Try Gojo on Thompson Lane. And Abay on Nolensville is good too.

Great! I will be sure to make use of the ferry.

I have read the board on things to do in Savannah and noticed most posts are things in the historic area. We are spending a few days for a work conference at the Savannah Westin followed by a couple of days near Forsythe Park at a B&B.

On the to do/eat list are The Lady and Sons, Mrs Wilkes, The Pirate House, and Sweet Potatoes.

Since we will be staying across the river for part of the time is there anything on that side to make the effort to go to?

Thanks!

I am a big fan of the Iroquois and Commodore sandwiches at Bread and Company. But I like chicken salad and if you don't these would not be a good choice. A girl friend of mine raves about the egg salad at Which Wich. I have never tried it since I don't like egg salad

If I had a team of teens and needed to feed them quickly McDougals Chicken Fingers would be a great choice. Or of it is all girls Tossed is a salad place that has pretty good food and fast service for a crowd.

We had my most recent B-day at Red Pony.
1st reserve the upstairs room if your party is larger than 8. We had to turn away guests because the management couldn't seat two more people anywhere in the restaurant.
2nd The food was excellent
3rd the staff did a great job for those of us who were able to be seated.

We've enjoyed City House and Zola but have yet to make it to Flyte. Each is very different in focus and atmosphere. CH is urban and Italian, Z more homey and Mediterranian, F I can't speak to since I haven't been. But Z is where we take our friends that visit from the West Coast. The food is simple very good as is the service.

The Shreeji International Market at the Farmers market has everything you need for Indian cooking

Foodie Heaven? I disagree. Miro District is good. We went for dinner last weekend, it was all very good and the service was excellent. But it was not foodie heaven.

I am happy to have a great entry to the Nashville food scene that has fresh Italian food offered but I was not as impressed as I had hoped to be after the hype of the chef and his background at one of the best restaurants in the South.

We will go back and have plans to return in the next few weeks when my inlaws are in town.

What we ate: Miro salad, apple salad, Salmon special, mussles and clams with linguini and flourless chocolate cake. Every thing tasted very good but the linguini had a tad too much olive oil, I had to repeatedly dab it from my chin.

But when we go back the Miro salad and the chocolate cake will be ordered again.

Here in the South (and from my very Southern MIL) there must be black eyed peas on New Years. She also does a ham, greens, and corn bread meal with those black eyed peas that is one of the best meals I eat all year.

It's my favorite time of year: holidays!

Our family has decided to partake in several things in the Nashville area and I need your suggestions for places to enjoy a meal in conjuction with these activities.

1. Scarecrows at Cheekwood (Belle Meade)
2. Tis the Season shopping (the Factory at Franklin)
3 Opryland Hotel Holiday decorations (I hear the food in the hotel is overpriced and mediocre)
4. Walk Through Bethlehem (Green Hills area)

We have a wide range of likes and very few dislikes when it comes to food. Cost is a consideration (max for our group is $50 per person) and our group will be 2-8 people depending on outing.

Downtown parking is mostly pay lots. That said the lots behind the Country Music Hall of Fame seem to be the most cost effective. To get there from 24 take the Rosa Parks/State Capitol exit, turn left on Demonbruin and right just past the CMHF. The lots will be on your right.

Jack's BBQ is a good, fast place for lunch or try Merchants for a bit of old Nashville. Just be sure to let your server know you have a time limit. Both of these are on broad way and very walkable from the parking lots mentioned.

Another option is Monell's in an area called Germantown. They are an all you can eat family style place that has their own parking lot.

In Nashville try PM on Belmont. They have a mixed menu of sushi, thai and other asian influenced foods. The odd thing is they have one of the best burgers in town, fusion at it's quirkiest. And yes PF Changs is sub par.

The Memphis locations are good but they really shine in their catering department and the BBQ chicken is really their best item. They also have a very good banana pudding. So the best way to have Neely's is to throw a big party and have their catering team come out and set up the on site cooking rig. I have never been impressed with their in store BBQ.
I have not made it to the Nashville location yet.

The full plan right now is to Drive 40 to Asheville stay 2 days near the Biltmore, make a stop in the Great Smokey Mt. park for 2 days (do a little hiking to burn off the fabulous southern food) and go from A-C along US 74/64.
This will all be mid week and at some point I will be one of those Ocoee rafters :)

Actually I am looking more for the places in between. We have friends in Asheville and Chattanooga but we are on our own from N-A-C and wanted to try some fun, local, and unique places.

This is the place I keep recommending to people when they ask me about a place to go for dinner. We went in mid-April and so far I have sent four sets of dinners there and everyone has said it was spectacular. My experience was excellent. The food was so delicious that I had to remind myself several times that this was not a place I could lick the plate.

We did the tasting menu and it was a perfect melding of courses. The only one to fall flat was the dessert. But the dessert was inventive and I look forward to seeing what they offer in the future.

Those sound great. We have no restrictions, allergies or preferences. We sort of have the attitude that if it is good we will try it. Our best meals have come from hole in the wall dives and four star restaurants too.

We are planning a road trip from Nashville to Asheville to Chattanooga in June. Are there any don't miss places along the way?

Thanks!

Rendezvous has always been a good experience and good food when I have gone. So good IMO that while livng in California I would have them shipped in for parties. They are just off Beale Street so they are close to where you will be. Just know going in that they are the best DRY ribs in town. The best WET ribs I think are at Central BBQ (Not that close to Beale but not to far of a drive or cab ride) For pulled shoulder I like Germantown Commissary or Central or Corky's

I am so glad to see others love Tayst too. They just had a write up in the City Paper about their status as the only Green restaurant in Nashville. Some of my favorite evenings in Nashville have been started over dinner and a bottle of wine at Tayst.

I always look for Green Beans and Greens at the local Meat n 3 places. Arnolds has very good sweet potatoes too. But the advice to go for what looks good the day you are there is solid advice. Everything at Arnolds will be delicious.

Harris Teeter has Halloumi in their cold case near the deli. It is pre packaged, the same brand I had been getting in the Bay Area. I love to slice and "fry" it or cube it and use it in place of Paneer in my Palak Paneer recipe

Due to my husband's work schedule I get to solo dine around the Nashville area quite often. I have found that Ombi and City House have counters where you can watch the kitchen and sitting there by oneself is not unusual. I have also found the staff at Tayst, and Zola to be great and not overbearing about the fact that I am a party of one. If you want a more casual place Rotiers is a great burger and milkshake kind of place. And of course if you want really southern, home made food Monell's is a great choice. The community table is a fantastic way to go if you are dining alone but don't want to be by yourself.

There are certain places that I think should still be cash only (fast food chains come to mind) But most restaurants that are nicer, not mom and pop per se, should take CCs.

There was a time when you knew you were going for a "nice" dinner because the restaurant took Dinner's Club. I was recently surprised to see the person ahead of me in line pay with a CC at a place I had been going for years and had been a cash only. place.

My go to is "Fanny Farmer"
It was a wedding gift and is simply the everything I ever thought I wanted to know how to cook book. How to boil eggs to Beef Wellington

I also now really enjoy "Cooking for Two" all of the recipies are 2-3 portions so you aren't stuck eating the same thing all week long.

I alternate between a 10" chef and an 8" santuko. Both are Wustof and are great knives. But if I could only have one I would go with the Chef. This is because I seem to have more ability to do the kind of cooking I enjoy with the slightly rounded blade edge and the more defined end point. Santukos are great if you slice a lot of stuff but I find they don't chop as fast as the chef.

If you have a cooking store in your area stop by and ask them if you can practice a little with their display knives. You will get a better feel for which brands suit your hand and which blade works with your style of cooking, talk to the sales person about what dishes you make most often and they should be able to give you solid advice.

Lastly, Williams-Sonoma has an awesome return policy so if you need to mail order, get one of each and return the one you don't like. Or return both and get a less expensive one of your prefered blade at Target. :)

I take it you are looking for central mexico food in a sit down atmosphere. I am at a loss for this in Nashville, I can't wait to see others responses. And why does every mexican place in Nashville serve "queso" that is basicially rotel dip?

I would be curious to know who was in the kitchen on the nights that folks (renney, bella2, mariel) mention the food being over salted. My expereince was that the food was not so, I am very aware of salt in my food so I am sort of suprised that if this was a consistent issue that I didn't have the same experience.

I'll second Tennreb on the neighborhood description and the food quailty at Payne's but the concrete building is atmosphere. It is what so many new places that are so much more chichi wish they could emulate. It's history and personality in location. Besides the best BBQ really can be found in some of the scariest looking places, places you aren't quite sure passed the health department inspection.

But if the idea of going into the 'hood worries you stick to Central BBQ, good food and they have a bit of atmosphere too.