Nashville, Trip #2

Well, the hubs and I made a last minute decision to do a whirlwind weekend trip to Nashville.  We saw on Monday that some bands were playing in Nashville over the weekend that we would love to see that were not going to be in our area anytime soon.  By 9 pm Wednesday night, we decided we had to go.  We took a half day from work Friday, and by 1 pm we were on our way.  Unfortunately, I was a horrible picture-taker over the weekend, and I don’t have much to show for it, but I’m providing lots of links as to what we did, so I would just encourage you to click on them (because, lets face it, those pics will be much better than anything of mine anyway!)

Friday

After driving like crazy, we got into Nashville around 6 pm and checked into our hotel that was in the Vanderbilt University area, and ended up being just one block from the concert venue, the Exit/In.  We had done some quick searching on the way down to determine our dining destinations, and Friday we decided on The Patterson House, a cocktail bar that was recently ranked in Bon Appetit magazine as being in the nation’s top ten new cocktail bars.  Similar to the Holland House from our last visit, but very close to the area we were staying in.  Dimly lit (in a good way), speakeasy vibe adorned with lots of old books and pretty glass.  Cocktails are all $12, which might take people aback, but for the amount of work and the quality of the ingredients that go into them, I have no problem with it.  I did at least attempt some pics on the iphone here, but it was so dark, and sometimes I feel kinda intrusive with flash, so unfortunately no pics, but check these out here to give you some ideas.  I had a Fall Sidecar and a Ramos Gin Fizz, both amazingly beautiful and tasty.  Food did seem to be an afterthought there and did not live up to the high quality of drinks, but overall I was very happy.

After dinner, we were on to the Exit/In to see Hillbilly Casino, the Supersuckers, and Reverend Horton Heat.  Hillbilly we have seen several times and love them, but it was my first time seeing Supersuckers and RHH live.  Supersuckers were good, and Reverend Horton Heat  was AMAZING.  Great show, and an excellent venue to see music.  After the show ended, we took a cab downtown to Layla’s as Hillbilly Casino was playing until 2 am.  A late night for sure!

Saturday

Saturday morning consisted of sleeping in/sleeping off a hangover!  We finally got rolling around 11 and went to the Farmer’s Market.  We had been there on our last trip and loved it, so we decided to go again.  Purchases included goat’s milk, goat cheese,  a pumpkin whoopie pie, and a carrot cake cupcake with cream cheese icing.  Next, we went to Swett’s , a soul food “meat and three”, where my only pic occured.  A pig-out of my fried chicken, stewed green beans, mac and cheese, and fried okra ensued.

My only pic of trip - the cure to my hangover!

The day was gorgeous, so we just wandered around outside where we could.  We went by Yazoo brewing company and had a beer on their patio. We then went to the Historic Hillsboro Village area and roamed the streets, weaving in and out of little shops.

For dinner, we decided on Flyte, and we definitely made a great choice.  Top-notch service and wonderful seasonal dishes in a very pretty atmosphere with a great wine and drink list.  We went the all appetizer route. As the name indicates, you can do “Flytes” of wine, but also of soup and salad, which allowed us to sample 3 soups and 3 salads, including a smoked pumpkin soup and a golden beet salad with an orange dressing.  Other appetizers included butternut ravioli, braised pork belly with boiled peanut hummus, and the highlight of the night, Halibut cheeks with mushrooms and bok choi in this Asian-type broth. So delicate, tender, and moist!  We decided to skip dessert and just order drinks since we had snacks at our hotel from our Farmers’ Market visit, and I loved the “Sunflower” I ordered – vodka, liquor 43, orange juice, and nutmeg.  But, as we got to talking to our very lovely server, Tracy, she told us about the food truck that she and the hostess from the restaurant run called Sugar Wagon, and she just happened to have some items from it there at the restaurant!  We ended up taking back to the hotel two  ice cream sandwiches of hers, one being salted Bourbon caramel ice cream with chocolate chip cookies and the other oatmeal cookies with cream cheese ice cream.  We wolfed them down as soon as we got to the hotel, and they were awesome!  And, she told us her Sugar Wagon had recently won 2nd place in Nashville’s first food truck competition.  How great is that?

Since we had such a late night on Friday, and already had a wonderful day and dinner, we decided to call it a night after Flyte because we were getting up early to head home on Sunday morning and soon face the realities of work on Monday.  But, it was most certainly another successful trip to Nashville, and I can’t wait til our next visit!