City House

While we were in Nashville we had a very nice dinner at City House, a great place tucked away in Germantown. Their Sunday menu seems to be a reduced version of their normal menu:



We were not grabbed by any of the entrées, so we instead ordered all three of the available starters and a pizza:

House Cured Lardo, Purple Hull Pea Salad Served chilled, the salad consisted of the peas (a close relative of black-eyed peas), celery, carrot and onion all covered with very thin slices of lardo. Very nice, simple, fresh dish. The lardo had a fantastic, but not overpowering rich pork flavor.

Stuffed Squash Blossoms, Mozzarella, Anchovy, Preserved Lemon Perfectly fried (with a light tempura style batter) squash blossoms very sparingly stuffed with mozzarella, drizzled with olive oil and garnished with small pieces of preserved lemon. The preserved lemon was not at all salty like most that I've had, which I thought was perfect for the dish. If there was anchovy, we didn't notice it (or miss it, for that matter). Our only complaint was that three squash blossoms seemed a bit stingy for the $10 price point.

House Cured Salmon, Pickled Red Onion, Parsley Beautifully cured thin slices of salmon with a hint of smokiness. The pickled onion and parsley both went very well with it (as did the preserved lemon from the squash blossom dish).

Pizza with Manila Clams, Marinara, Salt Pork European-style thin crust, uncut pizza, perfectly cooked. The marinara had nice, spicy flavor and the matchstick pieces of bacon added a nice fatty, salty depth. It was topped with a bunch of clams in their shells, which we ate separately. They were nice and plump and full of clam flavor. The juice that dripped down onto the pizza added another layer to the taste.

The dishes above were a perfect amount of food for a light dinner for two.

We had an 8:00 reservation, but ended up arriving at 7:30 and they had no problem seating us. I'm glad we arrived early, as the place was nicely busy when we arrived but definitely started tailing off soon after (not surprising, for a Sunday night).

Others have commented on the high noise level. It didn't bother us, but I could see it being a problem if they were packed. I think part of the problem is that their tables are wider than normal (I'm guessing to easily accommodate family style shared plates in the middle) and you are thus farther away from the person opposite you.

Cocktails were also very good - we had a Sazerac and a Genoa (house-infused oranga vodka, Campari, orange juice).

City House
1222 4th Ave N.
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 736-5840‎

Prince's Hot Chicken

I had read that one thing we needed to try in Nashville was Hot Chicken and that the place to get it was Prince's. So, on a blisteringly hot day we made the pilgrimage. We joined a bunch of other sweating customers patiently waiting for their food as the kitchen meticulously cooked up one order at a time.

Finally, our order was up. I got a leg quarter, medium spicy with extra pickles and bread. I knew from my research that I probably didn't need to go spicier than medium, and sure enough it was very hot (both in temperature and spice level). It was also very tasty - nice and crunchy outside and perfectly moist on the inside.



Sherry got a breast quarter, mild. It was still plenty hot, though - not a bad way to go if you don't like really spicy food.



Good eats. Definitely not to be missed when visiting Nashville.

Prince's Hot Chicken
123 Ewing Dr.
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 226-9442‎

Meat and Three in Nashville at Arnold's Country Kitchen

Although we'd been traveling through the South for several weeks, somehow we had neglected to hit a Meat and Three place so far on the trip. Now was the time to remedy the situation and Arnold's Country Kitchen was the place to do it.



Arnold's was busy, but very efficiently run by a friendly staff. We soon had our food and were happily chowing down. Everything we tried was fantastic.

Roast beef and turnip greens (with mashed potatoes in the back):



Fried chicken, mac 'n cheese, green beans and a dish of pinto beans:



Corn bread served two ways - muffin and griddle cake.



While I'm sure this wasn't the healthiest lunch we've ever had, it did not feel heavy or greasy. Just very flavorful and highly satisfying.

Arnold's Country Kitchen
605 8th Ave S.
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 256-4455‎

Defeated...

We always make an effort try to eat interesting, local fare when we travel. Kentucky made this very hard to do. Looking for dinner on our second night in Bardstown, we finally lost the battle. We saw a Mexican place, but we had already learned the hard way that you don't go to random Mexican places in Kentucky. I won't go into the gory details - just trust me on this...

Not up for another hot brown, we didn't have many other options - Kentucky is national chain restaurant central. We eventually gave in, and ended up at A&W. And not just any A&W - this one was a joint A&W / Long John Silvers establishment. Complete with a disaffected teenage girl running the till.

I hate to say it, but the food tasted pretty good...

Jim Beam, Hot Brown, Liquor World

Our final distillery visit was a quick stop at Jim Beam - the largest producer of bourbon. Nice setting, with some fun exhibits like the above statue of Booker Noe and this fire truck:



The tasting was very pleasant as well. They were pouring two of their premium whiskeys: Booker's and Basil Hayden's. We enjoyed both, but preferred the Basil.

While bourbon was our focus in Kentucky, we did manage to try some local chow as well. What qualifies as local chow? A Kentucky Hot Brown, of course:



This version is courtesy of Mammy's Kitchen, a restaurant on the main drag in Bardstown. Substantial hunks of smoked turkey and thin slices of nice, salty ham sat on top of two thick slices of toast, completely smothered in a rich, cheesy, Mornay sauce. The turkey was very good quality with a great smoky flavor. Not something we would order every day, but pretty darn good comfort food.



Also in Bardstown, and not to be missed, is Liquor World - a small liquor store that just happens to have the most jaw-dropping crazy huge selection of whiskey I've ever seen in my life.

Jim Beam Distillery
149 Happy Hollow Rd.
Shepherdsville, Kentucky
(502) 543-9877

Mammy's Kitchen
114 N 3rd St.
Bardstown, Kentucky
(502) 350-1097‎

Liquor World
93 N Salem Dr #C
Bardstown, Kentucky
(502) 349-7560‎

Maker's Mark and Four Roses

Our visit to bourbon country continued with Maker's Mark Distillery. Like Woodford Reserve, they also do a tour of their production facilities (the tour at Maker's is free, though).



If you've seen one distillery, you've pretty much seen them all, but we still enjoyed the tour.



One thing unique to the tour at Maker's was the dipping area where they add the signature red wax coating to each bottle of whisky (note the spelling - Maker's is the only American brand that uses the Scottish "whisky", rather than the Irish "whiskey").



And, of course, the tour ends with a tasting. It was more interesting here than at Woodford Reserve since they let you taste the unaged spirit ("white dog") as well as the finished product.



We also stopped in at Four Roses Distillery.



Although they were not doing tours (they shut down production during the summer), it was probably our favorite of the distilleries we visited. They gave a very interesting description of their bourbon-making process. They distill ten different "flavors" of bourbon - combinations of two grain bills with five strains of yeast - that are then blended in various ways to produce their various offerings.

We tried three of their whiskeys - Yellow Label (their primary brand), Small Batch, and Single Barrel. The Small Batch was our favorite - more complex than the Yellow Label, and more mellow than the Single Barrel. Good stuff.

Maker's Mark Distillery
3350 Burk Spring Rd.
Loretto, Kentucky
(270) 865-2881‎

Four Roses Distillery
1224 Bonds Mill Rd.
Lawrenceburg, Kentucky
(502) 839-3436‎

Woodford Reserve Distillery

The first stop on our Kentucky Bourbon tour was Woodford Reserve Distillery. It is located in a beautiful setting amid the sweeping green fields of Thoroughbred farms. We took a very nice tour (5$) of the facility that goes through all of the phases of the operation.

The massive fermentation tubs boiling with yeast activity are fascinating to watch.



They do a three-stage distillation using copper stills brought over from Scotland.



It is hard to beat the atmosphere of a whiskey warehouse, with barrels of aging spirit stacked from floor to ceiling.



Here is Sherry getting a pour straight out of a barrel. Unfortunately, we were only allowed to smell and not taste (some song and dance about "health regulations").



Watching bottling machines is mesmerizing...



And let's not forget the tasting part of the tour. This was the first time we'd had Woodford Reserve. The taste is difficult to characterize, but if I had to describe it I would say that it had notes of toffee, roasted nuts, delicate butterscotch, vanilla, peach and aromatic spices...

Woodford Reserve Distillery
7855 Mccracken Pike
Versailles, Kentucky
(859) 879-1812‎