On to Music City. Sorry you weren’t here with us, but we’re chugging along.
First stop, one of the Birmingham branches of Big Bad Breakfast, 1926 29th Avenue S, Homewood, since we’d been thwarted with our plan to visit the original when passing through Oxford, MS. Chicken and waffles, a breakfast scramble of sorts, or, my simple breakfast of a biscuit, sausage gravy, country ham, eggs, and of course, coffee. Quite good all around. But we’ve now got a de facto standard for biscuits, as we noshed into these… they’re damned sure not Sarah’s biscuits (last post). Not buttery – these are made with lard (and I now have a Lard Have Mercy t-shirt to go with my Praise the Lard t-shirt from 17th Street BBQ.
We had plans for continuing our barbecue lunch, but after such a big breakfast, we weren’t ready to head there yet. We dropped in at the nearby Vulcan Park, where, we were assured by comments on Google Maps, we would find the statue of the god Vulcan displaying one of the “best butts” on statuary, anywhere. We aren’t sure we agree. We headed north towards our next stop in Decatur, AL, stopping for about an hour of wandering about on Flint Creek Island. Quite tranquil and beautiful.
When we were finally at least semi-hungry, we headed to Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, 1715 6th Avenue SE in Decatur. An odd experience from arrival. The hostess dressed in some sort of 70s retro chic with a blouse covered in smiley faces, tie-dyed bell bottoms, bedazzled platform shoes, and massive peace symbol earrings was our first clue. The food? Surprisingly uninteresting. Okay ribs, decent chicken with white sauce, bizarre sides, that included a cole slaw that tasted of nothing but sugar and apples or pears, stodgy mac ‘n cheese, overcooked, muddy tasting green beans, and a potato salad that was little more than mayo held together with some bits of potato. Not the finest barbecue we had, though I understand people liking the chicken. Perfunctory service. Meh.
After lunch, a serendipitous trip to the Jack Daniel Distillery, 133 Lynchburg Highway, in Lynchburg, TN. We opted for the non-tasting tour, spent an hour being swiftly guided through the distillation process, and then after being deposited in the gift shop, headed out.
Arriving late into Nashville, we checked into the hotel, relaxed a bit, and walked around the corner for a primarily vegetable based dinner at an Indo-Chinese restaurant, Inchin’s Bamboo Garden, 1800 West End Avenue. Good food, nothing amazing, except these really addictive “crispy chili corn” bites – they cut those baby corn cobs into three or four pieces, coat them with, I’d guess, cornstarch or rice flour, deep fry them, and toss them in a sweet and spicy chili sauce. We couldn’t stop eating them. And overall, the place just hit the spot for lighter fare.
Next morning, I headed out solo and visited the Johnny Cash Museum, 119 3rd Avenue S, along with the upstairs Patsy Cline Museum. Interesting, at least to me.
Followed that with a visit to the Glen Campbell Museum, 111 Broadway. Same. I was disappointed they had no Rhinestone Cowboy t-shirts or ballcaps, and Scotty, the gift shop and ticket taking attendant, and I, had words about that.
We all met back up for lunch at Hattie B’s, 112 19th Avenue S, for various versions of “Nashville hot chicken”. It was quite good, and I’ve always wanted to try it, at one or another of the famous places for it. But I can’t say it was my favorite thing. I like fried chicken as fried chicken. Adding a lot of heat to it may get the pores open, but I’d rather have a well-seasoned, crispy battered chicken without the heat. Good side dishes. We had been thinking about trying several of the hot chicken spots, but this sort of felt like… enough.
Spent the afternoon wandering around looking at street art. We had planned to go to a show before dinner at one of the local venues along Broadway, but got the details wrong. So, we wandered into The Valentine, 312 Broadway, and nursed some shots for about an hour and a half while being entertained with a mix of country and pop music by Joshua Lee and a couple of his cohorts.
Then it was a walk to dinner at a place I’ve been wanting to go to for years, Husk, 37 Rutledge Street. Hands-down the best food we’ve had on this trip. Hands-down the best food I’ve had in a restaurant since some time pre-covid. Just a fantastic experience all around, from service (shout out to Surell, our waiter), to ambiance, to food. Quite possibly the best beef tartare I’ve ever had, anywhere, the fresh, coarsely chopped beef mixed with a crayfish XO sauce, mildly spicy banana peppers, and mint, and the whole thing topped with crumbled tempura made from a corn batter. And sticking, tangentially, to our barbecue theme, our other amazing starter was a rack of the baby back ribs, dry rubbed with charred scallions, and then finished with a scallion or chive crumb coating and chive blossoms. Amazing. Our main courses of shrimp and grits, trout and sweet potato, and steak with different legumes, were equally stunning. Then again, so was the dark chocolate and pork fat dessert, and even the vinegar, hibiscus, and vanilla pie.
Next day was a morning visit to chair designer Alan Daigre, 320 S. McCrary Street, Woodbury, TN. My brother who lives in Chicago, and his wife, had encountered Alan at a craft fair, loved his work, bought a chair, and kept in touch with him. The chairs are made of small blocks of wood held together with high-tensile cable that allows for them to mold to the contours of anyone sitting on them. You’d think a chair made of wooden blocks wouldn’t be comfortable, but once you sit in one of his chairs, you don’t want to get up. He only makes around 150-200 chairs a year, all by hand, and each one, different.
Back to the hotel, and then lunch nearby at Hopsmith, 1903 Division Street, Nashville. Keeping it light – mixed salad with seared tuna on top, and a spicy ranch dressing. Surprisingly good for what looked like just a neighborhood dive.
And, down the block for ice cream sandwiches at famed The Baked Bear, 1809 Division Street, where you pick the two cookies for your sandwich from around 8-9 selections, then the ice cream filling from about twenty possibilities, and then the coating around the edge from quite a few. I went with a Mexican chocolate cookie, a peanut butter and Nutella cookie, espresso ice cream, and rolled in toasted almonds. The cookies, excellent. The ice cream, okay at best – mostly just sweet, not a lot of flavor. I’d go back and just get cookies.
It was a scorching hot afternoon, so we just headed back to the hotel, where we stayed until dinner, at Lou Nashville, 1304 McGavock Pike. The menu sounded fascinating, with great combinations. Unfortunately, nothing really worked. They just didn’t get the execution and balance of the dishes right, with the exception of the dish of sauteed local mushrooms and farro topped with crispy kale, citrus, and almond chili oil. We had high hopes for sticking with our rib theme – theirs in a sassafras agridolce, with vanilla salt and cinnamon leaf, but it was so sweet, and much of it really dry, we just didn’t like it. None of the other dishes, all vegetable, fared well.
Next morning started off bright and early with doughnuts (bacon and maple; raspberry and pistachio) from Parlor Doughnuts, 1720 West End Avenue, which were more of the “cronut” style of doughnut, and the glazes so sugary that we were wired for hours after.
And, leaving Nashville behind, we headed out on the road for the last destination of our group road-trip, Louisville, where we’re also visiting our parents.
