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For some odd reason my SF girlfriends and I always tend to pick the South for ladies trips, be it NOLA, Austin, or for this spring, Nashville. Perhaps it’s the southern food (nomnom) or the gloriously warm weather. Nashville is by now the proclaimed bachelorette party city of the country, and we certainly considered having a fake bachelorette given everyone assumed we were there for one. We ended up not getting around to doing so (thankfully since my friends wanted me to pretend!), but we still had a great trip filled with scrumptious food, good laughs, and memorable stories. Here are some of my favorite photo-worthy moments of our long weekend in Nashville.
Yep, as you can see above, our first attempt for some southern food failed due to long lines, but we did get to witness this adorably hipster flower truck.
In retrospect I’m glad the lines at Biscuit Love were too long because it redirected us to Arnold’s Country Kitchen for some down home southern cooking. The chicken and dumplings were a comforting start to my day, and those turnip greens absolutely blew my mind. (4/5 stars)
They also provided solid protection for my stomach lining as we hit up Broadway for some live music and day drinking to kick-start our weekend in Nashville.
Welcome to (Country) Music City USA Jared playing at The Valentine One of the many boot pics during our weekend in Nashville.
While I’m a little sad we didn’t make it to Bluebird Cafe on this trip (damn that East Coast advantage on securing the prized reservations), I’m thrilled to still have experienced the famous Grand Ole Opry, where we went the evening of our first full day in Nashville. The music, the comedy, the voice of Eddie Stubbs, and of course, those lovely Dollar General and Humana commercials in between sets which I found hilariously entertaining.
And how can you end the night without more food? We knew we wanted to try some of Nashville’s famous hot chicken and went to the original and local fav, Prince’s (4/5 stars). It’s a little ways out and some will tell you it’s in a shady part of town, but we went at night after the opry and it was fine. Our wait was also reasonable at ~30 minutes. I chose the medium hotness and felt I could have upped it a bit more, but plenty of folks told me mild is plenty enough for them. So figure out what level of spice risk you’re willing to take.
Our Saturday was literally brunch at Adele’s (3.5/5 stars), a craft distillery tour at Corsair Whiskey, a failed attempt at the rooftop pool (boo rain) at the Omni Nashville, and dinner at Martin’s BBQ (3/5 stars), with honky tonks sprinkled all around. A perfectly gluttonous day spent catering to our palates and crashing a very large bachelor party.
Related: Got a car for your trip? Head out to Lynchburg for some whiskey fun!
By day 3 our livers were starting to show the signs of age so we fit in some more cultural stops at the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Belle Meade Plantation.
Of course, our stomachs were still plenty happy for more scrumptiousness, so we hit up Puckett’s Grocery for brunch (3.5/5 stars) and got a little fancy in the evening at the mansion-housed Husk (4.5/5 stars).
And how can you leave the South without some more biscuits and fried chicken? We returned to Biscuit Love on Monday morning, thankfully to a much shorter line. Unfortunately their biscuits were disappointing to all of us, but at least it redeemed itself with the fried chicken (3/5 stars).
Since our trip was decidedly touristy and because I always try to cut it as closely as possible at the airport without inducing anxiety (thanks TSA Pre-Check!), I wanted to use the post-brunch time to get a little out of downtown and check out some of the lesser visited spots in town as well. All I had time for was a quick tour of Centennial Park and a walk through Vanderbilt, but here are some local spots that my plane seatmate and Nashville native Toshi suggested (I promise we’ll get to them next time!):
- Patterson House
- Kung Fu Saloon
- Sylvan Park
- The Diner
- Acme
- L27
Here’s to another ladies weekend in the books!
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Hahaha, I’m glad that they didn’t manage to talk you into pretending it was your bachelorette party, although it could have been fun. And I can see why Nashville is favoured for those kinds of trips and parties! It’s so beautiful.
I’ve never been to Nashville but I would love to visit and try all those delicious looking foods! It looks like a fun town with so much music and nightlife. 😁