After months of ordering takeout and cooking from home, hitting up our favorite Nashville haunts — from fine dining to dive bars — has never felt (or tasted) so good. Once you’ve made the rounds on old favorites, be sure to check out these 5 new Music City restaurants and eat your fill.
Assembly Food Hall, 5055 Broadway Place
This downtown concept offers 20+ new dining options including outposts of longtime local favorites like Prince’s Hot Chicken and Pharmacy Burger. Expect regular live music + when the windows are open, catch one of the coolest views in town of the Ryman.
Blanco Cocina + Cantina, 530 Broadway
With tequila flights, frozen drinks, seafood fajitas, and innovative tacos, this new taqueria features all the vibes of the Mexican coastline. TryThis: grilled avocado tacos + weekend brunch items like the Ancho Spiced French Toast.
The Gumbo Brothers, 505 12th Ave. South
This New Orleans-inspired spot offers three types of gumbo based on co-owner Adam Latham’s grandmother’s recipes — chicken and sausage, seafood + gumbo z’herbs. Other menu offerings include po’boys, crawfish, and all manner of Cajun and Creole sides. Bonus: They have a second location in Brooklyn, NY if you’re ever up that way.
Jacqueline, The Optimist, 1400 Adams St.
Nothing screams spring in Nashville like al fresco cocktails on a patio — which makes the timing of The Optimist’s new outdoor snack bar particularly exciting. Colorful shaved ice cocktails, Aperol spirits, hurricanes, and mint juleps? Yes, please. Add in a few lawn games + fish-camp bites like lobster roll sliders and oysters on the half shell.
Shep’s Delicatessen, 1000 Main St.
Currently open for breakfast and lunch, this classic deli in the old Marche space is the result of restaurateur Howard Greenstone’s nostalgia for the Jewish-style delis he grew up with in New York. ProTip: Bagel happy hour — aka $1 bagels — is held daily, 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Contributed by Elizabeth Hutchison Hicklin.
