regularly. 

Catch his truck at New Heights Brewing on Fridays from 5-7 p.m., or on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 3 p.m. Once the season is in full swing, you can even preorder your crawfish and just show up and grab your bag. But you can already order everything from étouffée and boudin to smoked sausage and seafood to make at home.

I would, however, offer another option for enterprising crawfish lovers: Host your own boil. Meet Perez’s minimum order of 15 pounds (which is really only enough for about 5 people) and you can get his high-quality crawfish and even tack on his preferred seasoning mix. 

Contrary to popular belief, boils are not hard to master. After I went to my first real, Cajun-run crawfish boil in high school — Shoutout, Iversons! — I started hosting them myself in college. More than a dozen boils in (all of the Nashville ones were sourced from South Coast), I can confirm that it’s a skill worth having because: 1. It’s a relatively cheap way to host a big party; 2. It disproportionately impresses the crap out of people; and 3. It’s a blast. All you really need is a giant pot with a strainer, a propane tank and stand and a surface to spread your bounty on.  

A couple tips to start you off: 

• Always rinse your sack of crawfish first until the water runs clear.

• A plywood board with a hole in the middle set atop a trash can is as good a way to eat crawfish as any.

• Mushrooms and sausage — or even hot dogs and carrots, I swear — often steal the show because you can’t overcook them and they suck up all the seasoning.

• Never drain all the juice off of your table or out of your serving vessel as that’s what the real ones will need for dipping.

• The cooler soaking method Billy Link uses has never done me wrong, particularly versus the seasoning-in-the-water approach that Link’s cousin — James Beard Award winner and all-around badass NOLA chef Donald Link — prefers. 

These differences in opinion, and the debate they foster, is a huge part of the fun. You can be a middle-aged white woman from Memphis and pick a fight with a Cajun legend over a couple cold Abitas, and neither of you has to be wrong. Ça c'est bon! 

I will say, most lackluster boils suffer from a few critical errors: cooking the crawfish too hot for too long, boiling corn and potatoes to smithereens, or seasoning the hell out of the water but not seasoning and steeping the crawfish in coolers for 15 minutes or so after cooking. That last step (plus a stick of butter, which is my own lard-loving tweak) is crucial. You don’t need a fancy spice blend or a secret ingredient — I use Old Bay and Tony Chachere’s — to get a ton of flavor with a quick steep (though I do throw some seasoning in the water, too, because you gotta have that smell wafting around to whet the taste buds). 

And if all of that still sounds too messy, you can always hire South Coast Seafood to cater.

4. Catch up with the Crescent City Hoodoo All-Stars

‘Tis the season for a brass band, and this six-piece ensemble is playing their mix of jazz, blues and soul across Music City through Mardi Gras and beyond. Led by vocalist and pianist Chris Walters, they play classic tunes you’d hear in the French Quarter, of course, but also other New Orleans music that evokes Mid-City or Uptown. 

See them:

At Cheekwood on March 1

The All-Stars will cap off the Winter Concert Series at Massey Auditorium in Botanic Hall. Tickets are $35 for members and $45 for everyone else. Big Al’s Deli will be catering the affair, which means jambalaya, shrimp-and-grits and New Orleans bread pudding from the man himself. 

At Rudy’s Jazz Room on March 4

Get tickets to see the band at 6 or 9 p.m. at Rudy’s on Fat Tuesday and cap off your night with Chef Braden's jambalaya, gumbo, king cake or beignets. It’s $25.25 per ticket, 21-and-up only.

5. Bounce around 

Barrel Proof

This NOLA outpost is “cranking up the chaos and letting the good times roll” with over-the-top décor, the chance to score a signature throw from one of Mardi Gras’ legendary krewes and cocktails that include:

• Frozen Frag Grenade – vodka, melon, happiness, confusion

• Voodoo Daiquiri – rum, grape, lime, purple

• Zulu Sazerac – coconut oil rye, spiced coconut bitters, sugar

• Hurricane – rum, passionfruit, strawberry, lemon

• Pimm's Cup – Ford’s Gin, Pimm’s, lemon, lime, ginger

• King Cake Milk Punch – Courvoisier, Gambino’s King Cake Liqueur, vanilla, Earl Grey

Every purchase of a specialty cocktail between now and Fat Tuesday will buy you a raffle ticket, though I always have a hard time straying from their perfect margarita. 

Chateau Marmar at Margot

Margot McCormack is bringing back Chateau Marmar back for “MARdi Gras” thanks to the success of her holiday pop-up. Grab a reservation for Fat Tuesday from 5-9 p.m. to enjoy Cajun snacks and themed cocktails on the French side.

Dine Nashville: Chef Collaboration Dinner — Marsh House & St. Vito

On Sunday, March 2, Marsh House’s Brack May will team up with Michael Hanna of St. Vito Focacceria for a one-night-only collaboration. The four-course dinner will combine both Creole and Italian flavors, which is a pretty unique way to celebrate Carnival. 

Schulman’s

From March 4-9, Schulman’s will be serving a classic Hurricane (rum, OJ, passion fruit), with traditional jambalaya. Get the full story on the origin of the Hurricane here. 

Party Fowl 

From downtown to Donelson, Party Fowl will offer gumbo, Hurricanes, king cake cocktails and a “Fat Tuesday Flight,” which is a slushie-and-shot combo that ought to swiftly destroy your Wednesday morning.  

Show Pony

This venue replaced the (posthumously concocted) Johnny Cash restaurant, and it promises a lot of things that make me shudder. According to their website, Show Pony is a: “high-octane playground” “where high-energy meets high spirits”, “where LED screens on the walls pulsate and move with the energy of the room” and “where guests participate in the fun; whether it's cheering on our Show Pony Cast Members or dancing yourself!”

If that sounds like your scene, have at it; I will be at home in soft pants. But if you do go, you can check out their Mardi Gras menu March 4-9, which features a king cake shot — Irish cream and whipped-cream vodka, which actually sounds tasty — or a Hurricane Leroy, a “bold raspberry Hurricane with Goslings dark rum” which does not. You can also lay a base for all that debauchery with red beans and rice and shrimp étouffée.