Eating & Drinking in Nashville, Part II

Source: Dreamstime

We woke up Saturday morning and made a beeline for The Pancake Pantry, a Nashville breakfast institution. There's always a line, but it moves quickly (and there's complimentary coffee while you wait). 

I'm not much of a sweets person, and that includes breakfast...so I was thrilled to see this savory option: Sante Fe Cornmeal Pancakes, which was three cornmeal pancakes with bacon, Cheddar cheese, and roasted green chiles cooked inside. It's recommended with maple syrup, hot picante salsa, and sour cream. 

What a fantastic combination of flavors/ingredients! I tried it with all of the toppings, including one recommended by the waitress (honey), which turned out to be my favorite! The only issue I had was that these were a little crumbly and fell apart pretty easily...it didn't hurt the taste, though!

After breakfast, we crossed the street to BookManBookWoman, a new & used bookstore I had spotted while we were waiting in line. 

I could have easily spent hours in there...I'm a moth to a flame when it comes to bookstores. I went straight to the cookbook section. I always buy a local cookbook (preferably one from the Junior League) from every city I visit. Here was this trip's find:

I'm in a great group of girlfriends, and we call ourselves the MotherCluckers...so this seemed completely appropriate! 

Speaking of the 'Cluckers, several of them had sent me up to Nashville with a wish list from Trader Joe's (we don't have one in Birmingham), so we headed over to grocery shop.  This was my first visit, and I was in HEAVEN! 

Pat had heard about an area of town called The Gulch, so we went to check it out. It's a very neat urban area with condos, offices, shops, and restaurants. It was the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day, so we stopped in for a green beer at The Pub. 

It was an unusually warm day for March, so we were able to sit on the patio and people watch, as revelers started showing up in their SPD attire.

At that point, we were starting to get hungry again (time to move on to another spot!), so we walked across the street to Bar Louie and snagged the last table on their crowded patio.

I got the Short Rib Sliders, which had asiago and swiss cheeses, spinach, balsamic onions, mushrooms, and a smokey horseradish sauce. The meat was incredibly tender, and all of the accompaniments added so many levels of flavor. YUM!

Stay tuned...one more more post to go, as I recap Saturday night and Sunday brunch!