Date Night is a multipart road map for everyone who wants a nice evening out, but has no time to plan it. It’s for people who want to do more than just go to one restaurant and call it a night. It’s for overwhelmed parents who don’t get out often; for friends who visit the same three restaurants because they’re too afraid to try someplace new; and for busy folks who keep forgetting all the places they’ve driven past, heard about, seen on social and said, “Let’s remember that place next time we go out.”
Dear Santa,
It’s been a few decades since I last wrote. Making a wish list isn’t as easy as it was when all I wanted was a Barbie Dream House or a big-girl bike with blue-and-white handlebar streamers. I suppose that’s because what I really need can’t be made by elves.
For example, I want:
Christmas to stop feeling like an unpaid part-time job.
To feel something besides being overwhelmed during the month of December.
The gifts to wrap themselves. (On second thought, the elves might be helpful here.)
To snuggle up with my husband Dom and our teen on a comfy couch in a dark room with a lit Christmas tree, the original version of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! on TV and an oversized bowl of heavily buttered popcorn. And if it wouldn’t be too much to ask, it’d be nice if everyone, including the dog, would refrain from passing gas during those few moments of merriment.
Santa, we both know you can’t pull off this list. Don’t feel bad — I can’t either. But there’s still magic to be made. I recently realized there’s a sweet little sliver of town where you can hit an art museum, a holiday pop-up bar and an American grill, all within a few steps of each other. And you only have to pay to park your sleigh once.
Stop 1: Frist Art Museum
The Frist closes at 5:30 p.m. on the weekends, so plan ahead for an early start and give yourself enough time to wander through all three exhibitions — María Magdelena Campos Pons: Behold in the Ingram Gallery; LaJuné McMillian: The Portal’s Keeper-Origins in the Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery (a blink-and-you-miss-it secret gallery within the Ingram space); and Myths to Manga in the Upper-Level Galleries — and enjoy Martin ArtQuest, my favorite part.
Through Feb. 16, activities in ArtQuest reflect the Myths to Manga exhibit. Create your own anime character and manga comic strip. Work with woodblocks. Sketch a mannequin dolled up in Harajuku street style. So what if you, like me, can’t draw a straight line with two hands and a ruler? The point is to play.
I can’t speak intelligently about art. I just know what strikes me and what makes me feel like I wandered into someone else’s fever dream. Discussing what we saw and how it made us feel made a great conversation starter at our next stop, 330 steps away.
Union Station’s “A Very Merry Bar Car”
Stop 2: Union Station’s ‘A Very Merry Bar Car’
There’s so much history between the Frist and Union Station. Just as the Frist was the main post office in Nashville for many years, Union Station was Nashville’s central terminal where trains arrived and departed from 1900 to 1979. I learned this fact from the train schedule board in “A Very Merry Bar Car,” Union Station’s holiday pop-up bar, and tried to relate it to Dom.
Me: Look babe. It says it cost $200,000 to build Union Station in 1898, which is $6.8 million today. Trains arrived and departed here.
Him: What departed here?
Me: Trains, babe. Trains.
Him: Do you think women gave their husbands lip like that in 1898?
Me: I think every woman should give her husband lip like that if he asks the kind of question you just asked me.
Him: You started talking to me before I started listening!
Back to the board, which also informed me there was an alligator pond between the train platforms to entertain travelers way back when. That’s weird. And it’s no less weird that, 124 years after this beautiful structure opened, I drank a Grinch-fur-green $15 cocktail called Tropical Ride topped with whipped cream at a Christmas-themed bar while listening to two guys play Dave Matthews covers and a rocking rendition of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.”
“A Very Merry Bar Car” juts out into Union Station’s lobby, which is massive, brightly lit and difficult to fill with enough holiday decor to make it feel warm and fuzzy. So it’s natural to gravitate toward the Bar Car, a darker nook with two giant sparkling walk-through ornaments on either side, golden train tickets, bells and snowflakes hanging from the ceiling, snowy scenes on the walls and poinsettias on the bar. It’s a little hokey, but it’s wholesome, and a fun way to spend a half-hour before heading to the Baggage Building.
French Dip at The Finch American Grill
Stop 3: The Finch American Grill
While walking through this area a few weeks prior on a Friday night, Dom and I noticed The Finch. Best I can tell, there’s no signage facing Broadway — only a small sandwich board facing the Frist parking area, and a temporary sign above the door — and yet the place was packed with people.
From 1900 to 1979 it was packed with train travelers’ baggage and those who worked for Amtrak. From 1998 to 2021 it was packed with people and plates on the wall as Flying Saucer Draught Emporium — one of Nashville’s first craft beer bars. In March, Milkshake Concepts Hospitality Group put their third Finch in the revamped space. (The other two are in Texas.)
If J. Alexander’s had a younger, hipper cousin, it’d be The Finch. It has something for everyone and solid service, but is more modern in terms of its design and menu. We started with the tzatziki and spicy feta (a both-in-the-same-bowl combo bordered by mini naan bread, crackers and cucumbers) and the salmon crudo (a large plate of cured salmon with nice heat from salsa macha, perfect for passing around a table). The French onion soup, with the beefiest beef broth I’ve ever had, was exactly what I wanted on a cold night.
French onion soup at The Finch American Grill
I ordered the short ribs, but they’d just run out, so I subbed with the white-wine shrimp scampi on our server’s recommendation. I wanted to pout about it, as I was excited for something deep, rich and warm, but the scampi had a healthy helping of red pepper flakes that gave what’s normally a light, slightly sleepy dish enough heat to keep it interesting. Dom went with one of the “handhelds,” a French dip he said was the best version he’d had, due to the soft bun and generously sized bowl of au jus for dipping. No one wants to cram a big sandwich into a tiny ramekin.
Should you try a flight of mini martinis: classic, lemon drop, cosmopolitan or salty dog? Or a Champagne mini with a cotton candy glitter bomb? Maybe wait and toast the new year with those. For now, The Finch is doing a Polar Express pop-up — in keeping with the train theme — with holiday cocktails and desserts, and a complimentary hot cocoa bar with toppings. Treat yourself to a mug filled with marshmallows, then head home to wrap gifts — or give yourself the gift or putting it off a little longer.
