Deep Dive: Nashville

Throughout the country there are cities that are synonymous with specific events or iconography that is interwoven into their very essence. For instance, when I say Orlando, chances are the first thing that pops into your head is Disney.  If I say Detroit, it's likely that the first thing that pops in your head is the auto industry. 

But what about food identity? In some cities, food is the defining identity.  New Orleans has Cajun, Miami has Cuban, and Austin has barbecue.  These food cultures exist, and likely for good reason, but the cities themselves do not exist exclusively in food vacuums. The fact that Chicago is known for an iconic hot dog is only a superficial glance at the true culinary identity of the city. These cultures are part perception, part reality, part branding and part of the interwoven consciousness that surrounds a specific place. 

But is it their identity?   Yes and no. 

Let's go back to the first exercise. When I say Nashville, what pops into your mind? If I had to bet my next paycheck on it, I'd say that country music would be what you thought of. That's understandable, I mean the city is loud and proud of its nickname "Music City USA," which is a modern re-brand of its original version of the nickname "Country Music USA."

What about Nashville's culinary identity? That's probably a less obvious commodity to identify. Unless you've spent some time in Nashville, chances are, you're not exactly sure what to expect from the food scene. 

Nashville, like other urban locales in the Bible belt and sun belt, is considered to be a city on the rise. Population increases for the city have been on the rise for a generation. While the music industry is certainly a major artery in the city's business landscape, growing healthcare and financial industries are also commercial revenue streams embedded in the city.

It's interesting to have a conversation with a local Nashvillian about their city. The city itself seemingly takes great pride in its country music roots. Downtown Nashville along Broadway and 2nd Avenue in the tourist district has piped-in country music that plays out of non-descript grey boxes placed strategically at intersections and acts as the city's soundtrack during the day, and live music pours out from famous "honky tonks" like Tootsies, The Stage and Robert's Western World that fills the air and creates a non-identifiable, non-specific but definitely "country" sound. That said, all of the people within the city don't exactly share the same warm embrace for the music. Perhaps a life of conversations like "Where are you from?" "Nashville." "Oh! You must love country music." have taken its toll on the people, but now for going on 70 years, Nashville has been synonymous with country music. You'll just be hard-pressed to find a local who will say "country music" when listing their five favorite things about Nashville.

Similarly, the culinary identity of Nashville parallels the overall identity of the city and potentially speaks to the post-reconstruction "new south" that we've witnessed over the past 30 years. Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, and Birmingham, Alabama are all now firmly placed at the forefront of the southern revival movement. These cities have histories that are steeped in culture, heritage passed down from generation to generation, and as industrialism and the country's population has migrated south, their history meets their future.

Similar to the country music industry in Nashville as a general identity, the culniary counterparts most easily identifiable with the city are meat and threes and hot chicken.  And not unlike the country music identity of Nashville, meat and threes and hot chicken don't broadly or specifically define the city's culinary identity, but rather are mainstays woven into the overall fabric.

Meat and Three
Unless you've spent some time in the south, chances are you don't know what a meat and three is.  For simplicities sake, it's basically just a menu/restaurant format where the diner selects one meat, which can range from things like fried chicken to meatloaf, and then three vegetables, or sides. Since we're in the South the definition of "vegetables" can run the gamut from collard greens and fried okra, all the way to non-vegetable "vegetables" like mac 'n' cheese and cornbread stuffing.

Arnold's Country Kitchen
As far as meat and three restaurants in Nashville go, Arnold's Country Kitchen has earned the reputation as the go-to spot in town. The best pro-tip I can give you for eating at Arnold's is to plan ahead, because the doors open at 1030, and by the time "lunch" starts calling your name, the line is out the door and across the parking lot...
Read the full review here.

Monell's Restaurant
Long before the north Nashville neighborhood called Germantown was the hip and trendy hot spot, there was Monell's Restaurant. Previous to hipsters roaming the sidewalks with ironic fashion choices or "dinks" walking their hypo-allergenic labradoodles around the newly minted ballpark, there was Monell's Restaurant...
Read the full review here.

Swett's Restaurant
Just down the street from Wendell Smith's is Swett's Restaurant. While these two exist in the same category, there are stark differences between the two. First and foremost, Swett's revels in its reputation as being the meeting place for various Nashville political "movers and shakers." Think: dixie-fried fat cat southern politicians with seer sucker suits and big husky drawls who split their time evenly between dabbing the sweat off their foreheads with a handkerchief and downing giant tumblers full of sweet tea. And once you have that image in your mind, dial it back to reality. This is Nashville in 2015, not "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?"
Read the full review here

Wendell Smith's Restaurant
Wendell Smith's is located in the older part of West Nashville off of Charlotte Pike, a major thoroughfare running in and out of town. Immediately upon walking up to the restaurant you see a giant neon sign. It's both impressive, and unimpressive all at the same time.  Which, I guess, is appropriately analogous to the restaurant itself. The neons are bright and impressive when lit, but because the restaurant closes around 7:30 every evening, it's rare that you actually get to see them when you're dining there. Meat and threes are traditionally a lunch locale. Neon lights aren't exactly all that impressive during the peak daylight hours. That said, when the neons are lit, they're a great throwback to days gone by, just like Wendell Smith's...
Read the full review here.

History and Heritage
What's the difference between a relic and a treasure? Relics outlast time. They survive. Not because they're particularly special, although they can be, but rather because they have the survival skills necessary to simply not die off. Relics, though, are dated. Treasures, on the other hand, are cultivated and cared for. Treasures are saved and stored because someone believes so much in them, they want to preserve it and share it with the future. People they don't know and probably won't meet. Nashville's meat and three restaurants are treasures. Sure, many of them are "trapped in the past" but if we don't know where we've been, we won't know where we're going.

Touring Nashville's best meat and threes reminds me of the heritage that is ever-present in southern culinary. Heritage is passed down from generation to generation within the restaurants, but also passed along to the hungry masses that line themselves out the door. It passes down because it's something special. It's treasured. In the south, grandma's biscuit making tools are passed down. That well seasoned cast iron skilled it passed down. And most notably core tenants like history, tradition, attention to detail, care for ingredients, they're all shared from generation to generation because they're special and it's important.