Greetings Fellow East Nashvillians,

My name is Nick Valentino and I want to thank the East Nashville Blog for letting me come here today and guest blog.

The reason for my visit is that I’m on a thirty day blog tour in support of my first published novel, a Steampunk story called Thomas Riley published by Echelon Press. (Today is day eighteen of the tour.)

If you don’t know what the Steampunk genre is, I like to describe it as a Patterson House-styled drink. Chill 1 part Jules Verne, mix with two parts Indiana Jones, add a mixer of H.G. Wells, and for flavor twist in a little Frankenstein. So if you’re into science fiction, alternative history or mad scientists with steam powered inventions, keep reading.

Here’s a little more about Thomas Riley:

For more than twenty years West Canvia and Lemuria have been at war. From the safety of his laboratory, weapons designer Thomas Riley has cleverly and proudly empowered the West Canvian forces. But when a risky alchemy experiment goes horribly wrong, Thomas and his wily assistant Cynthia Bassett are thrust onto the front lines of battle and forced into shaky alliances with murderous sky pirates in a deadly race to kidnap the only man who can undo the damage: the mad genius behind Lemuria’s cunning armaments.

As for me, I’ve lived in Nashville my entire life but I’m relatively new to East Nashville. When you make a move like I did, the places you visit regularly change. Instead of going to Fido or Starbucks to write, I don’t know what good places to write in the East are. So, let me know what you think the best places to write in East Nashville are. If you’re not a writer, where do you see people writing? Hm, it would almost be a good category for “Best of Nashville”.

You can find out more about Nick’s book at http://sirthomasriley.com. Signed copies are available for purchase at http://thomasriley.bigcartel.com/ or http://www.echelonpress.com.

DJ Rad Dude and T-Wheels take their listeners on a weekly themed musical romp through the wee hours of Saturday, discographizing a theme, a scene, a genre, or an important musical period while the workaday world sleeps. Check out their blog, and if you’re up late tonight tune in to 91.1 FM WRVU to catch some tunes.

* - may not be actual Lou Reed

My EastNashvilleBlog.com foodie colleagues and I recently sampled the fare at Matt Charette’s newest Five Points eatery, Drifters BBQ. Before I get into my review of Drifters, let’s take a quick glance at all of the other Charette-owned East Nashville establishments.

Beyond The Edge: This sports-themed restaurant has absolutely the dumbest theme going in East Nashville. Its logo is of a rock climber rappelling a distorted martini glass. The theme matches poorly with its pub fare food – burgers, fries, pizza, quesadillas, and various sandwiches, most of which you can tell just gets microwaved.

Beyond The Edge does thrive as a drinking establishment with good alcohol variety and popular drink specials. This is the only reason to go. They should ditch the “extreme sports” schtick and simply call themselves The Place That Doesn’t Call Last Call Early. They should also stop trying to feed us.

Battered n’ Fried: The Battered n’ Fried portion is decked out with Boston-themed kitsch. Before the Red Sox won their “miraculous” World Series those several years ago, it was rare to see anything Sox around the South. Afterwards (and continuing still), all of the “fans” have come out of the woodwork. Nothing is more annoying than being surrounded by the bandwagon when you just don’t care, and B n’ F’s Boston fetishism is no exception. Another corny theme from Charette.

Food-wise, seafood lovers like myself will definitely try this place once. While B n’ F can sometimes satisfy a rare craving, frying absolutely everything on the menu gets old quickly. There’s not much variety, and southerners already deep fry everything anyway – which makes the Boston theme even more confusing. East Nashvillians who want a good pan-seared or baked piece of fish will get no help from Battered n’ Fried.

Wave Sushi Bar: Sharing the building with Battered n’ Fried is Five Points’ only other seafood option, Wave Sushi. I have to say that the rolls I’ve had from Wave are quite good. The taste has consistency; the problem is the portions you get for the price. There are endless sushi options in Nashville that are just as good, more filling, and much better-priced. Wave Sushi Bar is like eating appetizers for dinner. The appetizer bill is well over fifty bucks, making you wish you had stayed home and rolled your own.

Watanabe: In Riverside village is Watanabe, Charette’s second sushi zone and possibly his tastiest restaurant. Watanabe has Wave prices, but more variety, better portions, and better atmosphere. (It helps when you’re not eating sushi beneath Boston newspaper clippings.) I dropped a lot of money there on my birthday, but I had a good time and felt it was worth it. Mmmmm, sea urchin.

With Drifters BBQ, Charette has added another finger to his gradually-forming stranglehold over East Nashville, but can he up the already limited, and boring, food ante? Riverside Village’s Watanabe is delicious, but despite East Nashville’s reinvention of tattooed, bohemian yuppification a lot of people around here simply can’t afford to eat at places like that all the time. Can Drifters make its mark in Nashville’s barbecue world? This review is going to split hairs, but when it comes to southerners rating their beloved BBQ, that’s just how it’s gotta be.

This review is actually a culmination of two visits. The first being with my ladyfriend a few days after it opened and the second a few nights ago with my two foodie colleagues.

When entering Drifters BBQ you can be a bit impressed at its improvements if you’re aware of what it was previously (the Alleycat Tex-Mex Lounge). Then you’ll be slightly saddened at the fact that Alleycat’s darkened drinking hole really is gone. It is much cleaner though. The Drifters logo is reminiscent of the Harley Davidson logo (groan), implying that Drifters is gearing towards that biker market. There are even a few spots reserved for motorcycles in front of the restaurant. From a culmination of two visits, and a few times walking by, I’ve seen no bikes. Not saying bikers don’t go there, just not on my schedule.

Both visits we sat in the back patio, where a small stage has been set up against the adjacent building that has been decorated on one side by a bizarre mural that’s only about 5% interesting. There is a smoker in the back (which looks like Alleycat’s old smoker), but rather than being used to cook food it’s serving as a prop for the dining tent. This is not a good sign. USE THE DAMNED SMOKER, DRIFTERS! YOU HAVE IT! USE IT!

Sauces: We ordered our beers and food and then were presented the sauce spiel by our friendly server. There is Tennessee sauce, a vinegar-based classic that should really be called Middle Tennessee sauce since Tennessee sauces become more tomato-based when you get near Memphis and become more Carolina-style, mustard-based as you head east. Next on the list is Texas sauce, a sweet and smokey mesquite – not bad, but they don’t seem to be smoking it in the smoker. Then there’s the “Georgia” sauce, mustard based – probably my favorite, though I always thought mustard sauce was from Carolina. I can’t say I’ve ever had Georgia sauce to be honest. Finally there’s the New Mexico sauce, with a kick that I usually prefer in sauces; however, I think the jalapeno flavoring is dull. I think one of the other foodies liked it though. (There’s also a bit of Sriracha mixed in with this sauce, which is the main reason for it tasting good. – JK)

Now the culmination of foods we ordered were pork (two different times, both a little different), brisket (Jason will cover this one, I didn’t try it), baked beans, cole slaw, hush puppies, blackberry cobbler, barbecue tofu, and cherry cheesecake bread pudding.

The Pork (the kicker): The pork, as I’ve stated before, is not smoked. It is oven roasted for 16 hours. When I first tried the pork on my first visit it wasn’t sloppy (which is good), but was slightly crisped. It wasn’t quite dry, thankfully, but those crispy bits tend to be a lot better when the pork is smoked; smoked barbecue’s crispy bits tend to be from a rub and can pack a good flavor. The oven roasted crispiness with Drifters’ pork seemed to not offer any real additional zing to the meat.

On the first visit, the pork did retain a satisfying flavor. But during our second visit the pork was a lot soggier, which is a problem. It would seem to be an attempt to keep it from drying out, which is understandable, but sometimes sogginess can reduce flavor. Sogginess can also leave a weird taste similar to dry meat; while the meat isn’t actually dry, it becomes a bit bland due to over-moisturization. Anybody can cook pork, but nurturing it helps to toe that fine line. If you’ve ever tried to cook pork or brisket, you know these can be easy mistakes to make. Drifters gets an average rating for the pork the first go-round, a sub-par rating for the pork a second time around.

The pork-plate portions are not what barbecue fans are used to. But in Drifters’ defense, these are actually reasonable in terms of the amounts of food people should consume. I just can’t picture a biker being thrilled at a barbecue joint eating his beloved pork with even the slightest bit of pretentiousness. The pretentiousness isn’t extreme, but it’s there; for just one example, the sides in the plastic little ramekins may be a bit too adorable for a barbecue joint. The “high end” aspect of Drifters doesn’t mean anything when the “low brow” barbecue joints are serving consistent meat every time. You could serve your barbecue from a bathroom for all I care – so long as the meat is perfect every single time, I will always come back.

Brisket: Nobody who’s ever spent time in Texas eating real brisket would be satisfied by this offering. First of all, it’s not even true barbecue; our knowledgeable waiter told me that like the pork, the brisket is slow-roasted all day long. While I appreciate the work that goes into a slow roast, you should call it what it is – a roast. Maybe you could get away with passing it off as brisket in some other part of the country where people don’t know anything about barbecue, but doing this in a town like Nashville where there’s already so much good barbecue around is borderline shameful. So far as slow-roasted beef goes, though, it’s got decent flavor. Unfortunately, much like the pork it was on the soggy side. – JK

Baked Beans and Coleslaw: The baked beans were tasty. The cole slaw was cole slaw. I’ll let my colleagues handle the sides in more detail, due to lack of specifics regarding these foods in my memory banks. (The baked beans had more than enough bacon to satisfy the soul, and their sauce was well-seasoned; I found them to be the best part of the meal. The cole slaw, though, was so drowned in mayonnaise that it lost any other attempt at flavor. Skip it and go for something else if you have the choice. – JK)

Now for the good news…

BBQ Tofu: My vegetarian ladyfriend was thrilled to be able to eat something at a BBQ joint. Drifters wins big points for this. Dry rubbed rectangular cuts with a decent spice, the crispy edges work well for tofu. This option does distinguish Drifters from all other BBQ joints. Satisfying for veggie-heads who aren’t into the flavorful wonders of animal flesh.

Hush Puppies: Spot on! Served with a tasty, white Alabama sauce, these were perfectly shaped and not too greasy. These are the style of hush puppies I always liked growing up. Well done.

And the best news of all…

Dessert (Blackberry Cobbler and Cherry Cheesecake Bread pudding): On the first visit, I topped off my very typical barbecue dinner with the blackberry cobbler. One thing I should say about the desserts: while the dinner was of average portion, the desserts don’t hold back on immensity – so make sure you share. This won’t be a problem seeing as my blackberry cobbler was very delicious. The amount of cooked fruit and crust were very well-matched, and the crust itself was perfectly flaky throughout every bite. It was easily the best thing I ate that evening, though I’m not used to eating blackberry cobbler without seeds. Growing up, all the cobbler I ever had was from hand-picked wild blackberries; country folk don’t bother straining out the seeds, and us youngsters didn’t seem to care. The seeds weren’t present at Drifters, and that’s good; a country kitchen is one thing, but a restaurant should make sure they get those pesky things out.

Dessert on our second visit also didn’t disappoint. They were out of the cobbler so I gave the Cherry Cheesecake Bread Pudding a try. Hot damn! Another big portion that looked heavy as a brick, but had a very delicate texture. Much like the cobbler the ingredients were very even throughout. Whoever is making the desserts at Drifters is on their game!

So all told, Drifters isn’t a complete failure. Some items on the menu are well done, but they lack heavily where it counts most – in the meat department. This place is a barbecue joint, after all. You’ve got to get that pork right or you just wont draw in the barbecue aficionados. I recommend you get your meat somewhere else, and then stop by Drifters for the bad-ass desserts.

With its kitchen staying open until midnight, Drifters is probably the second-best place to get some food at Five Points after 10pm – but that really isn’t saying much. Food is never the pull for Five Points; it’s the drinking that brings us in. If you’re drunk enough it doesn’t matter to anyone what you shove down your gullet. Unfortunately, Five Points relies too much on this. The only good food there comes from those who keep it simple and sweet: I Dream of Weenie, Mas Tacos Por Favor, and Pied Piper Creamery (not a suitable dinner, but still pleases).

I will be giving Drifters one more shot in the near future. I’m still curious about the Danish Rub Baby back Ribs, but they’d have to be damn good if they hope to move Drifters’ meats out of mediocrity.

Historic East End, home of the Tomato Arts Festival

Folks from all over Nashville flocked to East End on Saturday for the Tomato Art Festival, one of the biggest parties of the year on this side of the Cumberland. That’s no surprise given that it’s been voted Best Festival in the Nashville Scene Readers’ Poll two years running. After a pre-festival gathering with some local artist friends, we walked down to Five Points to take in all things Tomato.

We caught some of Tommy Keenum's crooning when we arrived.

Music played on three separate stages scattered around the Five Points area for most of the day. The August sun was brutal on one of the hottest days of the year to date, so we give credit to all the performers who put in their time providing free entertainment for the thousands of people in attendance. Last year an estimated 12,000 people showed up, and it wouldn’t surprise us at all to find out that this year’s number was even larger.

The festival is billed as “costume friendly,” and there was plenty of evidence to support it. From adults decked out in red costumes to kids (and dogs!) with their hair dyed red, yellow, and green, enthusiasm for the day’s theme was on prominent display.

Did we mention that Saturday was hot? Luckily there were plenty of chances to cool down, from the local Five Points businesses who threw open their air-conditioned interiors to the public, to the vendors selling refreshments, to the fine folks at Love Thy Pet who provided a pool for everyone’s dogs to find some relief.

'Dog Days' indeed.

And what would an arts festival be without some art? All the local galleries invited the public to come in and sample some of the local fare, including Art & Invention Gallery and its Tomato Art Show. There was also a silent auction of pieces out at the Art Institute’s booth, which featured the piece below.

She may hate tomatoes, but Nashville loves them.

We thoroughly enjoyed our two hours at the festival, and the rest of the crowd seemed to be having a great time, too. Like some friends that we ran into in a shady spot as we headed out, though, we wondered why the festival has to be scheduled for the hottest time of the year. Is it to make sure that we stay as red as the tomatoes for the next week or so? There are already so many ways the festival will stay with us – we could probably do without this one.

The Holland House brings tacos west of Gallatin Road

Terrell Raley has been serving up gourmet tacos in the Holland House Smokery cart on the corner of Eastland Avenue and McFerrin Avenue for the past week. We stopped in yesterday for a quick bite and for about $8 got a delicious late afternoon meal that kept our minds off dinner for a while: a chimichurri pork taco, a pulled chicken and mushroom taco, a side of curried potatoes and squash, and a salad made from black beans and local corn. The menu will change every week (brisket is one the way for the week of July 27th!), but the hours will stay the same: Monday through Friday, 11AM-2PM and 4PM-7PM, and Saturdays from 11AM-2PM.

Besides serving up delicious tacos, Raley also showed us around the inside of the building that he’s turning into The Holland House Saloon. There’s a lot of space inside the old store, and by November it should be open for business with affordable food and cocktails and an intimate atmosphere that should prove a hit in the Maxwell Heights neighborhood.

For menu updates, specials, and other news, follow The Holland House on Twitter here.

Even if you’re not a big shot you’ve got a chance – artists ranging from unsigned singer-songwriters to major label acts have performed at Next Big Nashville in its first three years. And given that the number of artists on the schedule ballooned from 33 to 200 in two short years, your chances of getting in this year are better than they’ve ever been.

Interested in playing for the Next Big Nashville crowds? You’ll want to visit this website, fill out the form, and send in two songs and the $10 entry fee. NBN’s cutoff for submissions from bands and solo artists is 1:00 p.m. CDT on July 13th, so now is the time to apply. The folks in charge will let you know within a month if you’ve been accepted for this year’s festival.

Still on the fence? Last year’s Next Big Nashville drew 15,000 music fans to more than a dozen Music City venues. If the fledgling festival’s track record so far is anything to judge by, this year’s iteration should be even bigger. For a look at some footage of last year’s event, take a gander at this video.

If you’re an East Nashville artist who’s going to play at NBN, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line at comments@eastnashvilleblog.com.

This isn’t really what I wanted to talk about. You see, the other EastNashvilleBlog.com food writers (J. Kirk and M. Lavigne) are lame-o types who left town during East Nashville’s Fourth of July debauchery. So now I (Bobby) must play the foodie role in describing my experience at the Third Annual Hot Chicken Festival at East Park.

Hot Chicken!

First of all I’d like to say, as a spicy food junkie, how great it is that Nashville loves hot chicken so much that they put together a festival for it during my second favorite holiday. You spiceheads know who you are: you’re the guys at Thai Express who order the Royal Thai spicy, making the waiter laugh a little and say, “Yes sir.” Then, being a spice junkie, you grab the waiter’s arm, stare him straight in the eyes, and say “No…seriously. Tell the cook to make it how he would eat it.”

As a spicehead, I have to say that nothing I ate at this year’s Hot Chicken Festival was that strong. My cohorts and I arrived at twenty minutes after the festival began. Sure enough, the Prince’s line was quite long – longer than last year’s – snaking around the Otter’s and Chicken Shack (Murfreesboro) lines. This won’t come as much of a shock to the locals, since Prince’s is a Nashville institution. Our fair citizens have waited hours and hours to sample some of Prince’s dead-on spices ranging from mild to insane.

I held our spot in line while friends and loved ones went about sampling Dee’s Q sandwiches (Dee’s just might be the best BBQ in all of Nashville, no lie), New Orleans style snow-balls, fresh-squeezed lemonade, and samples of watermelon available for small donations. (Ten cents will get you watermelon, kids!) There was also the brilliant idea of providing free wet-naps and antacids. Whoever thought of this should be kissed. And let’s not forget the mist tent, where you can find free and cooling relief only to later realize you’ve washed your sunblock off. Also featured were live bands, and a spicy chicken cook-off where food was free for maybe two minutes. The cookoff contest was judged by local politicians, and one of those country stars that isn’t as good as all your other favorite country stars. I’d tell you who won, but I didn’t feel like paying attention. Congratulations to whoever that was!

Mr. Shamwell's favorite BBQ joint

An hour and forty minutes after arriving, I got my basket of delicious Prince’s Hot Chicken. When I originally placed my order they had run out of the “HOT” spice so I settled for medium, which wasn’t bad; it wasn’t the sweat-fest I was looking for, but you could tell the spice was there. For the average consumer I would say the medium spice was probably pretty kickin’. Prince’s flavors were on the money as usual, with the chicken cooked tenderly and perfectly beneath the crisp seasoned skin. Even if I didn’t get my kick, I got amazing flavor.

After Prince’s I immediately headed for the Bolton’s line. Bolton’s Chicken and Fish has a bit of a reputation in its own right. Similar flavoring and good heat cry out that Bolton’s is no slouch in the art of Hot Chicken. Unfortunately after twenty minutes of barely moving in the Bolton’s line, it was clear that the festival would likely be over before I got my second wind of chicken. This leads me to my only serious complaint about the Nashville Hot Chicken festival: it wasn’t long enough. A few hours more and I would’ve given every chicken establishment my money (except Otter’s). Thousands of people come out to show a lot of love to the Hot Chicken – we need time to spread our love around! Despite this, the Hot Chicken Festival is great family fun and becoming a wonderful Nashville tradition. Long may it reign!

Other restaurants and eateries featured at this year’s Hot Chicken Festival:

Eastside Fish: “The crunkest fish in town” lives up to its title with amazing soul-style food. Their fried fish will bring a country boy back home. Eastside’s hush puppies and sides don’t disappoint. The turnip greens have pig fat in them, and therefore taste great. My only problem is that they seem a wee bit overpriced. Otherwise it will definitely fill that soul food craving.

Fleur de Lis Flavor: Serving up a no-brainer by selling chocolate covered frozen bananas and snowballs; think sno-cone in a bowl. The more you sweat on yourself, the tastier it gets!

Dee’s Q: Is always out of sight! My personal favorite BBQ joint. Dee’s feeds you right with plenty of options. The pork is always tender and juicy, and they feature a wide variety of sauce flavors for your meats. If you get a side of okra with a family pack, they load up a whole styrofoam plate. I can never finish them no matter how hard I try.

Otter’s II: We have an Otter’s in East Nashville, but going there would require stepping in to that big, stupid building on the corner of Main and Spring. This I refuse to do.

Thanks for reading, and remember: the Fourth of July doesn’t stop until you run out of fireworks and beer!

Dave serves up sandwiches at Mitchell's Deli

I have to admit the decision was strongly influenced by tales about the proportions of their bacon. I was not disappointed. At Mitchell’s the bacon is cut thick. For 75 cents you get a triple-thick slice off the hot bar that is so intensely flavored that one or two slices is more than enough.   All of the other items offered on the hot bar were sold by the pound, making it a great option for getting only as much as you want at a fair price. The homemade sausage was good and I definitely will have to give their gravy a try next time. We also sampled some of their home fries, which were a mixture of regular and sweet potatoes seasoned with just enough salt and pepper to accentuate the sweet and starchy combination. The biscuits and the eggs were passable at best, but I’m extremely picky about biscuits and there isn’t much that can be expected from scrambled eggs off of a steam table.

While I was there I also had to sample something from their deli counter because it seems a bit ridiculous to go to a deli and not try their sandwiches.  I love bagels with lox to the point that I crave it once a week, so when I see it on a menu, I can’t resist putting it to the test. Served closed style, this sandwich was pretty traditional: cream cheese, red onions, capers, and tomatoes. I suspect their lox was actually smoked salmon, but it was quality, so I’m okay with that. The bagel was crusty and fairly dense; I don’t know why anybody would want it any other way. I wasn’t specific about my order, but being a full service shop, I’m sure they can customize.

The rest of the deli offerings looked appetizing and included roast lamb, sopressata, and mortadella, a wide variety of cheeses, and fresh breads. I think I even saw some olives. Overall, Mitchell’s isn’t the kind of place that makes a big show, but given the quality of food and the laid back atmosphere, which includes outdoor seating, they’ve established a strong foothold as East Nashville’s deli.

Check out the Mitchell’s Deli Myspace page here. Follow Mitchell’s deli on Twitter here.

Read about the film in the Tennessean’s article from today. Visit the Belcourt’s website here, or follow them on Twitter here.

Sweet treats to eat at Sweet 16th

Offering a wide variety of treats and savory items, Sweet 16^th bakery in East Nashville is continuing that tradition. At Sweet 16^th, the goods are baked fresh daily and the variety of choices is excellent. On our first visit, we selected lemon, vanilla and currant scones and a large piece of chocolate and beer bread pudding and neither failed to satisfy. The scones were near perfect, light and crumbly, yet dense enough to hold and eat without making an enormous mess at the table. The flavors blended well, slightly tart with the mellow aftertaste of vanilla which was not overpowering.

The bread pudding tasted as good as it sounds, if not better. Dense, rich, and weighing in at nearly a pound for one piece, this is definitely an item to share. The hedonistic and often overlooked combination of beer and chocolate provide this delectable with its characteristic flavors. Though I imagine they’d be reticent to reveal trade secrets at Sweet 16^th, I tasted both milk and dark chocolate flavors mingled with the malt of a stout brew. I must admit here that I am allergic to chocolate and only make an exception for Mole Poblano. I believe I now have two exceptions. Sure to please both the chocolate lover and the beer aficionado, the chocolate and beer bread pudding is a winner.

Located at 311 N. 16th Street, be sure to make Sweet 16^th a regular stop on your East Nashville ramblings. Their menu changes regularly, including daily soups, so there are always new options. (I also picked up a vichyssoise for lunch while I was there, which was great on such a hot day.)  Sweet 16^th also accepts call ahead orders so consider them for special events; though, if you are considering a sampling of their menu for Sunday brunch, you may want to visit them on Saturday as they are closed on Sundays and Mondays.