Nashville is a growing city.  By more than a 100 people per day, and their appetite for food is growing with it.  Music City is singing a savory tune these days as it expands its repertoire of talents to feed the hungry, and they are doing it in the prettiest way possible.

Henrietta Red

Since my last visit in May there must be a dozen new restaurants that have popped up across the 21 or so neighborhoods to please your palette.  The sophistication of the food took me by surprise.  It’s not just southern fried deliciousness, which you can certainly get, it’s a fusion of flavors, and continents, coupled with fresh produce, spices, in magically surprising combinations.

Barista Parlor a converted gas station with coffee that will really rev your engine…tooo much?

I could eat this food within the walls of defunct cinder block gas station and love it, but they’ve paired it with elegantly designed spaces.  I think of Boston as a city that loves its food, and its citizens, whose insatiable desire for the new and the hip drive a steady stream of new places to eat, to the market, but look out Boston – Nashville just might have you beat.

From The Gulch to Germantown, and 12 South we explored the design and culinary delights of  six spots in three days.  Sea Salt, 209 3rd Ave. N, Nashville.  The Southern – an old favorite never disappoints with its fresh design and traditionally inspired southern food, and unbelievable raw bar.  Bar Taco – a chain, but a deliciously conceived one at that.  Mockingbird, 121 12th Ave. N, Nashville. I thought this would be my favorite, and it was until the following night when I dined at Fifth and Taylor, 1411 Fifth Ave. N, Nashville, an old mill building where a sculpture of General Nash the city’s namesake stood guard over the crowd atop his sculpted horse. Henrietta Red stole my heart with the orange blossom Monkey Bread and their oysters…Yum-O!

Fifth and Taylor