The public face of the city. Not just personalities—celebrities, do-gooders, politicians, newscasters, activists, socialites—but also day-to-day matters such as neighborhoods, streets, services and buildings. Our record of what has made life in Nashville interesting (or livable) over the past year.
Best Restaurant: Margot Café and Bar Not just the best new restaurant in Nashville, but the best restaurant, period. The vibrant, open dining room is at once warm and urban, without feeling the slightest bit trendy. And the food is absolutely fantastic, thanks to owner/chef Margot McCormack’s insistence on the freshest ingredients. The menu changes daily, which means that each visit offers a whole new set of delights, all prepared with skill, care and attention to detail, yet with beautiful, striking simplicity. Beyond that, though, there’s an utterly appealing vibe about the place; the cheerful staff all clearly enjoy working with each other, and that geniality spills over to the customers. Special mention goes to the mind-blowingly great desserts; one of Nashville’s best waiters, John Michael (also a server at Caffe Nonna); and perhaps the coolest bartender anywhere, Veta Cicolello.
—Jonathan Marx
Best New Ethnic Restaurant: Horn of Africa Several years ago, local chowhounds—fans of inexpensive, far-flung ethnic food—were thrilled at the arrival of Addis Ababa, Nashville’s first Ethiopian restaurant. But after the original owners, Gizachew Tesfaye and Esayase Abebe, sold the business, the food went downhill quickly. Chowhounds will be happy to know that there’s another Ethiopian eatery in town, in a strip center at the intersection of Murfreesboro Road and Thompson Lane. Best of all, Tesfaye is the owner. Fans of Ethiopian fare can once again satisfy their urge for a rich, pungent bowl of wat, and those who’ve never tried the food can visit Horn of Africa knowing they’re getting the real thing.
—Jonathan Marx
Best Thai Restaurant: Jasmine Nashvillians can thank chef Bobby Korsuwan and his wife’s family, the Silpacharns, for bringing the delectable delights of Thai food to our city. Notable on Korsuwan’s résumé are Orchid (which he opened, then sold) and Siam Cuisine on White Bridge Road, which he opened with the Silpacharns. Still, he hungered for a new challenge. So with the idea of creating a fine-dining Thai experience, he spent six months under classically trained French chef Emil LaBrousse at Magnolia in Franklin. Certainly, Jasmine, which Korsuwan opened in early 2001, should have been an instant hit, thanks to his undeniable skills, his track record and his cadre of fans. Except for one little thing: Jasmine is in Cool Springs, the epicenter of every chain and fast-food restaurant in America. While herds of Williamson Countians wait up to two hours for a plate of fuel at Cozymel, Applebee’s and Outback, Bobby pleases more discerning and adventurous palates with exquisitely executed Thai classics, as well as some intriguing French-Asian fusion dishes. The best Thai food in Nashville is just 10 miles south of town, and well worth the drive.
—Kay West
Best Restaurant in Franklin: Saffire Through his TomKats catering company, Tom Morales has fed some of the biggest names (and most demanding eaters) on stage and screen. Having achieved success on the road, Morales longed to bring it all home to Williamson County, which he believes is woefully lacking in exciting, creative dining opportunities. Chef Scott Alderson, whose talents have long been enjoyed by Middle Tennesseans vacationing in his Seaside-Sea Grove-Grayton Beach, Fla., stomping grounds, moved to Nashville to open the ill-fated 6º. Though the restaurant failed, Alderson succeeded in making a memorable impression on local foodies. Morales recruited Alderson, and the two have taken over the Bluewind space in the Factory at Franklin, renaming it Saffire. A raw bar with oysters, sashimi, sushi, ceviche and carpaccios; a California-style open kitchen; a wood-burning pit to slow-roast meats; and a wood-burning grill are encouraging indicators of Saffire’s sparkling potential and promise.
—Kay West
Best Family Restaurant: Bobbie’s Dairy Dip Situated along a nondescript stretch of Charlotte Avenue in West Nashville, Bobbie’s may be the most intergenerational joint in town. To folks of a certain age, a trip to Bobbie’s brings back fond memories of warm, lazy evenings, eating grilled-to-order burgers outside or in your car and trying to lick the ice cream from your cone before it all melts. For those too young to remember, Bobbie’s has introduced a whole new generation to the simple pleasures of a summer night. The place is not a throwback; it’s a never-left. It’s authentically old-time, down to its seasonal schedule. When Bobbie’s opens each spring after a long winter hibernation, you just smile, knowing school will soon be over and those unhurried, endless evenings have almost arrived.
—Randy Horick
Best Dining Development: Neighborhood Restaurants How do neighborhoods differ from subdivisions? Subdivisions have houses with two-car garages, decks in the back and manicured lawns that border the roads. Neighborhoods have houses with front porches, yards and sidewalks. Hopefully, those sidewalks offer an easy walk to the market, the dry cleaner, the post office, the bakery, the coffee shop and the bistro. Neighborhoods also decline when services leave. Often the first service to reclaim a corner or a block, and eventually the neighborhood, is an independent restaurant. Hillsboro Village is the most notable and successful example of what is possible: Sunset Grill, The Trace, Boscos, Fido, Provence, Jackson’s, Sam’s, and most recently, Easy’s offer a hotbed of commerce and nightlife within walking distance of a mix of residential options. Other areas are taking their lead: Caffe Nonna, Portland Brew and Park Café in Sylvan Park; Mirror, Las Paletas, and another Portland Brew forge new ground in 12 South; and East Nashville is bubbling over with BJRC, Slow Bar, Margot Cafe and Bar, Woodland Cafe (in the ground-breaking Sasso location), Rosepepper Cantina and several more on the drawing board.
—Kay West
Best Comeback: Belle Meade Brasserie There are few things sadder than athletes, entertainers, models or restaurants that are yesterday’s news. Comebacks are tough, and more often than not, they meet with resounding yawns. About the only thing harder than opening a new restaurant is turning one around that has gone stale. When it opened in 1988, Belle Meade Brasserie was a breath of fresh air: inventive fare from young chefs, a lively, fun atmosphere, and caring personal service. But after 10 years of the same-old same-old, the neighborhood restaurant was just plain tired. Credit owner Mark Rubin for providing the wake-up call it needed. First, he moved a couple of blocks away, still in the ’hood but in warm, elegant, classy new digs. Then he revamped the menu and gave energetic young chef Matthew Dudney a free hand in the kitchen. Finally, he kept what wasn’t broke: general manager Michael Johnson, who knows your name, your drink and how you like your steak. Belle Meade Brasserie is now back on its game, and scoring points again in the biz.
—Kay West
Best Room With a View: Latitude The brand-new Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University might offer the city something that is in short supply, particularly with the recent closing of Capitol Grill: a hotel restaurant that attracts local diners. The menu of fresh seafood is promising: lobster ravioli with saffron-chervil sauce; she-crab soup; lemon-ginger mahi mahi with grilled sea scallops. In even shorter supply in a city rife with strip-center restaurants are rooms with a view. On the second floor of the hotel, with plenty of floor-to-ceiling windows, Latitude offers free sightseeing with lunch and dinner. Of course, it depends on your vantage point. One angle overlooks Centennial Park and the gorgeously lit, recently renovated Parthenon. Another gazes upon Dudley Field—which, come football season, may be enough to take away one’s appetite.
—Kay West
Best Outdoor Dining: Park Café While Nashville enjoys a lengthier outdoor dining season than our friends above the Mason-Dixon—if you can stand the humidity, the mosquitoes, the exhaust fumes and the pollen—it is typically not a 12-month venture. But Park Café's pretty little secluded patio is so popular that regular diners frequently request that their black sesame seared scallops, crawfish tail salad, and roasted mahi mahi be served al fresco, even in the dead of winter. Chef/owner Willie Thomas complies, thanks to heat stands and roll-down sides in January, fans in July, and a protective roof all year long.
—Kay West
Best Bar: The Palm One Saturday, I took my wife and two children to an early afternoon basketball game at the Gaylord Entertainment Center. When it ended, I steered the family toward the bar at The Palm. It was a shade shy of cocktail hour—5 o'clock—but I was a thirsty guy. “Honey,” I pleaded, “how about we just run in The Palm for an early drinky-poo. The kids can have Sprites.” Laura Lee started acting like one of those nosy reporters people talk about. “What is it about that place—you’re there all the time!” she exclaimed. “Honey,” I swore, “I’ve only been there at most a couple of times.” So the wife, the kids and I strolled into the glorious bar—at which point the bartender looked up and boomed out, “Hey Bruce, howyadoin?” Under normal circumstances, when the bartender knows your name, it’s enough to declare the place your new summer home. Today, though, my wife’s left eyebrow was a veritable Gateway Arch. Luckily, I had a defense. At The Palm, according to reliable sources, bar personnel are instructed never to forget a name. Even if you only go there once. It’s a trademark of the world’s finest drinking establishments. Since that visit, I have returned, oh, a couple of times. At least that’s what I tell Laura Lee.
—Bruce Dobie
Best Bar for a Quick Dinner: F. Scott’s If you’re not quite up for two hours and four courses in the elegant dining room of a full-service restaurant, but want something a tad more sophisticated than take-out Chinese, cozy up to one of the little cocktail rounds in F. Scott’s lively and popular lounge. You’ll get all the fancy accoutrements—linens, silver, fine china, polished service and chef Jason McConnell’s fabulous fare—but in a more casual setting, without the long-term commitment a reservation requires. Dinner music performed by jazz trios and sultry singers nightly.
—Kay West
Best Pub: Sherlock Holmes Pub The Sherlock Holmes Pub, 2206 Elliston Place, is aptly named: It takes a bit of deductive reasoning to understand just why this place is so unique in Nashville. After all, beer-and-a-bar do not a public house make—not in the best British tradition, at any rate. While Sherlock’s boasts fine British ales (Guinness, Bass, Whitbread and McEwan’s, for starters) and an authentic Brit-pub menu (with Scottish egg, Cornish pasties and fish & chips, of course), it’s the ambience that’s incomparable. Since 1994, proprietors Margaret and Terry Widlake, natives of Derbyshire, have infused Sherlock’s with Essence of Pubness. It’s a convivial, homey, even slightly eccentric place to congregate and recharge over a pint of ale or a pot of tea.
—Marc K. Stengel
Best Martini: John Bridges’ Martini Class Taught by John Bridges, Nashville’s martini impresario, this once-a-year class is under the umbrella of continuing-education courses sponsored by the University School of Nashville. The last one was conducted in our own kitchen. At the lectern, waving a toothpicked olive, Bridges divided the session up into roughly three parts: the history of the drink; lab time for making our own drinks; and real life taste-testing, which promptly brought an end to the class. The marvelous thing about Professor Bridges is that he speaks from a wealth of experience. He showed how to: put gin or vodka with ice in a glass container (it can even be a jar); add a touch of vermouth; stir (DO NOT SHAKE!); then pour the liquid into a chilled martini glass and add olives. The class started innocently enough, with students gathered around our kitchen island with pens and pencils. Half an hour later, everyone was high-fiving one another and hugging the dog. The more diligent students stuck around in the lab and made another. Practish maysh perfeck.
—Bruce Dobie
Best Locally Brewed Beer: Boscos Famous Flaming Stone Beer As Boscos’ lightest beer, Flaming Stone has won numerous honors, including a three-star rating in The Simon and Schuster Pocket Guide to Beer. The beer is brewed using a traditional German technique, in which heated stones are lowered into the beer during the brewing process. This lends Flaming Stone its unique caramel character, which tends to melt the loftiest beer lover. And while you can handle a couple without feeling like you’ve eaten a double cheeseburger, it’s a far cry in taste and body from the lifeless crud we Americans usually guzzle from a can. Careful, though—Flaming Stone goes down a little too easily, and before you know it your “drink after work” has turned into a 1 a.m. adventure.
—Erin Edwards
Best Non-Alcoholic Drink: “ Sassy-Frass” Tea, Mr. Boo’s The sassafras tree is as common in Middle Tennessee fencerows as plastic six-pack rings, and yet few people associate the mitten-shaped leaf with the piquant, faintly medicinal taste that puts the zing in root beer. At the Donelson hot-chicken hangout Mr. Boo’s, the Bouglea family has started brewing sweet tea every day with sassafras, and customers are downing the drink in 32-ounce cupfuls. Small wonder. The family’s carefully protected Bouglea pepper, which grows wild on their Louisiana parish property and gives their chicken its smoky heat, is a sexy beast with a cumulative bite. The sassafras seems to douse the chicken’s fire, and it aids digestion as well. Of course, if the brew stays this popular, the trees may start disappearing by the grove. We have the Lorax on speed-dial.
—Jim Ridley
Best House Salad: The Palm This gathering place for public figures, socialites and large egos is not recommended for grumpy introverts or vegetarians, but for those who find themselves here, there’s a small reward. Ruffage lovers will appreciate the delicate care the kitchen takes with the restaurant’s most basic offering. To prepare the house salads, it’s as if each lettuce leaf—always a bright, springy green—is individually washed and dried, then artfully laid one atop the other beneath crisp red onion and always red—not anemic, mealy, pink—tomatoes. There’s none better.
—Liz Garrigan
Best Specialty Salad: French Laundry, Zola French Laundry is one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the country, renowned for its New American cuisine and its revered owner—chef Thomas Keller, whom Gourmet called “the most gifted American chef of his generation.” Foodies traveling to the San Francisco area know to make reservations weeks, if not months, in advance. Chef Deb Paquette, who owns Zola with husband Ernie, is one of the restaurant’s legions of fans, and the French Laundry salad on her dinner menu is a nod to its namesake. A plate of pungent young arugula, peppery radicchio, sweet apples, fennel, crunchy hazelnuts, tangy bleu cheese and cured orange peel makes for a perfect balance of taste, texture and color, and is then air-kissed with a subtle champagne vinaigrette.
—Kay West
Best Appetizer: Fried Asparagus, Kote’s When it comes to food, quantity is often mistaken for quality and an indecipherable list of ingredients for culinary sophistication. The fried-asparagus appetizer at Kote, on the other hand, is the embodiment of KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). A dozen crisp spears of fresh asparagus are rolled in toasted bread crumbs, flash-fried and arranged on a plate like the base of a Lincoln Log cabin, with a ramekin of creamy horseradish sauce for dipping. (Share only with close friends, as it is impossible not to double-dip.) Just $6.95, it is sized to stimulate, not sate, the appetite.
—Kay West
Best Asian Appetizer: Nam Sod, Royal Thai Who would have ever thought that some of the best Thai food in Middle Tennessee could be found in a Franklin strip mall, next to a Hollywood Video? A history lesson on the menu tells the education-hungry diner that the purpose of Thai food is to combine successfully all the tastes (sweet, sour, bitter and salty) into one dish. The best attempt is seen in the menu’s Item #303, the Nam Sod salad. With ground pork, cashews, onions, kaffir lime juice and ginger, the dish is prepared as spicy as the eater can take it—mild, medium, hot or native Thai. And take it from someone who’s tried: don’t try to impress your girlfriend by ordering Nam Sod “native” style.
—Deke Shearon
Best Chips & Salsa: La Hacienda Store-bought tortilla chips, flaky in texture and extremely salty, miss authentic tacqueria taste by a long shot. True Mexican tortilla chips—like those served at La Hacienda on Nolensville Road—are almost thin enough to see through, greasy enough to appear slightly moist, and taste almost bland. Similarly, Kroger-brand salsa, chunky and mild, is far thicker than anything you’ll get south of the border, more appetizer than appetite whetter. The salsa at La Hacienda is almost watery in texture and doesn’t spare the red chile. The effect of the combination is just as addictive, acclimating the taste buds to the spicy food to come without ruining one’s meal.
—Adam Ross
Best Burger: Fat Mo’s If, like me, you’re one of the thousands of Nashvillians running the Country Music Marathon, you’re fixated on one thing. No, it’s not the race, or the cessation of total body pain you’ve been suffering for months, or inability to sleep without twitching violently. No, the thing we runners are absolutely obsessed with is the meal we’re going to have after we finish 26.2 miles in April heat, and the thousands of calories our bodies will upload without an iota of conscience. For me, that meal will be Fat Mo’s Super Deluxe Burger, the biggest and best burger in Nashville, a 27-oz. heap of beef the size of a cow patty, served with mustard, mayo, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes and ketchup—standard as GPS in a Cadillac Escalade—with the perfect addition of grilled mushrooms and onions, barbecue sauce, bacon and jalapeños. Large spicy fries on the side, please. And one of your 32-oz. vanilla and banana shakes. And then, for dessert....
—Adam Ross
Best Fried Chicken: (Tie) Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack/Mr. Boo’s While Mike Tyson was trying to set up some sissyboy slap-party at the Gaylord Entertainment Center, a Sharks-vs.-Jets-style rumble was going down elsewhere in the city between warring factions of hot-chicken aficionados. Pepper-packed fried chicken is to Nashville what deep-dish pie is to Chicago: not just a hometown specialty, a culinary object of sports-team fanaticism. So when fans of upstart Mr. Boo’s in Donelson had the audacity to suggest it was better than undisputed champ Prince’s off Dickerson Road, the neckbones rained like Laaz rockets. Bravely we wade into the fray to say: Call a truce. We give the slightest of edges to Prince’s deliriously hot bird, an esophageal widowmaker with a fiery-red crust, over Mr. Boo’s and its secret weapon, the closely guarded Bouglea pepper. But the Bouglea family gains an advantage with their awesome side dishes—pickled sweet tomatoes, pickled apple rings, crinkle-cut fries with coarse-ground salt—and thick bread that absorbs grease with a lot more finesse than Prince’s toothpicked Colonial slices. Look, if my chicken-loving buddy Jeff Harmon won’t choose a clear-cut victor, neither should you. And now, if my work here is done, the Middle East awaits.
—Jim Ridley
Best Meat Pizza: Vinny’s Pizza, Hermitage The sight of Vinny’s Big Meat is enough to make jaws drop, which is just the position one should assume to approach this monument to carnivorousness. A veritable mountain of meat—spicy sausage, thick bacon, ground beef and Italian ham—totally obscures the sauce, cheese and crust at the base. Vinny’s Pizza owner Lantz de Contreras slices his pizzas in a diamond cut that results in one- and two-bite pieces, the only size that could bear the heft of the toppings. Vegetarians are not forsaken: Vinny’s Incredible Veggie is likewise generously strewn with fresh-cut mushrooms, spinach, red and white onion, green and red pepper, roma tomatoes and marinated zucchini and yellow squash.
—Kay West
Best Pizza by the Slice: House of Pizza, Arcade When you step up to Manny Macca’s pizza counter in the downtown Arcade, don’t go for the usual triangle of melted cheese and dough—which is as fine a slice of pie as you'll find in this town. Instead, try the thick, square Sicilian variety, which offers the ideal ratio of bread (more leavened than normal pizza dough) to cheese (not too much of it) to sauce (perfectly seasoned). If only Manny's sold Italian ices, it'd be the perfect Noo Yawk-style lunch during the summertime.
—Jonathan Marx
Best Sandwich: The Yellow Porch A turkey Reuben is a marvelous treat if you want something more substantial than a banana and a bagel, but not the kind of heavy lunch that will have you nodding off by 3 p.m. The Yellow Porch seems to have perfected this underrated plate, providing the standard sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing but substituting sourdough bread for rye. I used to meet my girlfriend there for lunch once a week, looking forward both to her company and my turkey Reuben. The girl’s gone, but fortunately they still serve the Reuben.
—Matt Pulle
Best Comfort Dish: Lamb Cassoulet, Yellow Porch After some kitchen-hopping around town, chef Kim Totzke has found the perfect home for her unbridled creativity, her passion for fresh ingredients and love of robust flavors. While just outside its front door traffic races back and forth on busy Thompson Lane, inside The Yellow Porch is an oasis of culinary delights with a decided Mediterranean bent. A new menu is featured nightly, but frequent diners insist on a couple of regularly recurring dishes, among them the wondrously comforting lamb cassoulet. Chunks of tender lamb nestle in a hearty stew of white beans, roasted potatoes and spinach, topped with fresh bread crumbs and crisped under the broiler.
—Kay West
Best Italian Comfort Food: Gnocchi, Sole Mio Sole Mio does all its Italian fare with flair, but the tender, toothsome gnocchi is divine. Potato pasta served in soft, chewy morsels, covered in a creamy gorgonzola sauce and delivered hot to the table, gnocchi is the ultimate comfort food. Especially given Sole Mio’s oft-mentioned view of the downtown skyline, which only adds to the overall enjoyment. If the potato dumplings leave room, try a sinful dessert such as a creamy, cheese-stuffed cannoli—it’ll give you that much more reason to go to the Y the next morning.
—Alice Fort
Best Indian Comfort Food: Chicken Tikka Masala, A Taste of India Supposedly Queen Victoria’s favorite dish, chicken tikka masala is sometimes snubbed as the California roll of Indian cuisine—the fall-back choice of timid eaters who can’t make up their minds. At Church Street’s recently remodeled A Taste of India, though, it’s hard to order anything else once you’ve sampled the chunks of tandoori-roasted chicken in a buttery, fluorescent sauce fragrant with garam masala, cardamom and tomato. The perfect accompaniment: a basket of steaming naan, onion chutney and a creamy mango lasse.
—Jim Ridley
Best Cheap Meal: Bun Thit Nuong Cha Gio (Sliced Pork With Vermicelli), Kien Giang There are numerous reasons to visit Kien Giang off Charlotte Avenue. The problem is, I’ve only been able to focus on one since my first visit, when I encountered this stout noodle dish. Served in a large bowl, this meal is layered with fresh lettuce and basil leaves at the bottom, a healthy portion of vermicelli noodles in the middle, and topped with charbroiled slices of pork. The secret, however, is the heavenly mixture of nuoc mam (fish sauce), garlic and sugar that is poured over the dish and mixed throughout. I often had a version of this dish while living in Hanoi, and I can honestly say that Kien Giang’s is better. Complement the order with a chanh—a cold lemonade perfectly suited for summer—and the subtotal for one of the most satisfying meals in town is about $6.50.
—Erin Edwards
Best Deal: Atlantis Happy Hour You get what you pay for, and if you’re willing to pay the price—apps are typically double-digits, and entrées average in the mid-$20s—you’ll enjoy the best seafood in town at Atlantis, the restaurant owned by chef Josh Weekley and wife Susan Cone. A CIA alum, Weekley trained at New York’s only four-star seafood restaurant, Le Bernadin, and about a decade ago brought his considerable skills here, working around town before opening Atlantis in early 2000. Thanks to the Happy Hour Bar Menu offered five nights weekly, frugal gourmands are not left wanting on the shores of these rich culinary waters. From 4-8 p.m. Tues.-Sat., at the bar or in the lounge, the special bar menu is half-priced. Thus, a $9 plate of fried baby calamari with spicy barbecue sauce is $4.50; the $10 Thai spring roll with raw tuna is $5; the chef’s selection of raw oysters with radish slaw is slashed from $11 to $5.50. Drinks, domestic beer and house wines are also 50 percent off.
—Kay West
Best Healthy Fast Food: Baja Burrito “Fast” refers to preparation, not the time it will take you to find a parking space at this perpetually slammed 100 Oaks burrito joint. Once inside, though, you’ll see the reason for the crush. Troy Smith’s Thompson Lane goldmine offers inexpensive chicken, steak and juicy Mexican-barbecue burritos, made to order with condiments ranging from fresh chopped cilantro to sautéed mushrooms. Of course, you can skip the meats and load up on rice and veggies. And the fish taco, unknown even to many regulars, is a hidden treasure, a delicious fusion of golden battered fish and tangy white sauce in a steaming corn tortilla. Add chips, a tall fruit tea and tubs of zesty tomatillo sauce from the salsa bar, and you are on your way to taco heaven, for which the wait for parking is a small price to pay.
—Ellen Fort
Best Side Dish: Fried Green Tomatoes, Arnold’s Country Kitchen What do you do when faced with an unripe fruit or vegetable? In the South, you follow the two courses of action adaptable to anything that walks, swims, flies or grows in the ground: pickle it or fry it. Arnold’s opts for the latter. The Eighth Avenue meat-and-three does this offbeat Southern specialty better than anyone, with a peppery cornmeal crust that punches up the pleasingly bittersweet tang of the tomatoes. Come to think of it, there’s not much Arnold’s doesn’t ace, whether it’s turnip greens, squash casserole, or our favorite, fried chicken livers over yellow rice. While out-of-towners and lazy travel writers fawn over Nashville’s sorriest down-home cooking—you know who you are—smart eaters stay loyal to Mr. Arnold. And not just because he whistles while he works.
—Jim Ridley
Best Asian-American Fusion: Corey Griffith, mAmbu When chef Corey Griffith is not in the kitchen of mAmbu, the new Hayes Street restaurant he owns with his chef-partner Anita Hartell, you will likely find him browsing through the aisles of one of Nashville’s Asian markets, or at his favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Kien Giang, where he eats several times a week. Griffith came to Nashville from San Francisco, a hotbed of Asian cuisine, where he apprenticed under a Vietnamese chef. At mAmbu, even more than his previous stints at Cakewalk and Sasso, he liberally sows culinary seeds from Vietnam, China, Japan and Thailand throughout his menu. His plump gyoza shrimp dumplings in broth are his calling card, but don’t bypass the lobster-tail satay, the crispy quail on green papaya salad, the wasabi-crusted tuna or the caramelized shrimp bowl, his crustacean interpretation of pho.
—Kay West
Best Squid Salad: Ken’s Japanese Look down into the bowl, and there you see lettuce, salad dressing...and tentacles! An exercise in adventurous dining for those wary of, well, seafood with arms, the squid salad at Ken’s Sushi, located on 21st Avenue, impresses with its freshness and creativity. Served cold, the salad adds some welcome variation to the standard sushi experience, as do the subtle Thai influences that inform Ken’s traditional Japanese fare. It’s probably good for you too, tentacles and all.
—Alice Fort
Best Tom Yum Koong: Siam Cuisine Whenever I get a craving for a food I just can’t put my finger on, it is usually satisfied by a hot bowl of the Thai soup tom yum koong. The brothy blend of cilantro, lemongrass, chili paste and lime complements the large prawns and generous helping of mushrooms floating on the surface. Not unbearable, but spicy enough to require your water glass to be steadily refilled, a helping of tom yum koong hits the spot every time—but it is far from Siam Cuisine’s only specialty. Also try the hung ray, a rich red curry sauce, or that old reliable, pad Thai. The lunch menu is considerably less expensive, if you time your hunger just right.
—Alice Fort
Best Spicy Yellowtail: Asahi Apparently by law, every sushi menu has to contain a certain set of rolls, one of which is the spicy yellowtail. Nowhere is this roll better prepared than at sushi master Luke Choi’s small Belle Meade establishment Asahi. Most spiciness found in a sushi establishment comes from wasabi, which offers a pungent, nose-burning horseradish effect. Choi’s spicy yellowtail forgoes the wasabi and derives its spiciness from a special chili sauce. So good it’ll keep you coming back to Belle Meade for sushi, it’s also so fiery it’ll keep you reaching for your glass of water.
—Deke Shearon
Best Weekend Brunch: Easy’s In The Village Exists there a lazier meal than brunch? The breakfast-lunch weekend indulgence announces that you are not held hostage by a to-do list; that you had nothing at all on your calendar that demanded an early rise; and that you have just now, well after noon, managed to roll out of bed, throw on some clothes and mosey on over to a restaurant, shuddering at the effort that might be required to scramble one paltry egg. Brunch says that you are basically just picking up where you left off last night—and is there a city more attuned to picking up where you left off the night before than New Orleans? Extreme hedonists might hop on a Southwest flight for Bloody’s in the Big Easy, but the rest of us working stiffs can get a midday Cajun wake-up call at Easy’s in the Village, serving the only New Orleans-style weekend brunch in town.
—Kay West
Best Unheralded Brunch: The Pineapple Room Restaurant at Cheekwood For those of you saddened at the loss of great pimiento cheese and chicken salad when Clayton-Blackmon unexpectedly closed last year, there’s good news: Culinary whiz Anne Clayton is now in charge of The Pineapple Room, Cheekwood’s beautiful dining room overlooking its breathtaking botanical gardens. Not only has Clayton brought an eclectic and inventive menu to the restaurant, she’s also serving up some of Clayton-Blackmon’s prized dishes, including the afore-mentioned chicken salad. The Sunday brunch buffet is a knockout, but only available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Ask to be seated on the outdoor deck (if the weather’s warm) and spend a leisurely Sunday at one of Nashville’s hidden jewels.
—Cornelia Rowe
Best Breakfast You Haven’t Heard About: Goldie’s Deli Who knew that Nashville’s leading kosher deli offered some of the best breakfast in town? For under $5, treat yourself to Goldie’s warm, sugary challah French toast. Never one to be stingy, Goldie’s serves up two pieces of toast measuring one inch thick and four inches wide, guaranteed to fill up the emptiest of stomachs. To top it all off, the fast and friendly service is as sweet as the syrup you use to drench every bite.
—Cornelia Rowe
Best Marriage of Food & Art: Frist Café If you have spent the morning touring the galleries and exhibit spaces of the Frist Center, admiring the Art Deco architecture and the gorgeous transformation of the former post-office space, you will not suffer an aesthetic let-down in the museum’s pretty dining area. In fact, any outing to the museum is enhanced by a stop in the café, whether for a coffee and pastry, a full lunch or a spot of afternoon tea. Make your selection of tossed-to-order salads, in-house soups, pizza du jour or sandwich with addictive fresh-cut potato chips from the most elegant cafeteria line in town. Then carry your plate to one of the stainless-steel-topped tables in the naturally lit dining room, or go al fresco on the patio that borders the lush grass courtyard with fountains and sculpture. With most of the selections priced under $5, lunch will set you back less than the $6.50 adult ticket price to the museum.
—Kay West
Best Marriage of Theater & Dessert: Chaffin’s Barn Going to Chaffin’s Barn Dinner Theatre is like attending a family reunion—the atmosphere is absolutely convivial, everyone gets into the act (including the singing waiters), and there's a huge spread of home-style cooking to feed the masses. But before one sits down to enjoy a lighthearted musical or a daffy comedy, there's the impressive dessert spread to contend with. Lots of fresh strawberries, a huge tub of French vanilla ice cream, pound cake galore, deliriously thick chocolate syrup, mousses, various pastries and more. Then there's the bread pudding with bourbon sauce. To die for.
—Martin Brady
Best Pastry Chef: Renee Kasman, Zola Ahhhh, the delectable dilemma facing diners at Zola. Namely, whether to savor every last bite of chef Deb Paquette’s pecan-crusted pork tenderloin—with its sorghum foie-gras butter, skinny onions, roasted beets, sliced oranges, fresh berries, spinach and bacon-bourbon vinaigrette—or to save room for whatever grand finale pastry chef Renee Kasman has in store. To complicate matters, Kasman's previous triumphs include a bewitching passion-fruit crème brûlée, a winsome chocolate crepe with brandied strawberries and crème fraîche, and an intoxicating double chocolate brownie with chocolate espresso ganache and Jack Daniel's milk-chocolate ice cream. The agony, and the ecstasy.
—Kay West
Best Pastries: Alpha Bakery “Unique” is the first word to describe the Alpha Bakery, the next being “delicious.” The Bellevue bakery’s most intriguing facet is the fusion of Asian and traditional American cuisines in its heart-stopping array of pastries. The selection ranges from cream horns and chocolate éclairs to exotic finds such as ham and onion croissants and rolls filled with red-bean paste. The bakery also offers artfully presented sandwiches and breads, and the friendly staff is there to support you through the excruciating decision-making process you will undoubtedly face.
—Ellen Fort
Best Fruit Tarts: Parco Café We’ve had more than our share of bakery-showpiece desserts that looked like a picture cut out of a magazine—and tasted like one. So when we say that owner Chun Fu’s dishes are as pleasing to the palate as to the eye, you should know two things. First, these are the most aesthetically appealing desserts we’ve ever seen, anywhere: carefully sculpted layer cakes, pristine cheesecakes, chocolate bombes of obsidian smoothness. Second, the ingredients are fresh from the surrounding Farmer’s Market. Nowhere is this union more enticing than in Fu’s sparkling glazed fruit tarts, which look like fairy-tale confections. On the tongue, the sugarplums in The Nutcracker never danced so sweetly.
—Jim Ridley
Best Place to Buy Offbeat Sweets: Lanexang Market Every Saturday, this Laotian market on Thompson Lane offers an eye-catching variety of homemade, authentic treats just like those you might find in market stalls in Vientiane and Bangkok. Some, like the sticky rice rolls with coconut milk and banana, should appeal to even the most unadventurous palates. Others, like the unusual layered custard known as khanom chan, are delectable...so long as you’re willing to adapt to new flavors and textures. The selection changes every weekend depending on what’s available, but inside each banana leaf wrapper or plastic to-go container is a handcrafted culinary creation unlike any you’ll find elsewhere in this city. Other stores such as the excellent Interasian Market may sell similar treats, but Lanexang has the biggest, best and freshest selection.
—Jonathan Marx
Best Popsicle: Las Paletas As insipid as the movie Chocolat was, we think of it whenever we see the effect Irma and Norma Paz have had on their little corner of 12 South. Their Mexican popsicle parlor was doing a brisk trade even with snow on the ground, thanks to the love the Paz sisters put into their homemade treats. Frozen bars of pureed cantaloupe, hibiscus, and tropical fruits such as mango and coconut—“whatever we can find at the market,” Irma says—lie in colorful stacks in Las Paletas’ glass case, alongside creamy variants like peanut butter and pistachio (my wife’s favorite). Best of all are the ones that sound inedible, including a cucumber-chili pepper showstopper whose taste automatically cuts the temperature outdoors by 30 degrees. Patrons buy the $2 popsicles by the paper-bagful, sometimes for wedding receptions, sometimes as the secret ingredient in a float. We strongly recommend the pineapple-green-chili-lime, a sensual mixture of cool and fire that is downright sinful. If dunked in a can of Canada Dry, it produces a sultry brew we call “Woodbine punch.”
—Jim Ridley
Best Unusual Dessert: Coconut Ice Cream, Siam Café Don’t be fooled by the lowbrow tiki-lounge vibe. The food at Siam Café, on McCall Street just off Nolensville Road, is every bit as palatable as its more yuppie-friendly sister restaurant, Siam Cuisine on White Bridge Road. And though both locations offer homemade coconut ice cream, only the Café adds whole kernels of corn to the sweet, creamy delicacy. Odd as it sounds, it works deliciously. The frozen yellow bits offer textural variety and a little burst of buttery corn flavor. Diners who are at first put off by the unexpected presence of the staple grain soon find themselves seduced by the “maize haze.” So strong is its insidious grip, this writer has been known to stock his freezer with to-go cups of the dessert, just to know there’ll be one waiting to lessen the bitter prospect of another cruel day.
—Jack Silverman
Best Cookie: Becker’s Bakery Nothing can, ever has, or ever will be able to replace the Becker’s party cookie. Bite-sized and doughy, swirl-shaped and available in pastel pink, yellow and green, these sweet little morsels are annoyingly hard to stop snacking on. And as long as you’re inside the tiny 12th Avenue bakery, check out the other carefully crafted confections. Fluffily frosted cakes and row upon row of cookies—in the shapes of dinosaurs, cats, dogs and more, covered in a layer of colored sugar—meet the ravenous eye. Buy at least two dozen, since the first batch will only increase your craving.
—Alice Fort
Best Alternative Latte: Le Peep Ah, the cinnamon-roll latte. Rich and positively luxuriating in caffeine, Le Peep’s demon brew is a shot of espresso blended with syrups and steamed milk and topped with a sprinkling of cinnamon. A saucier cousin to the plain-Jane vanilla latte and the Starbucks mocha frappuccino, the cinnamon-roll latte warms the heart of the most avid black coffee drinker, and it complements the skillet dishes and pancakes that are the restaurant’s staples.
—Ellen Fort
Best News for Foodies: The Food Channel Intermedia, Intermedia, why didst thou forsake us? While the rest of the dining world was tuning into the heated competition of the Iron Chef, traveling the nation in search of the perfect crème brûlée and best barbecue, supping vicariously at the tables of celebrity chefs, Nashville was starving for just a taste of the Food Network. Let us all, before digging into this weeks’ recipes from Emeril, Bobby Flay, Wolfgang Puck, Mario Batoli, and Anthony Bourdain, give thanks to new cable provider Comcast for hooking up our hungry backwater burg to something more than NASCAR, WWF, MTV and QVC. Bon appetit, Nashville.
—Kay West
Best Power Room: The Palm When The Palm opened downtown in late 2000, the lobbying for placement on the legendary steakhouse’s infamous wall of celebrity caricatures was blatant and shameless, with some wannabes going so far as to retain a flack to campaign for a coveted spot. No less heated is the jockeying for position in The Palm’s bar and dining room, the place where movers, shakers and policy-makers gather to rub shoulders, glad-hand, back-slap, seal the deal and chow down over a dry martini and 16-ounce tenderloin. Presiding over the whole shebang with grace, charm and nerves of steel is general manager and Nashville native Charlene Walker. At The Palm, the legislature is in session all year round.
—Kay West
Best Racially Diverse Dining Room: Swett’s When Susie and Walter Swett opened a small tavern at the corner of 28th Avenue North and Clifton Avenue in the Jefferson Street neighborhood, Nashville was segregated by law, and races simply did not mix. Even with the advent of civil rights and desegregation, white Nashvillians were slow to cross the great divide. The Swetts’ son David remembers that one of their earliest white customers was Fate Thomas Jr., the teenage son of then-Sheriff Fate Thomas. Fate used to leave Father Ryan High School, load up his car and drive across town for soul food. Swett remembers that customers would ask who that white boy was, and he would answer, “That’s not a white boy, that’s Little Fate.” While Nashville’s ubiquitous meat ’n’ three restaurants have long provided a common gathering spot for socioeconomic diversity, Swett’s arguably has done more than any other to break down Nashville’s racial barriers, and shatters them still.
—Kay West
Best Politically Incorrect Restaurant: White Trash Café When Lynn Batey started painting the sign on the front of his leased building, he got no further than “White Trash” before folks from the neighborhood came by to put their two cents in. A few people got huffy about it, Batey says, but he finished the sign, and this February the White Trash Café opened one block down the hill from the fairgrounds. To settle the matter once and for all, he placed White Trash Cooking, the cookbook by Ernest Matthew Mickler from which he snagged the name, prominently at the front counter. Complaints have dwindled since Batey and legendary Nashville waitress Stretch McEwen began dishing up meat ’n’ three classics like fried chicken, mac ’n’ cheese, greens, cabbage casserole, yeast rolls and nanner pudding, the staples of Southern cuisine by any other name.
—Kay West
Best Dining Diplomacy: Bombay Club Indian/ Southern Buffet At first glance, it looks like your typical meat ’n’ three chow line: large aluminum containers filled with steaming dishes under a plexiglass sneeze guard. Fried catfish, hush puppies, white beans, mashed potatoes, squash casserole, fried okra and corn muffins. Midway down the line, the cuisine abruptly switches direction—next stop, India? Pakora, basmati rice, tandoori chicken, alu gobi, palak paneer, malai chicken and daal makhani. Servers in the bright dining room of Bombay Club, home to Nashville’s only Indian/Southern lunch buffet, make frequent stops at tables with baskets of warm naan bread and pitchers of sweet tea. The day we went, we saw four Indian men sample the fried chicken, three African American women help themselves to the gulab jamun dessert, two senior citizens alternate bites of barbecued short ribs and chili chicken. The rest of the world should live together so peacefully.
—Kay West
Best Weekend Brunch: Easy’s In The Village Exists there a lazier meal than brunch? The breakfast-lunch weekend indulgence announces that you are not held hostage by a to-do list; that you had nothing at all on your calendar that demanded an early rise; and that you have just now, well after noon, managed to roll out of bed, throw on some clothes and mosey on over to a restaurant, shuddering at the effort that might be required to scramble one paltry egg. Brunch says that you are basically just picking up where you left off last night—and is there a city more attuned to picking up where you left off the night before than New Orleans? Extreme hedonists might hop on a Southwest flight for Bloody’s in the Big Easy, but the rest of us working stiffs can get a midday Cajun wake-up call at Easy’s in the Village, serving the only New Orleans-style weekend brunch in town.
—Kay West
Best Unheralded Brunch: The Pineapple Room Restaurant at Cheekwood For those of you saddened at the loss of great pimiento cheese and chicken salad when Clayton-Blackmon unexpectedly closed last year, there’s good news: Culinary whiz Anne Clayton is now in charge of The Pineapple Room, Cheekwood’s beautiful dining room overlooking its breathtaking botanical gardens. Not only has Clayton brought an eclectic and inventive menu to the restaurant, she’s also serving up some of Clayton-Blackmon’s prized dishes, including the afore-mentioned chicken salad. The Sunday brunch buffet is a knockout, but only available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Ask to be seated on the outdoor deck (if the weather’s warm) and spend a leisurely Sunday at one of Nashville’s hidden jewels.
—Cornelia Rowe
Best Breakfast You Haven’t Heard About: Goldie’s Deli Who knew that Nashville’s leading kosher deli offered some of the best breakfast in town? For under $5, treat yourself to Goldie’s warm, sugary challah French toast. Never one to be stingy, Goldie’s serves up two pieces of toast measuring one inch thick and four inches wide, guaranteed to fill up the emptiest of stomachs. To top it all off, the fast and friendly service is as sweet as the syrup you use to drench every bite.
—Cornelia Rowe
Best Marriage of Food & Art: Frist Café If you have spent the morning touring the galleries and exhibit spaces of the Frist Center, admiring the Art Deco architecture and the gorgeous transformation of the former post-office space, you will not suffer an aesthetic let-down in the museum’s pretty dining area. In fact, any outing to the museum is enhanced by a stop in the café, whether for a coffee and pastry, a full lunch or a spot of afternoon tea. Make your selection of tossed-to-order salads, in-house soups, pizza du jour or sandwich with addictive fresh-cut potato chips from the most elegant cafeteria line in town. Then carry your plate to one of the stainless-steel-topped tables in the naturally lit dining room, or go al fresco on the patio that borders the lush grass courtyard with fountains and sculpture. With most of the selections priced under $5, lunch will set you back less than the $6.50 adult ticket price to the museum.
—Kay West
Best Marriage of Theater & Dessert: Chaffin’s Barn Going to Chaffin’s Barn Dinner Theatre is like attending a family reunion—the atmosphere is absolutely convivial, everyone gets into the act (including the singing waiters), and there's a huge spread of home-style cooking to feed the masses. But before one sits down to enjoy a lighthearted musical or a daffy comedy, there's the impressive dessert spread to contend with. Lots of fresh strawberries, a huge tub of French vanilla ice cream, pound cake galore, deliriously thick chocolate syrup, mousses, various pastries and more. Then there's the bread pudding with bourbon sauce. To die for.
—Martin Brady
Best Pastry Chef: Renee Kasman, Zola Ahhhh, the delectable dilemma facing diners at Zola. Namely, whether to savor every last bite of chef Deb Paquette’s pecan-crusted pork tenderloin—with its sorghum foie-gras butter, skinny onions, roasted beets, sliced oranges, fresh berries, spinach and bacon-bourbon vinaigrette—or to save room for whatever grand finale pastry chef Renee Kasman has in store. To complicate matters, Kasman's previous triumphs include a bewitching passion-fruit crème brûlée, a winsome chocolate crepe with brandied strawberries and crème fraîche, and an intoxicating double chocolate brownie with chocolate espresso ganache and Jack Daniel's milk-chocolate ice cream. The agony, and the ecstasy.
—Kay West
Best Pastries: Alpha Bakery “Unique” is the first word to describe the Alpha Bakery, the next being “delicious.” The Bellevue bakery’s most intriguing facet is the fusion of Asian and traditional American cuisines in its heart-stopping array of pastries. The selection ranges from cream horns and chocolate éclairs to exotic finds such as ham and onion croissants and rolls filled with red-bean paste. The bakery also offers artfully presented sandwiches and breads, and the friendly staff is there to support you through the excruciating decision-making process you will undoubtedly face.
—Ellen Fort
Best Fruit Tarts: Parco Café We’ve had more than our share of bakery-showpiece desserts that looked like a picture cut out of a magazine—and tasted like one. So when we say that owner Chun Fu’s dishes are as pleasing to the palate as to the eye, you should know two things. First, these are the most aesthetically appealing desserts we’ve ever seen, anywhere: carefully sculpted layer cakes, pristine cheesecakes, chocolate bombes of obsidian smoothness. Second, the ingredients are fresh from the surrounding Farmer’s Market. Nowhere is this union more enticing than in Fu’s sparkling glazed fruit tarts, which look like fairy-tale confections. On the tongue, the sugarplums in The Nutcracker never danced so sweetly.
—Jim Ridley
Best Place to Buy Offbeat Sweets: Lanexang Market Every Saturday, this Laotian market on Thompson Lane offers an eye-catching variety of homemade, authentic treats just like those you might find in market stalls in Vientiane and Bangkok. Some, like the sticky rice rolls with coconut milk and banana, should appeal to even the most unadventurous palates. Others, like the unusual layered custard known as khanom chan, are delectable...so long as you’re willing to adapt to new flavors and textures. The selection changes every weekend depending on what’s available, but inside each banana leaf wrapper or plastic to-go container is a handcrafted culinary creation unlike any you’ll find elsewhere in this city. Other stores such as the excellent Interasian Market may sell similar treats, but Lanexang has the biggest, best and freshest selection.
—Jonathan Marx
Best Popsicle: Las Paletas As insipid as the movie Chocolat was, we think of it whenever we see the effect Irma and Norma Paz have had on their little corner of 12 South. Their Mexican popsicle parlor was doing a brisk trade even with snow on the ground, thanks to the love the Paz sisters put into their homemade treats. Frozen bars of pureed cantaloupe, hibiscus, and tropical fruits such as mango and coconut—“whatever we can find at the market,” Irma says—lie in colorful stacks in Las Paletas’ glass case, alongside creamy variants like peanut butter and pistachio (my wife’s favorite). Best of all are the ones that sound inedible, including a cucumber-chili pepper showstopper whose taste automatically cuts the temperature outdoors by 30 degrees. Patrons buy the $2 popsicles by the paper-bagful, sometimes for wedding receptions, sometimes as the secret ingredient in a float. We strongly recommend the pineapple-green-chili-lime, a sensual mixture of cool and fire that is downright sinful. If dunked in a can of Canada Dry, it produces a sultry brew we call “Woodbine punch.”
—Jim Ridley
Best Unusual Dessert: Coconut Ice Cream, Siam Café Don’t be fooled by the lowbrow tiki-lounge vibe. The food at Siam Café, on McCall Street just off Nolensville Road, is every bit as palatable as its more yuppie-friendly sister restaurant, Siam Cuisine on White Bridge Road. And though both locations offer homemade coconut ice cream, only the Café adds whole kernels of corn to the sweet, creamy delicacy. Odd as it sounds, it works deliciously. The frozen yellow bits offer textural variety and a little burst of buttery corn flavor. Diners who are at first put off by the unexpected presence of the staple grain soon find themselves seduced by the “maize haze.” So strong is its insidious grip, this writer has been known to stock his freezer with to-go cups of the dessert, just to know there’ll be one waiting to lessen the bitter prospect of another cruel day.
—Jack Silverman
Best Cookie: Becker’s Bakery Nothing can, ever has, or ever will be able to replace the Becker’s party cookie. Bite-sized and doughy, swirl-shaped and available in pastel pink, yellow and green, these sweet little morsels are annoyingly hard to stop snacking on. And as long as you’re inside the tiny 12th Avenue bakery, check out the other carefully crafted confections. Fluffily frosted cakes and row upon row of cookies—in the shapes of dinosaurs, cats, dogs and more, covered in a layer of colored sugar—meet the ravenous eye. Buy at least two dozen, since the first batch will only increase your craving.
—Alice Fort
Best Alternative Latte: Le Peep Ah, the cinnamon-roll latte. Rich and positively luxuriating in caffeine, Le Peep’s demon brew is a shot of espresso blended with syrups and steamed milk and topped with a sprinkling of cinnamon. A saucier cousin to the plain-Jane vanilla latte and the Starbucks mocha frappuccino, the cinnamon-roll latte warms the heart of the most avid black coffee drinker, and it complements the skillet dishes and pancakes that are the restaurant’s staples.
—Ellen Fort
Best News for Foodies: The Food Channel Intermedia, Intermedia, why didst thou forsake us? While the rest of the dining world was tuning into the heated competition of the Iron Chef, traveling the nation in search of the perfect crème brûlée and best barbecue, supping vicariously at the tables of celebrity chefs, Nashville was starving for just a taste of the Food Network. Let us all, before digging into this weeks’ recipes from Emeril, Bobby Flay, Wolfgang Puck, Mario Batoli, and Anthony Bourdain, give thanks to new cable provider Comcast for hooking up our hungry backwater burg to something more than NASCAR, WWF, MTV and QVC. Bon appetit, Nashville.
—Kay West
Best Power Room: The Palm When The Palm opened downtown in late 2000, the lobbying for placement on the legendary steakhouse’s infamous wall of celebrity caricatures was blatant and shameless, with some wannabes going so far as to retain a flack to campaign for a coveted spot. No less heated is the jockeying for position in The Palm’s bar and dining room, the place where movers, shakers and policy-makers gather to rub shoulders, glad-hand, back-slap, seal the deal and chow down over a dry martini and 16-ounce tenderloin. Presiding over the whole shebang with grace, charm and nerves of steel is general manager and Nashville native Charlene Walker. At The Palm, the legislature is in session all year round.
—Kay West
Best Racially Diverse Dining Room: Swett’s When Susie and Walter Swett opened a small tavern at the corner of 28th Avenue North and Clifton Avenue in the Jefferson Street neighborhood, Nashville was segregated by law, and races simply did not mix. Even with the advent of civil rights and desegregation, white Nashvillians were slow to cross the great divide. The Swetts’ son David remembers that one of their earliest white customers was Fate Thomas Jr., the teenage son of then-Sheriff Fate Thomas. Fate used to leave Father Ryan High School, load up his car and drive across town for soul food. Swett remembers that customers would ask who that white boy was, and he would answer, “That’s not a white boy, that’s Little Fate.” While Nashville’s ubiquitous meat ’n’ three restaurants have long provided a common gathering spot for socioeconomic diversity, Swett’s arguably has done more than any other to break down Nashville’s racial barriers, and shatters them still.
—Kay West
Best Politically Incorrect Restaurant: White Trash Café When Lynn Batey started painting the sign on the front of his leased building, he got no further than “White Trash” before folks from the neighborhood came by to put their two cents in. A few people got huffy about it, Batey says, but he finished the sign, and this February the White Trash Café opened one block down the hill from the fairgrounds. To settle the matter once and for all, he placed White Trash Cooking, the cookbook by Ernest Matthew Mickler from which he snagged the name, prominently at the front counter. Complaints have dwindled since Batey and legendary Nashville waitress Stretch McEwen began dishing up meat ’n’ three classics like fried chicken, mac ’n’ cheese, greens, cabbage casserole, yeast rolls and nanner pudding, the staples of Southern cuisine by any other name.
—Kay West
Best Dining Diplomacy: Bombay Club Indian/ Southern Buffet At first glance, it looks like your typical meat ’n’ three chow line: large aluminum containers filled with steaming dishes under a plexiglass sneeze guard. Fried catfish, hush puppies, white beans, mashed potatoes, squash casserole, fried okra and corn muffins. Midway down the line, the cuisine abruptly switches direction—next stop, India? Pakora, basmati rice, tandoori chicken, alu gobi, palak paneer, malai chicken and daal makhani. Servers in the bright dining room of Bombay Club, home to Nashville’s only Indian/Southern lunch buffet, make frequent stops at tables with baskets of warm naan bread and pitchers of sweet tea. The day we went, we saw four Indian men sample the fried chicken, three African American women help themselves to the gulab jamun dessert, two senior citizens alternate bites of barbecued short ribs and chili chicken. The rest of the world should live together so peacefully.
—Kay West
