A month ago Dave and I decided to take a short summer trip, and we snagged some cheap flights to Nashville. The evening before we left, we looked at the weather and knew we would bracing ourselves for some fierce heat- the temperatures would be close to 100F. But nonetheless, we would get to experience Music City for the first time.

We didn’t spend any time really going to any of the museums or tours of the legendary music halls. We were there for some R&R and some SERIOUS eating (“bang bang” back to back meals – don’t try this at home) and drinking.

Our Food Itinerary

Day 1:
D’Andrews bakery
Ole Hickory Distillery
Husk
Rare Bird
Bastion

Day 2:
The Mockingbird
Corsair Distillery
Legendairy Milkshake Bar
Henrietta Red
The Fox

Day 3:
Hattie B's
Bolton's
Peg Leg Porker
Martin's Barbecue
Kid Rock's Honky Tonk

Day 4:
Prince's Hot Chicken

Day 1:
While we waited in LGA for the 8:10am flight to board, we had a quick look at hoteltonight. A few weeks ago, we used Dave’s company discount on Loews Vanderbilt Hotel and it was $184/night. We checked the app to see if there were any discounts for the downtown area (also the Loews with the company rate allowed us to cancel up until 4:00pm on the day of check-in). And sure enough, we saw the Noelle Nashville, a boutique hotel, for $155/night. So the Noelle it was!

I was really pleased with the Noelle Nashville. It was a beautiful hotel, with luxury art deco decoration. There was a water station on each floor with chilled, ambient, or sparkling water so you don’t go thirsty (this is super important for me particularly, as most of our vacations always include hunting down drugstores to stock up on water for the duration of the trip). The room itself was spacious, had a google chrome, and the blinds can be activated by buttons. The king sized bed was also perfectly fluffy but also firm enough so we weren’t sinking in. The in room safe was a little hard to find but it was nestled into one of the drawers. Tastefully designed and comfortable. We loved spending time on the room. There were complimentary slippers and robes. I was not a huge fan of the robes- which were sweatshirt material instead of the usual plush material. The air conditioner was digital and easy to use. In the bathroom, the only slight gripe was that the ceiling light flickered a little bit and that the shower knob kept creeping towards hot on its own (figures the knob must be a little loose so gravity pulled it towards hot). If you use Peloton bikes like we do at home, you’re in for a treat because the gym has two bikes!! Unfortunately the pedals on one machines was slightly broken (had no belt to wrap your sneaker in tightly) and the other machine had to be toggled with for about 15 minutes to get it in working order. It would be good for the hotel to get them serviced since these machines are an amazing service. There is also complimentary coffee in the morning from 6-9am which you can ask them to bring to your room. We opted to have them bring it to us the second day but, the coffee wasn’t the best (coffee buffs should just buy coffee elsewhere. Surprisingly though, the coffee at DrugStore, the hotels coffee shop in the lobby tasted good).

After leaving the luggage at the hotel (and they would call us when the room was ready) we wandered by D’Andrews bakery for a blueberry corn muffin and iced coffees. Oatly oatmilk was available in every coffee shop I went to, which makes me so happy. I normally don’t like cornflour baked goods but this was delicious!

At 10:30am, we decided to hit up the Ole Smoky moonshine distillery, not a far walk away, 15 minutes from the bakery. But 15 minutes is a lot in nearly 100F weather. We were sweating by the time we got there. There were jars of colorful moonshine from wall to wall. There was a tasting flight where you can get 14 little thimble like shots for only $5!

The little shots in order: 
They like to start off with the strongest one which is 128proof (129proof is the highest proof that can be made in Tennessee). I had a half shot of this one and it smelled like lighter fluid. Apparently if one were to light it on fire it would burn blue. 

2nd one was 70proof straight moonshine, also kind of unpleasant…

Then we had six 40proof fruity shots (flavors such as red grapefruit, orange, iced tea, sour raspberry…all quite nice)

1 small pickle that had been soaked in 40proof moonshine- yummy!

Salted watermelon whiskey 60proof (no oaky taste so I loved it!)

Salted caramel whiskey

Milk based moonshine 35 proof butter pecan, this was like a dessert

Milk based mountain java coffee 

Sour apple 40proof (at the end you can choose one shot of your liking around the store that you wanted to have)

We noticed that there was a Prince’s Hot Chicken truck on premise. But, considering we had lunch in an hour or so, we decided not to ruin our appetites. With a slight buzz, we had to then brave the heat once again for another 13 minute walk to Husk for lunch at 12:15pm. We were a little early. The building which the restaurant is housed in is a very beautiful, traditional southern home.

We started off with a Bloody Mary garnished with country ham (really smoky and flavorful like jamon). The ham itself was better than the drink. We did notice that a lot of bars and restaurants used Cathead Vodka for mixed drinks. We had two appetizers: white lily biscuits with sausage gravy- this was to die for. The biscuits were thick, not too oily and the outside was slightly crispy. The inside was so fluffy and soft. The sausage gravy had black pepper and it really accentuated the taste. The devilled eggs were ok, nothing particularly special and could be skipped. 

Dave had the Country Breakfast which consisted of creamy scrambled eggs, heirloom tomatoes, an amazing potato cake like rosti with a slice of cheddar cheese on top and more biscuits with gravy. So decadent. 

I opted for the Plate of Southern Vegetables so we can balance our meals out (we share everything anyway): cheesy grits with a poached egg, oatmeal, cantaloupe and pear fruit salad bowl, as well as some deliciously grilled yellow squash. The oatmeal was nothing special but the grits were delicious. All produce were local and tasted so fresh. 

We went back to our hotel and had a little nap. Afterwards we went to the rooftop bar in the hotel, Rare Bird. Nice ambiance and we were under the shade and there was a nice breeze.

Now, one of the best meals we’ve had this year. We arrived at Bastion at 7:15pm to have a little cocktail session before getting seated for 7:45pm. We sat in the beautiful bar with copper counters. It also smelled faintly of dashi, so I immediately was taken back to Tokyo. We had two cocktails to start with: Eight Centuries and Luck of Lucien while we waited. Then we were brought into the dining area at the bar where you can see the chefs expertly preparing the food. The experience from start to finish was exceptional and all staff were attentive. Bastion’s menu changes daily and is very imaginative. They present you with a little card with 15 boxes (like Bingo) which tell what the courses are. There was an option to “let’s try everything” (otherwise you choose one dish from each category for a 5 course meal). Of course we decided order everything on the menu (and to accommodate for allergies as much as possible) and also to do the wine pairing for $50 (called Fly Blind- and you have 5 expertly paired glasses). Go big or go home! We were sat at a counter where we could see all the chefs at work. Great ambiance and great food. Treat yourself by having a cocktail in the “little bar”, trying everything on the tasting menu, and “flying blind” with the wine pairing.

The highlights:
The raw oyster and tequila: it was fun to wash the oyster down with a tequila shot (as if we weren’t having enough alcohol already). 

The pickled watermelon used In the chicken wing and watermelon was amazing – it was the rind used. 

Potato and paddlefish roe: the roe is really mild and doesn’t overpower the potato, cube shaped

Raw shrimp and peaches were unique- this is a flavor combination I’ve never had before eating Japanese sashimi or the Thai raw shrimp dishes. 

Raw Beef and Green Curry- seems like it can’t be made without peanuts so I had this one to myself. It was like a Japanese yukke but Thai style. I really enjoyed the bird eyed chilies and the green curry flavor with raw beef which I had not had before. 

the octopus and cabbage was super smoky- didn’t look the most beautiful but was so full of flavor. 

Chanterelle and little neck clam: I looked forward to this dish the most but I think it didn’t quite reach expectations. The foam was pretty but didn’t do much and it wasn’t bursting with clam flavor. 

Beef cheek and grilled corn was delicious- so tender and tasty.

The hazelnut and foie gras was a dessert! It was one of the most interesting combinations I had put in my mouth and it really amused all of my tastebuds.

The almond and Meyer lemon macaroon was lovely- Meyer lemons make everything taste better. 

As if the wine pairing and earlier cocktail wasn’t enough, after dinner had one more dessert cocktail each- the Brother George and one other cocktail the barman made for us on the fly.

Overall, this was an outstanding meal.. wish this concept could be in NY also. It was in no way cheap though. One of the employees working there wrote down all of his favorite Nashville recommendations for food and drink. We cabbed it to one of his recommendations, Skulls, located downtown but we couldn’t get in as it was too full.

Day 2:
I slept in while Dave went to the hotel gym, nursing a hangover.
We had reservations at The Mockingbird at noon for brunch. Already too hot to walk, we cabbed it there. 

Dave ordered the Flock Yes – fried chicken on a biscuit. I had the Kiss my grits – stone ground grits with roasted mushroom. We had not had Mac n cheese yet so decided to get one as a side to try. This brunch really couldn’t compare to the brunch had at Husk. The flock yes was ok- the temperature of the food was a bit cold, the fried chicken was not very crispy. The chorizo sauce on it was pretty good. The grits were the best dish out at The Mockingbird that we tried! The Mac n cheese was not my favorite – the cheese flavor tasted artificial but the pasta itself was perfectly al dente.

We walked back to the hotel in the heat afterwards and had to come back to the room for a little bit. I had an iced coffee at the Drug Store coffee shop in the Noelle. 

After some rest we booked a 1hr long tour from 4:30-5:30pm at the Corsair Distillery. When we got there they originally couldn’t find us and even thought we should be going to their other location 10 minutes away, but eventually they sorted it out and we got a private tour! We were poured 9 different spirits-

Gin (88proof) – really strong and burned my lips. Smelled floral though. Apparently this is supposed to be close to a Hendricks. 
Ryemageddon American rye whiskey 92proof- I couldn’t finish this either but one can taste chocolate notes
Triple smoke 80p smelled amazing, and I can taste the smokiness. 
Spiced rum – after noticing I wasn’t really having the whiskey, the guide asked me if I wanted to try other spirits, thankfully. 
Hydra- smoked whiskey
Wildfire smoked whiskey hickory
Vanilla bean vodka- this was so delicious, they use real vanilla beans and the taste really comes through. A real dessert treat. 
Pumpkin spice moonshine: very gourd flavored 
Tennessee single malt – strongest according to Dave

Afterwards (very buzzed) we cabbed it to the Legendairy milkshake bar downtown. Had a “rolling in the cookie dough”. A bit more hype and style than substance, but it was still beautiful and the milkshake brought back all sorts of childhood happiness memories.

Dinner at Henrietta Red was at 7:30pm. We decided to walk there to the Germantown area, through the Bicentennial Capitol State Park. It was a very nice park but soo hot. We were sweating when we got to the restaurant.

Henrietta Red is a seafood focused restaurant. The best tasting raw oysters I tried were the Murder Points from Alabama. I really enjoyed their house made watermelon cucumber mignonette! Very refreshing and not something Ive had before.

The crab salad was also pretty and you can really taste the freshness of lump crab meat. We ordered both baked oyster dishes too (Calabrian Chile and the green curry). The Calabrian Chile one was better in my opinion; but both were unique.

The pork gnocchi was pretty good- the flavors of the sauce were spot on. But the red snapper was the star of the night.

The skin was perfectly crispy and pan fried, and the local vegetables tasted so good along with the fish. We also noticed that in the open kitchen, it was an all female crew, which is pretty cool.

We then cabbed it to the Edgefield area which is supposed to be a bit like Williamsburg. The staff at Bastion and also the guy who gave us the tour at Corsair Distillery both recommended going to The Fox– a bit of a speakeasy because it’s behind an Italian restauarant and hidden away to the regular passerby. Awesome menu and delicious cocktails. The ambiance was really nice as well- speakeasies in Manhattan are usually a bit of work, as there can be a wait or it’s crammed inside but there was a lot of space here and very relaxed. Sometimes the cocktails in New York are too tart but we didn’t feel that way about these at all. Dave had the and the Fox Paloma. I had the blood orange margarita and the Amber wave. 

Day 3:
*Beware of some serious eating in one day*

We woke up at around 8:30am after some very restful sleep and headed to the gym. Dave did 45 minutes on the Peloton bike ride and I did a 45 minute yoga class.

Our main mission today was to finally try the famous Nashville hot chicken. We did a little research about which Hattie B’s location to hit up. We decided to go to the one in West Nashville (Charlotte Avenue) to avoid lines compared to the two other locations which were closer to downtown. They opened at 11am but we arrived a little earlier at 10:53am, which was perfect, as we were the second in line to order!!!

The medium spicy (tenders) were not very hot at all- barely even a mild for me. The hot (dark) was very bearable and it would be what I would consider medium (a little bit of stinging in the lips). The chicken tenders were so juicy and tender – I have no idea how they get it to that level. I was a convert to hot chicken immediately. As for the sides:

Southern greens: a bit watery; I’ve never been a fan of collard greens-like vegetables in general
Mac n cheese: the pasta was too soft, but the flavor was ok
Potato salad: was delicious! Red skinned potatoes 
Baked beans: quite sweet for my liking but Dave liked this side the best

We could have easily handled the “damn hot”. Not sure about the “shut the cluck up” but if there is a next time I’m ordering it! There was already a line when the doors opened and other seats around us were full when we sat down. 

Typical Dave and Diana style: after we finished our meal, we knew we had to hit up another hot chicken joint to compare. We decided to go to Bolton’s, which was frequented by Anthony Bourdain while he was in Nashville in Parts Unknown. We went to the location in Edgefield. 

This place really was a little hole in the wall – no frills, dark interior, and you order from a little window which was quite high above ground. As the kitchen door swung open whenever your number was called, the kitchen interior was modest as well. We ordered the chicken tenders “hot” and catfish “medium” (they didn’t have anymore dark meat chicken unfortunately).

The dry rub on the hot chicken tenders were REALLY HOT. I immediately needed water after having a bite. Big difference from the Hattie B’s hot. Unfortunately, the texture of the meat was not as tender, and after deep frying they didn’t get rid of the oil so it kind of ruined the crispness in general. Part of the crispy skin was falling off and also soggy. Not as aesthetically or texture-ally pleasing. The catfish was very lovely- medium is the perfect amount of heat at Bolton’s- it was still a bit on the spicy side and I consider myself someone who can take some heat.

After resting in the hotel (Dave was about to be sick after all the hot chicken) we decided to go to Mikes ice cream. 

We ordered the hot fudge brownie sundae, with three lovely scoops of ice cream: red velvet, chocolate chip cookie dough, and chocolate fudge. When we paid, we were told the toppings would be whipped cream and cherries. But as the guy was making our sundae, we saw that his finishing touches was sprinkling peanuts all over it 🙁 but, it was a blessing in disguise. Due to Dave’s safety we did not finish the sundae, and did not need those extra calories. It was tasty! I really liked the red velvet ice cream. 

We decided to try to trek it to the Parthenon, which was close to Vanderbilt university. Unfortunately, part way there we turned back to the hotel, it was too hot to walk and was not quite worth the hassle. 

After cooling down in our lovely hotel room again, we waited it out until dinner time. For dinner, we knew we had to try the Nashville BBQ. We took a cab to Peg Leg Porker, owned by award winning pitmaster. PLP was a fairly large venue, with outdoor seating, porch style, and a bar indoors by the front. Upon entering, the line forms on the left side of the room and the ordering counter is in the front. You have to order before saving a seat. We were in line for about 15 minutes in prime dinner time. We decided to have the pulled pork sandwich, and then the 1/2 rack of dry ribs with Mac and cheese and baked beans.

The pulled pork sandwich was amazing- it was so tender and smoky. Could be the best pulled pork I’ve had possibly. The dry rub on the ribs was really flavorful. Mac and cheese was ok- I liked the cheese texture on this one. Baked beans were nice and covered in pork juices, so it was good.

I’m not sure how our stomachs didnt explode yet but we took a little evening stroll to BBQ joint number 2 of the evening: Martin’s Bar-B-Que joint back in the downtown area. Upon entering there was also a small line. They were already out of ribs for the day so we opted for brisket and the Whole hog sandwich. We had been eyeing the whole hog sandwich from the beginning of the trip but somehow it fell a little short of expectations. The meat was fairly bland and dry. The brisket on the other hand, was phenomenal. It was so tender and full of marbled fat. Beautifully smoked as well. The barbecue sauce here was the best too- perfectly vinegary and peppery. I wish I was able to have more than half a slice of the brisket.

We knew we could not leave Nashville without checking out one place on the broadway music strip. So we ended up going to the Kid Rocks honky tonk. We were able to get a table and we stayed enough to see two cover bands.

Day 4:
We woke up again at around 8:30am and went for another gym session to furiously try to burn off the calories from yesterday’s hot chicken and bbq gluttony. 

After the gym, we cleaned up and was able to check out a little later than 11am. We had one more meal in Nashville, and we wanted to experience one more hot chicken place, the granddaddy of it all- Prince’s Hot Chicken. So their original location was closed due to a fire last December and it was betwee the Princes food truck parked at the Ole Hickory moonshine distillery that we went on one first day or, to go to the new location in South Nashville which was 25 minutes away by car from downtown. We wanted to do this properly so we opted for the brick and mortar location. To save time and hassle, we took our luggage along. Expecting to wait in a line for at least 30 minutes, especially because by the time we got in the cab it was already 11:35am and we would be arriving by noon, we braced ourselves as we exited our lyft for a huge lunchtime crowd. But to our surprise, there was no line! And there was plenty of seating inside.

We ordered:
The medium chicken tenders
The hot chicken thigh/leg
The x-hot chicken wings (comes with three). We also got sides of fries and potato salad, and some draft beers. 

The chicken tenders were not quite as juicy and super tender as the Hattie b’s (juicy enough though). But the flavor of the spices was really out of the world. The crispness is a little bit more on the hard and very crispy side which suits some people. The medium had a little bit of heat for sure.

The hot level had very little difference from the medium. Either they gave us the same level for that or, they are not very distinguishable. The leg and thigh meat was more juicy than the one from Hattie B’s, and the spices really permeated the meat. This was really amazing! Would order this one again.

Now I was nervous about the extra hot wings. But it was bearable. It was hot, and burned my lips a bit but it was still pleasant. It was not as hot as the Bolton’s hot level. Now I was so curious about the xx hot level but was way too stuffed to eat more so we will need to leave it for yet another time. 

Out of the three hot chicken places we tried, Prince’s was number one in our book. Aside from the ever so slight dryness or the tenders, everything else was just unbelievably delicious.

It was getting close to 2pm and we decided to just relax at the airport before our 15:55 flight back to LGA. As we get to our gate, Dave spots a pug. Now, we didn’t just see any pug- this was the world famous “King of Pop Culture”, Doug the Pug (who we both follow on Facebook). And he and his parents were on our flight! Only in this day and age could one be absolutely star struck by an internet celebrity who is a dog!! How exciting. This made the end of our trip 1000x better. Our flight was a tad late but we still left at a decent time nonetheless.