Banana Pudding

– The Ridge –

$5 | April 2022

There are few foods more personal in the South than banana pudding. Every restaurant seems to offer it, many that do call it “The Best,” and they are all just … wrong. (See, I told you it was personal.) I suppose it comes down to how aligned your taste buds are with those of the chef’s grandmother. Recipes — given how simple the dessert is — can vary greatly. On this we all can agree, however: it will have bananas, it will have Vanilla Wafers, and it will have, well, after that, why can’t everyone just get along?

I’m not gonna lie (as the kids say): my mother-in-law’s version rocks. It has condensed milk in it. Plenty of whipped cream. Maybe some other things I’m not going to tell you about. Strictly speaking, she doesn’t have to make the big bowls of it that she does, but it’s an offering, a reward for family that only come into town once or twice a year — and it has to last a slew of people all week.

With that back story, and thrilled at the cornucopia of banana puddings in Nashville, I set out to try them all. Not really. Just the ones on the menus of places I was going anyway. And every damn time, I’m walking away disappointed. They weren’t Miss Lou’s recipe. Maybe it’s me.

I don’t know whose recipe The Ridge uses for its banana pudding. I don’t know if condensed milk is present. They’re definitely not praying over the cookies, the whipped cream, or even, honestly, the bananas. None of those set this banana pudding apart (nor should they). But this banana pudding is one where the sum is greater than the whole of its parts, where it’s as much about texture as it is about taste, and you want that texture thing they have going on. Creamy and dense. Smooth as velvet. Is there an ingredient the rest of Nashville isn’t using? Yes. Whispered to me conspiratorially, I am going to keep the secret and let you figure it out.