From mac-and-cheese hot dogs to wildly adorned bloody marys and deep-fried Oreos, here are 34 of Music City’s most decadent dishes

Polling some culinary experts, picking 40 of our favorite local bites and more

Now closed after more than three decades in business, the downtown diner was a bastion of a bygone Nashville

Taking a look at the Nashville-based butcher empire, 10 years in

Founder Tallu Schuyler Quinn looks back on the nonprofit’s impact and forward to a future that she may not be part of 

Before Nancy Goodrich joined the community supported agriculture program at Green Door Gourmet, she wouldn’t dare eat a turnip or collard green.

Many of us who rediscovered our home kitchens during the pandemic spent some time cleaning out our cabinets. If you’re one of those folks, you might have found some surprises. (“Why do we have two salad spinners?” “Isn’t that the wooden spoon that got chewed up in the blender when we were ma…

If you could go back and relive the past year, would you? Unless you’re Jeff Bezos or the dude who owns Zoom, I’m guessing the answer is no. Personally, I wouldn’t choose that particular adventure, in part because if I read the word “unprecedented” one more time I’m going to donate my eyes t…

Lord knows most of us have spent plenty of time in our home kitchens over these past 12 months and change. Your old pals at the Scene even managed to create and publish a cookbook, Nourish Nashville, inspired by our time cooking from home while in lockdown. (Shameless plug: Visit this link t…

Otaku Ramen Kits

“Without Tennessee State University, there would be no Slim & Husky’s,” says Clint Gray, co-founder of the wildly successful pizza chain. “There’d be no Guidance Whiskey, no WKND lounge or Minerva Avenue. All of those hospitality concepts that came out of Tennessee State University, ther…

Let me say from the outset that I think Alex Burch might be slightly insane.

Jeff Pennington had a tough first half of March. The co-owner of Pennington Distilling Co. was tracking his numbers, which were already way down after his local distributor Best Brands was hit by the March 3 tornado and thus unable to ship any of his product for more than two weeks. Then the…

Update: On Thursday, Mayor John Cooper announced that Nashville will revert to phase two of its COVID-19 reopening plan. This means that limited-service restaurants — or bars that derive less than half of their revenue from food — will be forced to close for at least two weeks. While that do…

Under normal circumstances, summer is always a fine time for outside beer drinking. Even those of us who are maltmen when it comes to preferred styles shove off our porters and stouts and Scotch ales and festbiers until autumn returns to dial down nature’s thermostat. In the meantime, we see…

Summer’s here, and you need a drink — and boy, have we got just the issue for you. In our annual drinking issue, your old pals at the Scene give you a rundown of some of the best boozy frozen drinks in town, along with a handful of great local summertime beer recommendations. We also try out…

No doubt the COVID-19 crisis has exposed vulnerabilities in our food system — treatment of workers in meat plants, as well as illnesses among farm and plant workers leading to cracks in the food supply chain.

Let’s do a little thought experiment together, shall we? Close your eyes and think of your favorite restaurant — the one you miss the most — and what you’ll order as soon as you feel safe to sit down in its dining room again. Got one? Now open your eyes, and … poof! The COVID-19 pandemic is …

Context is crucial for cocktails. No matter how well you make a martini at home, it’s not going to be better than the one you’d have, say, at Sperry’s. There it would have been made by a bartender who’s got twice your life experience and triple your skill, and there’s no substitute for either. 

On Monday, the city entered the first phase of its limited-reopening plan. That means Nashville restaurants are now permitted to reopen at half-capacity and with COVID-19 symptom screening and protective equipment for employees.

Steve: Chris, we’ve got a problem. Over the past 25 years, the journalism industry has cut about two-thirds of its total positions, and one of the biggest areas that’s been hit is food criticism. It used to be that the Scene and The Tennessean both employed full-time critics and, more import…

There’s an old saying, often attributed to comedian Martin Mull: “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” If you don’t believe that’s a statement about a futile effort, I suggest you watch the gyrations in the front row when Starship plays “We Built This City.” Similarly, th…

It’s been nearly two years since Barista Parlor’s Andy Mumma and his partners Bryce McCloud (Isle of Printing) and Mike Wolf (formerly Husk) announced their plans to open the tiki-themed Chopper in East Nashville. But one look at the meticulously curated space, which opened last month, makes…

Being outdoors in July is for chumps. The day after you get scorched on the lake, there’s nothing better than cooling your house to a brisk 68 degrees, getting all your meals delivered and enjoying a few cold ones while you binge-watch something addictive. For me, great binges must do three …

You don’t stay sober for 13 years without drinking your way through the best nonalcoholic beverages your city has to offer. Whether you’re off the sauce, on antibiotics, underage or just don’t feel like boozing, we’ve got you covered with this bevy of nonintoxicating beverages. 

Hendersonville in the 1980s wasn’t exactly a gourmet’s dream. The addition of Waffle House after the completion of Vietnam Veterans Boulevard in 1990 counted as big dining news.

Bourbon snobs love to prattle on about how historic their spirit of choice is, but bourbon as a subgenre of whiskey didn’t become popular until after the Civil War. If you want to take a real sip of history, two new Nashville companies are dipping deep into the past for inspiration with thei…

The music that plays in my head when I think about Josh Habiger’s career so far is almost surely different than what the chef might spin on the turntable at his Wedgewood-Houston restaurant Bastion. Low-key but intense, Habiger might reach for disco-era Rolling Stones or something out of lef…

Black RabbitPhoto: Daniel Meigs

Make Barbecue a National Award

How is it you know that spring has arrived in Music City? Food lovers might say it’s the return of al fresco dining. Nashvillians with allergies well tell you it’s springtime because their faces have begun to leak thanks to the pollen count. And, of course, those who pay attention to calenda…

TK

So whether by choice or not, you’ve found yourself without a date or pals to spend the day with. If you’re alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go … do whatever the hell you want! Here are a few quality ways you can ride solo in the general vicinity of Belmont, Vanderbilt and …

Lord help us, it’s summertime in Tennessee. But that doesn’t only mean Jurassic-size mosquitos and air so thick and sweltering you have to slice through it with a cleaver just to go for an evening stroll. It also means it’s time for drinks. There are shandies to be sipped, cocktails to be sw…