Mark F 10/11/17 Mark F 10/11/17

Best places to eat in Nashville, TN

Nashville is a really fun and vibrant city. Full of music and history. Aside from that, I was excited to try some Nashville food. I tried to find really good local spots. Enjoy my reviews!

Aside from the bar hopping downtown and exploring a new state, I looked forward to eating in Nashville. It was an interesting trip food wise.. I have never been to a heavy, southern food area. I am not the best with spicy food but I was open to trying what Nashville had to offer. It was Labor Day weekend so it was packed everywhere. Also, we had a group of 8 so waiting in lines less than 30 minutes just wasn’t happening.

Like everyone else in Nashville, we wanted to try Biscuit Love. This was by far the most popular brunch spot in the area. Unfortunately, the line was insane.

However, when one door closes, another opens. Browsing to see what brunch places were nearby and calling to see who would accommodate 8 of us, we came across Party Fowl. Yes, you read that correctly. And, it was a great find. The group was really about the boozy brunch and this spot was it. They had various drink specials including spicy Bloody Mary’s. I am not a fan but everyone else was on board with it. As for the food, this was the best place to have Nashville hot chicken and biscuits. The biscuits were so good and they served them as appetizers with this awesome apple butter. Everyone at the table ordered the “Loaded Chicken Biscuit”, which consisted of an open-faced buttermilk biscuit topped with hot chicken (southern fried, mild, medium, Nashville Hot, or Poultrygeist), sawmill gravy, two eggs prepared your way, and lyonnaise potatoes. I didn’t mess around and I went southern fried. And, that was spicy to me. Nichole had to be the only one get something different but it was damn good! She got the smoked chicken frittata. This consisted pulled smoked chicken & caramelized onion frittata topped with melted gruyere cheese.

The trip wouldn’t have been complete without a Waffle House late night feeding. We don’t have them in the Northeast and I have never been to one. It took us two different locations to find one open (not 24 hours...lies). The meal was as expected. It wasn’t bad but it was sketchy….and the roach I noticed crawling around on the floor tied my experience with a bow. Check that off the list.

The Loveless Cafe is a pretty popular location. It is about 30 minutes outside of downtown Nashville on Highway 100. This was a motel converted into shops, markets, and a restaurant. It is like it’s own little mini mall. It is definitely cool. However, it is really crowded. The wait was almost 2 hours! Luckily, Nichole found out we can just get take out and eat on the benches and picnic tables. The food was so good. We got a little of everything. We got the pulled pork, fried green tomato with pimento cheese, and fried chicken biscuit sliders along with a side of mac & cheese and hashbrown casserole. And, a slice of coconut pie. The fried green tomato and pimento cheese combo was by the far the best. The biscuits were on point too. This was worth the price of the rental car.

The other noteworthy place we ate was in the Indigo Hotel called The District Bar & Kitchen. The menu looked good and we were spot on with our choice. For starters, we had a buffalo chicken egg roll and fried green tomatoes with pimento cheese and five pepper jelly. This combo blew my mind the whole trip. Would've never expected fried green tomatoes plus pimento cheese to be absolute heaven...lesson learned. For the entree, I had the Indigo wrap which consisted of pulled pork, country ham, swiss cheese, dijon, bread & butter pickles. Nichole got a good eye. She went with a dish called the Four Way. This was a bed of rigatoni with cheddar cheese covered with tortilla chips and chili. Another good find in downtown Nashville.

Lastly, I can't forget about the ice cream. On the last night, we went to Mike's Ice Cream in the downtown area. They had many ice cream options and a variety of cone options. I got a scoop of red velvet and a scoop of butter pecan in a chocolate chip cookie cone. Oh yea...pure gluttonous.

We got to eat in popular locations and some unknown locations. All in all, another successful trip of eating. There is a lot more food in Nashville to try. Until next time!

HIKING FOR DONUTS

A blog for the outdoors foodie enthusiast

Hi, I’m Mark. I live in Connecticut. I take new trips every chance I get. A good trip has a great hike, great food, and something fun to do. My goal is to search out new trips and share them to inspire others to try something new and exciting.

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Honky Tonk Hiking in Nashville, TN!

Spent the long labor day weekend hiking in Nashville, TN! Aside from bars, music & food, I was able to enjoy some great outdoor activities. Got a hike in and explored a lake. Nashville hikes.

It has been a busy month….and a very busy summer. The last trip on my agenda for the summer was Nashville, TN. I have never been there before and I hear lots of great things. My girlfriend, Nichole, has been there 4 times now. She was tasked with showing me the ropes. Aside from the food and the bars, we made time for some outdoors activities and adventuring. I did some research found some cool parks nearby such as The Warner Parks. We decided to rent a car for the day and made our trek ready to sweat off the beers, biscuits, and hot chicken.

We stayed in downtown Nashville and made the 20 minute drive to Edwin Warner Park first. Here is where we started with a nice refreshing hike. The weather held up for us and was perfect. The park was easy to get to and there is ample parking. There is a nature center for water and bathrooms also.

We decided to take the Harpeth Woods Trail, which was roughly a 2.5 mile loop. There are three trailheads in Edwin Warner Park which access the trail: Owl Hollow, Natchez Trace Trailhead, or the Nature Center Trailhead. We walked further down from the Nature Center and started at the Natchez Trace Trailhead. The Harpeth Woods Trail is the blue trail. The trail is very well marked, all we needed to do is follow the blue arrows. Please note, this is a very popular park. We were there on Labor Day but there isn’t a lot of options in the metro Nashville area.

Harpeth Woods Trail Edwin Warner Park Nashville TN

This particular hike was a typical woodsy trail. No scenic views but a good hike. There were some cool rocks formations and bridges to cross. There was a small part of the hike that was a nice incline but that was maybe 1/10 of a mile. In my opinion, this was an easy hike based on my abilities. I wore Nike training shoes and have a bum ankle still. However, I can see this being moderate for others. I did my best to take unique pics.

After the hike, we decided to venture to Percy Warner Park as well since it was only a mile away. At this location, there is a cool landmark known as the Percy Warner Park Stairs. This gives you a nice burn going up and a view from the top from where the trail heads start.

The last stop was Radnor Lake. This location was only 20 minutes from the Warner Parks. Since we had the rental car, we figured we would try to get in as much as possible. This area was very, very busy and parking was an issue. There are two parking entrances. One lot was completely full. However, it is was a really nice ride to both entrances. We got to see pretty nice houses and scenic views. Nichole even questioned some houses, "I wonder if someone famous lives here." Once we got a parking space, we just quickly perused the lake and went on the bridge to see some views. It’s cool for the area and I understand the traffic. This sums up our labor day in Nashville. I didn’t anticipate getting this much outdoors in so close to the city.