Nobody knows where to eat better than people who work in a neighborhood. You might think it’s the people who live there — but no. Workers have the edge, because the lack of a real kitchen at their office often makes eating out a necessity.
So when I wondered what the best places are to eat near the Nashville Zoo, I asked my friend Emma Harwell, who is their director of philanthropy. As a fellow Type A lunatic, I knew she’d have the goods — but even I did not expect her to have already undertaken a taco taste test with the development department that yielded a ranked spreadsheet of options. Girl.
While I will not be stealing all her research to publish here, she did reveal the winner, and that’s included below. The department also rounded out my list with four other excellent options on Nolensville Pike, all featuring different kinds of cuisine.
Sunset Safari
Check one out next time you’re headed to the zoo, and make plans to attend the zoo’s food-focused fundraiser, Sunset Safari, on Friday, Sept. 13, at 6:30 p.m. The event features live entertainment (including tarot readings!), animal encounters, and food and drinks from dozens of local restaurants. This year, the list is stacked. Here’s just a small sample:
1. Tacos y Mariscos el Amigo (3901 Nolensville Pike)
Tacos y Mariscos el Amigo was the winner of the department's “extremely intense, summer-long Nolensville taco tournament” (Emma’s words). This answer was thrilling to me because (1) I love El Amigo, and (2) so do a ton of Nashville chefs. I first went there on the recommendation of Rolf and Daughters’ Philip Krajeck, who named the succulent roast chicken his single favorite thing on Nolensville. But chefs have been calling that out as an incredible deal since 2010, back when our Chef Survey was anonymous. One said:
“A great roast chicken with salsa, tortillas and vegetables at El Amigo on Nolensville is $10. But widely overrated celebrity chef Jonathan Waxman charges over $20 for half a chicken.”
I love a salty — and apt — response.
The zoo staff shouts out:
Tacos with chorizo (ground-pork sausage seasoned with paprika and spices)
Tacos al pastor (seasoned slow-cooked pork that’s crisped up before serving)
The guacamole
“All of the delicious green salsa. You need so much more of it than you think.”
2. Edessa Restaurant (3802 Nolensville Pike)
Edessa Kurdish and Turkish Food: Kabob Festival
Edessa Restaurant has been a Nolensville fixture for more than 20 years. It can often be the first place people try Turkish or Kurdish cuisine, which has become a rite of passage in Nashville, where we have the largest Kurdish population in the U.S.
The restaurant is named for a city in Anatolia (the peninsula that today constitutes the Asian portion of Turkey), and you can find a great, quick history of the region and restaurant here. Their dips and kabobs are the obvious go-to, but don’t sleep on their baklava and kunefe, a traditional Middle Eastern dessert made with spun pastry that’s soaked in syrup and layered with cheese and pistachios.
The zoo staff likes:
Baba ghanoush (roasted eggplants, pureed and seasoned with garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and salt)
Stuffed grape leaves (with a filling of rice, onions, tomatoes and special spices)
Any of the kabobs, but especially the kofte (chargrilled ground lamb and beef mixed with chopped onions, parsley, fresh garlic, special herbs and spices)
3. Osh Restaurant & Grill (16 Thompson Lane)
Osh
One of only a handful of Uzbek restaurants in Nashville, Osh was the first, and it’s named for the sumptuous Uzbek pilaf of the same name. The mix of meat, rice, carrots and spices are prepared using a classic three-stage technique: prepare the liquid base (an infused broth), add the rice, and finish by cooking over an open flame.
Nashville’s first Uzbek restaurant is worthy of celebration
The zoo staff likes:
Chuchvara dumplings (stuffed with spiced meat and fried) are "out of this world”
Pelmeni (small steamed meat dumplings in clear broth, served with yogurt)
Uzbek bread (flatbread baked in clay oven until toasted and crispy)
Eggplant salad (grilled eggplant mixed with onions, bell peppers, garlic and spices)
Kebabs (lamb, chicken, kofte or beef in tomato sauce)
4. Peachtree Grill (329 Peachtree St.)
This family-run business is owned by Gretchen and Nick Soltani, and you’ll often find their son Anthony working there too. They serve Mediterranean, American and Southern comfort-food classics, plus beer and wine, all of which you can enjoy on their lovely enclosed patio. They’re also dog- and kid-friendly — dog treats are even on the menu! But note that they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so plan accordingly.
The zoo staff likes:
- The lamb dip sandwich — aka the “runaway winner” — which features roasted leg of lamb, gouda cheese and creamed spinach on toasted hoagie with mint au jus. (I have yet to try this, but I am fascinated by a mint au jus.)
Hot-chicken kabob (grilled breast tossed in housemade hot sauce)
The falafel, which you can have on a pita or as a side
The reuben (classic corned beef on marble rye with Swiss cheese, red cabbage slaw and remoulade)
The desserts, including pistachio-orange-blossom frozen custard and New York cheesecake with salted caramel sauce
Also on my can’t-wait-to-try list: pizza fries. There is simply no way that fries toasted with cheese and pepperoni with pizza dipping sauce is anything other than a gut bomb of glory.
5. King Tut’s (3716 Nolensville Pike)
King Tut's
King Tut’s is a perennial favorite of Scene writers and zoo staff alike. Our art director has waxed rhapsodic about the tender, flavorful shawarma. Their hummus is undeniably perfect. They got an honorable mention in the great 2023 gyro battle. And their falafel has been given top honors in the Best of Nashville writers’ choice department two times already, once by yours truly.
If you aren’t yet familiar with King Tut's, it’s both a food truck and patio, and “on a nice day, the vibes are especially great.” The restaurant has become such a hit with local chefs you can often find chef-owner Ragab Rashwa partnering with folks like Nicky’s Coal Fired for pop-ups and other events.
The zoo staff likes everything on the menu, but specifically:
Homemade pitas
The falafel — which Rashwa brilliantly describes as an "Egyptian hushpuppy” to Southerners — made from ground chickpeas, fresh herbs, onion and spices, deep fried to golden brown
Chicken shawarma (chicken breast marinated overnight in a blend of spices, yogurt and citrus and then grilled)
