Nashville 2024 Part 2: Walking our way right into a food coma

Nashville 2024 Part 2 of 3: The concert was scheduled to start at 7:30 Sunday evening. That gave us most of the day to do touristy stuff.

We started our morning just around the corner from our hotel at Parlor Donuts. This store was located at 500 Rep. John Lewis Way S. We discovered Parlor in 2023 while enjoying the Underground Donut Tour in Nashville. We had just enough time to eat before heading to church.

Even their coffee is good. We thought about splitting another donut but we had a very important schedule to keep after church.

The donut tour was so much fun last year that we thought doing something like that again would be a great idea. I found “Secret Food Tours” online. It promised five ‘secret’ locations that would give us a ‘taste’ of Nashville. It would be around a mile and half walk and would take about 3 hours. And it came with great reviews. We thought we’d give it a try.

It was a little bit of a distance east across the river so we drove to our meet-up location: Donut Distillery.

There was plenty of parking. By coincidence, these donuts were also on the Underground Donut tour last year although in a different location. The tour was scheduled to start at 11:00 so we waited for a few minutes for everyone to arrive, including our tour guide, Courtney.

Once the tour started we were served some mini-donuts and drinks.

Both tasted good but a little sweet for my liking especially the cereal-topped one.

Our next stop was just a few blocks away. The rain was holding off so the walk was rather enjoyable. We stopped at Hugh Baby’s, a Nashville BBQ shop in a food-mall.

We only had to wait a short time for the sandwich to arrive. It’s almost as if they knew we were coming…

It was very tasty. I had half of mine eaten before I decided to put the house BBQ sauce on it. It wasn’t a huge sandwich but it filled us up. It was starting to occur to Mary and I that we were in for a lot of food.

We spent about 20 minutes at Hugh’s and then were led around to the side of the building to look at some local building art. Murals really. It’s actually a thing in Nashville. Some of the images are commissioned and planned, others just appear with no credit or signature. There did seem to be a lot of Dolly Parton murals, clearly she’s popular in the Music City.

By the way, any guesses on who gave Nashville the nickname Music City? Anyone, anyone, anyone? Keep reading to the end of the post to find out. You may be surprised.

Our next stop was about a 10 minute walk to Joyland.

Now Joyland doesn’t seem like a name for a restaurant. It’s more like a name of an amusement park close to where I grew up in Decatur IL. But I digress.

Chef Sean Brock is an award winning chef and television reality show host. He opened Joyland to provide “joy” to Nashville through delicious food. The restaurant had seating but it was just as much a fast-food type set-up. I wasn’t sure what to expect. We sat at our table and waited for the food to arrive.

Then these showed up. Called a Crustburger, it came with what they called Fancy Sauce. My first thought was this was kind of small, only half a sandwich. I took my first bite and WOW! I do love patty melts but this one, I’ll have to say, was the best patty-melt type I had ever tasted and proved to be my favorite meal of the tour. The burger was perfectly seasoned and cooked. The grilled onions were perfect and the American cheese held it all together. The sauce was sort of like Thousand Island but much richer with a Nashville kick at the end.

I finished my 1/2 and immediately thought about ordering another. But I thought better of it. I was almost full and knew we still had two places yet to go. Our next return trip to Nashville will include a visit to Joyland!

Our next stop was Drifters. It looked like a typical local bar and we all chose to sit inside in the AC. Once again, at first glance, the food looked a little small and light. But did it ever have some kick. It was a chicken wing not just tossed in the Nashville hot seasoning, but actually smoked with the rub. Talk about hot. I love hot wings, I can take a lot of heat. But this one was right on the edge.

I was glad there was only one. And glad for the bread and pickle. They helped cool the burn that was still with me when we finished and walked outside the restaurant. I noticed a couple on our tour had left their wings. It may have been just a little too hot. I think we were starting to understand that Nashville Hot means hot!

We had one more stop to make, just around the corner – Edleys’s BBQ. The place was really busy so we sat outside in the overflow room. It was warm but comfortable as we were in the shade and had a breeze.

This meal was a Catfish Taco. Like many regions, Nashville claims some originality to the fish taco. Every part of the country has their special tacos. I’ve had fish tacos before and enjoyed them, but never really blown away. So maybe it was the environment talking of maybe a little burn leftover from Drifter’s hot wing but this taco tasted excellent. And we were eating on a full stomach.

By now, I think everyone in the group was stuffed. Then she brought out dessert. A southern style Banana Pudding.

Once again, our picture we took of the pudding was awful so I’ll use one from Edley’s menu. I don’t think they’ll mind either. It really hit the spot for dessert. It was rich and loaded with bananas and topped with toasted graham crackers.

We sat there for a few more minutes and we were done. We tipped our tour guide-she worked hard and did a very good job of entertaining and informing. We were only a few blocks from our starting point but before we split up, she took a group photo.

We made our way back to the hotel and decided a nap was needed. We thought this would be the best cure for our “food coma”. Sometime later, we regained consciousness.

Imagine enjoying a huge Thanksgiving meal and slipping into a coma in the easy chair. We’ve all experienced it. But have you ever noticed that long about late afternoon, you start feeling a little snacky. Maybe you’ll re-heat the dressing and potatoes. Well, we felt exactly like that only we were having a ‘hankering’ (southern speak) for some BBQ.

The show was to start at 7:30 and we had a little time so we decided to grab a little snack at Martin’s Bar-B-Que just a two minute walk from our hotel. We called first and found out that they don’t take reservations but the hostess assured us that if we got there soon, there would be a very short wait. By the time we got there, though there was a line. One of the hosts greeting us asked if we’d like to sit at the bar. We could order food just like a table. We readily agreed. We’ve always had good luck eating at the bar.

The bartenders were very attentive and the service was excellent. Mary and I split a half of a smoked chicken with macaroni and cheese, and potato salad as sides. It was delicious. We failed to get a picture or our meal but I think you can use your imagination. We can highly recommend this place when you visit Nashville.

The restaurant was full and so were we. It was time to leave. The show was starting soon.

What a day of great food and fun.

Now for the answer most have been waiting for. How did Nashville get the nickname Music City? Well according to legend, that is somewhat still in question today, it was the Monarch of England, Queen Victoria. Apparently in 1873, after the Queen enjoyed a concert by the Jubilee singers from Fisk University, she declared that the singers must come from a “Music City”.

Historians think the term came about in the 1950’s when country music started to gain wide exposure and popularity. While that explanation seems more plausible, I think the Queen makes for a better story.

Music Nerd Alert! Along that same line of legends, while walking on the tour, our guide pointed out this dive-bar named Dino’s.

Courtney stated that it was believed that this was the bar that was sung about in the 70’s song “The Boys are Back in Town“. Now Thin Lizzy was a unknown band from Ireland when the song was written in 1976 and I can’t imagine what they were doing in Nashville about that time, so I’m inclined not to believe this “legend”. But it was still fun to think about.

Food Tour:

Donut Distillery
311 Gallatin Avenue, Nashville

Hugh-Baby’s
974 Main St, Nashville

Joyland
1106 Woodland St Suite 1, Nashville

Drifters
1008-B Woodland St., Nashville

Edley’s
1004 Woodland St., Nashville

Martin’s Bar-B-Que
410 4th Ave South, Nashville

Parlor Donuts
506 Rep. John Lewis Way S, Nashville