Eating like a local:
Regional food specialties
- Passing thru Nashville (again)
I’m always going to be backed up on posts, but I’m determined to get a few more of my beyond Chicagoland adventures published before the new year. Plus, it’s that time of year when snowbirds start heading south, so I wanted to share five spots in Tennessee we stopped at on our drive down to South Florida last December. We decided to make Nashville our first stop, as it’s about eight hours from Chicago and that’s roughly as long as I want to drive in a single day. With a few new spots on my radar, it made more sense to spend the night there than push on to somewhere like Asheville, which would’ve been an 11 hour drive. We spent just one night in Nashville before continuing south to Savannah, which I’ll cover next month. But here’s how our drive through Tennessee went down.
__________________________________________________
Sho Pizza Bar (Nashville)
We left Chicago around 6 a.m., putting us in Nashville around 2 p.m. Our first stop was Sho Pizza Bar, from well-known chef and Nashville resident Sean Brock. Combining Neapolitan-style pizza-making with Japanese technique and a few Southern touches, Sho takes its name from shokunin, a Japanese term associated with dedication to mastering a craft. The dough undergoes a 72-hour fermentation before being cooked in a handmade Stefano Ferrara oven fueled by local oak and hickory. We were seated at the counter overlooking the operation and started with a Caesar salad.
Caesar Salad at Sho Pizza Bar
I feel like a great salad is usually a good sign that the rest of the meal will also be on point, and the Caesar Salad at Sho was fantastic. Made with romaine, radicchio, croutons, lemon, Parmesan, and bonito, it puts a Japanese spin on a familiar classic. The bonito, or katsuobushi, is smoked, dried skipjack tuna shaved into delicate flakes. It brings a savory, umami-rich quality that makes for a clever alternative to the anchovies typically associated with Caesar dressing. One of the best I've had.
a peek inside
Being seated at the counter, gave us a great view of Sho's pizza-making operation. I figured we'd try the Margherita since this was our first visit, but our waiter recommended the smoked mushroom, explaining that it was one of the restaurant's most popular pies and a more unique expression of what Sho does. The toppings showcase the kitchen's approach to layering flavor through smoked mozzarella, mushroom cream, and wood-fired mushrooms. That said, it's the dough that really makes Sho stand out in a crowded field. It has a chewy texture, an airy interior, and a crisp exterior, with plenty of char from the wood-fired oven. Sho also employs a distinctive finishing technique called the salt punch, scattering salt across the oven floor to caramelize during baking. I thought this pizza was fantastic and seriously considered ordering another, but there was another spot directly across the street that I really wanted to try. Next time I'm in Nashville, though, I'll be right back at Sho.
Smoked Mushroom Pizza at Sho Pizza Bar
__________________________________________________
Curry Boys BBQ (Nashville)
After finishing up at Sho, I walked across the street to Curry Boys BBQ, a San Antonio import combining Thai-style curries with Texas-style smoked meats. Now you understand why I didn't go overboard at Sho! I was here specifically for the oak-smoked brisket with Thai green curry, so I quickly placed my order and headed to the back porch, where heat lamps and blankets kept customers warm. The brisket was tender with a nice touch of smoke, while the curry was soul-soothing and packed with Southeast Asian flavors. Pickles brought a familiar Texas BBQ touch, while fried onions and garlic added crunch and a Southeast Asian accent. A bed of tender white rice served as the perfect delivery vehicle, soaking up the curry while letting the brisket shine. Despite this being a combination of flavors I'd never experienced together, this was the definition of comfort food. So good.
Oak Smoked Brisket with Thai Green Curry at Curry Boys BBQ
__________________________________________________
Turkey and the Wolf Icehouse (Nashville)
Next stop on my mini food crawl upon arrival was the Nashville outpost of Turkey and the Wolf. The original opened in New Orleans in 2016 and was named Bon Appétit’s Best New Restaurant in 2017. I visited the original in its early days, and it lived up to the hype, so I made a point of checking out the Nashville location, which wasn’t around the last time I was in town. T&W is known for its fried baloney sandwich and a collard green melt, but having tried both before, and with this being my third stop of the day, I was pretty full. But I had just enough stomach space left for a Chicken Pot Pie Empanada, a signature item at the Nashville outpost. The rich, creamy chicken filling had a pronounced herbal flavor from the tarragon and buttermilk, all wrapped in a crisp, flaky empanada shell. It made for a nice pairing with an ice-cold beer on a cool but not-too-cold December day. I liked the setup here, too, with the restaurant tucked into a largely residential area and a ton of outdoor space to spread out.
Pot Pie Empanada at Turkey and the Wolf
__________________________________________________
SS Gai at The Wash (Nashville)
After checking into our hotel and having a few drinks on the rooftop, Erica went to meet an old work colleague, which left me free to choose where to go for dinner. Last time I was in town, I loved the Southern Thai-style fried chicken (Gai Tod) at S.S. Gai, so I decided to return and try the grilled chicken, aka Gai Yang, this time around. S.S. Gai operates out of The Wash, a small, entirely outdoor food hall built inside a former car wash. It’s a cool stepping stone for independent restaurants, providing six compact, equipped commercial kitchens with individual service windows and shared outdoor seating. The charcoal grilled chicken ended up being just as good as the fried chicken. I love Thai food, and the flavors here are on point. Each order comes with sticky rice, fried shallots and garlic, tamarind-chile fish sauce, and an aromatic chile vinegar alongside plenty of fresh herbs. I’ve sent a few people here since my first visit, and everybody loved it. S.S Gai is in the process of opening their own location too which is cool as the mission of The Wash seems to be working.
Thai Style Grilled Chicken at SS Gai
__________________________________________________
Weigel's (Eastern Tennessee)
Our last stop in Tennessee takes us to the eastern part of the state, near Chattanooga. We needed gas after leaving Nashville, and I’d strategically planned this stop so I could try the sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits at Weigel’s, a regional convenience-store chain based outside Knoxville. Finding spots known for great biscuits along this stretch of the drive proved harder than you might think, but I’d read Weigel’s makes a good one and was determined to find out whether it was a legit or just another overhyped gas-station bite like the brisket sandwich at Buc-ee’s or the hoagies at Wawa.
a peek inside
I’m happy to report these were better than those mentioned above. In fact, I thought they were awesome. Weigel’s makes a distinctive biscuit with the sausage baked right inside the dough rather than sandwiched between two halves. The chain’s rolled biscuits are a signature breakfast item, made with sausage from Swaggerty’s Farm, another East Tennessee family business. I’m surprised they haven’t developed a bigger cult following like some other gas-station foods. In the future, I’ll never drive past a Weigel’s without stopping for a sausage biscuit. That’s how much I liked these.
Sausage, Egg, Cheese at Weigel's
__________________________________________________
Previous Nashville Posts You Might Like:
Eating BIG in Nashville (2012)
Eating BIG in Nashville Pt. 2 (2015)
Roadfood in Nashville (2025)
No comments:
Post a Comment