Category Archives: Price ($)

The Bakery and Cafe at Rose Cottage

by Sarah

Recently we left the Bug with his grandparents and took a weekend trip to Callaway Gardens. While in the area, we stumbled upon the Bakery and Cafe at Rose Cottage run by chef John Makin.

The grilled pear and brie sandwich is served warm on cranberry walnut bread.  It was the best upscale grilled cheese sandwich that either of us had eaten.   The sweetness of the pears and the cranberry bread really complimented the brie.

Cary ordered the roast beef sandwich with the soup of the day, which was potato leek.  The soup was the star of the entire meal. The potato leek soup was extremely smooth, almost like a broth.  The flavors blended so well, it’s almost indescribable.   It was a great compliment to the tangy cheddar on the medium rare roast beef sandwich.

If you visit Callaway gardens, you should definitely stop by the Bakery and Cafe at Rose Cottage.  Order the soup.  You will thank us!  :)

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Nona Lisa Pizzeria

by Sarah

My friend Katie owns a lovely Italian restaurant in Watertown.  Now, I only write about great restaurants here, so this could have gone poorly for both of us.  Good thing that she makes some of the best Italian food in the Nashville area.

The Nona Bread is a mouth watering concoction of sliced garlic cloves and mozzarella cheese folded into a buttery pizza crust and topped with a little more cheese.  It is served piping hot and melts in one’s mouth.

I ordered the special which included the choice of a small salad.  The Caesar salad contained tasty house made croutons with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.  The dressing was delightfully spicy with hints of freshly ground pepper.

A friend of mine ordered the Caprese salad featuring garden fresh tomatoes and fresh mozzarella drizzled with olive oil and topped with fresh basil.  By garden fresh, I mean garden fresh.  Katie picked the tomatoes that morning.  My friend let me have a bite and I regretted my Caesar salad decision for a few seconds.

The chicken piccata had a very light lemon sauce with a plethora of capers, mushrooms and fresh parsley on a bed of linguine topped with lemon zest.  The chicken was baked and the texture was perfect.  The absence of a heavy breading really lets the light lemon flavor shine.

The cannoli had a spicy (Chai?  cinnamon?  She won’t tell me.)  cream  in a crispy shell topped with powdered sugar.  You can choose to have the ends dipped in pistachio nuts or chocolate chips.  I opted for both and the angels in Heaven sang.

Katie also let me take pictures of her garden while I was there.  This is the fresh basil that was on the Caprese salad.

Here are the tomatoes.

Corno di torro peppers

A lovely looking cantelope.

A Costata Romanesco Italian zuchini.

A Listada de Gandia eggplant.

Now here are just some pretty flowers that I couldn’t resist taking pictures of.  :)

Nona Lisa is excellent.  It is well worth the drive to Watertown and I suggest you try it.  :)

Nona Lisa Pizzeria on Urbanspoon

Summer Fun, part 2

by Sarah

Our next summer trip took us to Penn State for a chemistry education conference.  We decided to travel by car and basically ate our way to State College!

Our first stop was in Lexington, KY for dinner at Tolly Ho.  We got a Ho Burger, complete with Ho sauce.  I’m real mature, so I giggled through the whole meal.  The food was great too.  :)

For lunch the next day, we stopped by Hillbilly Hotdogs.

The restaurant boasts a 10lb Big Bad Bubba burger, which some brave soul did order while we were there.  It was quite large.  I ordered the smaller version, the Big Bad Bubba’s Baby Sister Bertha Burger.  It was perfectly cooked and delicious.

The garlic ranch fries were my favorite.  The crispy fries were covered with ranch dressing, garlic salt, cheese and bacon.  Delicious.  We were especially naughty and ordered extra ranch to dip the fries in.

The Hillbilly Dog was a deep fried hotdog with chili, mustard, onions and slaw.   It was a messy bunch of deliciousness!

The Pizza Dog was topped with pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, and fried pepperoni.

There was only one waitress on the very busy Saturday when we visited.  We had to wait quite a while, but the food was worth it!

Hillbilly Hot Dogs on Urbanspoon

Loveless Cafe

by Sarah

On one of our very first dates, we went to the Loveless Cafe.  As we wait for our little forker to come along, we wanted to revisit it sans child.

The meal started with all you can eat buttery biscuits, served with blackberry, strawberry and apricot jam.  The biscuits are light and just about melt in your mouth.  They are not the ginormous size we’ve gotten used to, but just the right size for that one drizzle of honey or spread of butter or bit of jam.

The country fried steak was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, the gravy was nice and creamy with a  little bit of pepper to it, and the biscuits worked great to sop up the last bits of egg and gravy.

The country ham was chewy but not tough.  The salt wasn’t overwhelming, but the ham had a very strong taste.  The acidity of the red-eye gravy was a nice accompaniment as it did cut the strength of the taste.

The waffle was hot, chewy and not too sweet.  The bacon was cooked to perfection… not too soggy, not to crisp.  Surprisingly this is hard to find.  The cheese grits were a little overwhelming to the point I couldn’t really eat them.  The sharp cheddar was more of a main ingredient than an accompaniment to accent the flavor.

The Loveless is an experience in itself with all sorts of little shops to browse through.  This is great, as the wait when we got there was two hours.  Luckily, we called ahead and our wait was only 20 minutes.  The food was definitely worth the wait!

The Loveless Cafe
8400 Hwy 100
Nashville, TN 37221

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J. Christopher’s

by Sarah

Recently one of us has been craving waffles (bet you can’t guess who).  We have been looking in the Cool Springs area for a brunch place that had waffles and a heavier fare for Cary.  During a quick search on Google maps, J. Christopher’s popped up.  We were pretty excited about the find since we had tried J. Christopher’s on a trip to Atlanta a few years ago.

One of the nice things that we immediately noticed is that they serve Bongo Java coffee.  We are pretty particular about our coffee, so this was a major plus.

The Belgian waffle came topped with strawberries, whipped cream and was dusted with powdered sugar.  The syrup they brought was warm, which is such a small detail that makes a big difference, in my opinion.  The waffle was light and fluffy, quite perfect.

The Route 66 skillet was full of corned beef hash and potatoes, though both could have been crisped up on the griddle a little bit more to give it some crispy bits.  The skillet was topped with two eggs that really needed to be extra sunny side up for the yolks to mix everything together.

J. Christopher’s was so good the first time, we also visited again the next week with family.  The only thing that was odd is that both times, there was a burnt smell in the restaurant.  It eventually dissipated, but came back later in the meal as if something they cook boils over onto the griddle and burns.  It can be a little off-putting, but the food is still very good.

J. Christopher’s
620 Frazier Dr
Franklin, TN 37067

J. Christopher's on Urbanspoon

Amico’s New York Pizza

by Cary

Always fans of new local restaurants, and hoping to support the small business owners in our area, we were excited to see that a new pizza/italian restaurant was announced near us in Nolensville, TN.  Amico’s New York Pizza has been open a few weeks and really seems to have a pretty good handle on what they’re doing.

Most meals start with complimentary garlic rolls that are doused with a good bit of parmesan and garlic, and have soaked up a pretty good deal of olive oil.  We haven’t tried their traditional Italian dishes, but I imagine it will be a wonderful tool for soaking up red sauce.

The bruschetta is one appetizer that has quickly become our favorite whether we order take out or eat in.  The french bread is slightly toasted and has a nice bit of olive oil and garlic, and is slightly thicker than what would traditionally be thought of with this dish.  The tomatoes are simply mixed with a bit of herbs and other flavorings, and topped with some parmesan.

The pizza’s here are quite substantial, as you can see.  This particular pizza did come out a bit greasy, but both the cheese and the other toppings are heftily applied and quite tasty on their own.

While the quality of the pizza doesn’t quite rise to the level of Joey’s House of Pizza (in my opinion, the best around), the crust is thin with a slight bit of crispiness to it, and a little bit of chewiness once you bite into it.  I could do with a slightly crispier crust, but we’ve found that a few minutes in a warm oven does wonders (now we just need to invest in that pizza stone).  Overall, everything we’ve had at Amico’s has been a nice surprise, and we’re happy to see that they’ve gotten off to a nice start.

Amico’s New York Pizza
7177 Nolensville Rd.
Nolensville, TN 37135

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Joey’s House of Pizza

by Sarah

So, you may have noticed we had a bit of a break from the end of October to the beginning of January (and have just been posting sporadically since).  Well… We are expecting a little forker in July.  I was feeling pretty puny, so there was little eating out or cooking.  I’m beginning to feel much better, so we expect hope the posts occur on a much more regular basis.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program….

Cary and I recently had a chance to try Joey’s House of Pizza in Brentwood, TN.

The chicken parmigiana is delightful.   The chicken is tender with a light well-seasoned breading.  The chicken is sprinkled liberally with Italian cheeses and smothered with a simple (but excellent) tomato sauce.

One of the really nice things at Joey’s is that they make sure your salad has plenty of tomatoes and black and green olives.  It is topped with slightly sweet balsamic vinegar and olive oil, which is delicious.

Even though they have to reheat the premade pizzas in the oven, it’s the only place in Nashville (beside his brother Manny in the Arcade Downtown) that truly produces NY Style Pizza.  The crust is crispy, but chewy after you bite into it, and the cheese has a good pull-away factor.  The sauce is also as simple as you get, with tomatoes, oregano and a few other spices.  It’s so good you really don’t need anything else other than a little bit of cheese (although both the sausage and the pepperoni are out of this world!).

Joey’s House of Pizza
214 Ward Circle
Brentwood, TN 37027

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Merridee’s Bread Basket

by Sarah

On a recent Saturday, we ventured to Merridee’s Breadbasket in Franklin, TN.  Merridee’s serves breakfast until 10:30 am and begins serving lunch at 11:00 am.  We arrived at 10:50am and they were still taking breakfast orders.  We were in the mood for lunch, so decided to try a few pastry appetizers while we waited.

Cary decided to try a pecan sticky bun.  The bun had an almost praline-like topping with a nice, light but also chewy dough.  It was absolutely delicious.

I opted for a raisin cinnamon roll with a light icing on top.  Like Cary’s sticky bun, the dough was light and chewy. Many times cinnamon rolls have an overwhelming amount of cinnamon.  This was not the case here.  I was pleasantly surprised by the light cinnamon flavor.  They had these packaged to take home.  I was very tempted.

The small side salad was a mixture of fresh greens, carrots and cheese with homemade croutons.  With the salad, you get a half piece of the famous Viking bread.  The Viking bread is a really unique whole grain bread.  Many times I feel like whole grain breads are gritty with hard grains that hurt my teeth.  The Viking bread contains soft grains that accent the soft bread well.

The chicken salad was a mix of chicken, mayonnaise and celery on white bread bread.  In my opinion, it was just a bit of a disappointment.  I’m southern a believe that chicken salad should contain pecans and some sort of fruit.  I’m sure people really like it, but it just wasn’t for me.

 

Merridee’s reuben came with a homemade thousand island dressing and was on the bakery’s delicious Viking bread.  While the corned beef of the inside had been sliced, it was nearly falling apart tender and luckily had a good bit of cheese to hold things together.  With the thick dressing to dip the sandwich in, as well as the substantial bread that was chock full of various seeds and grains, this turned out to be a top-notch reuben.

 

In our opinion,  Merridee’s Breadbasket is true to their name.  The thing they do the best are baked goods.  The breads and pastries were excellent.  We took home several of their dessert bars, a loaf of Viking Bread and a loaf of French Bread.  We used the French Bread to make French toast and made cinnamon toast with the Viking bread.

Merridee's Breadbasket on Urbanspoon

Wandering Wednesday: Magnolia Bakery in NYC

by Sarah

While we were in NYC, we thought we would stop by the Magnolia Bakery and try a few cupcakes.  The nice thing about the cupcakes, is that they were simple and reminded us of the cupcakes we used to make with our moms.  Many times I think cupcake companies try to hard, making sickly sweet concoctions with piles on thick icing.  Not the case at The Magnolia Bakery.

From top left to right, we tried a chocolate cupcake with white icing in the center, basically an upscale version of a Ding Dong. It was very good.  The red velvet cupcake was a bit of a disappointment.  The cake had a nice flavor, but the icing had almost none.  After much discussion, we think they may have left out the salt in the icing.

On the bottom left is a yellow cupcake with chocolate icing.  This was my favorite.  It was very simple and reminded me of the cupcakes I used to make with my mom.  The carrot cake cupcake was a bit spicy and had a nice, not too sweet cream cheese icing.  The very traditional chocolate with vanilla icing was Cary’s favorite for the same reason that I liked the yellow cupcakes.

The Magnolia Bakery was wonderful and if you are in the area it is a great stop!

Magnolia Bakery on Urbanspoon

Rotier’s

by Cary

 

As we have discussed from time to time here, just about our favorite type of place to eat is one of those places that keeps everything simple, doesn’t try to change to meet the newest fad, and most of all, lacks any and all pretension.  Rotier’s is perhaps the epitome of places like this, having served some of the best burgers in Nashville for decades.

Satisfying and comforting are the bywords at Rotier’s, and this goes from the front page of the menu to the very back.  Take, for example, Rotier’s fried pickles.  Instead of frying the pickle chips, Rotier’s fries the whole dill slice, with a thick, crispy batter that encases the pickles in a super-hot wrapping.  It is served with a spicy ranch dressing.  Maybe it’s just a southern thing, but I can’t think of anything much better than fried pickles.

A few years ago a friend of mine clued me into a little known secret about Rotier’s.  That is, if they have it on hand, and can do it, they’ll try (you just have to ask nicely).  This friend had realized that Rotier’s kitchen keeps pimento cheese on hand, and what better topping on Rotier’s cheeseburger on french bread than some creamy, cool pimento cheese?  Really, this addition turned my love of burgers up to a whole new level.  The combination of tastes and textures that the pimento cheese adds, as well as the perfectly cooked burger patty with a nice crust and good juiciness (with probably only salt to season) results in a delicious burger that puts most “gourmet burger” restaurants to shame.

Being a little less adventurous, Sarah ordered the regular cheeseburger on french bread.  The burger was simple and delicious.

Another one of Rotier’s secrets is that they make a mean milkshake, even if it’s not on the menu.  The chocolate shake is creamy and thick, and probably the closest thing you can get in Nashville to the milkshakes from the drug stores of old we hear so much about.  All in all, Rotier’s will leave you satisfied, stuffed, and maybe a little bit surprised.

Rotier’s
2413 Elliston Pl
Nashville, TN 37203

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