A Taste of Nashville
Written by: Bella Saponoro | Photo by: Bella Saponoro
MAVEN reports from Nashville, pointing you towards the best mac and cheese, biscuits, grits, and hot chicken.
Growing up with a grandmother from Kentucky, I can consider myself an expert on traditional Southern comfort foods like grits, mac and cheese, and biscuits — all staples in her house. “Mac and cheese is our vegetable” is one of Grannybeth’s many reasons to love the South, and her cheese grits are quite possibly my favorite food of all time. In February, I traveled to Nashville for a brief stop and tried to consume all of the cheesy, buttery, fried Southern delicacies I could.
Hot Chicken
This trip to Nashville was my first time trying hot chicken. However, I have had a fair amount of fried chicken tenders in my life. The outside must be crunchy and flaky; you don’t want the coating to get soggy or soft at all. The inside absolutely must be juicy and soft. There is nothing worse than eating a dry and tough piece of chicken — it takes all of the flavors away. And as for spice, Nashville hot chicken is hot — even if you like spicy food, be forewarned.
Hattie B’s Hot Chicken | 5609 Broadway Pl
As soon as we landed and checked into the hotel, our first stop was hot chicken. Straight down Broadway was Hattie B’s Hot Chicken — you couldn’t miss it because of the line out the door. At the counter, I ordered three chicken tenders with mild spiciness. The chicken was crunchy and flaky on the outside. In classic Southern style, it was served on white bread with pickles on top. The inside of the tender, the chicken itself, was extremely juicy and not dry. The chicken was perfectly cooked, melting in my mouth once I bit into it. For the “mild” order, the spice was not too overwhelming. Overall, I thought Hattie B’s Hot Chicken was delicious and perfect.
Prince’s Hot Chicken | 5055 Broadway Pl
The next hot chicken restaurant I checked out was Prince’s Hot Chicken. I went to the Assembly Food Hall location on Broadway, which houses many different restaurants. I got four tenders with mild spice. It was also served over a white slice of bread, and the outside was crunchy and flaky like Hattie B’s, but had more of a kick, even though I ordered mild temperature. The inside of the tender was dry and felt tough when bitten into, rather than juicy and falling apart. I enjoyed the spice flavor on these tenders; however, the dry chicken made it taste like the frozen chicken tenders I can throw in my oven on any given night.
Biscuits
Biscuits are the South’s alternative to bread, and honestly, I think this should be the case everywhere. Whether for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, having that warm flaky biscuit on the side can make a meal. The perfect biscuit is thick but not too dense. Biscuits are a side dish, so they can be too filling if they’re too dense. A great biscuit is flaky and airy, and must be served warm so the butter will melt on top. However, biscuits must already have that delicious buttery taste baked into them before buttering. The best biscuits, in my opinion, are the ones that always leave crumbles in your lap after taking a bite.
Barista Parlor | 610 Magazine St
My first stop for a Nashville biscuit was a cute café in The Gulch area of Nashville. In addition to their many coffee options were breakfast sandwiches on biscuits. My order was bacon, egg, and cheese on a biscuit. The sandwich came out warm, which was a plus for the biscuit. That delicious buttery flavor was there and crumbled once I bit into it. The biscuit was thick, but a little too dense, and filled me up quicker than expected. Overall, I thought the taste was great, but the texture and thickness were off.
Biscuit Love | 316 11th Ave S
The second place I went to was also in The Gulch area, and was more of a sit-down. My biscuit came as a side to my egg platter. As soon as the waitress put my plate down, I was in awe. I already knew this was going to be the best biscuit I’d ever had. Before trying it, I could see the perfect flaky and airy texture. It was tall and thick, but once it was split in half, it was not dense due to its airiness. I didn’t put any butter on it for my first bite to see if it still had that slight buttery flavor — and it did! The biscuit was the perfect temperature and melted in my mouth when I ate it. It crumbled while eaten and consistently had a flaky texture. Without a doubt, I can say Biscuit Love had the best biscuit I have ever eaten.
Mac and Cheese
Mac and cheese has to be the perfect mixture of creamy and cheesy. The macaroni shouldn’t be overcooked and soggy, and the sauce should have a smooth texture and not just be glued to the pasta. Nothing is worse than eating dry mac and cheese. Conversely, you also don’t want it to be too runny. It must be the perfect medium.
Hattie B’s Hot Chicken | 5609 Broadway Pl
With my chicken from Hattie B’s, I got a side of pimento mac and cheese. Pimento cheese is a Southern delicacy, a cheese spread with chopped-up pimento peppers mixed in (and green olives if you’re at my grandmother’s house). The sauce had a perfect consistency, and it was saucy enough without being too runny. It had a great cheesy taste, but wasn’t super overpowering and was still creamy. The pimentos added a little bit of a kick, giving it some added flavor. The pasta could have been cooked less, but it wasn’t too soft. Overall, this was very powerful and unique-tasting mac and cheese.
Prince’s Hot Chicken | 5055 Broadway Pl
The mac and cheese from Prince’s was just your traditional mac and cheese, not pimento like Hattie B’s. Just looking at it, it looked like microwavable mac and cheese you can buy at any grocery store. There was no sauce to it whatsoever; just some cheese stuck on the pasta pieces. The pasta was very overcooked and fell apart when my fork went into it. The cheese tasted artificial, and there was no creaminess at all. I was very disappointed in this mac and cheese and could have made a better one at home.
Grits
Even though I’m from the North, I know grits. Always my most requested food for Sunday dinner at my grandmother’s. Grits aren’t that popular in the North, so for people who don’t know what to look for in good grits, I’ll help you. Cheese grits are the best, but they must be creamy and almost runny. They aren’t good when they’re too thick and chunky. There should be some running down the sides when you pull your spoon out with your bite. Like mac and cheese, it must have the perfect taste balance of cheesy and creamy.
Biscuit Love | 316 11th Ave S
At Biscuit Love, my breakfast egg platter also came with a side of cheese grits; gotta respect the South’s love for starch. Although they were cheese grits, I didn’t taste much cheese in them; there was an overpowering milky taste. Despite that, they were not creamy at all. It had the consistency of oatmeal, none of it running down the sides after pulling the spoon out for a bite. Even though I loved their biscuits, there is room for improvement with their grits.
Hattie B’s Hot Chicken | 5609 Broadway Pl
Yet another shoutout for Hattie B’s! I had a side of cheese grits with my hot chicken. These grits had a great cheese taste; however, they were more watered down than creamy. They did have a nice runny consistency, but had more of a gritty texture than I typically prefer. Overall, they still had a strong flavor and consistency.