Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [88]
1796 21st Ave. S.
615–383–9333
Nashville, TN
BL | $$
We suffer from anxiety at the Pancake Pantry. First we worry about getting in. For years, Nashvillians have stood in line for a precious seat in this singular restaurant that transcends generic pancake-house dining. Warm maple syrup, anyone? Caribbean buttermilk pancakes? Just looking at the menu induces paroxysms of indecision. If we order sweet potato pancakes that are so good drizzled with cinnamon cream, then it doesn’t make sense also to eat onion-laced potato pancakes. And if we get stacks of pancakes, how much appetite can possibly remain to enjoy what are surely the best hash browns in the South? We don’t know if they’re cooked on the same griddle as the pancakes, or if it’s just pancake scent in the air, but Pancake House potatoes are as buttercream-fluffy as the best flapjack. Fried to a golden crisp, they are the perfect way to balance the salty punch of a brick-red slab of griddled country ham.
A few other favorites from the broad and inviting menu: Smoky Mountain Buckwheat Cakes, which appear dark and somber, but are in fact featherlight, arriving in a stack of five with plenty of butter and a pitcher of very warm syrup to pour on top, and thin and eggy Swedish pancakes wrapped around lingonberry preserves. No syrup is necessary.
The Pancake Pantry is a big restaurant with plenty of space among the tables and a high-spirited ambience throughout the dining room. What’s not to be happy about when you are eating excellent pancakes with plenty of butter and syrup and good coffee on the side? The only dark cloud to mention is the frequent long line that can signal up to an hour’s wait to be seated.
Pope’s Café
120 East Side Sq.
931–684–7933
Shelbyville, TN
BL | $
Pope’s Café has been a fixture on the town square of Shelbyville (the Walking Horse capital of the World) since 1945. It is a well-weathered place with a half-dozen tables along one wall and a long counter with stools, jukeboxes arrayed every few seats so customers can play tunes while they eat.
For breakfast, the thing to eat is ham: salty, chewy, resonantly flavorful ham with (or sandwiched inside) buttery tender biscuits. If such ham is too powerful, try Pope’s good sausage, or even gentler (and more succulent), there are tenderloin patties that are made to slip inside a biscuit.
Lunch is classic meat-and-three: about a dozen deluxe vegetables and side dishes every day, including fried apples, buttered corn niblets, spinach and eggs, spiced peaches, even baked spaghetti. These accompany main courses of roast pork, roast beef, country-style steak (that’s like chicken-fried), ham, pork barbecue, or an ultra-luxurious heap of crisp-fried chicken livers.
Then there’s only-in-the-Southland pie, including baby-food-gentle chess pie, fudge pie, meringues of all kinds, pecan pie, and a rich chocolate pie with nuts named after a walking horse (who was named after the singer), Charlie Pride.
Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack
123 Ewing Dr.
615–226–9442
Nashville, TN
Tues–Sat
Pay attention to the name: Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack. You can take that to the bank. The fried chicken is available mild, medium, hot, and extra hot. Even the mild packs a punch. We tried hot and it had us tearing up…with joy! What’s great about this crisp-fried wonder is that it isn’t merely hot. It is radiant with flavor; its chewy skin has soulful character; the meat is moist and luxurious. To say it is addictive is not hyperbole. We met several customers who told us they come to Prince’s five times a week (it’s closed Sunday and Monday), and any day they didn’t get their extra-hot was a sad one. If we lived in Nashville, we would easily get hooked.
Chicken is all you need to know, except for the French fries, which are terrific, too. The chicken comes in halves and quarters. It is delivered in a paper bag near the window where you placed your order and paid. There are a handful of tables in the restaurant and many people simply step outside to dine on the walkway of the small strip mall where