Breakfast of Champions

Last night I saw for the first time the new Dunkin' Donuts commercial featuring the slogan “America Runs on Dunkin'.”

Is it just me, or does the new campaign remind anyone else of this?

Go Wild!

Wild Wasabi! Japanese restaurant in Cummins Station opened Dec. 1 in the former location of Omikoshi (also the former location of Goten 2). Kisung Kim owns the new restaurant, which serves sushi and other Japanese fare from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4:30 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to midnight Friday; and noon to midnight Saturday. If you get there before we do, please report back on Bites.

Wish Sandwich

You’re never too young to fling dough in someone’s face. The apprentice chef in this photo is 9-year-old Kiel Hamil, who helped devise the hors d’oeuvre menu for Friday’s Celebration of Wishes Gala benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The organization works to grant the wishes of young people with life-threatening illnesses, and Hamil, a young leukemia patient from Clarksville, was one of five Wish Kids whose dream was to work with a chef.

Hamil and his fellow Wish Kid chefs—Jillian Pasley, Brittany Walker and Quinten Moore, joined by dessert maker Abby McLemore—had the run of Whole Foods Market to create their dishes. They got help from Chefs Julia Helton and Bryn Herrin (pictured) from The Grill at Green Hills, Salud! Cooking School Chefs Merijoy Lantz Rucker and Cindy Chambers, and longtime Scene contributor Kay West. We’ve heard items mentioned from shrimp skewers to calzones, but to try them you’ll need a reservation for $125.

The event takes place 7 p.m. Friday at the Musicians Hall of Fame. The picture brings back memories of the first thing I ever made in the kitchen: my mother’s Texas chocolate cake recipe. If nothing else, it burned in my mind that there actually is a difference between baking soda and baking powder.

Here Mole, Gone Tomorrow

It is with great sadness that I report the closing of El Tejado on Charlotte Pike. The short-lived restaurant, which was one of my first reviews, stole my heart with its menu of Oaxacan specialties—especially the deep, rich mole, redolent with chiles, chocolate, fruit, nuts and dozens of other ingredients.

The allure of El Tejado was its bold deviation from the standard Tex-Mex of so many local Mexican restaurants. With unusual dishes such as Oaxacan noodle soup, grilled cactus and an unnerving item translated as “kills your mother-in-law,” El Tejado, a.k.a. The Tile Roof, earned a loyal—but apparently not lucrative enough—following of adventurous diners and homesick Oaxacans, who gathered there for music and dancing. During El Tejado's year of operation, owner Ivette Vutron eventually migrated toward gringo-friendly formulas, which disappointed many original fans without drawing in a substantial new audience. Vutron closed El Tejado this month, but her neighboring Mexican grocery store, La Guelaguetza, remains open for business.

For anyone missing the complex layering of El Tejado's homemade mole, there is some good news. In the last year, Nashville has welcomed at least three new restaurants offering homemade versions of the Southern Mexican delicacy. We've reviewed Rosario's in Edgehill Village and Sol on Main Street in Franklin, both of which deliver admirable interpretations of the traditional sauce. More recently, Lime opened on Division, with a mole that embellishes tamales de Oaxaca and a hearty tortilla soup. We'll bring you more on Lime in the near future.

If you've got other favorite moles, please post them to Bites. In the meantime, El Tejado, may you rest in peace.

The Truffe be Told

In this week’s review of Andrew Chadwick’s on Rutledge Hill, I mention a lovely dish of carpaccio topped with black truffles, which Chadwick is importing from Périgord for $1,400 a pound. With just a scintilla of the so-called “black diamonds” shaved over the buttery rose-red beef, the truffle tasting goes for a mere $27. And, like I said, it is lovely. I would love to have some right now, just as I would love to sit in the serene lounge of Chadwick’s, beside the glowing fireplace, with a neat cocktail in my hand.

But am I alone in thinking that, for $1,400, I would rather pay off a chunk of my mortgage than buy a pound of fungus? Truffle-lust, for me, is elusive. Admittedly, in the course of my life, the combined truffles that I’ve ingested probably weigh less than the film that forms on a mug of hot milk. But still, I got nothing. Like Pilates, Webkins and Celebrity Apprentice, truffles do nothing for me.

Maybe if they were more affordable, I could more excited about them. But until prices drop to something closer to the range of, say, Christie Cookies, I can’t get past the equation in which an F-150 loaded with pig food is as valuable as my residence. That just pisses me off.

Maybe the time of truffle affordability is coming. Several U.S. growers are working on cultivating black truffles, including one grower in Chuckey, Tenn., located at the eastern end of the state. (Read more about Tennessee and Oregon truffles in W magazine and The New York Times, where I swiped the photo above.) But then, of course, if truffles become accessible to the masses, will they remain alluring to the dining elite?

Watermark Team to Open Restaurant in Adelicia

The team behind Watermark restaurant in The Gulch will expand its restaurant reach toward Midtown with the opening of miro district food and drink in The Adelicia residential high-rise. Slated to open in May 2008, miro district will offer Italian-inspired cuisine with a seasonal menu of shared snacks, house-cured meats and artisan cheeses, handmade pastas and main courses.

Nathan Lindley, the general manager of Watermark, along with executive chef Dean Robb—both alumni of Frank Stitt’s Bottega Café & Restaurant in Birmingham, Ala.—will lead the restaurant, which is the second such venture of owner Jerry Brown’s Hospitality Development Group.

The restaurant takes its name from the 18th century moniker for Nashville and surrounding area. In his novel In the Miro District, author Peter Taylor depicts life in Nashville’s Acklen Park neighborhood (where the Adelicia is located) as a “gentler world…known romantically as the Miro District.”

Located at 906 20th Ave. S., miro district will serve lunch and dinner, with lighter fare available throughout the day and late evening.

Iced, Iced, Baby

When another Fox family birthday rolled around this month, I asked my friend Brooke O’Dell if she could make a cake. Every so often, Brooke mentions that she’s helping a bride or a friend come up with a creative dessert, so I figured she could throw together a little 9-by-12 number, with pale icing in case the phalanx of toddlers invading my house wanted to stress-test the carpets and walls for stain resistance.

Did I want any particular theme, she asked. What the hell, make it a Ratatouille cake, I said, fully expecting her to smack a plastic mouse in the center of Betty Crocker’s finest.

When Brooke arrived with the glorious artwork depicted above—rat, fork and napkin sculpted from fondant, meatballs shaped from Rice Krispies and covered in dark chocolate, noodles of buttercream topped with marinara of white chocolate ganache and grated white chocolate Parmesan—I could not believe my eyes. Not only was it an outstanding piece of handiwork, but it was also delicious, with moist slabs of sour cream-vanilla pound cake layered with Swiss meringue buttercream. I’d say it was too pretty to eat, but this is me we’re talking about. I ate it. I wrestled it from the hands of small children and ate it. It was the best rat I’ve ever eaten.

If you’re in the market for a cake—Groundhog Day is coming up, and just imagine what Brooke could do for that—call Brooke at Ice This Cakes & Confections, 260-8127.

On Your Marks, Get Set…

The next Nashville Originals gift certificate sale is Jan. 30. Discounted vouchers from all the Originals restaurants—including the newest members PM and Tangredi’s—will go on sale on the website early Wednesday morning, and if past sales are any indication, the certificates will get snatched up fast.

Team Bites, we’ve been training for this for months! Get in there! Be aggressive! Set your alarm clocks and kick some gift certificate butt. If you actually get your hands on the golden tickets, report back. We’re rooting for you.

Go!

Before, Durian and After

While perusing the aisles at K&S World Market, I have often wondered about the durian—a spiky fruit that looks like the business end of a huge, misshapen mace. I've thought of buying one before, but never have.

Well, some Nashville kids took the plunge, and the above video is a document of their experience. Needless to say, they did not enjoy the durian, which they use a mallet to smash open. "Don't throw up!" one onlooker exclaims. (Some of the language is NSFW, unless you work at the Scene.)

Even a durian aficionado can't deny the fruit's pungence: "Well, durians have a strong smell and a unique taste," says Lionel Bauer over at durian.net. "Could be that those who haven't seen others indulging in durians have doubts as to the fruit's fitness for human consumption. Judging by the fruit's smell, its flesh moves straight from unripe to rotten."

The question for the chefs out there: What could you make with it?

Hunting Wabbit

Savarino's Cucina will host a five-course BYOB Italian Family Dinner on Saturday, Jan. 26. The theme of the evening: rabbit. The $30 prix-fixe meal includes:

Antipasti of caponata, stuffed cherry peppers, eggplant rollatini, rice ball and stuffed mushrooms

Pasta with rabbit sauce or penne with vodka sauce

Entree choice of rabbit cacciatore with roasted potatoes and string beans or London broil with broccoli rabe

Salad with fennel and oranges

Dessert from Corrado Savarino's homemade pastries and coffee

For a slight upcharge, you get a side of Corrado's signature attitude—remember, if you want your food fast, go to McDonald's. But if you've got the time to linger over an Italian feast in a quaint Hillsboro Village market-eatery between 5 and 9 p.m. on Saturday, call 460-9878 for reservations.

Wake Up Call

I jumped the gun this morning, but I couldn't wait to get to Crema, the new coffee shop opening on Rutledge Hill. Owner Rachel Lehman wasn't exactly expecting us—Crema will open its doors for a soft launch starting tomorrow at 7 a.m.—but she very graciously let Mr. Pink and me snoop through the store, which is fashionably decked in equal parts chic and salvage and looks like someone stained it in a rich bath of dark-roast espresso.

With sumptuous leather chairs, a long bar made of rustic wooden beams, amber pendant lighting and colorful canvases adorning the walls, Crema promises to become a caffeinated landmark in the newly emerging Rutledge Hill district, where Andrew Chadwick's restaurant and the recently renovated Children's Theatre—not to mention all the downtown residential projects—are suddenly luring folks who've never even heard of the once-neglected neighborhood.

This morning Rachel was arranging the first batch of muffins and biscotti fresh from The Wild Muffin bakery and waiting on deliveries from Provence and Star Bagel. The only thing missing was the hiss of the La Marzocco and the aroma of the espresso drinks, which will be made with Drew's Brews.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the curtain from Crema, there's a vacant space of equal size, just screaming out for a tenant—something along the lines of a bookstore or gallery—to complement the coffee shop. If you have any ideas of businesses that could fill the space, post them to Bites. In the meantime, Rachel and Ben Lehman will just have to accept our compliments on a very attractive new enterprise.

Lcoated at 15 Hermitage Ave., 255-8311, Crema opens officially on Jan. 28 and will donate a portion of the day's proceeds to Safe Haven, a nonprofit organization in the neighborhood that assists homeless families.

Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger

If you've been driving hungrily by the Belle Meade Plaza on Harding Road, looking for a place to eat now that Belle Meade Cafeteria and Goldie's Delicatessen have pulled out, there's good news on the dining horizon. Not only are Publix and Harris Teeter in the works for the Harding Road corridor near the intersection of White Bridge Road, but Cheeseburger Charley's will be opening in the former home of Signs Plus. Paul Ziady and Salem Ghanam, franchisees of Cheeseburger Charley's and Jersey Mike's, will start work on the location in the next few days, and they plan to open in late March. 4516 Harding Road.

Conversation Bites: Chef Sean Begin, The Daily Dish

This week’s review of The Daily Dish features chef Sean Begin’s deliciously bipolar menu of meat-and-three staples and specialty salads. For the traditionalist, there’s a predictable and comfortable list of Southern standards—meatloaf, fried okra and candied sweet potatoes, to name a few. But while most meat-and-three buffets consider coleslaw to be the only fresh vegetable you could ever need, The Daily Dish offers a bountiful selection of big, fluffy green salads piled with fresh fruits, vegetables and creative toppings such as fried mozzarella and sweet potato cakes.

Many thanks to Chef Begin for sharing his recipe for almond-encrusted goat cheese salad (after the jump). If you have questions for the chef, he’ll be popping in to answer them. Welcome to Conversation Bites, Chef Sean.

Mediterranean Musical Chairs

Serial restaurateur Yanni Panagiotakis, a familiar name in Nashville's Mediterranean-themed restaurants, is at it again. This time, he has taken over the restaurant formerly known as La Luna, and re-dubbed the place Yanni's Mediterranean Grill. The tiny Berry Hill establishment, which has dabbled in Turkish, Greek and Italian cuisines under various management teams, now returns the focus to a menu of Greek favorites. Yanni's has outdoor seating and serves beer and wine.

Located at 600 West Iris Dr., 463-3707, Yanni's Mediterranean Grill is open 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Monday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Olive That Heaven Allows

Over the Christmas holidays, I was at a party talking to Sue Caplenor, a Middle Tennessee resident and seasoned traveler who loves New Orleans cuisine. I told her how much I liked the muffuletta at the Italian Market, and I thought I might try making one sometime. She asked whether I had any Boscoli Family Italian Olive Salad. When I said no, she looked like I’d said I was going to make beignets from a Jiffy cornbread mix.

A few weeks later, out of the clear blue sky, a jar of this magic elixir arrived on my doorstep. I was fixing a turkey sandwich and thought, what the hell. I unscrewed the lid, and a wonderfully complex, pungent aroma arose from the large jar. I heaped a few spoons of the oily salad onto my sandwich, mashed down the bread, and took a bite.

Oh. My. God. Even without the salami, the capicola, the mortadella or the Emmentaler, the muffuletta taste was suddenly there, briny and sharp. The olives were the base taste, but an assortment of pickled vegetables (giardineira) including nibs of carrot, cauliflower and celery rounded the flavor, giving the sandwich both accent and crunch. It was like tasting one of those food-lab concoctions that manages to distill the essence of a cheeseburger into a single liquid drop.

I’m halfway through a big honkin’ jar, but panic is already setting in. Neither the Italian Market nor Savarino’s carries the Crescent City staple; nor does Whole Foods. According to a representative at Boscoli Foods in Kenner, La., no one in Nashville carries their olive salad. The good news: Boscoli’s website sells a 16-oz. jar for $6.15—or better yet, a 128-oz. hogshead for a mere $22.50. If sweet Sue Caplenor is really an undercover pickle pusher hooking another po’ boy on Boscoli—well, consider me a grateful addict.

Bob-Bobbin' Along

The Washington-based Red Robin burger chain has just opened its first Nashville outpost at the Nashville West shopping center off Charlotte. For their grand opening, they'll donate 50 cents of every gourmet burger sold this week to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee.

The opposite of no-frills Five Guys, Red Robin has a burger for pretty much every land and inclination: chili burgers, pot-roast burgers, salmon burgers, teriyaki burgers, barbecue burgers. Also fajitas, cod fillets and fried jumbo shrimp, with individual pizzas for the little ones. A big, sprawling menu, just the way Kay likes 'em. Burgers run about $10, with sides of bottomless fries. And yes, Carrington, there is a milkshake.

The donation offer ends Jan. 20. Red Robin is located at 6802 Charlotte Pike, open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Call 352-1710.

The Fifth Sense

Ross Proctor, proprietor of Chateau Ross Vineyards & Winery in Springfield, TN, will be pouring his winey wares at Five Senses restaurant in Murfreesboro, Wednesday, Feb. 6. Unlike many Tennessee wineries, which produce wine from Muscadine grapes, Chateau Ross produces traditional European-style wines from vinifera grapes. (Click here to read Maria Browning's feature on Chateau Ross in the Scene.) Known for its Big Bitch Red label, Chateau Ross has won numerous awards for its red wines and has even been sold in local wine shops and fine-dining restaurants.

The tasting at Five Senses (1602 W. Northfield Blvd.) is from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and costs $20. Call 867-4155 for reservations.

Spankin’ New

If all goes according to plan, Spanky McGee’s, the new incarnation of The End Zone sports bar, will be open in time for the Super Bowl. New owner David Purcell is in the process of updating the tiny grey-blue house on the outskirts of the gleaming new Hill Center, in preparation for a Jan. 26 launch. With plasma TVs, a new covered patio out back and a fresh coat of paint inside and out, “it will not be nearly as dark and dingy,” Purcell says.

Spanky McGee’s has traded pool tables for a stage to host small acoustic live-music sets. According to Purcell, a limited menu, available for lunch and dinner, will include hand-patted burgers and “a fairly decent chicken wing sauce.”

As a 21-and-up bar, Spanky McGee’s will allow smoking. For now, the bar will be open 11 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and Purcell is considering opening on Sundays. Of course, he’ll open for Super Sunday. 2227 Bandywood Drive, 383-9115.

Music at Martha’s

The Music at Martha’s series kicks off this month with two evenings of music and food at Martha’s at the Plantation.

Thursday, Jan. 24: Songwriter Joie Scott and a menu of chicken-and chorizo pot pie and winter citrus salad. Light dinner music by Kristen Cothron.

Thursday, Jan. 31: Songwriter Jen Foster and a menu of Chinese spare ribs, homemade ramen and Vietnamese salad roll.

$25 includes the meal and show. Door opens at 6:45 p.m., and show begins at 8 p.m. Seating is limited, so call for reservations: 353-2828.

Conversation Bites: Chef John David Crow at 360

This week’s review of 360 features chef John David Crow’s menu peppered with unusual and eclectic items such as pea vine, boar and fresh Asian noodles. Crow trained at Seattle’s famous Ray's Boathouse and at the four-star Fountain Court in Bellevue, Wa., before graduating top of his class from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. In Seattle, he was part of the opening team at Brooklyn Seafood, Steak & Oyster House, pioneering in the genre of Pacific Rim
 cuisine.
 After serving as executive chef at The Space Needle, he opened Fire & Ice Lounge, which focused on seasonal fare from the Cascadia region.

Expect that résumé, along with the current culinary trends in the Pacific Northwest (think organic products, braising in butter and olive oil, and use of offal), to influence Crow’s work at 360 in the coming weeks. Crow predicts a menu flavored with Columbia River sturgeon, razor clams, octopus, sea urchin, sweetbreads
 and foie gras.

For a look at trends in the Pacific Northwest that might start to make their way toward Nashville, Crow recommends the following links:

seattlefarmersmarkets.org

seasonalcornucopia.com

pugetsoundfresh.com


If you have questions for Chef Crow, he’ll be stopping in throughout the day. Welcome to Conversation Bites, Chef Crow.

The Voyage of the Arcos

After a year of watching the transformation of Florida Seafood Kitchen into Los Arcos, a Mexican restaurant in the extended family of La Terraza and Las Casuelas, I am pleased to announce that The Arches—as the name translates—is open for business. Partners José Gutierrez, Martin Romo and José Miranda have opened the heavy wooden doors to a stunning building adorned with fountains, ceiling murals and carved wooden chairs emblazoned with the restaurant name. The large room with tile floors and elegant foyer with imposing portraits set a new bar for ambiance among authentic Mexican eateries on Nolensville Road.

The extensive menu is still in draft form as the crew tweaks a few dishes. Today we enjoyed ceviches with shrimp and fish, along with a basket of warm chips. We’ll definitely head back to try out the grilled poblano pepper stuffed with shrimp and the roasted pineapple filled with seafood and melted cheese.

Located at 3798 Nolensville Road, 837-3800, Los Arcos opens at 10:30 a.m. daily and is open until 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and later on weekends.

Remote Control

Quick poll: Which Food Network pilot would you vote to see?

• Brock Around the Crock, with host Sean Brock

• Paleta Palooza, starring the Paz sisters

• Theme Heat, hosted by Jeremy Barlow

• We Wish You a Marrow Christmas, featuring Laura Wilson

• Mr. Pink’s Potted-Meat Hoedown

Holy Krayp

Several thousand calories later—remember, I do it all for you—I have returned from dining walkabout, which led me, among other places, to Humphreys Street, behind Greer Stadium, where I was completely unable to find the much-anticipated new Judge Bean's Rio Grande Cantina.

But the surprise discovery of our jaunt was a little place called Kafé Krayp, located in the shadow of the R2D2 building on Fourth Avenue. Wedged in between a parking garage and Chile Burrito, Kafé Krayp, which serves—wait for it—crêpes, is nothing short of adorable.

With a subtle Euro-beat overhead and a monochromatic décor of chrome and glass, it's the kind of place you might expect to snack while strolling along the Champs Elysées. Despite the fact that the cutesy spelling of Krayp institutionalizes the mispronunciation of the French word, which rhymes with “steps,” this place wooed me with its giant crêpe irons and a dry-erase menu of sweet and savory crêpes rolled into cones, perfect for eating while walking.

We tried the mozzarella-and-ham version ($3.25), and we would have eaten our weight in different varieties—including smoked salmon with avocado and the chocolate-heavy dessert list. But we didn't have any cash, and the fledgling store, just a couple weeks old, doesn't have the plastic machine set up yet.

But we'll be back with a wad of ones. I'm thinking Bites outing?

P.S. A call to Greer Stadium finally solved the mystery: Judge Bean's is not yet open, but is coming soon to the location of the former Slugger's, inside the stadium grounds.

Kafé Krayp is located at 162 Fourth Ave. N.

Nacho, Nacho Man

We stopped by Jim's Nachos today, in the former location of Shake's on Granny White Pike. Perusing the menu of standard-issue Tex-Mex, Mr. Pink reasonably cut to the quick: “If I'm in a place called Jim's Nachos, by God, I'm going to order Jim's Nachos.” So when our server arrived, I asked for a full order of the eponymous dish.

“Jim's Nachos?” she repeated timidly. “Do you want them over rice?”

“Just nachos, please,” I clarified, as Mr. Pink sheepishly hid his smirk behind his water glass.

A few minutes—and two bowls of insipid salsa later—our order arrived. Fajitas were predictable and a bargain at less than $7. Tacos al carbon had the disappointingly unadorned flavor of, well, beef. At least the condiments were plentiful, if not homemade.

“Stop reaching for redemption,” Mr. Pink said, as I tried to accentuate the positive.

And then there were Jim's Nachos. A pale, monolithic plate of about eight wilting chips, topped with chunks of skin-colored meat, all sitting in a coagulating pool of white queso. Not even a salutatory sprig of cilantro to break the jaundiced monotony. Not what we expected, to say the least.

But then again, when you hang out with a guy like Mr. Pink, you come to expect a lot from a name like Jim.

Really Neely

Pat and Gina Neely, members of the Memphis family behind Neely's Bar-B-Que, are poised to join the pantheon of kitchen personalities when their new series Down Home with the Neelys premiers Feb. 2 on the Food Network. The Neelys, whose name now graces several restaurants in Memphis and one in Nashville, will launch a half-hour show, airing at 10 a.m. CST, that features recipes for their signature dishes such as Memphis-style ribs and barbecue spaghetti.

If you haven't tried Neely's yet, you might take advantage of the unseasonably nice weather to visit the Nashville outpost in MetroCenter. Regardless of how you like your 'cue, it's hard to argue with the serene deck perched over the man-made lake of the erstwhile Fountain Square. You've got less than a month to get there so you can say you knew Neely's before it was as big a name as Paula Deen.