Nashville SC to Dish on Local Food

Now that Nashville is home to four major sports teams — ever since Nashville SC first kicked off in 2020 in front of almost 60,000 fans at Nissan Stadium — I’ve been thinking about which team might offer the best advice when it comes to local restaurants. (Maybe I'm just planning ahead since I’m not going to do this job forever, and the average career of a pro athlete is less than a decade.)

Of pros the Titans, Predators and SC and minor leaguers the Sounds, whose advice would resonate most with an average Bites reader? I don’t think it’s going out on a limb to say the food advice from a footballer who actually doesn’t use his hands would be superior. Here’s why I think so.

I’ve been a Nashville Sounds fan since their inception. In fact, I earned a free general admission ticket by helping roll out the sod in the outfield the night before their opening game in 1978 when I was in sixth grade, and probably eight of my first 10 crushes were on Soundettes. But I feel like Sounds players are the most transitory of local pro sports team members. They’re a bunch of 25- to 30-year-old guys praying to get the call-up to the big club in Milwaukee and living in fear of getting sent down to Biloxi. Bless their hearts, but with salaries that usually range from $35K to 50K per year, they’re just not in the position to lay down roots in Nashville and enjoy as much of the restaurant scene as other teams.

Conversely, Milwaukee is exactly the place where Nashville Predators don’t want to go, since it’s our minor league affiliate in the AHL. With a small roster of only 23 players and some pretty significant churn during and between seasons for many of them, it’s also hard to lean on Preds to give a lot of culinary advice. Although with a salary range between $775K at the low end and $10 million a year for Filip Forsberg, they can afford to dine wherever they want in town. But again, that might not make them the best sources of advice for fun little out-of-the-way spots, unless you think Kayne Prime is hard to find in the Gulch. (Which it definitely can be.)

Whither the Titans? Hmm ... there was a time a few years ago when it seemed like a quarter of the team was eating vegan food prepared by Titans LB Derrick Morgan’s plant-based chef and cookbook author Charity Morgan, so as healthy as that might be, it doesn’t offer much insight into where to find the best barbecue in town.

However, compared to the median Bites reader, Titans are just different types of humans — massive beings on specialized diets to either put on weight, lose pounds or just maintain stasis during the rigors of a long NFL season. Even the practice squad players who don’t dress on Sundays earn between $13K and $25K per week, so they’ve got the scratch to dine like ballers.

That doesn’t necessarily mean they make wise decisions. Take the notable example of former Titans QB Vince Young, who reportedly had a $5,000-per-week habit at — wait for it — Cheesecake Factory, including one epic meal that rang up at more than $15,000. Do you know how hard it is to spend that much money at a Cheesecake Factory?! Considering he earned more than $35 million in his NFL career, I guess he can do whatever he wants. But also considering he declared bankruptcy the year he retired in 2014, maybe he's not the guy to ask for either food or financial advice.

So we’re down to Nashville SC, and here’s why I think that their advice is worth seeking out. First of all, most of them aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, since more than half the roster has already spent at least three years with the team. With MLS being the top rung of the U.S. soccer ladder and very few players moving from this league to European leagues, the Boys in Gold have time to ingrain themselves in the community and become experts on the neighborhoods where they live, frequently great food areas like East Nashville and Germantown.

With SC's salary range being between $80K and $5 million per year (which Hany Mukhtar earns every penny of, thank you very much!), I don’t imagine you’ll find many of them grubbing on Glamburgers, Pasta Da Vinci or any other of the more than 250 available items at the Factory of Cheesecake. While that establishment does try to feature a distressingly wide array of international dishes, I don’t believe they could fool the global roster of Nashville SC players who hail from 11 different countries, ranging from Norway to New Zealand.

So this is the roster I’d want to go to battle with when it comes to restaurant recommendations. And we’re actually going to do it!

This week, I’ll introduce you to three Nashville SC veterans and a relative newcomer, and over the next two weeks I’ll share their insights into the local dining scene. I’ve already seen their responses, and I think you’re going to find them insightful and entertaining.

First on the pitch is defender Daniel Lovitz, a six-year veteran who was on the opening-night roster way back in 2020, so he’s practically a local now. Born in Wyndmoor, Pa., Lovitz turns 34 next week, so he brings an extra level of maturity to the restaurant discussion. (Unlike the aforementioned spoiled QB who once threw a tantrum [and his shoulder pads into the stands] after being benched in a game.) I’ll give you a little preview of his expertise. As long as it’s on the east side of the Cumberland, he could do my job!

Midfielder Alex Muyl joined Lovitz on the inaugural SC roster in 2020, and the 29-year-old from New York City is also an East Side expert. Among his bona fides is the fun fact that he actually grew up as a childhood friend and soccer teammate with Timothée Chalamet. The famous thespian has shouted out to his buddy on past podcast episodes and gave him the nickname “Foot Mozart.” OK, he’s an actor, not a writer. We’ll let that one pass.

The third veteran on our “footy foodie” panel is defender Jack Maher who has been with the club since becoming the first Adidas MLS SuperDraft selection in Nashville SC history in 2020. Born 25 years ago in Caseyville, Ill., Maher ranges a little further afar for his dining discoveries. You can expect upcoming restaurant advice from him over the next two weeks that includes spots in East Nashville, Midtown, Sylvan Park and the Gulch.

Finally, the newbie to town is Patrick Yazbek, a 23-year-old midfielder: Two seasons with Nashville SC all the way from Liverpool, Australia, who is in his second year with SC. Yazbek brings his international perspective to the table, although he sticks a little closer to home with most of his favorite recommendations located in the area between Germantown and Broadway. Still, it’s great to have the insight of a new Nashvillian.

So get ready Nashville SC fans and food fans. Over the next two Fridays, we’re going to pick the brains of some of the most culinarily curious members of the squad, and I promise you that even I learned a few things from them. Until then, root hard for the home team and get ready to be hungry!