Marathons and Marché

This past weekend was the annual Country Music Marathon here in Nashville. It was also one of the rainiest days since the May Flood of 2010, or at least it seemed that way to those of us trying to run, walk, or wade through the flash flood waters on Saturday. I did not run the race because I was too busy snuggling under a blanket on my couch, watching it rain and feeling miserable. (I can only imagine the misery of those who did run--congrats to all of you on your determination and endurance!)

I had friends in town who had braved the elements to complete the half-marathon on Saturday. To celebrate their accomplishments and help them explore the city, we decided to brunch on Sunday before they left town. As I have mentioned at least five times before in this space, I love brunch. It's easily my favorite meal of the day.

For this brunching occasion, we ventured outside my usual repertoire and visited Marché in the Five Points area of East Nashville. Although we arrived at 10:30, which I would consider on the earlier side of the brunch hour, we had to wait for nearly 45 minutes to be seated. This proved to not be that problematic, as the staff at Marché allows you to purchase a bottle of bubbly to sip on while you wait! Forget diluting the sparkling wine with OJ for a mimosa, we went straight for the Prosecco. The runners deserved it, and I just needed to support them, right?

Brunch at Marche: Strata, Salad, & Potatoes

Waiting also gave us the opportunity to watch and smell every delectable dish that was brought out of the kitchen. Between the French pastries and the locally sourced bacon and eggs, it was going to be hard to make a decision!

When we sat down at the cozy table, we were ready to make our decisions. Although the five of us crowded around the small table was a little tight, we were just relieved to be sitting. We were able to bring our opened bottle of bubbly to the table with us. Our waiter was great--he had such a fun personality, which is sometimes rare when a restaurant is busy.

To start, we shared a Strawberry and Marscapone Tartine, which was a thick slice of crusty French bread, generously spread with marscapone cheese and topped with fresh berries drizzled in balsamic vinegar. Delicious! (And easily duplicated in your own kitchen.)

Brûléed Grapefruit

I opted for a strata of andouille sausage, onions, peppers, and cheddar cheese. The strata was denser than I expected and the meat and veggies were chopped finely, in order to taste all of it in every bite. I ordered a side of roasted red potatoes to supplement the strata and the side of greens served with each entree, making for a colorful and wonderful meal.

The jewel of everyone else's meal was the brûléed grapefruit. Not being a grapefruit fan, I didn't order any, but I have to admit that the caramelized, sugary coating did make for a beautiful and enticing piece of fruit.

Though the wait was long, it was worth it. The food was fresh, locally sourced, and quite good. Don't try to brunch at Marché  if you are in a rush or need to catch an airplane. But if you have time to slow down, sit, and savor your food, set your sights on Marché. And if the wait gets too long, you can always go to the counter and buy a croissant and a bottle of champagne to tide you over. Talk about an affordable luxury! You'll feel like a little piece of a French bistro has fallen right into the middle of East Nashville.

A Southern Brunch at The Southern

Since its opening last year, it's seemed as though Nashville was all abuzz over The Southern Steak & Oyster restaurant in the bottom of The Pinnacle building downtown. I admittedly did not visit for quite some time because I feared it was a little too snobby for my taste.

Also, I placed too much emphasis on the oyster bar portion of this place and turned my nose up at the idea. Despite the amounts of gulf coast sale water that swim through my veins, I just really can't bring myself to swallow the slippery, horseradish-spiced bivalves. And, since I know you're going to ask, yes, I have tried them Rockefellered and Bienvilled and Orange Beached (which is the term I use for fried and served up po' boy-style) and I just can't bring myself to love them.

All that to say that it took me quite a few months to finally patron The Southern. And once I did, I immediately wondered what took me so long. We went for brunch, which has become my favorite meal of the day. Good brunches should be long and lingering and involve many bottles of mimosas.

The Southern delivered on that ideal. Although housed in a relatively new Downtown building, the atmosphere and the black-and-white tiled floor tricks you into thinking the place has been there for ages. The seating is comfortable, and the large windows give a great view of the street outside.

The brunch menu includes carafes of mimosas for $14. Our group of 8 shared several carafes equally; a much better deal than paying $4 per glass. (Which is actually a decent price for a brunch beverage in this city.)  Plus, who doesn't love their own carafe of champagne cocktails at their table? Others at the table raved about the Bloody  Mary, but that is another foodstuff I just can't swallow. So I'll take their word for it.

The brunch menu featured so many delicious items, I could hardly settle on any one dish. I finally opted for a southernized version of a classic: traditional eggs Benedict with a large slab of southern-fried ham atop golden fried green tomatoes. Served with a side of biscuits and honey, it was a perfect choice for a blustery February morning.

Eggs Benedict atop Fried Green Tomatoes 

The downside to this delicious meal, though, was the service. We did make reservations, which I highly recommend, so the wait up front was not unbearable. However, our server really started slacking toward the end of the meal and took forever to refill our drinks and bring our checks. We had all reached that miserably full point (for which the only cure is stretching out on the couch), and we were more than ready to surrender our table to those waiting outside. But it took nearly 20 minutes for him to bring our checks and collect our payments. 

I won't let the less-than-stellar service keep me from returning, though. The food was pretty darn good!

Brunch for a Bunch

Last weekend, I had friends in town from Birmingham. No strangers to the Art of Dining Well, they were excited to see which restaurants I led them to. And I was excited to show off my city again.

Friday night we met for Happy Hour in the Yazoo Taproom. I'd taken the brewery tour before but never just had a drink in the taproom. Overflowing with suds and twenty- and thirty-somethings all gathered to kick off their weekends, we had a hard time working our to the front of the room and finding a table. The one we did find was not cleaned off so we had to drink with caution to avoid setting our elbows in spilled beer. But the atmosphere was fun and the beer was good. And Justice even bought a growler to enjoy his Yazoo the next week.

For dinner, we walked down the sidewalk to Urban Flats, not exactly local but fun and enjoyable nonetheless. We topped off the night with mojitos from The Greenhouse, a literal greenhouse-turned-bar in Green Hills that boasts introducing mojitos to Music City. At $9 a pop, they are definitely an indulgence, but a delicious one at that. I'm fairly certain they grow their own mint and serve up the rum-based concoction in a mason jar.

The next day, we breakfasted at Fido, went to the Tomato Arts Fest, and toured the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Frist.

Sunday morning's brunch was probably one of the highlights of the weekend for me. We were ready to go early, so I had to find somewhere that started serving at 10. That nixed Tin Angel, 55 South, and Bosco's. With my usual spots out of the question, I did a quick Urban Spoon search for other options and was reminded of the Copper Kettle's brunch buffet.

Both locations (Granny White across the street from Lipscomb University and Downtown on Hermitage Ave.) serve Sunday brunch beginning at 10 a.m. Downtown starts serving at 9 on Titans Sundays. I chose to take them Downtown for the view.

The buffet is a little pricey ($16.95 for adults) but it's all you can eat, and if you choose wisely, you can have fruits and cheeses, main courses, pastries, and desserts all in one sitting. I tried a little bit of everything but didn't notice the bread pudding until the very end, when I was too full to enjoy it. We tried everything from cream puffs to caprese salads, to eggs Benedict (yes! eggs Benedict on the buffet!) to roast beef to bacon, hashbrown casserole, and biscuits & gravy. Wow, I'm getting hungry again just remembering it all.

Coffee, teas, and juices were offered with unlimited refills. Though our waiter did not offer mimosas or Bloody Marys, the restaurant did have a liquor shelf, so we probably should have just asked. While the total with tip was bordering on $20, but we ate and ate and ate. I didn't need to eat again until 7:30 because I was so full all day. I justified it by thinking if we had gone anywhere else, I'd ordered something like an omelet and a side dish, a coffee, and a breakfast cocktail, it probably would've been the same price. And the best part of a buffet is there is something that appeals to everyone!

If you have in-town company, need to entertain the in-laws or parents, or just want something to break your usual Sunday morning routine, I highly recommend checking out the buffet at Copper Kettle. Enjoy!

Fresh French Fare

Allium: (n) any plant of the genus Allium, such as the onion, garlic, shallot, leek, or chive; French-inspired restaurant in East Nashville from the owners of Germantown Cafe.

I had been so looking forward to dining here, as I am a huge fan of the sister establishment. However, I was disappointed with the menu choices, honestly. I wanted to be overwhelmed but i was a little...underwhelmed. 

It started out when I ordered a fancy orange rye Manhattan instead of the gin and tonic I’d been craving. The Manhattan didn’t measure up to the flaming variety I’d ordered at The Patterson House. Gin and tonic would have more appropriately complimented my meal of choice: grouper with a tomatillo salsa atop grits and paired with steamed swiss chard. 

A true Southerner, I love turnip and collard greens. I find Swiss chard similar if not slightly more bitter. This lived up to my expectations. My Southern roots also expected cheese grits. These were not, although probably less bland than they could have been. And having grown up with fresh Gulf Coast seafood, I was disappointed to find my grouper tasted at least one day old. (Now, I should have expected this, what with now residing in a land-locked state and all, but I was hoping for something more.)

The other menu options either seemed too unspectacular (the pasta special was penne tossed with broccoli and chicken breasts in a creamy sauce--something even my kitchen could produce!) or too wintery for a warm July evening (pork roast or duck with plum sauce sounded yummy but a bit like breaking open a bottle of dry red in the middle of summer--not such a hot idea on such a hot night). So I opted for the fish dish. Next time I'm going to try the Croque Monsieur, though.

The dessert did live up to my Southerness, however. Peach tart a la mode. Plump, juicy fresh peaches in a simple glaze baked into a buttery tart crust. Topped with simple vanilla bean ice cream, it was the perfect way to end the evening. Unfortunately, my camera is currently on DL, so I have no pictures. Take my word for it; it was gorgeous.

I will say our waiter was refreshingly attentive and honest. He blatantly stated his opinion on every question we asked. Which dish do you prefer? What are your thoughts on dessert? The mocha cheesecake “underwhelmed” him. Perhaps he was able to pay us so much attention because of the utter lack of co-diners. Literally, we were the only paying customers until at least 7 p.m. A little unnerving, but perhaps Thursdays aren’t the nights to visit Allium. 

Don’t let it keep you from visiting, though. I hear their Sunday brunch is fantastic. 

The End Notes: 

• Great value--salad included! And fresh French bread (duh!) with a delicious garlicky butter that melts into every bread crevice.
• The lack of crowd made me feel a little nervous.
• Ask for an opinion on the artistic cocktail menu so you select the best one (or two).
• ...and listen when the waiter tells you one slice of pie that is really a candy bar masquerading as a pie is too much for one person. He was right!