Gigi’s CupCakes
1816 Broadway
(615) 342-0140
http://gigiscupcakesusa.com/

Up the street from Corner Pub, Broadway Brewhouse and Lime, a new shop just opened up that to bring Nashville a new way to celebrate life’s little occasions. Gigi’s Cupcakes is not only a surprising addition to the West End strip, but its also attracting a steady stream of Nashvillians, eager to see what’s cooking.

Technorati Tags: Cupcakes, Gigi’s Cupcakes, Nashville

Lot 7

125 12th Ave N

Nashville, TN 37203

(615) 251-9519

http://www.lot7.net

Standing outside Lot 7, your first impressions may lead you to believe that its just another chic ultra-lounge. It’s off-the-strip location and frosted exterior doors may lead you to believe that it’s desperately attempting achieve an air of exclusivity, reserved only for celebrity fly traps.

Inside, however, is a whole different ball game.

The first thing that hits you is that Lot 7 pulses with a distinctive beat, in part because of its brilliantly designed, conversation-friendly sound system, but also because of its great balance of style and intimacy. Using the space remarkably well, Lot 7 may feel a bit cramped once the party gets going (sometime around midnight) but otherwise it’s lounge-like tables and banquettes beckon both trendy as well as “trendy-lite” Nashvillians.



The Good

Heading up any list of this lounge’s features is service. From the door guys to the friendly and attentive servers and bar tenders, Lot 7 gets it right. Without pretension, without over-complicated menus the staff makes everyone feel welcome while reinforcing the style and sophistication of the venue.

The Bad

Though its a non-smoking club, avoid the “patio.” It’s a roofed space off the main dance floor that’s great for smokers (it actually features its own bar) but asphyxiating for almost anyone else.



The Bottom Line

Lot 7 definitely impresses. Crammed once it gets going, Lot 7 retains its stylish composure with affordable drinks and a great dance DJ. Check it out, bring your friends (with reservations, hopefully) and have a great time.

Technorati Tags: Lot 7, Nashville, nashville nightlife, nashville lounges

I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical when I first heard about Agave. Not because I didn’t like the concept – indeed, I’ve been eager for something other than Las Palmas-style, semi-crappy Mexican food in Nashville. But I was a little put off for that same reason, worried that however strong the idea was, there might be some issues with execution. And I’m happy to report that I was wrong.

First of all, the old Pie Wagon space has been magnificently transformed. Agave’s owners, which include a number of music industry execs and Gulch developers, basically stripped the Pie Wagon building to the core and rebuilt it from scratch. An expansive roof was added, making the place seem much bigger than it actually is, and several garage doors were put up front. In nice weather this is particularly pleasant – and in cold weather, their patio heaters still do the trick.

Then there’s the food. I was pleased with our homemade chips and salsa, and my chorizo chicken was a refreshing change from the sloppy enchiladas I usually get at Cinco de Mayo. (The crowd’s beautiful people certainly distinguish this joint from other Mexican outposts, as well). And though I didn’t have any tequilas straight up since it was a work night, my two different margaritas, both on the rocks with salt, were quite tasty. Though they don’t beat the Margarita Fresca at Rumba, they were as close as any other restaurant in Nashville has come.

I should note that the place is really more bar than restaurant. Though they clearly do focus on the food, with excellent results, the atmosphere is more geared toward facilitating interaction between Nashville’s attractive, young elites. They’re succeeding. Welcome to the Gulch, Agave.

And if you’ve never been to Germantown Cafe, do I even need to tell you that it should be a priority?

As the leaves change color, football gets exciting and hits of cooler weather are in the air, chances for outdoor ice cream enjoyment are coming to a close. Even though Bobbie’s will be open until mid-December, most of us would rather we enjoy our dipped cones when the sun’s shining and we can’t see our breath.

So, Nashville: where do you go for ice cream? Let everyone know do we can spend the next few weeks soaking up our dairy delights before Old Man Winter makes us drink cocoa and hot tea.

SWM seeks fresh-baked, chewy goodness for long-term relationship. Independents preferred. Must enjoy cream cheese, salmon and being halved for the sake of light toasting. I know you’re out there…I will find you.

Ok, so I might not be at that point quite yet but you get the idea. Does anyone know of a good, independent bagel bakery in Nashville?

In fact, I’ll make this interesting…submit your choice for best bagel bakery in our area, I will visit each one, pick a winner, the person that points me to the best (in my humble opinion) gets a MetroBlogging t-shirt.

Any takers?

This past weekend, my friends and I decided to hit up McFadden’s Restaurant & Pub. Located at 134 2nd Ave North, McFadden’s is a mega-pub chain concept, operated in 10 other cities across the US. From my experiences with the versions in Boston and DC, I can tell you that Nashville’s is no different.

McFadden’s operates on a simple formula; Take a huge restaurant space, make it look like an irish pub, offer ridiculous happy hour specials and watch the lines get longer. The evening we were invited, my friend had gotten us a spot “on the list” along with a $10, all-you-can-drink happy hour from 9 pm until 11 pm. The happy hour specials lived up to everything we hoped for but I have to say that overall, I wasn’t impressed.

The Good

McFadden’s has a ton of corporate money backing it. This means for all of its lack of originality, McFadden’s has two big draws; 20 large flat-screen TV’s and happy hour specials. The staple is $10 all-you-can-drink beers and rail/well drink happy hours from 9 until 11 pm, every Thursday through Saturday.

The Bad

Though the Nashville-based GM has done an admirable job trying to make McFadden’s Nashville feel like a local bar (including hiring a crack bar staff), you can’t escape that feeling that the concept is a bit out of place. Most noticeable to me was that unlike other McFadden’s, Nashville’s only has one real bar. This means that people cram into about 1/6th of the entire space leaving a cavernous back room unfilled and erie.

Additionally, remember me saying something about being “on a list?” Yeah, apparently everyone’s on the list. It’s gimmicks like that and the Coyote Ugly-esqiue bar dancing that has undermined McFadden’s legitimacy in other cities, rendering them more like Disney World than real, local bars.

The Bottom Line

If all you are looking for is a place to take a huge party, McFadden’s Nashville is a great place to do it. If not, trust me when I say I have been here for 4 weeks and can already tell you there are better places to go.

In a word…no. (Go ahead and pronounce that like you were saying it in Spanish.)

Our group of three approached the hostess stand and was asked if we would like to eat inside or outside. Since this was before the recent heat wave began to melt the asphalt on Edgehill, we requested an outside table. A manager-type stopped our server halfway to the door and yelled, “You can’t seat them out there! I already promised a table to a couple who is in the bathroom.” We felt like we needed to apologize, but a quick peek out the window led me to point out that there were indeed three empty tables outside.

The manager relented and allowed us to sit on the patio, but only after loudly admonishing our server that “We just can’t treat people that way.” Indeed.

Imagine my surprise when I looked over at the shiny happy table next to me and saw my fellow MetroBlogger Andrew enjoying a birthday fete. The fix was in. Rosario’s had been fully infiltrated for the evening. We agreed to independently evaluate our experiences and not to talk during the meal. (Which was fine anyway, because they looked like they were having fun and our group was kvetching about how hot it was and that the margaritas sucked. But I’m getting ahead of myself.)

Our server arrived at our table fairly quickly and attempted to take our drink orders. Two margaritas were quickly ordered, but when I asked if they had a top-shelf version so I could try something different, his train of thought became completely derailed. “Top shelf? What do you mean?”

I explained (to a freakin’ waiter in a MEXICAN RESTAURANT) that a top shelf margarita usually contained a higher quality of tequila than the Pep Lopez swill that regular margaritas are based upon and that it frequently had a float of Cointreau and/or Grand Marnier. As an aside, Red pepper in East Nashville makes a great top shelf margarita with Sprite and Orange juice to torque up the flavor.

Our server pulled a drink menu (finally) out of some recess of his pants and dropped it in front of me on the table. “We’ve got all sorts of really expensive tequilas if you want `em, but I think they’re for shootin’. If you want a margarita, I wouldn’t go messin’ with the good stuff.”

Friendly, yet unwanted advice. I ordered a glass of sangria, because what else ensures a good Thursday morning hangover better than red wine, brandy, sugar and fruit juice. When the margaritas arrived, we decided that I had made the right call.

It wasn’t the best sangria I’ve ever had and they weren’t the worst margaritas in Nashville, but nobody asked for seconds. The sangria was cloyingly sweet and the margaritas tasted somewhere between a straight shot of sweet and sour mix and a glass of yellow Gatorade with a splash of tequila. Neither was very refreshing, unfortunately.

For our meals, we ordered the drunken shrimp burrito, the chili relleno and the tofu burrito. Yeah, I’m the one who wanted to try the tofu. Somebody had to represent for Kate O’. Our server gave us the option of “wet or dry” with the burritos, with a further choice between red or green sauce. We opted to try both sauces on the side.

While we waited, and waited for our food we snacked on the $2.00 order of chips and salsa. Sam Davidson had raved about them and he seems like a pretty level-headed dude. Or maybe he’s just a lot more forgiving than we were. I’m hoping maybe we just we caught them in between fresh batches, but the chips were stale and tasted store-bought. The salsa seemed to just be a recently-opened can of stewed tomatoes with no other discernible flavoring added. Gerber’s baby food would make a better dip. Feh. They do not offer queso to make them any better.

But we remained optimistic for our entrees. After all, this is a restaurant I can walk to and I really wanted it top be good. My girlfriend is not the type you can cross too many times and get away with it however. How I’ve managed to keep her around this long is one of life’s great mysteries.

We should have known when the food arrived without the normal Mexican warning of “hot plate, hot plate, hot plate” that something might be amiss. On the whole we were disappointed again.

The chili relleno had very little spice in it at all. I expect a good chili relleno to fight back when I eat it, or at least to be swimming in so much grease that I feel a little guilty. This one tasted like a stuffed bell pepper from Luby’s Cafeteria. The drunken shrimp burrito was filled with a paucity of shrimp, and the ones that were present were the tiny cocktail king that you can buy by the bag in the freezer section of a grocery store. It was really more like some sort of Sea Monkey holocaust than a drunken shrimp party.

I have to admit that I liked my tofu burrito. I say I “have” to admit it, because it’s never a good thing when I enjoy my meal and the people I’m dining with don’t. See the above bit about my girlfriend…

The preparation of the tofu was well executed. Sometimes when I eat meat substitutes, I want them to mimic the meat they are replacing. Other times, the attempt can just get distracting as there is no way I’m going to believe that bbq wheat gluten will actually pass for pork.
In this case, the tofu made an excellent burrito filling especially in concert with the absolutely rocking red mole sauce that Rosario’s hangs its hat on. Of the entire meal, our group’s lone unanimous praise was for this sauce. The green sauce was a little acidic and hot for our liking, but the mole had just the right combination of smoky, peppery chocolate overtones that complemented everything on the table. We would have added it to the margaritas had they not already succumbed to three inches of melted ice.

Our bill for three people including (barely deserved) tip was $72.15. We decided we could have eaten for a week at Las Palmas for that.

Surprisingly, the Tennessean gave Rosario’s and excellent review last week. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since I have a long history of disagreeing with the opinion of the Tennessean. Not the least of which is the fact that they apparently think that Nancy is a funny comic and has been worthy of precious funny page real estate for over thirty years.

But we can agree on the mole sauce. They raved about it and I concur. But will I go back just for the mole? Probably not.

Here’s what needs to happen for the Music City Brewers’ Festival to become awesome:

First, the logistics need to improve. The online ticket purchasing system they are using seems as if it was designed with technology dating roughly to 1995. When I went to print my ticket, it said it had “already been printed” (how would they know?) or transferred away, so I had to spend 20 minutes on hold before contacting someone who could reset it. Then there are the lines. I had to stand in line for 45 minutes in the hot sun just to get in. Not cool. I’m not sure what would improve that — maybe a better (larger) location. There were a lot of people packed into a relatively small park. A new location might also help with the last logistical problem: no shade. This is Nashville, y’all. It gets hot here. You have that many people out drinking beer, you need more shade. When I was in Booneville, I was drinking my beer in the shade of a small grove of redwoods while a stiff, dry breeze blew. Well, we don’t have that. At least put up more tents or something. Lastly, the emergency/first-aid staff didn’t seem to have a very visible presence. At a beerfest — particular one in the middle of July in the hot sun — someone is inevitably going to overdo it. Some poor guy was sitting on the steps puking his guts out and then just sat there with his head in his hands for over two hours, and no one helped him. I even tried to find a first-aid station or something, and couldn’t find anyone. I told some security guard who pretended he was getting up to tell someone long enough to placate me and then when I looked back he had sat down.

Second, ditch the lame vendors. Smirnoff Ice had a tent. Jack Daniels had a tent with their wine cooler things. I mean, come on. Seriously. I’m sorry, I thought this was a brewers’ festival. Malt liquor doesn’t count. Eliminate the lame commercial vendors and work on recruiting more local or regional microbreweries to fill the gap. If I wanted to drink Smirnoff Ice, I’d .. uh.. I’m sorry, my brain is incapable of completing this thought exercise.

So yeah, it was a good time. It was worth the money. It could use some improvements.