Today's Outdoor Dining Pick: Inglewood Lounge

Much of the restaurant industry had to rapidly change its business model due to COVID-19, and we’re trying to highlight the Nashville places that are attempting to stay open. For weeks we’ve been giving you a critic’s pick for a restaurant offering takeout, as well as a running list of restaurants that you can support. As some restaurants have been expanding from takeout to outdoor seating, we’ve evolved, too. We’re now also highlighting some of those places where you can sit down and eat out...in the outdoors. Today: Inglewood Lounge

My sister works with a conservation project at Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. A few years ago my family got to go with her to explore and learn, and, while it wasn’t on the official itinerary, also eat a lot of piri piri sauce. Piri piri is made with the African bird's-eye pepper, oil, lemon, other chili peppers, garlic, and maybe a bay leaf. It sits on the tables in the dining tent in Gorongosa, ready to be dabbed on almost everything.

When not learning about the biodiversity of the park and the planet, my family developed an affinity for this pepper condiment, which was brought back to Portugal when the Portuguese colonial dictatorship in Mozambique was ousted in 1974. It is not rare in the U.S., by any means, but is more common in the United Kingdom and South Africa than in the U.S.

If you-know-what hadn’t happened I would have been on a plane for my annual vacation with my sister this weekend; past vacations have included the aforementioned Mozambique trip. As I was thinking about which local restaurant I would support with my outdoor dining dollars this weekend I was also waxing nostalgic about vacations of the past.

So I headed to Inglewood Lounge, the hip cocktail bar and home to the Actual Food kitchen, for a piri piri chicken sandwich. I strolled up to the walkup takeout window on the north side of the building and perused the menu, which now includes lunch service. It all seems appropriate given that Inglewood Lounge is in a building that used to be a Gallatin Pike Mrs. Winner’s fast-food chicken joint. I went knowing the sandwich I wanted, but there were other options, including burgers, tacos, Hawaiian pork sandwiches, and fried cheese curds. Cocktails include a strawberry vodka slushie, a lavender margarita, and a gin julep. To-go orders are packed in compostable containers instead of plastic or Styrofoam, and service is well-designed to adhere to new-world-order guidelines. Staff are masked, and they ask that you wear a mask when you place your order at the window. As the city moves to Phase 3 today, Inglewood Lounge has plans to open its indoor seating as well.

You can sip your specialty cocktails and enjoy your tacos and piri piri chicken from a new landscaped area with a number of socially distanced picnic tables (some in shade and some in sun) on the north side of the building, or wait on benches near the window and take your order to go.

Their boneless sandwich is spicy enough to clear the sinuses — but not so hot that you can’t taste the flavor of the piri piri. They serve it with a lemon-basil sauce, a perfect shiny brioche bun, and sweet-and-spicy pickles as a nod to the traditional Nashville hot chicken. It was the right combination for me, dreaming of past and future vacations, but also happy to be safe at home.

Below is a list of Nashville restaurants (with links) open for takeout and delivery during the COVID-19 shutdown. While some may have had existing relationships with delivery providers, most of this list are offering the service for the first time. Most offer curbside pickup, but check when you order. As this list is a moving target, please leave any changes, suggestions or omissions in the comments.

Margaret Littman

Places with takeout or delivery as of Monday, June 22

Margaret Littman

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