Nashville favorites

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Fav Nashville Eats: City Limits Bakery & Cafe

Bagle

Bagel

Bagels. They can really run the gamut. There are some pretty awful bagels out there. And even the awful ones range on a scale of 1 to 10 of awfulness. If you’re really stuck and you really want a bagel you can end up eating something with the texture of rubber, cake, or cardboard– none of that has anything to do with bagels.

Bagels should be chewy with a slight crispy/crunch on the surface. They’re not soft but they’re a little soft. When you give them a squeeze they should barely yield. But they should yield some. The outside has a slight sheen. The inside breadiness has holes here and there. A good bagel is ridiculously good. A bad bagel is something like hell.

I lived in NYC for 30 years. The last 10 of which were in the Bronx. Spuyten Duyvil to be exact-Riverdale by its more familiar name. There were at least 3 bagel bakeries in this smallish neighborhood. And I investigated each one for my column in the Riverdale Press called “Riverdale Eats.” What a treat to see the process and even get a chance to make a bagel.

Process:

They make the dough in one of those huge mixers. Ingredients were a bit of a secret for each bakery but flour, salt, yeast, and malt seemed to be the staples. They make a BIG batch of dough. Slap in on a work table. Cut it into smaller slabs that get shaped into bagels by a wonderful bagel-shaping machine. They proof them in their bagel shapes then boil them in a big vat of water before they’re lined up on wooden planks that fit into a rotating oven (looks like a kind of ferris wheel).

And Waa-Laa!

Buttered Bagel

Buttered Bagel

In the Bronx I had a friend that came for breakfast on most Sunday mornings. He lived downtown in the Village and would stop at Russ & Daughters to get some whitefish salad. I picked up the bagels from Rolen Bagels or Bagel Corner (same owners in Riverdale but Riverdalians swore that the bagels were different in each bakery although the owners told me ingredients and process were exactly the same) (still I preferred Bagel Corner-you’re right, they are on the corner). Once in a while, along with the whitefish salad he would bring bagels from Russ & Daughters. They weren’t as good as my Bronx bagels (altho I suspect Russ & Daughters didn’t bake them themselves but got them from some other Manhattan bagel source). When I lived in Manhattan I swore by  H & H Bagels but lost interest once I tasted my new neighborhood bagels.

Oh, yes, it goes on and on. Talk to a New Yorker about bagels and you’ll be there for hours. And invariably the part about New York water will come up. Is it true? Do NY bagels and NY pizza taste better because of the NY water?

And what’s all this have to do with Nashville? Well, I got a bakery in Bellevue that gets their bagel dough from the Bronx. Bakes ’em up perfectly and now I get to have Bronx-originated bagels any ol’ time! Where in the Bronx they get it I don’t know but I don’t care. They have perfect bagels EVERY time.

City Limits Bakery & Cafe on Clofton Drive is the place you want to be. It’s a hidden gem that only Bellevue locals seem to know about (and now I go blabbing about it — don’t ruin it guys by making it too popular around town, it’s perfect!) Even though it’s a local place it’s almost always packed (except on weekday afternoons around 3-4 when it’s quiet and I like to go there to write).

City Limits Bakery & Cafe

City Limits Bakery & Cafe

BTW they’ve got way more than bagels. Yummy muffins (I like the orange blossom one). Other sweet treats: brownies, danishes, scones, more. AND the main draw is their food-food. Sandwiches, salads, soups (they do a City Max special: half sandwich with soup or salad). The atmosphere is airy and tranquil and friendly. You can bring your computer and park all day but they don’t have WIFI (which is a good thing, otherwise I’d move in).  You’ll want to adopt everyone who works there because they’re so NICE.

City Limits Bakery & Cafe

City Limits Bakery & Cafe

And…added bonus: right behind the bakery are train tracks and every once in a while a humongous freight train goes by, blowing its whistle and giving you (if you step outside and go to the side of the building) a great close-up view of the power that moves our country! (An aside: my band Duette does a song called “The Old Hickory Commuter Train” …we shot our video for the song from this train-barreling vantage point– we’re still thrilled.)

Train

Oh, and, you can eat outside, too.

City Limits Bakery & Cafe

City Limits Bakery & Cafe

Let me know if you try the bagel. And let me know what you think. We can argue. Come on, it’s fun.

City Limits Bagel w some Hot Tea

City Limits Bagel w some Hot Tea

 

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Fav Nashville Eats: Caffe Nonna

Caffe Nonna

Caffe Nonna

So where do you go out to eat Italian food?

Sometimes someone will ask me that.

I’m usually stumped. I don’t often eat out “Italian.” I’ve got a kitchen-full of Italian food and students coming over to cook it with me! So when I go out you’ll find me at a Japanese, Indian, Middle Eastern, Greek, or Chinese restaurant. A pub/sports bar or a meat n’ 3.  A place with a Southern/or Southern re-invention menu. A bakery. A casual American joint.

BUT. I do occasionally get the urge to eat out “Italian.” Usually when I’m hanging with my mom and sister. We each have geiger-counter-style Italian palates that act like false-o meters. The food has got to have the right taste (even if it’s not the sauce you would make at home) — it’s gotta be in the proper “realm” — it has to hit the true Italian “note.”

One place we can rely on is Caffe Nonna in Sylvan Park.

We were there recently and hadn’t been for more than year. One of the waiters recognized us as soon as we walked in and welcomed us as if we were regulars. “Good to see you again! It’s been a while!”

The place is tiny. And full of people. The lighting glows intimately. The room hugs you with warm colors and old world decor. You immediately feel at home.

Caffe Nonna

Caffe Nonna

Their menu has lots of entrees but we get caught up with the pasta choices. Choose from a list of pasta shapes and a list of pasta sauces. Mix and match. That’s immediately such a fun game. Italians are very particular about which pasta shapes go with which pasta sauces. Certain dishes never change: Penne all’Arrabiata, Fettuccine alla Bolognese, Linguine alle Vongole,  Spaghetti alla Carbonara, Bucatini con le Sarde, Fettuccine Alfredo, etc.

I think every other time I’ve eaten here I picked fettuccine with bolognese sauce. This time I went for fettuccine with white clam sauce. I loved NOT choosing the proper linguine or spaghetti. It’s an exotic treat to match fettuccine (the “wrong” pasta shape) with clam sauce! My sister got the same. My mom went for fettuccine, too, but with the bolognese sauce.

While we waited for our dishes we nibbled on bread dipped in seasoned olive oil (they don’t do this in Italy but it’s tasty.)

dip some bread in flavored olive oil

dip some bread in flavored olive oil

When our dishes arrived they looked wonderful. They smelled wonderful. And they were very healthy portions. Each bowl had a tablespoon in it. We each pulled out the spoon and set it aside. You really don’t need a spoon to eat long-stranded pasta. (I’ll tell you how if you think you do.)

The waitress asked if we wanted grated cheese. My mom took some (she thought they put too much but liked it anyway).

fettuccine alla bolognese

fettuccine alla bolognese

You’re not supposed to have cheese on any pasta with fish/clams, etc. in it.

fettuccine with white clam sauce

fettuccine with white clam sauce

But I was feeling rather decadent and asked for some cheese. So did my sister.

fettuccine with white clam sauce and cheese on top

fettuccine with white clam sauce and cheese on top

The pastas are seriously yummy. And I was surprised to find a bit of cream in the “white” clam sauce (which is usually white because it’s not red, but is actually clear with olive oil & white wine). If you would have told me cream was in the sauce I wouldn’t have ordered it. But tasting it (and eating ALL of it) I loved it. In fact, I’m stealing that idea!

empty dish of fettuccine with white clam sauce

empty dish of fettuccine with white clam sauce

My sister and I toasted our wine glasses a few times (my mom sticking to water). Nina had a Pinot Grigio, I loved my Barbera D’Asti.  (The way I pair wines is like this: I pick a dish I want to eat. And I pick a wine I want to drink. They don’t necessarily have to go together but somehow they do….like fettuccine with clam sauce.)

Nina & I toasting our wine

Nina & I toasting our wine

Nina--wine finished!

Nina–wine finished!

Chef Dan even came by the table to see how we liked our dinner. Before we were done we were talking about coming back (that’s like talking about what’s for breakfast tomorrow while you’re having dinner tonight). And we will be back. Thanks, Caffe Nonna!

Caffe Nonna

Caffe Nonna

 

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Fav Nashville Eats: Burger Up

Duane and I don’t wait for tables often. Even at Burger Up. There’s always a crowd at Burger Up.

But the other day we took a chance, found a parking space right across the street and passed thru the waiting crowds into the restaurant and snagged a couple of stools at the bar (very high stools, you kinda have to climb up, and then you realize you can spin them to be lower…something like a-custom-bar-stool-for-you).

Bar at Burger Up

Bar at Burger Up

Easy. We were in.

Just looking at the menu we remembered how much we loved it the last time we were there and why has it been so long since we’ve been back? You don’t think about that much longer because your eyes are pretending to be your stomach mind-tasting each item on the menu. You order your burger (after see-sawing over which one). Duane went for the blue cheese with an added compliment of Benton’s bacon. I took the lamb burger. Whatever you choose know that the meat has been exquisitely sourced and you’re gonna taste the difference oh-yesiree-bob.

Burger Up blue burger w Benton's Bacon

Burger Up blue burger w Benton’s Bacon

Add their house-made ketchup and aioli and you’ll be a happy chewing fool. We scarfed down the burgers with onion rings and spinach accompaniment.

Burger Up house-made sauces

Burger Up house-made sauces

Gazed at all the lovely wood on walls and ceiling and tables. Watched the Nashville world go by, and were entertained by the bottle filling, drink making, and napkin folding going on behind the bar.

at the bar at Burger Up

at the bar at Burger Up

We’ll be back as long as we can snag those two bar stools again. Thanks, Burger Up!

D and me at Burger Up

D and me at Burger Up