Midweek: Downtown Seafood and Printer's Alley Pub

Nashville Restaurants and Food
Midweek: Downtown Seafood and Printer's Alley Pub

The loss of Gulf Pride Seafood from the Nashville Farmers Market a few years back just about killed us. The quality of product and the sheer variety of seafood made many a farmers market trip worthwhile. Now seafood is back at the downtown Farmers Market in the form of the Louisiana Seafood Company. Chris Moran and Robert Draughon run the operation, located where Swett's used to be in the Market House. Right now it's only open Friday through Sunday. The selection is limited next to what Gulf Pride offered, but at least for the fresh shrimp that we bought, the quality is still there. Katie cooked them up in a chipotle sauce over stone ground grits and then baked it all with six year-old cheddar on top. Pretty darn good and the quality of the shrimp stood out. We noticed mahi mahi was also available on the day we visited. We wish you could tell you that their website listed what's available, but it's just getting up and running: http://louisianaseafoodco.com/  A better bet might be to e-mail them at louisianaseafoodco@gmail.com

Nicki Wood over at the Nashville Scene Bites Blog reports that there is a new pub opening in Printer's Alley in downtown Nashville. The Fleet Street Pub, as the name implies, will have a British theme going and apparently British food to match. It's going to be in the location of the much-beloved and missed Parco Cafe, just off of Church Street in Printer's Alley. They hope to be open later this summer. You can check out the facebook page for updates.

El Morro

Nashville Restaurants and Food
El Morro
495 Myatt Drive
Madison
615-860-4545

The red linen table cloths and artful plating get your attention. The lovingly cooked food shows care in the kitchen. The Martin family is taking this restaurant enterprise seriously and while they may have a few more kinks to work out at El Morro, their new Cuban restaurant in Madison, they are off to a good start.

El Morro is named for a castle that guards the entrance to Havana Bay. The restaurant is a bit of an outpost itself, blazing new frontiers in the industrial boredom of Myatt Drive. New Metro Nashville offices are scheduled to be built down the street and that could help business substantially. For now, they’ll have to pull people in with the food.

The menu reads like a list of Cuban classics: Ropa Vieja (stewed shredded steak), Picadillo a la Habanero (beef hash) and Bistec Palomilla (lightly breaded steak). Other Latin American dishes with Cuban versions are thrown in the mix such as Churrasco al Chimichurri (skirt steak). The emphasis here is on entrees and side dishes. While there is the ubiquitous Cubano and a couple of other sandwiches on the menu, El Morro is striving for a finer dining experience.

The Vaca Frita, shredded steak, comes out of the kitchen with a sprinkle of red paprika and green dried parsley around the edges of the plate. Everything looks pretty and yet the food is plenty hearty and served in generous portions. There is only one problem: this clearly isn’t Vaca Frita, it’s the Cuban cousin Ropa Vieja. The shredded steak is hard to miss as Ropa Vieja because it’s stewed in a light tomato sauce with onion, green peppers, olives and bay leaves. It’s mellow and deeply flavorful, almost something that you would expect to be served in a Cuban home, just not the dish ordered. Is it an issue in the kitchen or with the inexperienced waitress? Hard to say. In this case the quality of the food makes up for the mistake.

The sautéed veggies on the side are perfectly cooked and coated with pieces of garlic. The signature house sauce reflects the rest of the menu and shows the delicate touch in the kitchen. It’s a light butter sauce with a citrusy tang. It’s just enough to bring up the wonderfully tender Yucca Con Mojo. Perhaps that sauce makes a few too many appearances on the menu, but it works on the dishes I sampled.

A vegetable and beef soup is really more noodle and potato oriented. It has a strong dose of black pepper and yet is still well balanced. Congris rice has solid flavor and the pan fried sweet plantains are sweet and juicy inside. Grilled chicken on one outing is a bit overdone, but other than that everything coming out of the kitchen is good. Now it may take a while: they cook to order and at a leisurely pace. Even a quiet lunch crowd of just three tables brings a twenty minute wait for even soup to arrive. In the end it’s okay due to the quality of the food. It does make one wonder how they will do when the place is packed. A waitress in training doesn’t help matters much.

The dining room itself is comfortable enough. They need to spruce the place up a bit with artwork or something on the walls. It has a slightly temporary feel to it right now.

El Morro fills the void for entrée based Cuban food on the north side of town. Hopefully, despite the location, the Martin family can smooth things out, build a following and keep cooking. I paid $20 with tax and tip on one visit and $19 on another.

Top of the Hill

Nashville Restaurants and Food
Top of the Hill
5432 Clarksville Highway
Whites Creek
615-970-7729
http://www.topofthehillbarandgrill.com/

Update 12/11: This restaurant has closed.

Update 9/11: Elvis has already left the building. This restaurant in under new ownership. They still serve pizza, but other menu items have changed. We'll leave this review up just as a placeholder until we can get back.

Eating pizza and drinking beer with good friends is always better when there is an Elvis impersonator in the house, and when it’s the owner of the bar and pizza joint, you know it’s going to be interesting. Any new restaurant coming to the Joelton/Whites Creek area is a hot topic up here. When the place actually shows promise, well, that’s a special thing. It’s not that we don’t have good dining spots, but they’re few and far between…literally. Top of the Hill takes on a daunting task: revamp a room that has held at last four failed businesses in recent years. They did that with style. Not content to take on a lesser remodel they took the place apart and spent months doing it. The George family runs a masonry business and stonework is a major component of the new décor. A wrap-around bar is field stone on the bottom and treated concrete up top. The overall effect is sleek, and yet inviting, thanks to the cedar planking on the walls. The orange retro 70’s mural of the Nashville skyline on the wall is interesting. The fine stonework extends to the wood-fired oven, a massive centerpiece that draws the eye as an object of beauty and is the heart of the food operation.

Thin crust pizzas are even better in a wood fired oven. The slight char on the crust and the crackly-crispy texture is a winning combination. That’s if the pizzas are cooked correctly, which usually means super-high heat and short cooking times. It’s a bit of an art and we were surprised to see that the folks at Top of the Hill did a decent job right out of the gate. Even in the first week they were turning out good pizzas with a fresh-tasting sauce and quality toppings. Fried pickles were a standout on the appetizer menu and even a cheeseburger was satisfying.

Another visit, a few weeks later, showed the trouble new businesses face getting rolling. A Wednesday night and the staff appeared clueless. It was virtual anarchy with wrong orders and ignored customers. The B-team seemed to be training in the kitchen as well, and even so they turned out pretty good pizzas, perhaps a bit underdone. At $7 for a large order the meager Cesar salad seems rather pricey for the portion. It’s a decent version with house made dressing. A Stromboli showed promise, but lacked proper cooking. The crust was excellent and the interior sausage and cheese lukewarm.

With Top of the Hill Being close to home, and we being in a beer and pizza mood, we gave it a third try a few weeks later, just to see if things had smoothed out. That’s when we were introduced to the Elvis side of things. Jeff George is not only the owner of the joint and an affable host, but also an Elvis impersonator of sorts. He asked us if we wanted to see Elvis in the house that night and how could we turn down that offer? He comes back decked out in a 1970’s Elvis winged, white pantsuit and kicked off karaoke night with a bit of the King. It made for a fun evening. Pizzas this time around were a bit underdone and yet still decent. Some crusts had extra char on one side and not enough crispiness on the bottom. Hopefully, they will be able to get everyone fully up to speed soon using that wood fired oven. It’s good pizza that could be really good given a little more attention to cooking. Fried appetizers are above average and a large salad still looked a bit meager in the greens offered for the price.

Veggie Eater: So let’s start with the official disclaimer: we are extremely emotionally invested in trying to nurture and support any business that sets up shop in our neck of the woods. We really, really want this place to succeed and it has elements that may make this possible. The cedar plank lined walls, a beautiful stone set bar, and cool concrete floors create a wonderful vibe. I love the smell of cedar (reminds me of my childhood guinea pigs and hamsters). Non-smoking caters to a more family friendly crowd. Pizzas are inherently veggie friendly. The high spots include salad dressings that are house made. The ranch dipping sauce served with the fatty platter elevates the fried food being served. The fried foods are really pretty good (we keep gravitating back to the fried pickles-you can take the girl out of Milwaukee, but you can’t take Milwaukee out of the girl). The pizzas, when cooked well, have a delightful crispy, slightly charred crust. The pizza when not well cooked is a somewhat soggy, floppy affair. One downside-no green olives (what’s the point of black olives anyways). We’ll be back, if for no other reason than to see Elvis.

Meat Eater: Jeff and Brandy George have put together a solid business. We do worry about the place. The well-organized and original general manager recently left the operation. They also seem to always have wait-staff in training, having lost some folks already. They’ll need to smooth things out for consistency both in the kitchen and on the floor.

We paid $25 with tax and tip on one visit. The other two visits were with a bunch of friends and we have no idea what we paid. Small pizzas run $4.50 for two toppings and are a real bargain. A medium is $11.99 for two toppings.

Midweek: Joey's House of Pizza Moving, Farmers Market Shade

Joey's House of Pizza is often cited as one of the best pizza joints in the Nashville area, especially for East Coast-style pie. Now they're reporting on their facebook page that they are closing the Brentwood location and moving to 897 Elm Hill Pike in South Nashville, near I-24 and Murfreesboro Road. It's formerly the home of Elvy's Deli and not that far from Boswell's Harley Davidson. The Nashville Fork blog broke the news, which is devestating to the Brentwood fans and a boon for folks downtown and in East Nashville. Apparently there is no change to the Spring Hill location.

We're glad to report that West Nashville Farmer's Market organizers Good Food for Good People have worked out a deal with the Metro Parks Department and will be able to move the market back to the shaded area under the trees in Richland Park. They had been forced to the other side of the Richland Park Library, with no shade or trees, due to a neighbor complaint. Kudos to Good Food for Good People for overcoming another challenge and keeping one of Nashville's best Farmers Markets thriving in the shade.

Top 3 for Spring 2011

Nashville Restaurants and Food
Top 3 for Spring 2011

Spring was a slow period for restaurant growth in Nashville. The good news is that there seems to be less places closing down and there are a couple of interesting spots that have just opened. We have one standout full-service restaurant and a couple of excellent sandwich joints to talk about for this Spring Top 3 list.

1. Shish Kabob

The falafel alone would rank Shish Kabob of our favorite new joints in Nashville. Hikmat Gazi has created a menu of familiar favorites and more obscure items to explore. Delicate soups with carefully defined flavors, joined with authentic appetizers and a line-up of well-seasoned meats make for an excellent dinner. The falafel is made from an imported spice mixture and the attention to ingredients is clear throughout the restaurant.

http://nashvillerestaurants.blogspot.com/2011/03/shish-kabob.html

2. Sax Deli

There’s something elegant about a well-made sandwich. At best it should be simple, tasty and to the point. Sax Deli understands. Whether it is tender corned beef or the crunch of crispy bacon on top of smoked turkey, the ingredients shine at Sax Deli. The tiny sandwich shop would be welcome anywhere and it’s a real treat in the underserved Hendersonville.

http://nashvillerestaurants.blogspot.com/2011/05/sax-deli.html

3. Sugar’s Cuban Bakery

The Cuban sandwich seems to be popping up all over the place. The combo of pork roast, ham and cheese, is pressed to a melting consistency. About the best version around can be found at Sugar’s Bakery in Madison. They bake the bread and press the sandwich perfectly for a crisp shell and gooey interior. It’s a great sandwich and the few others on the line-up are quite good as well. They’re promising to expand the menu soon to add new sandwiches and some sides. While you’re in for lunch pick up some of the cookies and a Café Cubano for a little afternoon wake-up call.

http://nashvillerestaurants.blogspot.com/2011/05/sugars-cuban-bakery.html

We've gone mobile

We've just added mobile service to the blog. If you go to this web page from a mobile device you'll automatically get the mobile version. It's a stripped down version with primarily the stories and comments. If you want to use the archive from a mobile device you can click on the "web version" link at the bottom of the page. As always, thanks for reading.

Midweek Odds and Ends: Hare, Chicken and Man

Nashville Restaurants and Food
Hare, Chicken and Man

The Nashville Scene Bites blog is reporting on the opening of the new Wild Hare restaurant in West Nashville. The menu is focused on locally grown and an eclectic mixture of styles. Early eaters Chris Chamberlain from the Scene and Lesley from Lesley Eats report that it will be an informal and fun atmosphere. It sounds like a winning combination to us. You can follow the Wild Hare on their facebook page. Right now they've just opened for lunch, but according to the Scene they do plan evening hours. We're excited to get out there ourselves and will report back soon.

The Wild Hare
316 White Bridge Road
Nashville
615-818-0219

The Nashville Hot Chicken Festival will return to East Park on July 4 for another scorcher of an event. They've added Pepperfire to the line-up, the East Nashville newcomer will serve up hot chicken alongside regulars Princes, Bolton's and 400 degrees. It's free samples for the first 500 people as usual (if you can brave the lines). Among many others Pied Piper Eatery and the Dog of Nashville are listed as vendors. It will be interesting to see what they cook up in the genre. The festival goes from 11am to 3pm and will feature the amateur cooking contest again. As always we expect the Yazoo beer tent to save the day when our brains start melting down due to the sun and all of that spice.

Finally, you've heard it many other places, but we agree it should be amusing to watch Man v. Food guy Adam Richman tonight take on hot chicken at Prince's. He loves the hot stuff and I would imagine that will be interesting at Prince's if he went for full heat. He also heads to Roosters Texas BBQ for that 72 ounce steak stuffing challenge. The Nashville edition of the show airs tonight at 8 p.m. on the Travel Channel.

Brewsters

Nashville Restaurants and Food
Brewsters
271 Gleaves Street
Madison
615-420-6130

Making beer is easy. Making good beer is another matter entirely. The first timer can brew up a batch of beer on day one and be drinking it a few weeks later. Serious home brewers can spend years perfecting a simple brown ale. It would seem that when opening a brew pub you would want to have done your experimentation well ahead of opening. Enter peanut butter beer, just one of the first for sale creations of the new Brewsters brew pub in Madison. It’s harsh at best and undrinkable at worst. It’s fine to have a bad batch in the amateur world- after all that’s how people learn. Selling the stuff to the public is probably not the best idea. Blueberry beer was not horribly fruity and unremarkable. Vanilla beer was inoffensive and similarly amateur. Why did they start with such an unusual line-up? We’re not sure. The IPA is weak and inoffensive. There’s the same flavor base running through all of the brews and it’s not a good thing.

What’s strange about all of this is that the space is quite stylish and airy. It’s the building that once housed Pargo’s and Zen Bar and Grill. Loft ceilings and plenty of windows make for a pleasant dining room and the brewing equipment is on display behind the bar.

The menu has a German theme running through it- pretzels with beer based dips, various sausage platters (knockwurst, bratwurst and kielbasa). Those pretzels are okay, if institutional, and covered up with butter and salt. A German bomber flat bread pizza features the aforementioned meats on a crispy crust for a decent dish. A smoky pork chop is served in a light brown sauce and well-seasoned. The vegetable medley is given a fair chance in cooking. The fried foods seemed to fare better with good crispy French fries and a decent fried fish for a respectable pairing.

There’s a solid line-up of outside beer available and a full bar. One of those beers and a snack on the patio might not be such a bad thing.

Veggie Eater: There are veggie friendly options here as long as you like pizza and fried appetizers. I attempted a house salad and pretzel combo on my first try. The salad was non-descript and served with a not so wonderful bottled blue cheese. The pretzel appears to have been of the giant food wholesaler variety with tons of excess salt (I knocked most of it off), but I found the mustard and beer dip tasty. On my next attempt, I had the nachos, which were fresh fried and generously adorned with beans and cheese. They weren’t earth shattering, but I found Meat Eater and my visiting mother squirreling away bites off my platter. My general golden rule for brew pubs is I can put up with mediocre food if the beer is wonderful and I can put up with mediocre beer if the food is phenomenal. My dream, of course is a brew pub that manages to produce both fantastic beer and fabulous food. I wax nostalgic about the establishments that have achieved this feat (Great Dane Brewery in Madison, WI, being my benchmark). What I cannot abide by is a brew pub that has mediocre food and mediocre (or worse) beer--life is too short. I don’t think I’ll be rushing back anytime soon.

Meat Eater: We hope they can figure out the beer thing soon. We don’t mind folks tinkering to get things right, but when you start charging the public it’s a whole different matter. Perhaps they just need to give the stuff away free until they get a batch worth paying for. We paid $52 with tax and tip for dinner for three and $30 for a dinner for two.

Midweek odds and ends: El Morro

Nashville Restaurants and Food
Midweek odds and ends: El Morro

Myatt Drive in Madison is the home to a new Cuban restaurant and from appearances the Martin family is making a serious go of this enterprise. While the location is a bit out of the way right now (half-way down Myatt Drive from Rivergate) it will soon be just down the street from a police crime lab and other Metro offices, so perhaps it’s an investment in the future. The interior is more formal and inviting than what we have come to expect from new joints. Dark red linen tablecloths and heavy serving ware are signs that they hope to make this a viable dinner and lunch location. The menu confirms with 17 entrees ranging from Ropa Vieja (the classic Cuban shredded steak) to Enchilado de Camarones Varadero (shrimp in a Cuban tomato sauce). Grilled chicken breast comes to the table with an artistic dash of red paprika and parsley on the plate. The thin-cut breast has a light seasoning and the all-important Congris (dark rice and beans) has an addictive flavor. Sweet plantains are lovely and a bit more reserved in cooking than other places in town. Several sandwiches, soups and lunch entrees round out the authentic menu. As usual with Cuban places there is not much on first read for the vegetarian: sweet potatoes, yucca, plantains and boiled potatoes show some hope. Ask before you order- many Cuban restaurants use chicken and beef broth in cooking veggies and beans.

They’re still getting settled into the room, having just been open a couple of weeks. I’ll happily be back to continue my menu exploration and do a full review. The current hours are listed at 11am to 9pm seven days a week, and as always, check before you go.

El Morro
495 Myatt Drive
Madison
615-860-4545