Nashville’s Hot Tables

Following an influx in tourism, Nashville’s food scene is taking off, with the city’s new eateries beginning to share the spotlight with its famed music halls. With the hopes of getting in on the action, several restaurants have opened outposts in Nashville, and the city is drawing famed chefs from places like Charleston and New York. At its core, Nashville dining is all about updated comfort food served in creative venues that foster a communal spirit. Here are four favorite new additions to the culinary-minded city.

Adele’s What once was an auto-repair shop in the Gulch is now Adele’s, a chic New American restaurant from chef Jonathan Waxman, a contestant on Top Chef Masters and the owner of Barbuto in New York. Staying true to its roots, the restaurant has an industrial aesthetic, with bare walls, high ceilings and glass garage windows that are opened during nice weather. Named after Waxman’s mother, the restaurant also serves some of its namesake’s best recipes, including the indulgent Adele’s burger, which comes topped with bacon-onion jam and buttermilk cheddar. Additional highlights include the JW chicken and the coconut cake. Dinner is served daily, but lunch is only offered on Fridays and Saturdays and brunch is a Sunday-only affair.

Butcher & Bee Sometimes when a restaurant decides to open a second location, the result is a lesser version of the first. That is not the case for Butcher & Bee, an iconic Charleston sandwich spot that opened an outpost in a former mattress store in East Nashville in late 2015. This new restaurant has its own vibe, primarily because it is a proper restaurant with a full bar. The eatery features an open kitchen with a wood-burning grill, ample indoor and outdoor seating and a unique loft area perfect for private parties. The interior décor is minimalist and elegant, allowing the sole focus to be on the food. The menu stays true to the flagship restaurant’s roots, with creative takes on classics including turnip cacio e pepe and lamb and grits with goat cheese croquettes.

5th & Taylor Located in the charming Germantown neighborhood, 5th & Taylor made a big splash when it opened in 2015, and the buzz has not subsided. Housed in a textile warehouse turned restaurant, the creative spot serves Southern American cuisine like onion-bacon tarts with fromage blanc and beer can chicken. The dining room is as well thought out as each dish, featuring sky-high ceilings, a partially open kitchen and a massive sculpture of a man riding a horse in the center of the dining room.

Biscuit Love Visitors seeking casual Southern fare need to look no further than Biscuit Love, located in the hip Gulch neighborhood. The near-constant line (often wrapped around the block on weekends) is a testament to the food, and the convivial dining room is the perfect place for a lazy brunch. Some favorite menu items are the Nasty Princess breakfast sandwich (Nashville-style hot chicken and cheddar galore), the Bonuts, a biscuit–donut hole mash-up and the Chronic Bacon bloody mary.