My birthday is this Saturday and my lovely wife is taking me to Nashville, TN for Saturday and Sunday night as my present (yes, I am very lucky). We are staying at the Hilton, right downtown, and attending the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night. Other than that, however, we don’t have much planned so I though it might be a good idea to ask for some ideas.
We do intend to visit the Hermitage (if possible), and we may go to the Country Music Hall of Fame, but we also want to take in some of the local music scene and maybe visit a good local steakhouse. Suggestions as to the best BBQ place would also be appreciated.
So, dear readers, if you have any recommendations please leave them in the comments. If I take any you up on any of them I promise to write about it when I get back, and give all due props of course. And if anyone would care to meet my wife and I for a drink on Saturday or Sunday evening I will certainly entertain the idea since since we will be out and about anyway.
Thanks in advance.
I can’t help you much on this, and I won’t be in Nashville that weekend. However, you are welcome to treat my son to a meal since he will;^)
Get ahold of Billy Hollis: he’s from Nashville.
Oh … and happy birthday!
Uh, yeah. I guess before I plugged for a meal off my tab for my son I should have said happy birthday as well. So here you go:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Thanks for the birthday wishes!
As for meeting your son, I’d be honored to, Lance. Seeing as my wife and I will only be there for a couple of nights, and that it will be the first time in quite some time that we will be sans children (hint, hint), I’m not sure committing to a meal together will go over too well with the Mrs. However, if he’s old enough, I’ll buy him some drinks at a favorite watering hole. If he’s not, we can meet up somewhere else.
Like bluegrass? Try the Station Inn at 402 12th Avenue South. http://www.stationinn.com (Much better than the Bluegrass Inn on Broadway, which is more touristy.)
If you can go for something touristy, try Tootsie’s Orchid lounge on Broadway. It’s walking distance from your hotel. They usually have pretty good music on weekends, but I’m not promising anything.
For general local music, you might want to check and see who’s playing at Douglas Corner, which is at 8th Ave and Douglas St. It’s perhaps three or four miles from your hotel. Just go to 8th Ave So. from your hotel (probably on Demonbreun) and turn left.
For BBQ, you want Mary’s on Jefferson St. But let me prepare you for this potential experience. You’ll walk up to a window with sliding glass and place an order. They’ll give you a rack of ribs dipped in sauce and dripping, and a bunch of slices of white bread. Throw away the white bread if you like, because it’s the ribs you want. It’s not exactly in the most desirable part of town, by the way, but I’ve gone there plenty of times and had no trouble.
If you want a steakhouse with local color, you want Jimmy Kelly’s. http://www.jimmykellys.com/ They’re at 217 Louise Ave, a block off Elliston Place not too far from Vanderbilt. I suggest reservations on the weekend. (615) 329-4349. Have some of the biscuits.
If you’re willing to drive a bit out of town. Have breakfast at the Loveless Cafe west of town on Highway 100. http://www.lovelesscafe.com
While you’re around the Opry House, if you have a chance before or after the Grand Ole Opry, stroll through the conservatory in the Opryland Hotel next door. Very relaxing. You’ll have to pay to park, but the conservatory is free. Don’t buy a drink there unless you want to pay about double what you ought to. (By the way, they’re working on Briley Parkway, which is the highway to the Opry House, so budget a little extra time and you might want to check traffic conditions. Plus the normal Mapquest route is I-40 to Briley Pkwy and then go north, but you can also go I-65 or Ellington Parkway north of the cit to Briley Pkwy and then go south. It’s a bit further, but depending on state of construction it might be faster. Your hotel concierge should be able to find out.)
If you want to see the site of the main action in the Civil War Battle of Nashville, you can come and stand in my back yard for a while. Unfortunately, all you’ll see now is a go-kart track for my kids.
Thanks, Billy. That’s exactly what I was looking for. We will definitely check out some of those places, most likely the blue grass, BBQ and steak house. I’ll let you know what the verdict is.
Oops. Late.
I was going to suggest Bonnaroo. You’ll need your handy time machine. Boy, Tom Petty and that babe from Fleetwood Mac… wow. Well, she was actually kind of scary. Oh well.
Thanks Billy. I had already taken a chance on making reservations at Jimmy Kelly’s so I suppose I guessed well! I think I might send Michael out for BBQ by his lonesome as the whole sliding window thing brings back bad memories of when Michael made me go to some philly cheese steak trailer in Philadelphia. I don’t think I have recovered sufficiently to try Mary’s just yet:o)
P.S.: This is my first blog post; Michael, I hope you are proud:o)
It is good to hear from you uh, wife. I guess wife will have to do for now.
It is good to hear from you, and I hope you two have a good time.
As for my son, I certainly appreciate the offer for drinks from you and Michael, but I was joking and he is not old enough. He is just eighteen. He is also much like me, shy and reserved with his opinions, so unlikely to be appropriate for a birthday celebration with someone he has never met.
Yes, QT3.14, I am proud of you for posting your first comment to a blog post. Maybe I’ll let you do the review of the recommended places as a guest blog post.
For everyone’s edification, my beautiful better half goes by the name of Chris.
My wife, who also went to Vanderbilt, had also recommended the Loveless Cafe to me for when I go visit. She says that it used to be called the Loveless Motel. I can imagine why they eventually changed the name.
So that is two votes for that location.