And then I ate some good southern food

Most often when we talk about regional or national cuisines, we speak of those which we really love. It's decidedly less common for people to talk about general cuisines they dislike outside of reasons having to do with "it's different and I don't like it". I consider myself a pretty open minded eater, and enjoy most types of food. However, I've never quite been able to develop and love and appreciation for southern food. I'm generalizing a bit here, as there's quite a bit of variation between food in areas of the south, but certain themes are prevalent more than others. I've complained about the lack of spices and seasoning, the heavy reliance on salt, fat and breading as the only way to enhance the flavors of ingredients, and the overall "heaviness" of the dishes. It wasn't that I particularly disliked those foods, but just that I had never been that impressed during the times I had eaten them, and found them far less appealing that many other types of food.

But I was determined to give it one more try on my trip to Nashville, and much to my surprise, I found some food there that I actually really enjoyed. To say "found" might be a bit inaccurate because the places we went to were by no means hidden gems. In fact on Sunday we spent over 2 hours combined waiting for our meals. But the thing about waiting is that it usually an indication of good food to come. Unless you're at Cheesecake Factory, then it just means the portions will be gigantic.

And so we were up before 9am to stand in line at the Pancake Pantry, a Nashville institution known for....wait for it.....their amazing pancakes. We had to stand in line for almost an hour (not my favorite way to nurse a hangover) in order to walk in the place, but the 70 degree weather and complimentary coffee pushed things towards the tolerable side of life. The secret to ordering at the Pancake Pantry, we were told, was that all the other breakfast dishes come with pancakes as well. We all took this route, and while my dining companion's omelets looked delicious, the sausage and eggs I had were surprisingly mediocre. Eggs over easy without toast just doesn't cut it. But that's a side note, because the pancakes were fantastic. Being true to their "pantry" name, they have a wide selection of pancakes to choose from, but I settled on the sweet potato ones because I had never had anything like that before. I think I can honestly say were the best pancakes I've ever had. It's hard to describe them anymore than just to say the flavor and texture were perfect. I'm no pancake aficionado, but I had an instant appreciation for what I was consuming. While the other parts of my meal were not stand outs, the pancakes had definitely lived up to the hype.

But pancakes were really just a warm up for the evening's meal at Loveless Cafe, a country diner that has been serving travelers along the Natchez Trace Parkway for over 50 years, though the steady encroachment of metropolitan Nashville means it's no longer an out of the way destination. They weren't kidding when they said an hour and fifteen minute wait at 7pm on a Sunday evening, but as we walked through the entrance full of pictures of celebrities, athletes, and politicians dining there I had a feeling it was going to be worth the wait.

Family style proved to be the way to go, and so we ordered a couple meats and various sides to constitute our meal. It was a slight deviation from the authentic Meat and Three concept but the principles were still the same. Highlights? Well for me it was the meatloaf, which was flavorful and juicy, and along with Comet Cafe in Milwaukee, helped renew my interest in this famous but often brutalized dish. Biscuits with home preserves? Excellent. Creamed corn? Succulent. Pulled pork? Great and served with a tangy Carolina style BBQ sauce. Collard Greens? Not so much....I'm sorry but I still get their appeal. At the end of the day they still taste like bland, boiled down vegetables, even with a lot of salt and hot sauce. But all in all it was a very satisfying meal, and I left thinking that maybe my previous opinions on Southern food, while maybe not totally incorrect, were at least prematurely developed.

If I tried to tie these two posts together about my weekend in Nashville, some sort of summary as a real writer would call it, I think it would be that it is a surprisingly distinctive city with plenty of things to experience beyond the tourist traps that seem so tantalizing to the average American. I would come back to Nashville to see more music, eat more food, and perhaps make my pilgrimage to my father's Mecca....the Jack Daniels Distillery. Because we must always honor our parents wishes.

Down to Nashville

Quick apologies, I didn't intend to go this long between posts but got in between while prepping for a trip and next thing you know its been over a week. The good news is I actually managed to do some traveling that I can write about. Almost like a real travel blog.

It's always nice when a city surprises you in a good way. Maybe doesn't blow you away, but at least offers up more than you had anticipated. Of course this requires going in with preconceived notions, but most of us inevitably have them anyways. Most people would admit that it's hard to not plan on going somewhere without holding at least a small idea of what the experience might entail.

I had never been to Nashville before this weekend, only driven through it before on a couple road trips down to the dirty South. This was the first time I had made it off the interstate and caught more than just a passing glimpse of downtown Nashville. When I say I was pleasantly surprised by the city, what I mean was that somewhere along the line I had formed the idea that Nashville had entirely sold out to the idea of being the "Music City", and instead of really being a city where music is woven into the everyday fabric of life, it had become just some tourist trap filled with hokey theme bars and venues and lots of radio style country music. I envisioned myself sitting in some bar, large groups of overweight tourists in jean shorts and fanny packs stuffed into the booth next to us, with some girl from suburban Atlanta singing songs about growing up a country girl and loving life on the range.

Somehow I envisioned that Nashville wasn't really the "music city" as much as a city with a musical past that they had figured out how to exploit for the tourist dollars. I'm not trying to justify my preconceived notions, just state what they were going in.

But, thankfully, I was wrong. There was lots of real music there, and plenty of it good. What we found was a city where live bands, bands and musicians with actual talent, and a passion for creating something of their own, are a common sight. As we hopped out of the cab on Broadway you could immediately hear the music that flooded the street. From what I could see almost every bar in the nearby vicinity had a live band that night. It was a nice change of pace to see people, especially those of my generation, out at bars with live music instead of DJs and Ipod playlists. In retrospect I wish I had focused more on appreciating the music that evening, but the festive atmosphere and allure of tasty beverages and old friends proved too much. And so I woke up on Sunday with only a few memories: dancing to an alt-rock band, wandering the streets of Nashville at 1:30 in the morning, and trying to put money into a broken cigarette machine for 10 minutes. But with those also came the hazy feeling that I had had a good time in Nashville, and that it was a city with a personality and identity.

Now, one can't simply claim that getting drunk and catching a couple live bands is the best way to judge a city, but combine that with the people in our hotel warming up for the open mic night, and the bluegrass jam session we caught in The Gulch (in an old fashioned bar surrounded by the new trendy Nashville neighborhood), it formed in me an impression that music really is an important part of its identity. There's not too many places in America where you can say that.

Our stay wasn't long enough to get to see too much more of the city, though we did manage to check out the East End area of town as well, around the Five Points area that is becoming Nashville's new hip (read: hipster) neighborhood. It has a way to go, there was only one bicycle shop and not a ton of other bars and restaurants yet, but you could see it was on its way. We stopped by a bar and had some brews from Yazoo, the local brewery, though none of them seemed to be particularly noteworthy. But as always I was at least glad to see that they did have something local on tap to try, and I think if I lived in Nashville I would throw back a Dos Perros lager or the Pale Ale from time to time.

The food was another pleasant surprise, though not necessarily for Nashville but for Southern food in general. I'm going to do a separate post for this but I can say for now that the trip definitely improved my perception of Southern cuisine. I'm not a full convert yet, and I still believe it has its limitations, but damn did we eat well. And when you have good food, good drinks, and good music, its hard not to enjoy where you are.