Category Archives: Meat and Three

Nana’s Meat and Three

by Sarah

Happy New Year!  We had a wild and crazy New Year’s Eve…  we went to the new meat and three in town!  Give us a break…  we do have a baby!  :)

Since Southern Bred closed, we’ve been on the lookout for a new regular meat and three to visit.  We were delighted when Nana’s Meat and Three opened in Nolensville.   The first thing we noticed when we read the menu is that they only offer a few regular meat items (with daily specials) and many sides.  They may only offer a few meat items, but those that we have tried are excellent.  I would much rather a restaurant have a limited selection, but know that everything they offer is going to be delicious.

Like any good Southern Meat and Three, the meal starts with cornbread muffins.  These were perfect with just a hint of sweetness.  The service is great as well.  Before we could finish our muffins, our entrees had arrived at our table.

The chicken fried steak (sans gravy) was delicious with a lightly breaded crust.    Many times meat and three’s make the mistake of seasoning heavily with butter and salt.  Nana’s does not make that mistake as the vegetables are lightly seasoned, allowing the taste of the individual vegetable to shine. The collard greens had a hint of bacon flavor.  The cabbage was cooked to perfection with a delicious broth.

The chicken fried chicken had a crispy but light breading, was lightly seasoned, well cooked but juicy with a gravy that didn’t thicken as it cooled.  The mac and cheese was extremely rich with a nice thick sauce, almost a casserole consistency.  The mashed potatoes had a few lovely chunks with a gravy that was extremely potent (in a good way).

We finished our meal with pie.  The chess pie was super sweet, as a chess pie should be, with a delightful crunch.  Personally, I preferred it over the chocolate chess.

The chocolate chess pie tasted almost like a fudge pie with a lovely buttery crust.  We also tried the chocolate meringue pie, which had a thick chocolate pudding like filling with a light and fluffy meringue at least 2 inches high.  This might be the best chocolate meringue in the Nashville area.

We’ve been to Nana’s twice and both times all the food was delicious.  I suggest you try it!  :)

Nana's Meat and Three on Urbanspoon

Southern Bred, Part II

by Sarah

We thoroughly enjoyed our brunch at Southern Bred a few months ago.  When some inexpensive gift certificates appeared, we couldn’t help but stock up.  We decided to try their lunch fare.  With every meal, there is a variety of bread provided including cornbread, biscuits and rolls.  Being a southern girl, I was a little disappointed that they were out of biscuits the day we decided to visit.  However, the cornbread was hot, light and delicious.

The fried green tomatoes were pleasantly crisp with a spicy ranch.  While the tomatoes were sliced very thin, the breading adhered nicely to the tangy insides and was a nice compliment to the Cajun spices added to the ranch dressing.

I’m always a little scared of ordering meat loaf.  I think I’m scared that if it tastes different than the meat loaf I had growing up, I’ll be terribly disappointed.  The meat loaf at Southern Bred did not disappoint.  It was tender and full of green peppers and onions.  The bread pudding was pleasantly sweet.  The sweet potatoes were flavored with honey instead of brown sugar.  They were creamy and you could actually taste the honey.  The turnip greens were served very hot (nothing is worse that cold turnip greens) and were slightly salty.

Since Cary is on a never-ending quest to find great chicken fried steak, his decision was made before we even walked through the door, but the meat portion of a meat and three is only half of what’s so great about a place like Southern Bred.  The fried okra were lightly breaded and featured a nice pop with each bite, while the potatoes were well creamed and the gravy was your traditional cream gravy with good bits of pepper throughout.  The mac and cheese had a good deal of creaminess, but also had still had decent chunks of cheese remaining throughout the dish.  Finally, the country fried steak had been thoroughly tenderized, and then fried to a dark golden brown.  The steak was almost tender enough to cut with a fork, and while the gravy slightly overwhelmed the crust, it was a nice complement when paired with a bite of mashed potato, mac and cheese, or fried okra.

 

Southern Bred
1048 E. Trinity Lane
Nashville, TN 37216

Southern Bred on Urbanspoon

Amish Wedding Meal at the Mill

by Sarah

As many of you know, one of our favorite local places is the Amish Market at the the Mill in historic Nolensville, TN.  In addition to offering fabulous sandwiches from their Amish deli (at cheaper prices than your local grocery store, no less), and other wonderful food ranging from fried pies to homemade pimento cheese and chicken salad, the owner also does a great job of promoting unique events such as the meal we had an opportunity to enjoy a few nights ago.

We were very excited and intrigued when The Mill announced the opportunity to partake of  a traditional Amish wedding dinner last Saturday.  You could eat the dinner at the Mill, or take it home, which we decided to do.   It was the first meal in our new home (with an amazing new kitchen), so the symbolism was quite fitting.

The pasta salad was amazing.  It was a mix of pasta, broccoli, cauliflower, ham, cheese, and bacon with a light mayonnaise dressing.  When I looked at the combination of ingredients, I was skeptical that the salad would be pleasing to the palate, but it was delicious.  The salad was an excellent use of raw vegetables and would be a great alternative to a vegetable tray.

The main meal consisted of baked chicken, dressing, mashed potatoes with gravy, and creamed peas.  The baked chicken had a light breading with simple salt and pepper seasoning, but remained moist and very tender throughout its preparation.  The stuffing consisted of discernible chunks of bread and was well seasoned with chicken stock, parsley and sage (we think).   As for the vegetables, I promptly mixed my mashed potatoes and peas like a little kid.  It was great.

For dessert, we had tapioca pudding with a light grape flavor.  The picture does not do this dessert justice.  It was light and creamy with a plethora of tapioca pearls.  While I would never think of adding grape flavoring to this dessert, the result was a slightly fruity, sweet dish that makes me wonder if any tapioca recipes are in our future.

There is a rumor the ladies who prepared this delicious meal will be back to cook for The Mill again.  We will definitely be there.

Amish Market at the Mill
7280 Nolensville Rd
Nolensville, TN 37135

Amish Market At The Mill on Urbanspoon

Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House

by Cary

For my birthday about a month ago, Sarah thought a themed birthday was in order, and suggested we head down for a day trip to Lynchburg, TN to visit both Miss Mary Bobo’s boarding house as well as to tour the Jack Daniel’s Distillery.  Miss Mary Bobo’s is a local institution that was actually purchased by the company that owns Jack Daniel’s in the interest of preserving the historical significance of the area and continuing to support the local economy.  Today, Miss Mary Bobo’s serves as a family style restaurant for those visiting the distillery or anyone just looking for a taste of true southern fare.

As mentioned earlier, Miss Mary’s is a family style restaurant, which loosely translated means, all you can eat just like Sunday dinner at Grandma’s house.  On the menu when we visited was meatloaf and fried chicken as our meats, plus roasted potatoes, baked apples (with a bit of the “local product”), fried okra, and mac and cheese (yes mac and cheese is a vegetable as far as I’m concerned).

As with every visit to your grandmother’s (at least mine), sweets were definitely on the menu, this time in the form of a chocolate fudge/chess pie that almost sent me over the edge.

Just so everybody knows, downtown Lynchburg, yes all two hundred square yards of it, has plenty of other things to do besides eating and (not)drinking.  Moore County Jail was the first jail in Lynchburg and was originally erected in 1872 and remained in operation until 1990.  Ever supportive of the local economy, the distillery also doesn’t have a gift store on site, but rather encourages people to visit the gift stores it has located in the town square.

The visit to the distillery includes a heavy dose of the history of the area as well as a lot of little known facts about the company, such as the used corn is recycled as feed for local cows (when means we now know where the REALLY happy cows come from).  You finish off your tour with free lemonade (Moore county being dry and all), and a better idea of the history and culture that makes Middle Tennessee special.

Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House on Urbanspoon

Wandering Wednesdays: Lynn’s Paradise Cafe

by Cary

Lynn’s Paradise Cafe is a funky joint located in Lousiville that could best be described as Cracker Barrel on acid.  All the food served there is a unique take on down home, comfort food staples, with a slight “funkification” added to each item to make it a little special.

We started with the Rueben quesadillas, which are just a neat take on the typically heavy sandwich.  While I’m never one to pass on a good Reuben, sometimes the mixture of rye bread, corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing is just a bit much.  Grilling the sandwich ingredients between two tortillas, and then providing a Thousand Island dipping sauce that had been spiked with Jim Beam is a great way to enjoy the delicious tastes and textures of a Reuben and still have room for something else.

Sarah had two chicken breasts topped with bacon and smothered in a cream sauce.  Lynn’s has a myriad of side dishes from which to choose.  The mac and cheese was truly casserole style, with a crunchy top and cheesy creamy filling surrounding the  noodles.  The rosemary cabbage was done well and the rosemary added just enough flavor without being overwhelming.

Each entry comes with your choice of 2 sides.  You gotta love a place where banana pudding is considered a side!

Fried green tomatoes were sliced thin and featured a light, but very crispy breading.  While sometimes thin sliced tomatoes don’t hold up, these maintained their integrity and were able to hold up the spicy remoulade dressing that had been spiked with more than a little bit of cajun seasoning.

I tried a special that night, which happened to be a spicy fried catfish dish, and ordered the cheese grits (can you tell I like grits?) with roasted garlic mashed potatoes (as well as a few sneaks from Sarah’s plate).  The catfish were breaded with a cornmeal mixture that I haven’t quite tasted anywhere else, but remained crispy with a hint of spice (but weren’t spicy like some other catfish we’ve tried).  The cheese grits were creamy and cheesy, but maybe could have used a little bit of bacon or little more roasted garlic to push them over the top.  The mashed potatoes were a little bit chunky, which I consider a good thing, and featured a heavy dose of roasted garlic to round things out.

In all, Lynn’s is truly a sight to behold, both for what’s on the walls, and definitely a place to get a good meal.

Lynn’s Paradise Cafe
984 Barret Ave
Louisville, KY 40204

Lynn's Paradise Cafe on Urbanspoon

Southern Bred

by Cary

Recently, Sarah and I were looking for a great brunch place. We stumbled upon Southern Bred in East Nashville.  With a motto like “From the south, for the south”, it really doesn’t seem like you could go wrong.  In fact, Southern Bred features some of the best attention to detail we have seen at almost any restaurant, and we couldn’t agree more with the Nashville Scene’s take of the restaurant.

We ordered their miniature cinnamon rolls.  The size allowed for a greater ratio of crispy outside to gooey inside, which is always a plus. The flavors of the cinnamon and icing blended well, while there is a buttery taste to the dough and a smoothness to the cinnamon filling that we haven’t found in your everyday run of the mill cinnamon roll.  Neither of us have ever understood the “giant cinnamon roll” craze and these almost bite sized goodies should be available for dessert (if they’re not already).

The omelets are light and fluffy and you have a variety of fillings to choose from.  This particular one contains mushrooms and bacon.  You can choose potatoes or stuffed grits to accompany your omelet.  The potatoes are well seasoned and delicious.  One especially important note on the omelet is the inclusion of top quality bacon.  While I don’t know if it was the illustrious Benton’s Bacon, any chef who takes the time and care to include the crispy, smoky, salty goodness this omelet had has their priorities in order.

I chose the eggs benedict, which featured a creamy, slightly lemony hollandaise which had a nice smattering of cayenne pepper to top off the dish.  The eggs were nicely poached to a creamy center, and the english muffins served as a crunchy, chewy sponge to the goodness that laid atop it.  Along with the benedict, I also chose the “stuffed” grits, which were loaded with cheese, scallions, and the aforementioned oh so good bacon.  As an additional side, the sausage patties pictured above had a slight spiciness to them and nice crust, rounding out the meal well.

Overall, our first “forking” at Southern Bred was a sublime experience and we can’t wait to see how the restaurant’s daytime menu delivers on traditional meat & 3 specialties (we bet it will do just fine).

Southern Bred on Urbanspoon

Sunset Family Restaurant

by Sarah

The Sunset Family Restaurant is a meat and three in Lebanon, Tennessee (about 25 miles east of Nashville).  In true Southern style, the tables are covered with local advertisements.  It is well worth the drive.  For planning purposes, you should know that it is closed on Wednesdays.

I had the Broasted chicken with turnip greens, green beans, and mac and cheese.  The Broasted chicken was excellent.  The crust was crunchy and the meat was juicy and tender.

Cary had the country fried steak with fried okra, mac and cheese and mashed potatoes.  The mac and cheese is almost Velveeta-like in a good way.  The okra has a light breading that doesn’t overpower the taste of the okra itself.  The cream gravy has just enough smoothness to go with the crisp of the country fried steak.  (On an related note, the first time I tried country fried steak was when I was on a date with Cary very early in our relationship.  He called it chicken fried steak and I thought it was supposed to be chicken.  When I tried it, I was concerned because it didn’t taste anything like I thought it should, but I didn’t tell him that, because he obviously loved it.  It wasn’t until a few months later that I could explain my misunderstanding to him.  I was very relieved to figure out it was steak.  Cary has enjoyed researching food much longer than I have.  Obviously, I have come a long way!)

You have a choice of cornbread or rolls.  We went with the cornbread, which was a good decision.  It was a typical southern cornbread, meaning it was not too sweet, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

The turnip greens came with vinegar and chow-chow.  The chow-chow is of the sweet red pepper variety, which is my favorite!

The shining gem of the menu at Sunset is the desserts.  Arguably, I believe Sunset has the best pie in the Nashville area.  This is their praline pie.  The bottom layer is a praline, complete with chopped pecans.  It is topped with vanilla pudding and cool whip.  The combination of flavors is divine.

This is the chocolate meringue pie.  The chocolate has a velvety smooth texture that pairs with the light sweetness of the meringue.  All that combined with the buttery homemade crust makes for possibly the best chocolate meringue pie that I’ve tasted in Nashville.

Who do you think has the best pie in Nashville?  Where else do we need to go try?

Sunset on Urbanspoon