For our annual Meals & Drink Subject, we on the Scene determined to take you again to the classics — the quintessential, standard-setting examples of all-time menu gadgets. From Previous Nashville establishments just like the Energy Caesar Salad at Inexperienced Hills Grille and Sperry’s Bananas Foster to newer additions that really feel timeless, just like the traditional steakhouse fare at Star Rover Sound, right here we give you 48 dishes that may by no means get outdated. And to preempt some offended emails: Sure, we all know we left scorching hen off the checklist. We counter that sufficient ink has been spilled on the town’s flock of hot-chicken spots prior to now few years. (Although if you happen to nonetheless want a advice, you possibly can by no means go flawed with Prince’s.)
Chris Crary, Jess Lambert, Giovanna Orsino and Edgar Victoria will go face to face on April 26 on the Scene-presented occasion
Additionally on this problem we’ve acquired bios on all 4 of the cooks competing in subsequent week’s Iron Fork competitors — that Scene-presented occasion will happen Saturday, April 26, as a part of the Music Metropolis Meals & Wine Pageant. Dropped at you by the Scene’s dad or mum firm FW Publishing, MCFWF will characteristic an array of occasions from April 24 to April 27 at Centennial Park. Learn extra about these occasions within the MCFWF program that comes hooked up to this week’s print problem.
With out additional ado, listed below are 48 Nashville classics.
Pepperoni Pizza: Dicey’s
Pepperoni Pizza: Dicey’s
Pizza slices are like OutKast albums or seasons of Survivor — even the unhealthy ones are fairly good. So actually, you could find a reasonably rattling strong slice of traditional pepperoni pizza nearly wherever. So long as it has the suitable grease-to-cheese-to-sauce ratio, you’re in all probability in good arms — whether or not meaning Nashville’s important 5 Factors Pizza or the award-winning Smith & Lentz. That stated, my go-to native slice is at Dicey’s. The pepperoni is cooked completely, it has simply the correct quantity of sauce, and the dimensions of the slice isn’t overwhelming like at another eating places. Add somewhat scorching honey if you wish to take it up a notch. LOGAN BUTTS
Margherita Pizza: Roberta’s
Margherita Pizza: Roberta’s
robertaspizza.com/urban-cowboy
In relation to pizza, I high mine with meat and veggies 90 p.c of the time. The opposite 10 p.c of the time, I eat the Margherita at Roberta’s. This pie defines the style as a result of it retains issues easy and flawless. The crust is handmade sourdough, chewy and tangy and simply charred sufficient. The tomato sauce is shiny, the basil is recent, and the mozzarella is house-made and showstopping. Bonus: They use the scraps from making the savory, melty cheese for stracciatella, so you will get two classics at one cease. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Fruit Tea: Calypso Cafe
Fruit Tea: Calypso Cafe
Few easy pleasures examine to ice-cold fruit tea within the Nashville summer time. Candy tea’s juicier cousin is a beverage bridge that may span the younger and outdated, new neighbors and outdated buddies, equally acceptable at a marriage or a funeral. For those who don’t know a household recipe, don’t look one up — you’ll understand simply why it’s so refreshing. Simply begin at Calypso Cafe, an area favourite that threatened to turn into one thing of an endangered species after shuttering a number of storefronts prior to now few years. (Possession modified arms on the high of the yr, with the brand new homeowners planning to increase sooner or later.) As soon as a extensively supplied lunch complement, selfmade fruit tea has slowly gone the way in which of Bread & Firm. Calypso has you lined, even promoting its concoction by the gallon jug for contingency preppers or adventurous at-home mixologists. ELI MOTYCKA
Energy Caesar Salad: Inexperienced Hills Grille
Caesar Salad: Inexperienced Hills Grille
Inexperienced Hills Grille is a restaurant with endurance. For greater than twenty years in three totally different places, it has been delighting diners with unpretentious and constant meals and exemplary service. As a favourite spot for enterprise lunches or informal hangs between carpool dropoff and pickup, Inexperienced Hills Grille’s menu completely has to have a strong salad providing, and the Energy Caesar is a standout. This tackle the noon traditional combines Tuscan kale and shaved Brussels sprouts for the greens and provides purple quinoa, avocado and Marcona almonds for textural distinction; purple onion, cherry tomatoes and goat cheese for some tang; and bacon, for nicely … bacon. Tossed with anchovy- and garlic-infused dressing, it’s a Caesar price hailing. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
Hummus: Kalamatas
Hummus: Kalamatas
If the primary or final hummus you had was Sabra … hiya, fellow white woman! It’s time to degree up. For 22 years, Kalamatas has created reliable, scrumptious Mediterranean meals for Nashville. All of it’s tasty, however two of its choices encourage a Pavlovian drool response: hummus and salad dressing. The previous is creamy, tangy and effortlessly easy — the feel of which you’ll deeply recognize if you happen to ever attempt to make hummus at house. (Peeling chickpeas is culinary waterboarding.) The latter — their zingy, addictive salad dressing — takes a traditional Greek salad (feta, tomato, cucumber) to the gotta-have-one-more-bite degree. Bottle it, Kalamatas, I encourage you! ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Bagel: Bagelshop
Bagel: Bagelshop
I really feel grateful that there at the moment are so many legit bagel locations on the town and several other extra opening. To seek out the very best, I thought of solely bagels that have been boiled after which baked, with a slick, crusty exterior and a discernible texture distinction between the skin and the within. I ate them recent and with out toppings (an excellent bagel is tasty even when it’s not toasted). If you need to load it as much as make it style good, it may nonetheless be an excellent sandwich, but it surely’s not good. For day in, day trip, traditional bagel consistency, my decide is Bagelshop in Donelson. Sure, they do experiment with loopy flavors and combos, however they by no means skip the hand-rolled, boiled traditional. MARGARET LITTMAN
Biscuits: Butter Milk Ranch
Biscuits: Butter Milk Ranch
It’s been stated that even a nasty biscuit is healthier than the very best piece of toast. (OK, possibly I used to be the one who stated that, however I meant it!) Amongst all the good biscuits of Nashville, a comparatively new model rises above the remainder. Grasp pâtissière Alyssa Gangeri has revolutionized the artwork kind by making a multilayer laminated biscuit that does for breakfast what the Cronut did for dessert. Flaky and buttery and light-weight and fluffy all on the similar time, BMR’s biscuits might be improved solely by the addition of what the restaurant calls “a gravy prepare” — a flight of gravies together with conventional sausage and rotating seasonal specials. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
Rooster Wings: Ghot Wingz
Rooster Wings: Ghot Wingz
The wings at Ghot Wingz are so good that we’ll even forgive the overuse of the letter “z” on their menu. (“Tenderz” and “Sidez,” certain. “Drinkz” and “Platterz” are maybe a bit a lot.) Nevertheless, abundance is a part of the allure at this East Aspect staple, the place you possibly can order wings breaded or bare in your alternative of greater than two dozen flavors. With so many choices, it’s good that the kitchen permits patrons to separate their order between a number of sauces or seasonings for portions larger than 12 wings. Simply ensure that no less than one among them is the superb spicy lemon pepper! CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
Summer season Rolls: Love, Peace & Pho
Summer season Rolls: Love, Peace & Pho
There may be some variance in what eating places name them, however once I’m hitting up one among Nashville’s Vietnamese eating places, I’m ordering the summer time rolls — crispy rolls be damned. Eighth Avenue restaurant Love, Peace & Pho calls them recent rolls, and they’re a triumph of their type. The recent rolls are stuffed generously with a mixture of recent herbs, veggies, vermicelli noodles and selection of shrimp or tofu. (I at all times select shrimp.) Dunked in some peanut sauce, it’s a refreshing first course. It’s additionally the proper appetizer to set the stage for the restaurant’s traditional pho. HANNAH HERNER
Queso: Redheaded Stranger
Queso: Redheaded Stranger
For those who complain about not having chips to eat Redheaded Stranger’s cheese dip with, you don’t should eat it. Chips are, largely, the very best! What they’re not higher than, although, is dipping freshly handmade and griddled-before-your-eyes flour tortillas into scorching, melty queso. Redheaded Stranger government chef Bryan Lee Weaver makes use of a mixture of American and cheddar cheeses, and that twists the traditional sufficient to make it someway extra genuine than the one you grew up on. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Tomato Soup: The Grilled Cheeserie
Tomato Soup: The Grilled Cheeserie
Whenever you want a tomato soup to dip your grilled cheese in, Noshville, The Meals Firm and even Zoe’s (RIP) have been sturdy native candidates. However when you’ve had The Grilled Cheeserie’s model, there’s simply no going again. Two enormous causes for that: cream and country-ham inventory. Using the previous is an open secret amongst cooks — it balances the acidity of the tomato with some much-needed fats — however the thought of making your base broth with salty, umami-rich nation ham? That’s a cheat code so sensible it at all times will get the win. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Gumbo: Spicy Boy’s
Gumbo: Spicy Boy’s
As contributor Danny Bonvissuto as soon as wrote in these pages, “Spicy Boy’s (sure, only one boy) is as shut as I’ve ever felt to New Orleans with out a Southwest flight.” Certainly, Baton Rouge native Justen Cheney may be working towards some type of sorcery at his Cajun-inspired East Aspect spot. … Do diners move by means of a portal to Louisiana after they step over the Spicy Boy’s threshold? Nevertheless he does it, Cheney serves up genuine po’boys, particles fries and, maybe most significantly, the quintessential chicken-and-andouille gumbo. Spicy Boy’s additionally has a superb classic-cocktail lineup. A few Sazeracs or mint juleps and also you’ll be able to host your individual non-public Mardi Gras. D. PATRICK RODGERS
Matzah Ball Soup: Correct Bagel
Matzah Ball Soup: Correct Bagel
It’s laborious to search out one thing extra traditional than any meals that tastes “identical to Mother used to make,” which may be why Correct Bagel’s matzah ball soup is peerless. Co-owner Heather Speranza says this recipe has been of their household eternally, and it’s clear why. The satisfying scratch-made broth; the tender, fluffy matzah balls; the juicy items of hen; the toothsome curly noodles — all of it’s completely balanced and important for a sick day, a chilly night time or only a second while you want a digital hug from Mother. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Pho: Kien Giang
Pho: Kien Giang
For those who love pho, you understand the place to go: Charlotte Pike. The truth that Miss Saigon, VN Pho & Deli and Kien Giang are all inside a quarter-mile of each other is a humiliation of riches. However my true north will at all times be Kien Giang. They do each piece proper: chewy rice noodles, juicy hen or uncommon beef, aromatic Thai basil, crunchy bean sprouts, zippy white onion, jalapeños, scallions, lime and the hoisin sauce/Sriracha combo that brings the umami enhance. However actually? It’s all in regards to the broth: easy, fragrant, savory and simply the tiniest bit candy. I didn’t develop up consuming pho, however theirs someway tastes like house. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Pimento Cheese: The Picnic
Pimento Cheese: The Picnic
Whereas the roots of pimento cheese originate within the North, most would agree that it’s a Southern staple. In Nashville, the go-to place for the long-lasting dish — and dialog amongst regulars — is The Picnic. Since 1983, diners on the stalwart Belle Meade cafe have been discovered having fun with the pimento cheese — and the delicacy can be typically noticed within the picnic baskets of many a Steeplechaser. Insiders additionally know to order the salad sampler — a scoop of their famend hen salad and a scoop of pimento cheese — accompanied by a selfmade muffin. JANET KURTZ
French Fries: Grillshack Fries & Burgers
French Fries: Grillshack Fries & Burgers
grillshack.wixsite.com/grillshack
I’m from Idaho, people. I’ve eaten numerous potatoes. Curly, matchstick, steak … even throughout that bizarre interval in 2003, “freedom fries.” Once I need the proper fry, with the suitable ratio of crispy outdoors and fluffy inside, somewhat salty, however not an excessive amount of, I head to Grillshack Fries & Burgers in East Nashville. These Idaho russets are hand-cut and cooked to order, so that you by no means get caught with a soggy fry or a chilly fry. The truth is, they even do the inconceivable so far as fries go: They style good as leftovers reheated the subsequent day … not that I normally have leftovers. MARGARET LITTMAN
Breakfast Plate: Brown’s Diner
Breakfast Plate: Brown’s Diner
Why stray from what works? In order for you a traditional American breakfast — I’m speaking eggs any model, hash browns, a facet of meat and a few carbs — it’s laborious to beat longtime Hillsboro Village staple Brown’s Diner. They’ve lately launched a complete new menu, however they’re nonetheless doing the classics proper. The perfect half listed below are the carb choices. Positive, you will get toast or a biscuit, however you may also select a pancake — for these occasions while you need somewhat one thing candy. Which is on a regular basis, in my case. Spoiled by alternative! Hallelujah! ELIZABETH JONES
Tuna Roll: Sonobana Japanese Restaurant
Tuna Roll: Sonobana Japanese Restaurant
In truth, any menu merchandise at West Nashville establishment Sonobana Japanese Restaurant might discover itself on our checklist of classics. We picked the tuna roll as a result of what sushi fan doesn’t recognize a rock-solid model of sushi’s foundational roll? Open for many years and transformed simply this yr, Sonobana affords what’s, for my cash, the very best recent, simple sushi within the metropolis — from nigiri to sashimi to maki. Longtime sushi fan? You’ll adore it. Easing in a sushi newcomer? Nowhere higher to begin. It stays fairly busy, however whilst you anticipate a desk, pop by the completely pleasant Sonobana Japanese Market subsequent door. D. PATRICK RODGERS
Silver Sands
Salmon Croquettes: Silver Sands
There’s a sure nostalgia to a correctly made salmon patty. It could possibly evoke the sense reminiscence of the aroma of a college cafeteria on Friday, the place fish was on the menu throughout Lent. Positive, pizza day was at all times a giant deal, however these lunch women made higher salmon croquettes than they did pizzas. These days, no one makes a finer fish patty than the kitchen at Silver Sands. The third era of soul meals cooks is now manning the fryer, they usually’ll drop the proper ratio of fish to breading into the oil proper while you order it so it comes out scorching, crispy and scrumptious. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
Fish and Chips: Rosie’s Twin Kegs
Fish and Chips: Rosie’s Twin Kegs
As a New Englander who was raised Catholic, I’ve some excessive requirements on the subject of fish and chips. And though I’m not working towards, once I moved to city and Lent started, I used to be decided to search out the form of fish and chips my grandma would approve of. It’s not a simple process. However Rosie’s Twin Kegs brings me again to late Friday mornings accompanying my nagging grandmother to an unassuming seafood joint close to our house. Rosie’s serves completely crispy however not dried-out cod (a wonderfully acceptable fish, as is haddock) alongside a batch of scrumptious fries. I don’t keep away from meat on Fridays in Lent — as Catholic custom requires — but it surely wouldn’t be a lot of a sacrifice anyway with this dish round. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ
Sizzling Canine: Daddy’s Canines
Sizzling Canine: Daddy’s Canines
Sean “Huge Daddy” Porter at all times lives as much as his nickname. He’s acquired a giant persona, a giant coronary heart and massive goals of world wiener domination. The all-beef franks at his brick-and-mortar Daddy’s Canines eating places — and satellite tv for pc stadium and walk-up window places and fleet of scorching canine trailers — are additionally fairly large. So when he named a canine after himself, you understand it needed to be epic. The Huge Daddy is an outsized all-beef frank topped with a slather of cream cheese, plus bacon, pickles, grilled onions and jalapeños. A beneficiant serving to of “Daddy’s Secret Sauwce” completes the masterpiece. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
Enchiladas: Las Palmas
Enchiladas: Las Palmas
In our home, consolation meals typically comes from the closest of the numerous places in Las Palmas’ citywide empire of Mexican delicacies. Their enchiladas supremas are delectable, hearty and dependable, at the same time as a takeout or supply merchandise — a lot in order that I don’t suppose I’ve ordered anything prior to now two years. It’s an artwork to stability the cheesiness, meatiness and … uh, bean-iness of the 4 enchiladas that make up the dish, and Las Palmas is out right here cranking them out like clockwork. STEPHEN TRAGESER
Steak: Star Rover Sound
Steak: Star Rover Sound
Strolling into Star Rover Sound feels such as you’re moving into one other universe — or no less than one other period. With its checkered tablecloths, baskets filled with dinner rolls and house-made steak sauce at each desk, restaurateur Ford Fry’s Germantown listening room, bar and restaurant is the very definition of a traditional steakhouse. Select your lower (filet, ribeye, skirt steak, chopped steak or T-bone) and preparation (however know that something previous medium-rare is a cardinal steakhouse sin) and luxuriate in. The steaks aren’t low cost, however additionally they include fries, onion rings and a giant ol’ salad. Additionally in traditional steakhouse trend, plan on bringing a doggy bag house. D. PATRICK RODGERS
Mission-Model Burritos: Baja Burrito
Mission-Model Burritos: Baja Burrito
For 25 years, Baja Burrito has introduced a completely important West Coast staple to Music Metropolis: top-of-the-line Mission-style burritos. Working out of the previous Calypso Cafe constructing in Berry Hill, Baja affords nice tacos and the sneaky-popular Peasant Plate. However the Mission-style burritos — rice-loaded whoppers the dimensions of a physique builder’s forearm, popularized in San Francisco’s Mission District within the Sixties — are completely unbeatable. What makes them so good? Is it their measurement? The truth that you possibly can customise them to your individual exact specs? These completely warmed, completely chewy tortillas? No matter it’s, Baja Burrito’s signature menu merchandise blows related fare at chain spots like Qdoba and Chipotle out of the water. D. PATRICK RODGERS
Shepherd’s Pie: Fleet Avenue Pub
Shepherd’s Pie: Fleet Avenue Pub
We get it. You miss the shepherd’s pie at Household Wash. We additionally keep in mind Pie & Pint Tuesday Nights fondly, and whilst you can nonetheless get Household Wash’s tackle the pie at Eastside Bowl, there’s one other worthy choice to fill that pie-shaped gap in your coronary heart (and abdomen). The reply lies just a few steps beneath Printers Alley in the subterranean oasis of Fleet Avenue Pub. The wealthy St. James Shepherd’s Pie at Fleet Avenue options savory lamb stew ladled right into a bowl and capped with mashed potatoes and gooey cheese. The kitchen additionally thoughtfully affords a vegetarian model made utilizing lentils rather than lamb. Fleet Avenue additionally runs pie-and-pint specials on Tuesdays, so contemplate that void crammed. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
Pad Thai: Thai Phooket 2
Pad Thai: Thai Phooket 2
thaiphooket.wixsite.com/thaiphooket
One of the best ways to check the standard of a brand new or unfamiliar Thai restaurant is by ordering the pad Thai. There are nice variations of pad Thai in eating places all through Nashville — from Smiling Elephant to the street-food model at Degthai — however none are as traditional because the one served at Thai Phooket 2 in Rivergate. The nationwide dish of Thailand, pad Thai finds good concord with flippantly cooked, seemingly disparate components. Rice noodles, scrambled eggs and peanuts wouldn’t be side-by-side on most buffets, however woven along with scrumptious lime juice and tamarind sauce, then topped with recent bean sprouts, this dish at all times hits the spot. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
Tikka Masala: Inexperienced Chili Indian Restaurant
Tikka Masala: Inexperienced Chili Indian Restaurant
Tikka masala is a type of dishes that everybody makes somewhat in a different way, however for my cash Inexperienced Chili’s is the usual by which all others needs to be judged. It’s creamy and tangy, buttery and spicy. I generally order the lamb tikka masala, however for the needs of our checklist of Classics™, I’d counsel the hen tikka masala over fluffy jasmine rice, with only a smattering of golden raisins to stability out all that savory stuff. Right here’s a tip from an everyday: Drop by M&Okay Wholesale subsequent door for dessert — the Indian market is owned by the identical household behind Inexperienced Chili, and it’s my favourite spot within the neighborhood for each incense and ice cream bars. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
Lasagna: Caffé Nonna
Lasagna: Caffé Nonna
Longtime Sylvan Park staple Caffé Nonna acquired a few updates this yr when new proprietor Will Spiva took the helm. One factor he didn’t change is the restaurant’s intensive method to lasagna, a recipe tracing again to founding chef Daniel Maggipinto’s very personal grandmother. The trick is a fragile marinara that cooks for hours, fortified with dashes of purple wine and rosemary. The dish has turn into a specialty for its present preparer, Chef Gino, who’s made lasagna for Nonna for 16 years. Between the traditional beef Bolognese model and the vegetarian butternut squash, the restaurant estimates that lasagna accounts for a couple of quarter of whole gross sales. A heat slice hits greatest in fall and winter. ELI MOTYCKA
Spaghetti and Meatballs: Nicky’s Coal Fired
Spaghetti and Meatballs: Nicky’s Coal Fired
“Typically, you want to sometimes get precisely what you anticipate,” Tony Galzin informed the Scene earlier than Nicky’s Coal Fired opened in 2016. No dish speaks to that ethos greater than Nicky’s spaghetti and meatballs. Mama G’s meatballs — made with a recipe handed down from Chicago-native Galzin’s grandmother, Nanna Gattone — are a certain factor. Tender and seasoned and set off completely by a easy sugo (tomatoes, further virgin olive oil, garlic, basil), these are as pure and comforting as a hug from Grandma. Add Nicky’s toothsome spaghetti, at all times completely al dente, and also you’ve acquired house cooking that’s higher than something you prepare dinner at house. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Complete Rooster: Tacos y Mariscos El Amigo
Complete Rooster: Tacos y Mariscos El Amigo
There’s a motive the check of a chef’s means is commonly a French omelet or a complete hen. Whenever you hold issues easy, you need to nail it, and that’s simply what they do at El Amigo on Nolensville Pike. Whenever you see the smoke billowing from the small kitchen and odor the roasting meat, you understand that succulent, salty fowl is asking. They gild the lily with buttery refried beans, pickled onions, selfmade scorching sauce, corn tortillas and different fixings so you possibly can construct the proper smoked-chicken taco. However my favourite solution to get pleasure from this traditional dish is straight-up: golden-skinned, savory, finger-licking goodness. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Fried Rooster: Arnold’s Nation Kitchen
Fried Rooster: Arnold’s Nation Kitchen
When chef Sean Brock famously launched into his quest for the proper fried hen to serve at Husk, he referenced a dive bar in Oregon as an necessary inspiration — however we all know that Arnold’s Nation Kitchen was additionally in all probability close to the entrance of his thoughts. Kahlil Arnold takes nice satisfaction in his fried hen, created from a household recipe for greater than 50 years. The truth is, he’s contemplating a brand new restaurant idea that may revolve across the good poultry: spicy however not “scorching hen” scorching, with a shatteringly crisp crust and luscious, moist meat. You gained’t discover something higher on the town. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
Pulled-Pork Sandwich: Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint
Pulled-Pork Sandwich: Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint
Nashville is blessed with many nice barbecue eating places, a lot of which serve exemplary pulled-pork sandwiches. Nevertheless, Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint stands above the remainder for one easy motive: They put within the effort and time to supply a whole-hog possibility. Pork shoulders are completely effective, particularly as a result of large-volume eating places can load them into rotisserie people who smoke, set it and neglect it till it’s time to tug the meat for sammiches. Complete-hog cookery is a distinct animal fully, extra artwork than culinary science. Managing the meat with out setting the smokehouse on fireplace yields a mix of luscious fatty stomach meat and dense ham — and possibly even some cheek meat if you happen to’re fortunate. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
Bologna Sandwich: Robert’s Western World
Bologna Sandwich: Robert’s Western World
Whereas the idea of a “Recession Particular” could not really feel fairly as humorous because it as soon as did, it’s good to know that so long as you possibly can scrape collectively $6 in change from the sofa cushions or the glove compartment of your automobile, you gained’t go hungry for no less than a day in Nashville. Robert’s Western World is the town’s most beloved locals-approved honky-tonk, and its Honky Tonk Grill is the house of the aforementioned meal deal, a wonderfully griddled pile of thinly sliced bologna piled on toast with lettuce and tomato and served with chips, a Moon Pie and a chilly PBR. Let’s hope the aluminum tariff on the beer can doesn’t mess this up! CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
Membership Sandwich: The Unique Nook Pub
Membership Sandwich: The Unique Nook Pub
You possibly can decide three sorts of locale by their membership sandwich: a bar, a resort (through room service) and wherever golf is performed. The components, on their very own, aren’t something particular: turkey, ham, American cheese, Provolone, lettuce, tomato and mayo, the latter of which should be included for its essential addition of creamy sweetness. At The Unique Nook Pub in Inexperienced Hills, they assemble this all on three slices of grilled white bread, which is one other non-negotiable — layers of crispness are key while you’re balancing (figuratively and actually) a number of meats and cheeses. Throw it in a basket with a red-and-white liner, a pickle and potato chips? No higher traditional lunch. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Sizzling Fish Sandwich: Ed’s Fish Home
Sizzling Fish Sandwich: Ed’s Fish Home
Nashville scorching hen continues its second within the cultural zeitgeist, however the native custom of scorching fish sandwiches deserves somewhat time within the highlight as nicely. Born as a staple of post-church potluck lunches, it’s historically made utilizing enormous planks of fried whiting or cod balanced precariously on slices of spongy white bread, spiced up with tangy mustard, cayenne-based scorching sauce and completed with sharp uncooked onions and melted cheese. For greater than 50 years, Ed’s Fish & Pizza Home has made the prototypical model of the traditional, a lot in order that they stopped making pizzas years in the past and dropped the phrase from the restaurant’s identify. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
Cheeseburger: Fats Mo’s
Cheeseburger: Fats Mo’s
Positive, it’s one of the fundamental and all-American of meals, however an excellent cheeseburger is surprisingly laborious to get good. Some have recent components however an excessive amount of mustard. Some go all out with a flowery bun that distracts from the remainder of the flavors. Fats Mo’s on Gallatin in East Nashville is the one place I’ve ever gotten persistently good (sure, good) cheeseburgers, each single time. The downsides — it’s drive-thru solely, they usually serve it in a styrofoam container — are small costs to pay for an inexpensive hits-the-spot burger from one among Nashville’s most beloved traditional spots. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
Muffuletta: FatBelly Pretzel
Muffuletta: FatBelly Pretzel
It’s nearly unfair to place different muffulettas up towards FatBelly Pretzel’s. The model was launched on the power of its smooth pretzels, so stacking any meats and cheeses atop their chewy, fluffy, sesame-seeded pretzel bun goes to yield one thing tasty. However you then layer smoked bologna, spicy capicola, Genoa salami and Swiss and provolone cheeses. You smear the bun with piquant giardiniera and crunchy veggie-and-olive salad. And you then toast it. Not solely does that step set FatBelly’s Sizzling Muff aside, but it surely additionally crisps the bread and turns the cheese into melty, pull-apart goodness, giving it a pizza punch you by no means knew you wanted. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Rooster Parmesan: Nicoletto’s Italian Kitchen
Rooster Parmesan: Nicoletto’s Italian Kitchen
hen Parm is one among life’s nice indulgences. You’d be hard-pressed to discover a dish on this checklist that so seamlessly combines two current Classics™ — fried hen and spaghetti. Add to that the culinary pièce de résistance — melted mozzarella cheese — and also you’ve acquired your self a champion traditional dish. Nicoletto’s East Nashville location on Gallatin Pike, subsequent door to Mickey’s Tavern, has been a favourite since its doorways opened in 2016, and due to a further spot on Lebanon Pike in Donelson, you possibly can snag a Parm irrespective of the place you occur to be. And because it’s Nicoletto’s, it’s ever-so-slightly elevated — the pasta (swap no matter noodle you want rather than spaghetti) and marinara are at all times freshly made, and the buttermilk-fried hen breast is completely tender. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
Loaded Nachos: Nectar City Cantina
Loaded Nachos: Nectar City Cantina
Whereas everybody is aware of Donelson’s Nectar City Cantina boasts top-of-the-line patios within the metropolis, they’re additionally scoring excessive of their nacho recreation. The Nectar Nachos have skinny, gentle chips (can nachos be gentle? I say sure), piled excessive with black beans, pico, scallions, chipotle sauce, guacamole and drizzles of queso. I extremely suggest including some chipotle hen for an enormous meal or an incredible starter for the desk. Seize a beer, play a yard recreation, and hold coming again for nacho breaks. The right spring night time. ELIZABETH JONES
Baklava: Jihan Worldwide Market
Baklava: Jihan Worldwide Market
Whenever you pull as much as Jihan off Nolensville Pike, you’re confronted with a big roadside signal studying “BAKLAVA” — that’s how you understand you’re in the suitable place. The meals counter is normally swarmed with folks shopping for shawarma, muffins and, sure, baklava. They’ve acquired traditional pistachio, they’ve acquired walnut, they usually’ve acquired “further pistachio” flavors in quite a lot of styles and sizes. The baklava itself has extra layers than one might depend, with a candy and sticky, nutty honey filling and flaky golden high layers. It’s candy, crispy on high, and the proper quantity of gooey. ELIZABETH JONES
Chess Pie: Osborne’s Bi-Ceremony
Chess Pie: Osborne’s Bi-Ceremony
Dessert doesn’t get easier than chess pie, the gooey mixture of eggs, butter and sugar claimed by the American South that’s, in any case, “simply pie.” Osborne’s Bi-Ceremony nonetheless retains a traditional Nashville scorching bar in its again nook full with every day baked treats, together with lemon and chocolate variations on this regional favourite. It’s offered for a crowd, Bi-Ceremony’s reward to the harried visitor on the way in which to that last-minute operate, and by the slice, a private triangle in a position to be disposed of like pizza within the driver’s seat of 1’s automobile. A fast Bi-Ceremony cease will quickly work its means into your weekly routine, simple as pie. ELI MOTYCKA
Glazed Doughnut: Fox’s Donut Den
It’s true — I sang the praises of the apple fritters at Fox’s Donut Den in final yr’s Meals & Drink Subject. However I simply can’t miss a chance to shout out the longtime Inexperienced Hills staple, the place every part is sort of as low cost and simply as scrumptious because it has been for the previous half-century. You possibly can seize a type of aforementioned fritters, or a cruller, or one among Fox’s Bavarian-cream-filled Lengthy Johns — or go nuts and get an assorted dozen. However you’ll by no means go flawed with a traditional glazed, as scrumptious and smooth right here as wherever you’ll discover. D. PATRICK RODGERS
Frito Pie: Dino’s
Frito Pie: Dino’s
Nothing is extra traditional than a dish that may be defined in three phrases: Fritos. Chili. Velveeta. Clearly, dive bars are the suitable place for issues to be lined in chili, cheese or each. However the factor that makes Dino’s Frito pie the paragon is that it’s in a pie tin, not a Frito bag. I do know, I do know: The bag is cute! It additionally kinda sucks. By the third chunk, you’ve acquired chili in your knuckles, cheese is dripping out the ripped facet, and you may’t get the proper chunk you need. By making the “pie” a part of the Frito pie equation, Dino’s has truly improved upon the traditional. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Chocolate Chip Cookies: Brightside Bakeshop
Chocolate Chip Cookies: Brightside Bakeshop
Small-batch artisan bakeries aren’t laborious to search out, however what does that truly imply? At Brightside Bakeshop, it means utilizing native produce and pure components like unbromated flour, which might be harder to work with however is totally chemical-free. It additionally means utilizing actual European butter. That is essential, as a result of EU butter should be 82 to 90 p.c butterfat, whereas the foolish outdated U.S. requires solely 80 p.c. The upper fats content material creates a richer taste, particularly in baking. Put that in cookie kind, add three totally different sorts of chocolate and high it with flaky sea salt? You’ll keep in mind why cookies and milk by no means exit of fashion. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Bananas Foster: Sperry’s
Bananas Foster: Sperry’s
The dessert menu at Sperry’s merely states “flamed desk facet” for its bananas Foster description, as if presuming simply two potential questions: The place will my bananas be torched, and by what methodology of caramelization? Flambé, in fact. And proper in entrance of you. Such brevity underscores what a real traditional Sperry’s has within the bananas Foster, a decadent sugar-rum molten magma spooned onto and round heaping vanilla ice cream scoops. Textures mix into one thing larger than the sum of their elements. Temperatures collide like a science experiment in search of equilibrium. Like every true traditional, the dish has a survival streak — this one constructed on sugar, alcohol and ostentatious aptitude — that may captivate a eating room as tables look over and say, “We’re getting that.” ELI MOTYCKA
Bobbie’s Dairy Dip
Milkshake: Bobbie’s Dairy Dip
fb.com/bobbiesdairydipcharlotteave
I’m more-is-better about numerous issues — however not on the subject of these over-the-top milkshakes, with toppings and whipped cream that make them barely contained by the glass during which they’re served. There’s just one proper reply to the traditional milkshake that heralds the start of summer time. That’s Bobbie’s Dairy Dip’s scorching fudge milkshake, served in an old-school patterned paper cup with a plastic lid. Ideally, you’ve stood in a average however fast-moving line to get to the window to order it. Sip it whereas strolling Sylvan Park or whereas sitting on the picnic tables planning your day. For those who’re not a milkshake particular person, a soft-serve cone with a crunchy sweet shell works too. MARGARET LITTMAN
Banana Break up: Elliston Place Soda
Banana Break up: Elliston Place Soda
This picture-perfect banana break up begins with — you guessed it — a break up banana. Then sandwich giant scoops of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream between the halves. It’s then topped with recent strawberry and pineapple, piled with ample whipped cream, and lined in chocolate syrup. Topping it off are three cherries. Whenever you chunk into it, sure, in fact it’s candy. But it surely additionally has somewhat crunch from the fruit and somewhat fluffiness from the whipped cream. This one is sufficiently big to share … not that you simply’re going to need to. ELIZABETH JONES
Bushwacker: Brewhouse
Bushwacker: Brewhouse
Nashvillians clarify bushwackers some ways. Spiked shake. Grownup Frosty. Or my new favourite shorthand: “The milkshake model of a Lengthy Island Iced Tea,” which the Scene’s Abby White wrote again in 2013. However the truth that we’ve been speaking about these booze-heavy frozen drinks for thus lengthy reveals what a bona fide Nashville traditional they’re — and nobody does a extra traditional take than Brewhouse. Clearly, the recipe is top-secret, however probably contains rum, milk, ice, crème de cacao, vodka, Kahlua, cream of coconut, Baileys Irish Cream, and so forth. (That “and so forth.” is doing numerous heavy lifting, as a result of this checklist might go on.) You form of want that a lot booze to chop by means of all of the dairy and sweetness — you simply don’t want a couple of Bushwacker if you wish to stroll out of Brewhouse straight. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Banana Break up: Elliston Place Soda
