Autumn inexperienced dumplings
Nashville has in fact had good vegetarian eating places for a very long time. In reality, I pulled collectively a listing of a number of the metropolis’s greatest vegan and vegetarian outposts earlier this 12 months. However we haven’t actually had a fine-dining vegetarian spot — a spot to placed on, effectively, your fanciest pants and have a multicourse plant-centric meal. Till now. Till Fancypants.
The staff who introduced us Butcher & Bee and Redheaded Stranger additionally brings us this East Aspect excuse to eat greens. Fancypants is just not strictly vegetarian. You possibly can add on a ribeye steak, and I’m certain it’s scrumptious. However I’ve been too centered on the produce-heavy part of the menu to strive it. There are 9 vegetarian dishes listed, and similar to at a meat-and-three, you decide three. The prix fixe is $70 for all three, they usually’re coursed out over the night. It’s loads of meals, however well-plated and well-paced, notably when you get pleasure from certainly one of Fancypants’ signature cocktails in between programs. I’ve but to style something I haven’t appreciated, however the kitchen’s finesse with root greens has produced a few of my favorites.
This summer season’s turnip-noodle lasagna made me take into consideration turnips in a different way. Now, this fall’s rutabaga dumpling, served with horseradish oil, is a mixture of flavors that’s hearty however not heavy. The expertise jogs my memory of New York’s Grime Sweet; Washington, D.C.’s Oyster, Oyster; and my outdated hang-out, Chicago’s Inexperienced Zebra (RIP), in that nobody is making an attempt to trick you into consuming greens. This isn’t a little bit of “this tastes similar to meat!” sleight-of-hand. It’s the results of a kitchen that loves greens and needs to point out you what it will possibly do. Whereas there’s no gown code, the decor and the specialness of the menu make me wish to get fancy.
