honky tonk (food) heaven
Went to Nashville recently to meet up with my bro (he lives in Georgia, I’m in Missouri, so Music City is about halfway). Of course this involved some great food. Though we did suss out some traditional Southern fare for a meal or two, the highlight was—surprise—a restaurant with a decidedly Italian bent.
City House: After reading great things about this fairly new restaurant in several Nashville publications, we thought we would give it a try our first night. Had reservations and they were able to seat us right away, even though it was still fairly crowded for 8:45 p.m.
City House is a hopelessly hip place for hopelessly hip people of all ages—minus any pretentiousness. I felt like I had stumbled upon some cozy neighborhood find where everyone just happens to be as effortlessly stylish as the beautiful restaurant. The wine flows freely, laughter echoes off the high ceiling, delicious aromas waft through the air, and most importantly, people are just there to eat a great meal with friends or family Oh, and I loved the open stainless-steel kitchen.
We ordered a kale salad to start at the recommendation of our server, one of their specialties for the night. It was good, though not particularly memorable other than for the fact it was impeccably fresh and locally grown. More or less, a simple plate of greens with vinaigrette.
There wasn’t anything boring about our next course, though. We ordered a pork belly pizza with a fried egg on top. SO good. City House makes its own mozzarella, so you can imagine the gooey goodness on top of the crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside crust. The pork belly was delicious with the egg yolk, and the sauce had a bit of a kick to it. All of the flavors melded together to make one of the best pizzas I’ve ever tasted.
Next, we ordered the house-made sausage entrée, with was served with cabbage, cannellini beans and horseradish. The sausage was very tasty, but the beans and cabbage were a little underwhelming. We both agreed we could swapped them out for another sausage link and the entrée would have improved 50 percent.
Dessert was an apple crostada, hot out of the oven, topped with homemade ice cream. It was the perfect antidote to the chilly weather and good ending to a satisfying meal. Perhaps more than the meal itself though, I remember having a great conversation with my brother in a warm, inviting space full of happy strangers—and that pork belly pizza.
