Dining Out for Life at Silly Goose [Eat]

For once, I'm writing about something recent. I need to go back and write about why Trader Joe's should move to East Nashville (and all the recipes I made with TJ's groceries), why I'm in love-hate with Facebook and the crazy new open graph, planting tomatoes, eggplant and squash, and how awesomely my made-from-scratch (yeast dough and everything!) cinnamon rolls turned out, but for now, let's focus on last night.

I stayed at work until 7 last night, which is rare in general but exceptionally rare for Tuesdays, because I have a strict schedule of Pilates at 6:30 and Lost at 8. But Pilates was cancelled and Lost was a repeat (how dare they!), so I finished some stuff up and decided to pick up dinner at one of the restaurants participating in Dining Out for Life, because I'm all about easy charity and an excuse to try new restaurants.

I decided on Nuvo Burrito, because it comes highly recommended from my coworker/carpoolmate Courtney, and I got Ty all excited about a Ques-Idea called Just 2 Lil Grills From Little Rock (basically, BBQ chicken quesadilla). I illegally parked (well, other people were also illegally parked) and thought I could just run in and out, but the line was literally out the door. I forgot it was probably going to be super crowded due to their Glee parties. And I didn't want to wait (or miss Glee) and get a parking ticket, so I gave up and went to Silly Goose.

Silly Goose is across from Rosepepper and is way, way more pleasant (may have had two bad experiences in a row at Rosepepper and am never eating there again. Drinking... perhaps). It's small, so not a lot of seating, but the hostess was very nice, telling people they could wait inside Ugly Mugs next door and she'd come and get them. Now that's service. And people just kept bringing in wine for them to chill. Gotta love a place that lets you BYOB... I'd save so much money if I sought those places out.

I also loved their big chalkboard of local purveyors, which include Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese (they live up in Kentucky, my mom has visited their farm), Delvin Farms greens, Noble Springs Dairy and Provence Breads. Everything just looked so fresh and delish.

They also have fresh juices and homemade ice cream... I mean, everything I saw just looked amazing. Not a good place to go if you have a big group, but for two people, or even four, it has a great atmosphere. There was a family with two young kids (one little redhead eating avocado reminded me of the infamous Jack), an older retired-looking couple and a few people my age. Most people were dining in, but a couple did do takeout as well. I don't know if it's normally this crowded or only was for Dining Out for Life, but I sure hope they stay in business.... I'm going to do my part, for sure.

Ty had told me just to pick something for him, so I ordered him the Bird: Grilled chicken breast, sun-dried tomato, avocado, bacon, peppered goat cheese on organic flax seed bread.

Even their takeout is pretty. While waiting, I got to watch them prepare everyone else's meals... several people got the King Kong, I assume, which is curried shrimp on couscous, and it looked amazing. They kind of specialize in couscous, I guess – she asked if I wanted couscous, greens, or a little of both and of course I went with a little of both. The girl making the sandwiches was great at cutting avocados, by the way, I need to take lessons. And then she drizzled it all with balasmic and what I imagine to be some sort of basil vinaigrette.

Judge the quality by their handwriting, not my iPhone photos

I ordered the Saylor, which is Grilled eggplant, roasted red pepper, avocado, basil, arugula, lemon-kalamata olive aioli on honey flax. Also, yum, but messy.

Still, I made it home in time for Glee (which was unfortunately disappointing, though how could they possibly top that Madonna ep) and now know about a delicious place to eat when I'm wanting a fresh sandwich or salad. And I definitely need to try that shrimp couscous situation. Can't wait.

Allium: Another Amazing Brunch Place in East Nashville [Eat]

Thanks to the enterprising minds behind the Groupon concept, I've been able to try out some new restaurants that I might not have otherwise. I bought the Allium Groupon – $25 for $50 worth of food and drinks – a few months ago, and we tried it out a week or two ago.

Let me just say this: I LOVE brunch. It's my favorite meal (along with breakfast for supper and straight-up breakfast), and I probably should do an entry on my top 10 favorite brunch places in Nashville at some point. (Though it would be tough to pick a winner. Mad Donna's is definitely the most often frequented, for sure. I think I've been there three times in the past month.)

But this is about Allium, which is located in the bottom of the "embattled" 5th and Main condo complex, so it's on the East Nashville side of the river, though not as far east as Five Points, so I don't know if that's still considered part of our 'hood, but it's so tasty that I'll claim it.

I was surprised by the prices, in a good way: The food was nowhere near as expensive as I would have imagined. Entrees were around $11 with hearty portions, and even with cocktails, coffee and sides, it was hard for us to reach $50 (I think we got close, though, maybe $48). So this is an incentive to go back, because most of the time I will not be trying to gorge myself in order to get our money's worth.

Since we were trying to spend a certain amount of money, we did get bloody marys, which were amazing. I'm also a bloody mary connoisseur (goes hand-in-hand with brunch loving), and this one was the perfect mixture of tomato juice and alcohol – not too strong – and garnishes (celery and lime). Though I think Ty was disappointed at the lack of olives.

Our server was pretty attentive, but he looked eerily like a younger version of Jacob from Lost (with a pompadour). When he came to take our order and gave us some sort of option, we were like, "Do we have a choice?" At the end of the meal I did ask him if he had ever seen the show, which of course he hadn't. Oh well.

One more note about the atmosphere: The soundtrack included "Cruel, Cruel Summer" by Ace of Base, which Ty had never heard. I'll leave it at that.

Now, onto the good stuff:

The entrees, as I said, were hearty portions. Ty ordered the Allium Benedict, which is sliced black forest ham, poached eggs and hollandaise in a popover, with pepper jack grits and a side of Benton's bacon. The popover was a bit much... too much bread to egg/meat ratio. But still good, plus you don't feel as overindulgent if you don't clean your plate. The eggs were poached to perfection, and the grits were surprisingly edible... I am not a fan of a grits that don't have some sweet aspect (either white grits with butter and sugar like my grandma made them, or yellow corn grits with maple syrup like my mom made them), but these were not bland, and the pepper gave them a flavor reminiscent of gravy. So, yum.

Meanwhile, speaking of overindulgency, I had the Wild Mushroom Scramble, which is scrambled eggs and mushrooms over a puff pastry with asparagus covered with mornay sauce, along with a side of roasted potatoes. (Sidenote: I recently read My Life in France by Julia Child, and became obsessed with the various incarnations of béchamel sauce, so I know all about mornay.)

This dish was so decadent that I couldn't finish it. I was thankful for the asparagus making me feel like I'm getting something healthy in this butter-laden meal, but oh, it was amazing. The puff pastry was light and airy, like the inside of a croissant, and the mornay was so rich that I wished they hadn't used quite so much of it. But it was so delicious that I'm sure Julia would have been proud.