“NASHVILLE IS WICKED. IT’S LIKE A PROPER MUSIC COMMUNITY, BUT IT’S ALSO QUINTESSENTIALLY AMERICAN. YOU BUMP INTO PEOPLE THERE WITH COWBOY HATS THAT SPIT IN JARS AND CALL YOU ‘BOY.’ I JUST LOVE THAT.”
Ed Sheeran
Day three on our Nashville trip and technically day two actually in Nashville. Yesterday we arrived and got right at with our visit to see the Nashville Sounds. We cannot recommend the game, the stadium, the food, and the drink there enough. One of the most fun times we’ve had at a baseball game for sure.
For the rest of our time in town, our goal was to have as much fun as possible with our friends and explore all the hype we’d heard about the Music City. Full disclosure, I am writing this after the weekend happened and I think anyone that has done Nashville can understand that it can be a blur.
We started our day at a place called Pinewood Social. I don’t really know how to describe this place. Bar? Yes. Restaurant? Yes. Coffee shop? Yes. Bowling Alley? Also yes. Dipping pools and yard games? Furthermore, yes. We were there for brunch on a Friday and it was busy enough for a short wait (we might have even had a reservation). We didn’t partake in the bowling or pool, and honestly we didn’t even know there was a pool until we kept seeing people walking around in bathing suits.
We kept it strictly brunch and I think all in our party of six were pleased with the food. Keke took down some sort of avocado toast concoction, and I went with the cheeseburger. We were both pleased and I would say that the atmosphere alone is worth hitting the place up; the quality of the food was a bonus.
Post brunch our only real goal was Broadway; the four or five block long stretch of bars playing live music all the frickin time. Nashville is littered with those scooters that you run your credit card and cruise away on, but we are almost all 40, and new technology frightens and confuses us, so we ended up walking from Pinewood to Broadway. It wasn’t a bad walk, but it would have been a better scoot.
Our first stop was Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Bar & Steakhouse. This probably became the favorite spot for the group. At mid-day, I didn’t see anyone eating anything, but alcohol was flowing just fine and much of what I would have thought was a dining area, was cleared out for people to dance next to that occupied stage. We saw a couple of bands and we were nothing but impressed. The music tended to err on the side of rock as opposed to the heavy doses of country that we would later get, and one would expect.
The space itself is at the corner of third and Broadway, so you are right in the thick of everything. It’s a big, open area and has large glass windows that open, giving it an outside feel. I wouldn’t go back to Nashville without hitting up Kid Rock’s again.
Here is where blur I mentioned earlier sets in. After drinks with brunch and drinks at Kid Rock’s, I think the only real way to remember where you went the day after is to review credit card receipts. So, in reviewing my account, I see charges for the following:
- A crap-ton of Kid Rock’s charges. All legit, we stayed for a while and consumed a crap-ton.
- A charge at Sea Salt. This was were we had dinner. A little higher end, in honor of my buddies 40th birthday. This place was really good, but I would recommend going prior to hitting up Broadway, so you could fully enjoy it.
- Ms. Kelli’s. This was the karaoke place we went to the night prior and we circled back this evening. We had actually meant to go to another spot on Printer’s Alley, but it had a $20 cover charge and a wait. Neither of those things were appealing to us, so we spent a bit at Ms. Kelli’s and then on to the next spot.
- Tootsies. This is a legendary place and a must experience in Nashville. The building doesn’t look like much, but the party inside is pretty epic.
*There is one outlier. Through some pretty amazing investigative energy put forth by me, I have also determined that we went to Nudie’s Honky Tonk Central. I have no record of this in my checking account. However, the girl in the extreme right hand side of the picture is part of our group. One of the pictures above has her wearing what appears to be the same dress. So, this pic must be from this day. Furthermore, you can see Ole Red across the street in this picture. Ole Red is kiddie corner to Kid Rock’s, so clearly this is not us at the upper level of Kid Rock’s. I’ll spare you the rest of the details, but this is Nudie’s, and I don’t appear to have paid for anything here, but I do remember consuming here. So, either someone bought all my rounds here, or I never paid Nudie. I’m hopeful it’s the former, but either way, I owe someone some money.
This was a pretty legit day in Nashville. The crew was happy to head home and try and rest up for the following day.