Taste of Nashville, Issue 17

One of the coolest apps we've discovered for the iPhone is ScoutMob. ScoutMob is an app that works with local companies in your city to bring your deals on anything from clothing to food. Most deals are 50% off your bill, but sometimes there's a 100% off coupon to use. Because Brandon and I are budget conscious at this point in our lives, we LOVE the ScoutMob app. We often use it to choose where our date nights will be. Recently, we had a double date with our friends, Nicole and J.L., at Caesar's Italian Restaurant in downtown Nashville. Under any other circumstance, we probably wouldn't have known about this restaurant, but there was a 50% off special on ScoutMob, so bon appetit! 

Caesar's was practically a ghost town when we dined-in. Despite the lack of patrons, the service was good and the staff was amiable. The food...well, the food wasn't anything special, but it wasn't terrible. 

We assumed that Caesar's probably draws a lunch crowd due to it's location, and that this was the reason for it being so desolate. Another reason for this is that Caesar's just opened in January of this year. Maybe Nashvillians just don't know about this restaurant yet. 

 

During our visit, I ordered a veggie pizza and Brandon ordered his staple meal, chicken parmesan. As mentioned above, our meals were not amazing, but they were affordable. With our coupon, our bill was under $15 and that included tip. Considering the price of our meal, we couldn't expect much more from the taste. 

I think Caesar's has a bit of work to do before we recommend it to friends. I would, however, recommend it to the college students I work with - it fits their budget and they often don't have high standards for their dining out experiences. :) I'm happy we tried it, but it won't make our list of go-to restaurants anytime soon. Until next time, that's all for our latest Taste of Nashville. 

Taste of Nashville, Issue 16

Usually, when I review a restaurant I'm fairly nice and not too critical. This week's Taste of Nashville is a bit different. I hope that readers understand that I'm not a negative person and that the bad review below is not a reflection of my personality, but rather of the experience I encountered at this restaurant.

This week's Taste of Nashville is about my experience at Chago's Cantina on Belmont Boulevard. Chago's claims to have authentic mexican cuisine, but that statement hardly holds truth - the food lacks authenticity that any good mexican cuisine should have. I've tried Chago's twice (the second time to with grace to give them a chance to redeem themselves) and both times I've been disappointed. The food is less than satisfying, the prices are more than the food is worth, and the service is absolutely TERRIBLE. 

The first time I went to Chago's I was part of a group of seven. Upon entering, I noticed that the restaurant was not busy. There were larger tables that were taken, but there were plenty of smaller tables available that could have been pushed together to sit my party. Rather than doing this, the hostess made my group wait 20 minutes to be seated. I even asked her if she could push tables together, but she ignored my question. Eventually we were seated and ordered our food. I ate my meal, but was not pleased with the quality of it. After the meal my stomach was upset, as was the stomachs of three others in my party. 

The second time I tried Chago's I only did so because of the proximity of the restaurant to Belmont. Again, I was disappointed in the quality of the food and even more frustrated with the service of the staff. During this visit, the staff was rude and unprofessional - at one point, the staff laughed at a request I had made for more chips, and then proceeded to tell other patrons about the situation, which made me feel embarrassed. 

Needless to say, I will never visit Chago's again. I would also recommend that others stay away from this restaurant. There are many other worthwhile restaurants in Nashville to try that offer better food and service. 

Taste of Nashville, Issue 15

It's been a while since the last Taste of Nashville - the holidays made it a bit difficult to get out to new restaurants. But, alas, here is the 15th installment of Taste of Nashville.

Dana, myself, and Jenn at The Melrose

This week's Taste of Nashville is about The Melrose. The Melrose is a pub on 8th Avenue in Nashville, near Belmont's campus. The Melrose has received multiple awards for being the best local bar in Nashville, but my friends and I didn't go for that reason. No, we went for the burgers! In addition for being known as a great bar, The Melrose is also known for their big, fat, juicy burgers made fresh with local beef. In fact, The Melrose is rate #19 for Nashville eats on Urbanspoon.

The Melrose has a great environment. It's very chill and the wallpaper is actually old magazine pages glued onto the walls with decoupage - total throw back style :) There are also sports playing constantly, so many people hang out here to watch the big games. An added bonus, the people that visit the pub are friendly and the prices are reasonable.

Our waiter was super nice and our food was great too! I was too hungry to remember to take a picture of my own food, so here's one that I found on the internet - it'll make your mouth water!

Special thanks to: a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net

Yum, right? The Melrose has loaded waffle fries, so the girls and I shared a basket. These fries are topped with cheese, bacon, sour cream, and green onions and are delicious! Of course, The Melrose isn't super healthy (or healthy at all), but it's a great bite every once in a while when you need a guilty-pleasure meal.

If you ever travel to Nashville, The Melrose is a great place to grab a local burger and fries. And that's this weeks installment of Taste of Nashville!

Taste of Nashville, Issue 14

It's been a while since our last Taste of Nashville post, but alas, the time has come to write another. I'm really excited about this post, because it's about mexican food - my very favorite type of comida (that's spanish for 'food').

First, I'll share that Brandon and I have started our New Year's Resolution early - On November 1st, we decided to begin a healthy eating diet. Our rules are no sweets, no soda, and less carbs. Brandon's diet is even stricter because he started P90X, which has a high-protein diet associated with it. The main reason for our early resolution is to begin to feel good about ourselves again. Tasting Nashville is fun and yummy, but it put the pounds on more than we would have liked :)

Once a week (on Sundays), Brandon and I have a cheat meal - we still follow the no sweets, no soda rules, but we're a little easier on the carbs. This week we tried a mexican restaurant near our church in Mount Juliet. If you've been reading our posts, you know how difficult it's been for us to find authentic mexican food in Nashville - many 'mexican' restaurants are tex-mex or gourmet mexican and those just aren't nearly as good. Today we ate at El Comal and we were very pleased with every aspect of our meal.

One of the most important aspects of a mexican meal is the taste of the chips and salsa (especially because it's the first thing you taste)! Brandon and I don't care for salsa that is too spicy or sweet, but instead like a simple tomato, onion, and cilantro salsa. El Comal's salsa was sooooo good! The chips are important too - they need to be just the right thickness. El Comal's chips were bordering the 'too thick' point, but they were served warm and the delicious salsa made up for it. We also ordered the white cheese dip and it was amazing!

Brandon always orders a chimichanga for his meal and when I can find my favorite, chilaquiles mexicanos, I order that. Luckily for me, El Comal had this dish! Both Brandon and I were extremely happy with our meal and we're happy to finally find a mexican restaurant that we enjoy. It's still not as good as El Vaquero (my favorite mexican restaurant in Columbus, Ohio), but it's darn near close!

That's it for this Taste of Nashville - I'm glad we could finally get another one posted!

Taste of Nashville, Issue 13

Brandon and I have had the wonderful opportunity to become friends with Nicole, a co-worker, and her boyfriend J.L. (you may recognize their names from previous posts). Nicole had a birthday a few weeks ago and we celebrated with dinner out on the town. Nicole LOVES Italian food, so she chose to go to Amerigo, an Italian restaurant with locations in Nashville, Memphis, and Jackson, Mississippi. 

Amerigo is a nicer restaurant, so we dressed up a bit for this affair. We joined a small group of Nicole's friends at dinner with us - here are pictures from our night out: 

Brandon and J.L. being silly - their friendship was meant to be.

Nicole and her sister, Jennifer.

Brandon and I - we matched so well!

Friends of Nicole's, Hannah and Lauren. 

The whole group after a lovely dinner.

Brandon ordered his staple Italian dish - chicken parmesan. It was absolutely delicious! I ordered a mushroom ravioli - it was alright, but definitely not as good as I had hoped when ordering. I expected a thicker sauce and instead, it came with a broth sauce. 

My mushroom ravioli.

Amerigo was good, but not great - we had a great time overall, but that can mostly be attributed to the company we had to share our meal with. 

After dinner, we went to Nicole's apartment for dessert. She made strawberry mascarpone filled cupcakes. They were delicious! If you'd like the recipe, click this link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/strawberry-and-mascarpone-filled-cupcakes-recipe/index.html 

Nicole pretending to blow out candles on her cupcakes. 

We had a wonderful time celebrating Nicole's birthday! In a few days, we get to celebrate my very own birthday - I'll be 25 this year, so we're having a 'Quarter of a Century' party. We'll be sure to post about how it goes!

Taste of Nashville, Issue 12

Belmont University is committed to encouraging students to find their passion and potential and, as a result, offers students many great programs to help them find their way in the world. One such program is Belmont's Business Plan Competition. This competition allows students to put action to their dreams. Students must write a complete business plan, then submit it to the review board who chooses winners based on the creativity of the idea. The top three winners are then awarded a monetary prize to go towards making their business idea come to fruition. One idea that recently won second place was Moovers and Shakers, a soda parlor on wheels.

Brandon and I have heard of the Moovers and Shakers van, but have never been in the same place as the van...until last week! The van travels around Nashville to special events and it happened to be at the songwriter's night we went to. For those of you who live in Nashville and want to check out the Moovers and Shakers van, here's a link for where the van will be traveling: http://mooversandshakersnashville.com/where.html.

The Moovers and Shakers menu is simple and all orders are $4 even. To explain the simplicity, a Moover is a milkshake and the Shaker is an ice cream float. Brandon ordered The Thunderbird (a vanilla milkshake) and I ordered The Impala (a chocolate milkshake). We were both incredibly happy with our first experience ordering milkshakes from a van. The shakes were great and the Moovers and Shakers staff were super nice.

I love this picture of us - ice cream makes us so happy!

We'd recommend grabbing ice cream from Moovers and Shakers if you ever happen to be at the same event as the van. Next week's Taste of Nashville will be about our fancy dinner out for a friend's birthday, so make sure you check back for that!

Taste of Nashville, Issue 11

From L to R: Sarah, Chris A., Phil, Anthony, Chris D.
I enjoyed having lunch with my lovely co-workers!

There are many barbeque restaurants in the South, but one has recently been in the Nashville news for it's big debut. The Judge's Vinegarroon opened late this summer and has received attention from the media for its texas style barbeque dishes at affordable prices. This is the owner's second go around with barbeque in Nashville and he claims that this time, the barbeque is better than ever & the brisket is the best in town.

Last week a few co-workers and I went to The Judge's Vinegarroon for lunch. The atmosphere was fun - the restaurant decor included a stuffed bull head on the wall and sports on every television. The menu was entertaining (both in food and in language). The food was good, but not my favorite. (I'll note that I'm not a professional barbeque eater, so I don't know much about what's good and what's not when it comes to barbeque dishes.) I ordered the beef brisket sandwich and fries. I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't impressed. My biggest complaint was that the barbeque sauce wasn't sweet enough for my liking- it was smoky and a little too dry. The menu item that was sweet enough for my taste was the sweet tea- it was delicious and the waitress did a great job at keeping my glass full of it!

My co-worker Chris ordered the sampler.
It was like two dinners on one plate!

Brandon and I always enjoy trying new restaurants (in this case, he got to try The Judge's Vinegarroon through my leftovers). We'll continue eating out and posting updates about our experiences. Next time you're in town be sure to read up on all our Taste of Nashville adventures so you'll know where to find good eats! 

Taste of Nashville, Issue 10

Brandon and I are big fans of mexican food. We had our favorite places to eat mexican in Ohio, but have had some trouble finding a good mexican restaurant in Nashville. To be honest, we did find one place on a whim our first week in town, but much to our dismay, its no longer in business. We found this out the hard way when we went to dine there again (a 15-20 minute drive away from campus), tugged on the door handle to open it, and realized it was locked. We were so sad! It was especially disappointing because we had looked forward to mexican food so much that day! Since that sad day, we haven't had much time to search for a new mexican restaurant, but it was definitely an item on our to-do list.

I mentioned in the last post that we ate out this past weekend with our friend Joshua. Joshua was aware of our trouble in finding a mexican restaurant and took the responsibility of helping us find a new favorite mexican restaurant in town. He took us to his favorite mexican restaurant, Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo is a well-known mexican restaurant in Nashville and has won awards for its food, including winning the "best mexican food" vote from the city.

The salsa at Cinco de Mayo had a spicy kick to it, but it was delicious. The cheese sauce was also amazing (we left wanting more of it!). Brandon ordered his new favorite, a beef chimichanga, and thought it was really good. Unfortunately, the restaurant did not have my favorite mexican dish, chilaquiles, but the quesadilla I ordered instead was good!

I'm not sure we're ready to settle on Cinco de Mayo as our go-to mexican restaurant in Nashville, but it was definitely a good experience. I'm still looking for a place that serves my favorite dish, however, if I cant find one, we'll continue to go to Cinco de Mayo to satisfy our mexican cravings!

Taste of Nashville, Issue 9

This week a Taste of Nashville is special - instead of writing about a restaurant, I'm going to write about a few of Brandon and I's favorite recipes. I'm doing this for a few reasons - first, because Brandon and I didn't have time to eat out this week, and second, because I believe that changing up the focus of a Taste of Nashville is a good thing every once in a while. Plus, if you ever come visit us in Nashville I'll cook for you, so its important for you to know what's cookin' in the Matias household. 


There are a few menus that repeat themselves in our home. One of Brandon's favorites is what we call 'Steph's famous chicken bowl'. The name for this recipe was inspired by KFC's famous chicken bowl, which Brandon ordered enough for me to want to cook it at home. Similar to KFC's famous chicken bowl, there are layers to this dish. The first is homemade mashed potatoes, the second is chicken (KFC uses fried chicken, but I make shredded chicken), and the third is corn. I also typically make biscuits to accompany this dish. The recipe for making the shredded chicken portion of this dish is SUPER easy and is a bit healthier than using fried chicken: 


Shredded Chicken Ingredients:
2-4 chicken breasts
2 cans cream of chicken soup (I use low-sodium, but either will work)


Directions:
In a crockpot, pour one can of cream of chicken & spread out. Place chicken breasts in a single layer over cream of chicken. Set on low heat. Once chicken is soft enough to shred, add the second can of cream of chicken and use a fork to shred chicken. 


I don't have a picture of my own recipe, but here's one of the KFC famous chicken bowl. It will give you an idea of what the final product of this recipe looks like AND it will be sure to make your mouth water! 

The second recipe we'd like to share is another that we cook often: homemade pizza. Brandon and I love pizza, but a good pizza is not cheap in Nashville, so we make our own at home as a cost saving measure.  We buy "Jiffy" mix pizza crust mix (this is the brand you probably use when you buy cornbread). I prepare the crust as instructed on the box and sometimes I also add in seasonings to give the crust more  flavor. I usually use an italian seasoning blend and garlic salt. For the sauce, we like to mix it up. Rather than using a red sauce, we like to use alfredo sauce to make a white pizza. Obviously, you can use whatever toppings you want, but to give you ideas, we use sliced roma tomatoes, green olives, onion, mushrooms, red pepper, and cubed cooked chicken (usually leftover from a meal the night before). Simply follow the instructions for the crust and enjoy a more affordable pizza made just the way you like it! 


Finally, we'll share an easy recipe for stuffed green peppers. We love this meal because it's delicious and yummy! 

Ingredients:

4 large green peppers, cleaned and halved
1 lb. ground beef (for healthier cooking, we use ground turkey)
½ medium onion
1 clove garlic, minced (sometimes I use 2 cloves, it's up to you)
2 cups rice
2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a baking dish (big enough for all peppers) place a thin layer of tomato sauce. Place green pepper halves in dish and spread a little mozzarella cheese in each.

2. Brown the ground meat, onion and garlic over medium heat. Salt and pepper mixture. Drain grease.

3. Cook rice as instructed on package.

4. Add cooked rice and tomato sauce to meat mixture.

5. Spoon meat mixture into green pepper halves. Cover dish with foil.

6. Place in oven & cook for 45 minutes. Remove foil and spread shredded cheese on top of green peppers then broil for 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove from oven, allow a few minutes to cool & enjoy! 

Brandon and I love to eat at home and we're always trying new recipes. We hope you enjoyed reading a few of our go-to dishes on this week's edition of a Taste of Nashville. Please share your own recipes for us to try! 

  

Taste of Nashville, Issue 8

One week ago today, Brandon and I went out to lunch with Anthony, the Director of Residence Life at Belmont. Anthony knows we review restaurants on our blog, so he suggested that we eat at a place we've never been to, Burger Up.

Burger Up is an upscale burger joint that uses local beef for their burgers. Their menu is full of unique combinations such as the bison burger, the turkey burger, and even an oyster 'burger' that features fried oysters instead of beef. The restaurant is also famous for their Jack Daniels' ketchup. I was excited to try their pimento cheese burger, as I've recently learned that I enjoy pimento cheese spreads. Brandon (whose favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla) ordered the classic burger. The fries that came with our meal were similar to what I call 'fair fries'. They're the kind you get at the fair that you smother with salt and vinegar. The only bummer about Burger Up is that they don't offer guests malt vinegar for their fries, so I had to eat them with ketchup instead. 

Anthony and I at Burger Up

After Burger Up, we all had a craving for something sweet, so we headed next door to Las Paletas.  Las Paletas serves customers gourmet popsicles that are made with fresh ingredients. They're so good they've been featured on The Food Network! The flavors offered change as the availability of ingredients change, but a few popular flavors include hot chocolate with hot peppers, hibiscus, and watermelon (which is made from and tastes like REAL watermelon, not watermelon flavoring). Brandon and Anthony both ordered the cookie flavor and I ordered the strawberries and cream flavor. Mine was SO good! I went back a few days later and ordered the coconut pineapple flavor, which was even better than the strawberries and cream. 

Anthony and Brandon at Las Paletas. 

As we ate our popsicles, we walked to Sevier Park. Its a beautiful park with lots of green space, a few swingsets, basketball courts, tennis courts, and a walking path. We walked and talked and ate our dessert before we had to head back to work. We would definitely recommend both Burger Up and Las Paletas to friends. Special thanks to Anthony for suggesting these places - we welcome future recommendations! 

Taste of Nashville, Issue 7

The gang at Demos'. 

Hannah with our waiter; he was REALLY funny.

Last weekend Brandon's mom & sisters came into town. We wanted to show them a good time while they were in Nashville, so we took them downtown for dining and dancing. Our friends Jenn and Chris joined for this adventure. For dinner, we went to a restaurant that Chris recommended, Demos'. After dinner we went to our favorite location for dancing, the Wildhorse Saloon.

Demos' is a family-owned restaurant that specializes in pastas and steaks. Despite their specialties, the table ordered salads all around because we wanted something light (due to the fact that we'd be dancing that evening). I made the concession to order a salad only after my friends and Brandon promised we could return for pasta one night soon. All wasn't lost by ordering a salad. With our salads came the most delicious soup I have ever eaten. Demos' baked chicken soup is a family recipe that has been passed down for generations. The soup was a mix between a cream base and broth base and had just enough chicken and rice to compliment that base. If I could have, I would have skipped the salad altogether and had seconds of the soup. With the soup also came a uniquely seasoned bread that was very good. The salads were nothing too special, but the homemade dressings were yummy! Dinner was fabulous. We were in great company and the food was delicious too!

Demos' offers the whole package of a desired dining experience. The food was great, the prices were affordable, and the wait staff was entertaining. We'll definitely return to Demos' again - this time for pasta!

Taste of Nashville, Issue 6

Last week I had the opportunity to eat out with the senior staff members of Belmont's Department of Residence Life (in short, my bosses). Luckily, I was in the right place at the right time (Anthony's office at lunchtime) and was invited to join them for lunch. Anthony, Rebekah, and Jamie chose to take me to a restaurant I haven't tried so that I could use the experience for this issue of a Taste of Nashville.

The bosses and I went to Zoe's Kitchen, which is a southern restaurant chain that offers mediterranean type dishes. It reminded me of a greek Panera. Customers can choose from soups, salads, sandwiches and wraps. I ordered the chicken roll ups - they were both healthy and yummy! 

At Zoe's with Jamie and Rebekah

Anthony and I at Sweet Cece's

Because lunch was so healthy, Anthony and I decided to grab Sweet Cece's after. Sweet Cece's offers all natural frozen yogurt and many mix-in options. I tried the cake batter flavor and added in a brownie. I LOVED it. I was nervous about the frozen yogurt aspect of Sweet Cece's, but it was delicious and I'm very excited to go back the next time I have a sweet tooth. 

The best part of lunch was the chance to get to know the people I work for a bit better. I'm really enjoying my new job, partly because I have great co-workers. It's been amazing to work at Belmont - everyone is so nice and outgoing. Brandon is enjoying his new job too. He's still finding time to work on his music and he's meeting new people in the music industry. This past week he had the opportunity to send a song to a big-name country act, so pray that something comes of that! 

Next time in a Taste of Nashville Brandon and I will tell you about our first experience at two new restaurants - they're good and you wont want to miss reading about it! 

A Taste of Nashville, Issue 5

Earlier this week I told you to expect a special edition of A Taste of Nashville and here it is! Why is this one special you might ask? This Taste of Nashville is special because it includes not one, not two, but three local restaurant reviews! While Joe and Christine visited, we ate out once a day to show them different eats in Nashville. Everywhere we went was amazing and I'm excited to tell you about them!

For anyone visiting the South, it is crucial that you try southern barbeque. Joe and Christine agreed with this statement, so on Saturday we went to Jim and Nick's Bar-B-Q. Jim and Nick are a father-son duo that began their restaurant 25 years ago. They have a passion for barbeque and pride themselves on doing it the right way. They do more than barbeque right - everything on the menu is homemade and delicious. They have multiple locations in the South, and thankfully one is in Nashville.

The greatness starts immediately at Jim and Nick's as guests are treated to complimentary cheese biscuits. These biscuits are incredible! In addition to this starter, the four of us shared a basket of onion rings. These were hot, fresh, and hand battered. They were also delicious! For our meals, Brandon ordered a pulled pork sandwich with sides of mashed potatoes, I ordered a burger topped with cheese, bacon, and barbeque sauce with a side of homemade macaroni and cheese (which was amazing), and Brandon and I split an order of fries. We wanted to try a bit of everything because it all sounded so good! And we were not disappointed! We'll definitely go back to this place.

Jenn, Stephanie, and Christine at MAFIAoZA's

The Scarface at MAFIAoZA's

The Brass Knuckles is super spicy but so good!

The Irate Italian for black olive lovers!

On Sunday we wanted to show Joe and Christine an Italian restaurant near campus that Brandon and I love. We invited Jenn and Kevin to accompany the four of us for this trip too. The six of us went to dinner at MAFIAoZA's, an authentic Italian restaurant that boasts about their stone-oven pizzas. MAFIAoZA's is an entertaining experience - from the decor to the menu, guests are sure to enjoy themselves. The menu options are cleverly named to reference Italian movies, actors, and stereotypes. The six of us split three pizzas: The Irate Italian (garlic, black olives, and fresh mozzarella), the Brass Knuckles (wing sauce, chicken, bleu cheese crumbles, and a special cheese blend), and the Scarface (capicola ham, salami, pepperoni and italian sausage). We also received a special surprise when we learned the chefs accidentally made the smaller sizes, so we got those AND our large pizzas which served as leftovers.

Joe and Christine left Monday morning, but before they began their trip back to Ohio, it was important for them to try the renowned Pancake Pantry. Jenn and Kevin accompanied us again for this special treat. It was a first for all of us and we each enjoyed our breakfast immensely.

The Pancake Pantry has been around since 1961. The original restaurant owner desired to open a restaurant that offered a relaxing, down-to-earth environment and a menu full of surprising combinations. This owner then passed the business on to his son, making this a truly, down home, family affair. The menu is fascinating, so I'm posting the link for you to check it our for yourself:  http://www.thepancakepantry.com/images/Pancake_Pantry_menu.pdf

Kevin ordered the Caribbean pancakes. These are sprinkled with coconut, pecans, powdered sugar, and a sliced banana. Jenn ordered wild blueberry pancakes, Christine ordered the sugar and spice pancakes, Brandon ordered the old-fashioned pancakes, and Joe and I both ordered the french toast. Everything was incredible and we left very full and happy guests.

The Caribbean pancakes. 

Christine with her sugar and spice pancakes.

My delicious french toast (notice the slab of butter). 

We ate so much good food this past weekend. Even better, we were able to do so with great company. I hope Joe and Christine enjoyed their stay in Nashville. I'm sure one lesson they learned is that the South does food and does it well. And so that concludes this special edition of A Taste of Nashville. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed eating it! 

Taste of Nashville, Issue 4

Last week Brandon and I traveled to East Nashville to meet a friend at Rosepepper, a mexican restaurant. This was our first time in East Nashville, a very quaint part of the city. We met an old friend from high school and enjoyed the food and company.

As you can see, Rosepepper is a very eclectic restaurant. The menu is also decorated with various mexican dishes, including their famous 'wet' burritos. This means that the burrito has sauce drizzled on top and that you need a fork and knife to eat it. I ordered the burrito asada, which was full of grilled sirloin, onion, and tomato. On top was a red sauce and a white cheese sauce. All these ingredients together made for a very yummy meal. Rosepepper also had great guacamole, a personal favorite of mine! We were thankful our friend suggested this restaurant, because we never would have found it on our own.

Coming soon, we'll tell you about our holiday weekend, which was full of friends, food, and sight-seeing! Visit often for all our updates about our life in Nashville.

Taste of Nashville, Issue 3

I know I mentioned that this third installment of Taste of Nashville may be about a trip to the Pancake Pantry, but we didn't make it there last week. Instead we went to the Loveless Cafe, a world famous restaurant in Nashville. Our wait time to eat was 1.5 hours, but we were able to spend it in good company - with my boss, Anthony, and our friends Rena, Jenn and Kevin. There are cute shops on the property of the restaurant, so we walked in and out of those and enjoyed talking with one another.

Rena, Anthony, Jenn and I. 

Check out those yummy biscuits!

The Loveless Cafe was established in 1951 and, other than having to add on to the building to accommodate the growing popularity of the restaurant, it hasn't changed much. It is the epitome of a down home, country restaurant. They are famous for their biscuits, homemade jams, and country ham. Martha Stewart brags that they serve the best breakfast she's ever had and from our experience, I think she's on to something. Brandon and I both ordered omelets, but our true love and loyalty lies with those yummy biscuits with homemade jam (the blackberry jam was exceptional!). In addition to having wonderful food, the Loveless Cafe also boasts about their Southern hospitality. The service was friendly and the environment was inviting. Overall, we had a great experience and would definitely go back!

Taste of Nashville, Issue 2

Brandon and I had a great time in Nashville this past weekend. We're definitely becoming more acclimated with the city and we always feel proud of ourselves when we can get places without Velma (our GPS). We now know how to get to the grocery store, the public library, church, and a nearby shopping center by memory. I know this sounds trivial, but its a big deal for us after living in the small town of Athens for so long!

We love our new friends Nicole and JL!

On Saturday, we doubled dated with new friends, Nicole and J.L. Nicole is another Residence Director at Belmont and, if you haven't already assumed, she's dating J.L. Our double date consisted of dinner and a movie. We continued our Taste of Nashville and tried a new restaurant, the Dog of Nashville. Then we saw XMen: First Class. Both were GREAT and our company was greater, which made for a fantastic evening.

 

Left, the chili dog; Right, the fiery redneck. 

These onion rings were sprinkled with sea salt - Yum! 

The Dog of Nashville is a gourmet hot dog shop near Belmont. The owner is a Chicago native and views his hot dog creations as works of art. Brandon and I wanted to get the full experience, so we shared three different dogs: a corn dog, a chili dog, and the fiery redneck. The corn dog and chili dog were great, but the fiery redneck was amazing. It is a hot dog with mustard, bacon, chili, cheese sauce, onions, and jalapenos (which we omitted). We also shared an order of onion rings. Loved ones, if you ever visit, we MUST take you here. It is a super laid back environment and the hot dogs were some of the best we've ever eaten.

We're thinking that our next Taste of Nashville adventure will be to the Pancake Pantry, a famous breakfast restaurant in Nashville. Apparently this place is so popular guests sometimes have to wait two hours to be seated. It's also a well-known favorite of country artist Vince Gill (Brandon is hoping we'll run into him during our visit). We'll let you know how it goes!

Taste of Nashville

In our opinion, one of the most exciting things about moving to a new city is trying new restaurants. We love being pleasantly surprised by the hole in the wall eateries that boast some of the best food. Brandon and I have a plan to try one new restaurant in Nashville each week. This will satisfy our craving to find our new favorite places to eat, as well as serve as fun date nights (something we didn't get to do much of while I was a grad student). We're calling this experience our Taste of Nashville. We'll update you each week with where we've gone and what we thought of the restaurant/food.

Brandon at SATCo, 6/12/11.

This past weekend we ate at the San Antonio Taco Company, or, as the Nashville folk refer to it, SATCo. SATCo had been recommended by a few new friends, and as it's quick, cheap, and a fun experience, we made it our Sunday night dinner. SATCo's menu has many mexican dishes, such as tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, and fajitas. They are also famous for their chili con queso & chips. The ordering system is unique, as they have their entire menu on pads of paper. The customer writes their order on one of the menu sheets and takes it to the register, where they are then rung up. The employees enjoy yelling orders to one another or calling names of orders that are ready. The customers enjoy this too because it makes the atmosphere lively and entertaining. They also have a wonderful patio that enables customers to enjoy the wonderful Nashville weather while eating, which is where Brandon and I sat.

Brandon and I each ordered tacos and shared the queso and chips. Unfortunately, I think we enjoyed the atmosphere more than we enjoyed the food. We probably wont get a craving for SATCo anytime soon and it definitely wont become our go-to mexican restaurant of choice, but we're still happy to cross this restaurant off our list and continue with our Taste of Nashville this week!

If any of you have been to Nashville and have restaurant recommendations, we welcome the suggestions! We'd love to add places to our Taste of Nashville adventure!