As any observer of the Nashville dining scene can tell you, it’s been a rough go of late at some of the finer establishments. Restaurants are closing because they can’t get enough staff. Unspoken is that they can’t get enough staff because they won’t pay enough to recruit and hold such staff. Why not?
The owners are Russian, the staff Ukrainian, and the food Georgian at this Seattle restaurant. The bread boat will leave you longing for the ‘old country,’ even if it’s not yours.
You like to load it up at Thanksgiving? Hit all the app stations at a wedding? Just forget it. This grilled chicken, with mashed potatoes and green beans, is the biggest one-plate lunch extant.
The tang of the clams pulls out the kindred spirits in the pork’s marinade, the potatoes soak it all up. More, please.
Becktons is a steakhouse fever dream. You are in a very rural part of a very rural state. And then you find this place. Quality. Quantity. And value.
Most of the businesses in Paducah, Texas, are, well, out of business. A bite of Mac’s Brisket Grilled Cheese lets you know, however, that the town is very much alive.
In certain parts of this country, if you have TVs and a liquor license, you’re a bar. In Tennessee, if you have them, you can be one of the best restaurants in town.
Nodding to history while carving out a space of its own, this is a shape-shifting sandwich. It doesn’t so much occupy your mouth as it just pops in there and makes itself at home. A little less gravitas, a lot more fun.
There’s one fried food that resonates with me more than any other: okra. At a food hall in Mississippi, the sheer glory of the fried okra speaks for itself.