grub: the most important part of any road trip.

seasons eatings from loveless cafe!

If you've been stalking #siddastravellog on Twitter or Instagram for the past couple of days, then you'll be privy to the fact that we have had some interesting & wonderful food experiences both on the road to Nashville, as well as within Music City. I thought I'd share a bit!

On the road there, we stopped at Tupelo Honey Cafe in Asheville, North Carolina. I have been wanting to see Asheville since Justin & some of our friends visited back in 2011. I thought the downtown was charming, with its festive Christmas wreaths & musicians singing on the side of the road. The highlight of Asheville, though, was our stop at Tupelo Honey Cafe for an early dinner. Not only was it just about the coziest restaurant ever, with its dark wood finishings, twinkle lights, & garland drapings, but also, our food was delicious. Justin got a root beer infused pork chop dish, & I had the shrimp tacos. His was the clear winner, although I thoroughly enjoyed my side of goat cheese grits. We also shared a pimento cheese dip as an appetizer, which was top notch.

On our first night in Nashville, we had dinner at Jack's BBQ, which is an iconic stop along Nashville's Broadway Street. We helped ourselves to three different barbecue sauces - Tennessee, Texas, and Kansas City - to accompany our heaping plates of ribs, sausage, brisket, beans, coleslaw, & bread. It was a formidable meal indeed, & although good, we have found ourselves spoiled to the delicacy that is Carolina Barbecue, which we decided that we prefer. We are so glad we got to try Jack's though.

After Jack's, we walked down the street to Whiskey Bent Saloon, where we enjoyed an Apple Toddy, a Makers on the rocks, & some good country karaoke. The warm atmosphere & warm drink were such a festive treat!

The next morning, we trekked to 417 Union, which, as our concierge told us, is a place the locals love. Justin's biscuits & gravy were delectable, as was my bagel & lox. The war-time photos hung on the walls were captivating as well.

During a bit of a flop of a trip to the Nashville Farmers' Market, we stumbled upon a little crepe stand. As I had never indulged in one, we ordered a cinnamon sugar selection. We found out quickly that sweet crepes should always include Nutella & fruit of some sort, & have stored that knowledge away for another day.

Probably our favorite part of the entire trip was when we drove out of the city to arrive at Loveless Cafe. At first we balked at the hour & fifteen minute wait time, but the whole experience was well worth it. We perused the on-site shops as we waited, & before we knew it, our buzzer was going off, alerting us our table was ready. Here we enjoyed some of the fluffiest, most delicious made-from-scratch biscuits with fresh fruit preserves in peach, strawberry, & blackberry. The chicken fried steak, sausage gravy, hash brown casserole, & pancakes were spectacular. We talked about our experience at this place for days afterward, & we hope to one day return.

Now that my stomach is rumbling at the memory of all these meals, I think it's time to leave you all with visions of root beer glazed pork chops & hash brown casserole dancing in your heads...