Ever excuse yourself from dinner to go to the restroom and end up in the middle of a five-act play? After having come face to face with Detective Emmett Pugsley, who was suddenly working an outsider into the script, you can count this restaurant reviewer among such thoroughfare thespians.
The experience was only one of many unusual happenings aboard The Broadway Dinner Train, which is now featuring a moving (only in the propellant sense) play as the train weaves from downtown to Old Hickory.
The train, which has been operating for several months, offers 2.5-hour dinner rides each Saturday and Sunday evening, and brunch trips on Sunday. Our party dined during the maiden trip of a new feature for the Dinner Train, a Thursday night junket featuring a five-act comedy.
Let’s face it: There are certain aspects of a dinner train ride through Nashville that aren’t going to be perfect no matter how you dress them up.
For instance, literature distributed by the train’s operators says “the view from the window of the train is like no other.” This may be true, considering there is probably not another train that starts its ride at a garbage-burning thermal plant and ends in a place called Rayon City. Part of the trip takes one past two seas of junked automobiles, numerous trucking companies and a business called Flash Radiator Service.
And the limits imposed by onboard dining keep the menu fairly simple: You choose from three entrees. Everyone gets the same soup, salad and dessert. But these minor complaints should not obscure the fact that the trip is just plain fun, from the meal to the play to the ride.
First, the meal. The soup was a zingy gazpacho that could only be described as mediocre. We, like many at tables seated around us, took a few sips and left the rest.
The salad, embellished with some egg, tomato and bacon and flavored with a vinegar and oil type dressing, was fine though not unusual.
Our dining party ordered smoked prime rib and chicken as entrees. (A seafood au gratin plate is also available.) Both entrees were quite good, neither overcooked. The prime rib’s smoked flavor was not overpowering and the chicken portion was generous.
A pretty good hot German chocolate cake capped the meal, served in a clean, attractive dining car with white linen covered tables.
For those wishing to order a drink with their meal, mixed drinks, 12 kinds of wines and two types of beer were offered at a charge above the ride and dinner ticket price, which was $55.25 per person including gratuity. (The price of dining service on other nights is $39.50 per person.)
The servers were attentive and friendly, even under the most difficult of conditions as they carried plates through rocky train cars and troupes of actors.
The menu, with its grilled chicken, non-creamy soup and salad, leaves choices for diabetics and others on diets. There is no children’s menu, and in fact there were no children on the train.
For the actors and actresses, the evening amounted to 15 acts as they had to restage each act in each of three dining cars. Diners are warned to keep dishes off the edges of the tables as the play takes a rough and tumble turn occasionally.
The Confederate Conspiracy, written and directed by longtime Nashville theater figure Peter Turner, is a whodunnit. The inept police chief Emmett Pugsley conducts a search of the train for the notorious Confederate spy, the Scarlett Pumpernickel. The play is set in Nashville during the Union occupation of the state capital. Even the characters’ names, such as Elizabeth Ashley Bell McGavock, will bring a grin to Nashvillians and visitors alike.
The play is worth seeing, both for its fast-paced comedy and for its unusual logistics in the train’s aisles. The cast keeps the atmosphere loose, as anything can happen on a train ride-including a restaurant critic having to get through the theater group en route to the bathroom.
Despite some of the eyesores encountered in the early stages of the trip, the view from the train through Donelson, Lakewood and Old Hickory is a pleasant one. It takes riders by several nicely landscaped homes, past a golf course and some old shopping areas along Old Hickory Boulevard.
Departing the train, Gene Johnson, a photographer who snaps your picture as you board, offers souvenir snapshots for $6, or two for $8.
All and all, The Broadway Dinner Train makes for a fun evening.
THE BROADWAY DINNER TRAIN
Riverfront Park, downtown Nashville Price: $39.50 for Friday, Saturday, Sunday ride and meal. $55.25 on Thursday for ride, meal and play Reservations: Required.
Phone: 254-8000
Drinks: Mixed drinks, 12 wines by the bottle, two types of beer available.
Diet menu: No special provision for low salt, diabetic or weight loss diets, although some of the menu items would fit the latter two.
Children menu: None Special features: 35-mile train ride, Thursday night play.
Handicapped Access: None Smoking: No smoking in dining cars, only in lounge car.
Mike Pigott is a partner in McNeely & Assoc., a local public relations firm.
