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Nashville, TN
Eating out in Nashville, TN
Traditional Southern home-cookin' is the best food in Nashville, though if you need to have Italian, French, Chinese, and so on, you can certainly find plenty of that, as well. But to fully experience life south of the Mason-Dixon, seek out the places that know how to dress up a ham with red-eye gravy and pile the biscuits high at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. New Southern and New American cuisine chefs take granny's cherished recipes and add modern twists to them for an interesting spin on the traditional fare of the Confederacy.
Gourmet
Capitol Grille and Oak Bar is a charming restaurant serving regional cuisine with specialties like sautéed grouper accompanied by garlic whipped potatoes, and filet mignon with a portobello mushroom demi-glace and crispy potatoes. It is consistently ranked as one of Nashville's top restaurants by local food reviewers, who call the food "opulent!" 231 6th Avenue, N.
Highly Recommended
The Broadway Dinner Train treats you to a lovely 2+ tour of the countryside and a luxurious feast that starts as you pull out of the depot on the banks of the Cumberland River. A superb four-course meal includes such entrees as stuffed salmon and beef Wellington. Once the exclusive privilege of land barons and heiress socialites, the luxury dinner train is a memorable experience a vanished way of life. 108 First Avenue, S.
Local Flair
The Loveless Café, if you have a car or can get your hands on one for just a few hours, is hands-down the place you need to find for the best Southern cooking in the South. This out of the way old-fashioned roadhouse gets people raving for its country ham with red-eye gravy, Southern fried chicken, and homemade biscuits with homemade fruit jams. 8400 Tenn. 100.
Romantic
Arthur's elegance and plush romance set a sumptuous tone for this superb restaurant personifying Southern gentility. The decor is nostalgic and lavish, with huge plantation-style shutters on the windows, stained glass, gilding, streams of lace, walnut paneling, a stone fireplace, and comfortable banquettes. The menu changes daily, however, you can always expect specialties like rack of lamb, chateaubriand, and tournedos of beef. Quail, pheasant, and duck are also prominent on seasonal menus, and the flambéed desserts are not to be missed! 1001 Broadway.
Going party in Nashville, TN
If you're a DJ, don't come looking for work in Nashville. Live music is very nearly a law in here, and you start hearing is even before you leave the airport, where country bands welcome you to Music City USA. Broadway honky-tonks are the genuine, down-to-earth clubs where talented hopefuls go to get discovered, and dine-and-dance places like the Nashville Palace offer good quality mainstream country. The night scene is divided between The District's rowdy, hard-partying scene and Music Valley's more sedate, family-friendly suburban scene with landmarks like the Grand Ole Opry and Ernest Tubb's Texas Troubadour Theatre. If you visit Nashville but don't really like country music, you can still find plenty of nightspots playing non-country music. Second Avenue in downtown is a popular hangout with everything from funk to punk, and the Vanderbilt University area is a happening alternative scene. Culture bug bitechya? Nashville has just the cure with a top-notch performing arts community including a symphony orchestra, opera and ballet companies, and a professional theater company.
Ernest Tubb Record Shop Midnight Jamboree
A sort of after-dinner drink to the Opry's main course, for years this was a late-night radio show featuring performer who had just finished playing across the street at the Grand Ole Opry. When the Opry moved out to Opryland on Music Valley Drive, the midnight jamboree also moved to this newer Ernest Tubb store.
Nashville Palace
Randy Travis got his start at this live country-western music and dance hall, with a full-service restaurant. Located right across the street from the Opryland Hotel, audiences catch shows each night at 8:00pm.
TNN
The Nashville Network This cable-television network's most popular show, Prime Time Country, features country star performances and interviews. Tickets sell out fast so order yours early. The Wildhorse Saloon shows are even more fun than Prime Time Country.
Wildhorse Saloon
This massive dance hall is the center of the universe for boot-scooters, attracting everyone from country-music stars to line-dancing senior citizens. Selected as Best Dance Club by locals in a Citysearch competition, this is the hottest club in Nashville, with live music most nights by both new bands and big names in contemporary country. Additionally, the frequent TNN show tapings are hugely popular. Free dance lessons get everyone two-stepping!.
The Bluebird Café
The club is diminutive but its reputation is gargantuan. The best new talent around knows that this is the place to go for exposure and recognition, while the established stars like to drop in for a spell and relive their early days. Catch a band you've never heard of and next year they very well might be number one on the charts, so you can say you "saw them whenà!".
Zanie's Comedy Showcase
Nashville's oldest comedy club hosts headliners with established TV and movie credits. If you need a little break from music and don't mind those cramps you get when you've laughed too hard for too long, this is where you should go!.
Market Street Brewery and Public House
In the heart of The District, this dark, oak-lined pub has more character than any other Music City brew pub. They have a wide variety of brews (mostly light) and wheat beer is the specialty of the house.
Outer Limit
As the Citysearch nightcrawlers declare, this place has more layers than Farrah Fawcett's hair. If you're looking for a huge club with plenty of options, the Outer Limit is it. The choices include live music, techno-rave, Top 40 dance, and even a karaoke bar. If you get hungry, the Nexus Grille has a complete munchie and meal menu. To keep things interesting, there are theme nights like Teen Night, Ladies Night, College Night, and many more.
Electric Lounge
This is one spot where a DJ can still find work, but only if he's a really, really good spinner ultra-versed in mixing the best of reggae-funk, house and club, acid jazz, and light soul. The crowd changes with the style of music featured each night, but a crossover trend is under way and forming an "in-crowd" of regulars that give the Lounge a heart and soul.
Common events in Nashville, TN
Nashville River Stages
This 3-day music spectacular bursts onto 5 different stages at Riverfront in downtown Nashville. Non-stop music fills the air with 60 bands that in the past have included Hole, Kidd Rock, Hootie and the Blowfish, KC and the Sunshine Band, and Isaac Hayes. May.
Main Street Jazz Fest 2000
Jazz musicians play all day on historic Murfreesboro Square. The festival hosts a performers from local up-and-comers to big names stars! May.
Renaissance Festival
Fine food and good cheer, fair damsels and knights in shining armor, royal jousts and court jesters abound in this costumed celebration of "ye olden days!" Follow the minstrel's music to this unique fair on the wooded grounds of Castle Gwynn. May - June.
International Country Music Fan Fair
This is a week-long musical extravaganza for fan-atics of country music. Country's hottest stars belt out their hard-luck tunes and romantic ballads, then walk around posing for pictures and signing your autograph book! Many people plan their vacation specifically to coincide with it this fair. June.
Balloon Classic
A kaleidoscope of color fills the sky as hot air balloons flight. Other activities include musical entertainment, arts and crafts exhibits, and a kid's fair. June.
Uncle Dave Macon Days Festival
It's a down-home, foot-stompin' party when National Champions in old-time banjo, old-time buckdancing and old-time clogging take to the floor for one of the best hooplas around! You'll also have other diversions like arts and crafts, steaming heaps of food, the Motorless Parade, the Heritage Awards, and a Gospel Showcase. July.
July 4th Celebration
Riverfront Park in downtown Nashville explodes with fun, food, and fireworks in this family-oriented, alcohol-free event. Music begins around 5:00pm and dancing goes on until 10:30pm. July.
Franklin Jazz Festival
Listed as one of the Top 20 Tourism Events in the Southeast, this event keeps you bee-boppin' with continuous traditional jazz, Dixieland, and Big Band sounds in an elegantly restored 19th-century town square just south of Nashville. September.
Tennessee State Fair
A huge livestock and agricultural tradition, also exhibiting crafts, needlework, and antiques. Hoot Owl Junction takes on you a journey of discovery to learn how everyday tasks were accomplished before modern technology. The Midway offers rides and games for grown-ups and tykes, along with food galore. New attractions include a free kid's area and free big-name shows on the grandstand! September.
Grand Ole Opry Birthday Celebration
Thousands of country music fans help celebrate the Opry's birthday with a party famous for its chance to meet Opry stars. You'll also love dancing to the irresistible, toe-tappin' rhythms of the star-studded Birthday Bash Shows! October.
Oktoberfest, Nashville's Original German Festival Oom-pa, oom-pa! Live German music, authentic polka dancing, strolling accordion players, German clowns, authentic German food and beer, plus over 80 booths with both German and American crafts at Historic Germantown all come together. October.
Native American Powwow
Native Americans from throughout the US and Canada unite to celebrate their ancient culture with competitive traditional dance, fine arts, crafts, storytelling, demonstrations, and native foods from different tribes. It's a great way to experience a bit of the mystery and beauty of this land's first human culture. October.
Music and Molassas Festival
Old-fashioned family fun is the hallmark of this country celebration. See molasses made the old-time way with cooking and tasting at the sorghum mill. The festival combines bluegrass and country music along with clogging, square dancing, log cabin demonstrations, outdoor kettle cooking, free carriage rides, Ladies Civil War Encampment, crafts, homemade desserts, petting farm, and more. October.
Longhorn 2000 Championship Finals Rodeo
Only the best 72 of more than 1,200 professional cowboys/cowgirls from across North America are invited to compete in 6 different events at the Nashville Arena. Favorite events include the Big, Bad, Bonus Bull-Riding Challenge and the "people powered" Charity Chuck Wagon Races. November.
Dickens of a Christmas
Listed as one of the Top 20 Tourism Events in the Southeast, this renowned holiday celebration is a favorite for its carolers in Victorian costumes, craftsmen demonstrating 19th-century arts and crafts, strolling minstrels, street vendors, theater productions, and horse-drawn carriages. It's a magical Christmas right out of a Charles Dickens classic. Tea and period delicacies are also served in fine tradition! December.