Why Asian Jell-O is a Better Babysitter Than Bubble Tea

Thanks to Fluffernutter for spearheading this weekend’s outing to Golden Coast Chinese restaurant. Her pre-teen daughter is just old enough to be revered by my all-male litter of sub-5-year-olds. Meanwhile, the exotic buffet of congee, octopus and other oddities is enriching enough to substitute for some other more prim cultural outing, such as a visit to a gallery, through which, let’s face it, we would yawn our way, all in the name of expanding our children’s horizons, until it was finally time for lunch.

Honey, I'm Home

Chef Jimmy Phillips and his wife Seema have finally begun construction on a restaurant of their own in Sylvan Park. After months of staring at the space that formerly housed the landmark Johnson's Meat Market and subsequently the short-lived The Cottage Gate, the couple have started renovating the space to house Miel, a classic-style bistro with indoor and outdoor seating.

For the last four years, while they've searched for the right restaurant spot, Jimmy has worked as a private chef and Seema has sold real estate and worked in the wine industry. When Miel (French for honey) opens this summer, Seattle transplant Seema will oversee the front of the house and the wine list, while Nashville native Jimmy will man the kitchen. With a résumé that includes Charlie Trotter's in Chicago and Wild Boar in Nashville, Phillips will serve a repertoire of bistro classics, with a focus on fresh meats and fish served with traditional sauces and stocks.

Located at 343 53rd Ave., just behind Bobbie's Dairy Dip, Miel will serve dinner Tuesday through Saturday and will introduce brunch in the fall.

Tangredi’s Stepping into The Trace

M. Tangredi Restaurants Inc., the family-run company behind the two-year-old Tangredi’s Italian Kitchen on Elliston Place, is taking over the space left vacant when The Trace restaurant closed earlier this month. Chef-owner Michael Tangredi and family plan to reopen the trendy Hillsboro Village spot under the revised name Trace: Tuscan Bar & Grill. They are aiming for a June 1 debut.

The reincarnation of The Trace as an Italian eatery will make it a hat trick for M. Tangredi Restaurants, which is also in the process of launching Michael T’s: An American Grill in the former location of Country Life vegetarian restaurant on Division. The opening date for that project has been pushed back from March to May 1.

Mad House

In this week’s review of The Mad Platter, I mention in passing that owners Marcia and Craig Jervis (pictured here in the foreground) lately are spending more time in Costa Rica, where they are working to reforest a small farm.

Well, check out their little tropical getaway, Casa Moonvine. No wonder they're spending more time there. The good news is that you can rent Casa Moonvine for yourself.

Bites outing, anyone?

Taking the Cake

In the tradition of such crazes as the 2001 Steakhouse Glut, the 2004 Frozen Custard Scare and the Bubble Tea Panic of '07, the cupcake epidemic now grips Middle Tennessee. With Gigi's and Dulce Desserts both doing big business within blocks of Music Row, you'd think the region's frosting reserves would be depleted.

Wrong! Coming on extra-strong is Jessica Parsons at Franklin's Cuppycakes Bakery, whose cupcakes-on-demand business has already outgrown its first home in the crannies of Franklin's The Cocoa Tree. Now known as Cuppycakes Bakery and Confections (and bolstered by a snazzy new website), operations have moved to a new kitchen fashioned out of Parsons' garage near Spring Hill, where she's been joined by her mother, chocolatier Cathy Parsons.

That's a long way to drive even for butter-cream frosting—except for the fact that Cuppycakes delivers. Call (615) 569-8342, and Parsons will convey cupcakes—along with raspberry chambord truffles, petit fours, and her mother's other concoctions—as far as Hermitage, North Nashville and Belle Meade. Cupcakes are available by the dozen starting at $24, and Parsons includes a delivery fee.

Pictured is the 18 Karat Cake: carrot cake with cream-cheese frosting, gilded with edible gold dust. Talk about the Midas touch.

Belly of the Beast

This could have been mine. Instead, while Carrington feasted on spice-cured pork belly (pictured above, of course, from Claudia's site) and coffee ice cream with candied bacon, I sat home tending the ill, sullenly eating Pringles out of the can. But those who attended—spill, dammit. There's no way it could be as good as it sounds/looks/reads. Right? (Fights back tears.) Right?

Breaking Moos

Online grocer Plumgood Food has struck a deal to purchase the delivery business of Purity Dairies. The deal means that, starting April 1, Purity clients can place orders and pay online, and their milk will arrive in a purple cow-spotted truck.

For now, there will be no additional delivery fee or minimum order size for existing Purity customers, and Purity prices will decrease to be more in line with supermarket prices, says Plumgood president Eric Satz.

Plumgood Food was founded in 2004, specializing in the home delivery of locally grown and organic foods. Last year, the company announced plans to triple its offerings to include 7,500 items, including mainstream, national products and brands. Plumgood also offers prepared foods and same-day delivery in some areas.

Light in the East

The restaurant formerly known as Country Monkey and The Trap is now quietly open for business as Limelight. The 20,000-square-foot space overlooking eastbound traffic on Woodland Street now serves lunch and dinner and will soon open for happy hour and live music at night.

Owner Kenny Winchell is currently winding up operations at Bar Car in Cummins Station as he ramps up Limelight. (Bar Car will close for good April 1.) Winchell is billing the new project as “Nashville’s ultimate entertainment venue.”

Chef Tommy Strussion, co-owner of year-and-a-half-old Tommy Boy Sausage Co. & Eatery (4811 Trousdale Drive), will man the menu of all-American and Italian-American offerings, including a lunch buffet of Southern favorites.

As always, if you get there before we do, please report back on Bites.

Located at 201 Woodland St., Limelight serves lunch and dinner Monday through Friday and dinner on Saturday.

Krystal Corporate Memo Part II: PR Chimes In

I just got an email from Brian, who handles public relations for Krystal. Apparently, Brian and the PR machine at the mothership of burger-scented food squares stumbled across my recent ode to the Krystal MilkQuake. He wanted to make sure I knew about the upcoming Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and banana-split MilkQuakes, and to introduce me to the Krystal Freeze.

Opening Mitch—The Sequel

Typically, when you mix musicians and free food, it spells disaster. But the above crew—(l. to r.) Brenda Colladay (The Grand Ole Opry's photograph and museum curator), Chuck Mead (of BR549 fame), Warren Pash (who co-wrote Hall & Oates' "Private Eyes"), drummer/producer Ken Coomer (who's played with Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Tim Finn and Steve Earle), and singer-songwriter Sarah Hays—was disappointingly well-behaved at a pre-opening party at Mitchell Delicatessen, which swings into full operation Saturday (as noted in a previous post). We were hoping for an Idolator-worthy scene of drug-fueled debauchery, but the above assemblage provided little to gossip about. (Well, Chuck Mead did use a four-letter word, and we saw Warren Pash tear the corner off a takeout menu in a fit of rage.)

The soiree raised high hopes for East Nashville residents. A superb cheese selection, gourmet deli meats, grilled veggies, great curried chicken salad and beef pinwheels were among the samplings, and nothing disappointed. Can't wait till Saturday....

What the Hell Is That? Episode 1: Branston Pickle, Condiment of Democracy

As we strolled through the hallowed aisles of the fabulous Global Market, a new Bites feature was born. From time to time, as the mood strikes us, the Scene's staff of gustatory experts will venture out to Global or one of Nashville's other international markets and return with some intriguing foreign foodstuff that piques our preoccupation with piquant, perplexing and perhaps preposterous palatable pleasures. (By the way, if you've never been, Global Market is a gold mine for epicurean adventurers. It's a little hard to find, but well worth the search. It's at 918 Vine St., just across the street from Adventure Science Center.)

In the Here and Nowruz

In celebration of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, Genie's Persian Palace will host a traditional Haft Sin meal tonight. In keeping with the Haft Sin tradition, which marks the advent of spring, Genie's owners Mo and Shiva Karimy will prepare a meal based on seven dishes that begin with the letter “S,” each symbolizing a different creation:

Sabzeh: wheat, barley or lentil sprouts symbolizes rebirth
Samanu: sweet pudding made from wheat germ symbolizes affluence
Senjed: dried fruit of the oleaster tree symbolizes love
Sīr: garlic symbolizes medicine
Sīb: apples symbolize beauty and health
Somaq: sumac berries symbolize the sunrise
Serkeh: vinegar symbolizes age and patience

(Actually, Mrs. Karimy doesn't have any samanu, she says, but she has decorated the buffet with dyed eggs, a Persian tradition that predates Easter by thousands of years.)

Other traditions surrounding Nowruz include jumping over fires, spring cleaning, exchanging gifts and picnicking. Click here to read more about Nowruz. Or better yet, stop by Genie's tonight and wish Mrs. Karimy and “Mo” a happy spring. Chances are they'll tell you a whole lot more.

Genie's Persian Palace is located at 6990 Moores Lane. Phone: 370-7022.

Shameless Online Wheedling: It Works!

Yesterday in the mail, this enormous box arrived in the spotless nerve center of Mr. Pink Enterprises. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the label and saw that this monster had come from none other than Boscoli Foods of Kenner, La. I don't know what possessed the makers of the finest olive salad I've ever tasted to send Bites a haybale-sized box of goodies, but they did.

And oh my stars. As flapping vultures, er, colleagues came idly wandering from all corners of the edit department, I managed to fend them off with a box cutter while I looked inside. When the last bubble-wrapped bulge and styrofoam peanut hit the trash can, this is the bonanza that remained:

First to go were the spicy pickled asparagus spears: briny wonders with a hard carroty crunch and a fiery backbite of pepper. Then we cracked open the almond-stuffed olives—plump little beasties, though the almond taste was mostly obliterated by the pickling. Going over much better were the jalapeno-stuffed olives: not as scalding as you might expect, but with a nice cumulative burn that proved addictive. Elizabeth Ulrich absconded with the jar before I could alert the front desk.

We'll share reports on more of this bounty, jar by freakin' jar. Thanks, Boscoli! In the meantime, have I ever mentioned how much I'd love to try the combined wares of Ben & Jerry's, Emerald, See's Candies and Jack Daniel's?

Opening Mitch

Mitchell Delicatessen, East Nashville's long-awaited deli at the emerging crossroads of Riverside Village, will open its doors to the public this Saturday. Chef-owner David Mitchell and chef Julia Helton will debut with an Easter dinner to go. The menu includes a Roman-style artichoke appetizer, radish-and-butter-lettuce salad with feta vinaigrette, roasted red bliss potatoes, deviled eggs, peas with mint, and entrées of herb-roasted leg of lamb ($20), whole roasted chicken ($15), mustard-encrusted rack of lamb($24) and traditional Easter ham ($12).

Mitchell Delicatessen is located at 1402 McGavock. As always, if you get there before we do, please report back on Bites.

No Disputing Tayst

Tayst chef-owner Jeremy Barlow is now a sole proprietor, after he and co-founder Dan Morrissey recently parted ways. The amicable separation leaves chef Barlow in charge in both the front and back of the 4-year-old eatery, where he dishes up whimsical items such as Krispy Kreme bread pudding and gourmet-kitschy events such as the McDonald's Chant Dinner and a Movie Night.

In a recent email to customers and friends, Barlow was fairly tight-lipped about future plans for his restaurant. (But he was characteristically excited about the ramps coming in from the East and an early harvest of stinging nettles.)

Tayst is located at 2100 21st Ave. Phone: 383-1953.

What a Rice Idea

Words of which I apparently don't know the meaning include the following: gemma, firth and gallimaufry. I learned of these and other vocabulary shortcomings at freerice.com, which is the online equivalent of an endless SAT verbal section. Log on and start the multiple-choice quiz. For every word you get right, the site donates 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program, which is paid for by the advertising on the site.

Not that I'm trying to give Bites readers, who seems to have plenty of discretionary time on their hands, any other distractions, but this website--in addition to helping fight hunger--is completely addictive and, arguably, even educational. I now know that a gemma is a bud, a firth is an estuary and gallimaufry means "hodgepodge."

Now, for extra credit, I'll give 60 grains of rice to the first person to use the following three words in a single sentence: kine, gonfalon and ratiocinative.

The Man in the Big Hat

Next time you see Jack Cawthon and his black cowboy hat, give him a pat on the back—but wipe your sticky fingers first. Jack’s Bar-B-Que took home first-place prizes for its 
Carolina Mustard and Texas Sweet Hot sauces and won best gift pack at the recent National Barbecue Association Conference and Expo in Austin, Texas. Jack’s also took home third prize for its vinegar sauce and fifth place for its Music City White Sauce.

You can try these winning entries yourself at Jack’s two locations: 416 Broadway and 334 West 
Trinity Lane.

Watch Out for Leprechauns

Let’s play it Jeopardy-style: Green beer, motocross and an AC/DC tribute band.
What are three things you’ll find at McFadden’s Restaurant and Saloon today in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. The Irish-themed bar, located at 132 Second Ave., will host performances—including Irish folk band Whistling Gypsies and motocross champion Geoff Aaron—under a 60-foot tent on the corner of Commerce Street and Second. Doors open at 11 a.m., and Killian’s Irish Red and Guinness start flowing at 1 p.m. Admission is $10 and kids 10 and under are free. A portion of proceeds from McPattyfest will benefit Hands on Nashville.

Chilly Reception

Mike Hanlin, the Pittsburgh transplant who brought you Piranha’s Bar & Grill, has finally opened the doors to The Big Chill. Located in The Market Street Emporium on Second Avenue, The Big Chill will offer a creative menu of sandwiches, soups, salads and pizza bagels. Hanlin is even making smoothies out of cereals, such as Cap’n Crunch and Froot Loops. Eventually, the menu will expand to include breakfast. Catering is available, and delivery is coming soon. As always, if you get there before us, please report back on Bites.

Located at 112 Second Ave., The Big Chill is open 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily. Phone: 712-6163.

Higher Standard

The Standard at the Smith House, the Southern-style tearoom that recently added dinner service to its repertoire, has hired chef Joe Shaw to revamp its entire menu. Over the next two to three weeks, Shaw will streamline the rambling offerings, with a mind toward building a menu that has the same integrity as the laboriously restored Victorian residence that houses it.

The overall flavor will remain Southern, says Shaw, whose culinary resume boasts the post of opening chef at Watermark restaurant in The Gulch. But the recipes and processes will be more deliberate. For example, he says, “We'll still have chicken salad, but it will be the kind of chicken salad that nobody makes any more because it's too damn hard.”

Since leaving Watermark four months ago, Shaw has been catering and writing a business plan for his own venture, which he is still developing. For now, Shaw and Standard owner Joshua Smith have entered into a five-week consulting arrangement.

The Standard is located at 167 Eighth Ave. 254-1277.

N2YN

Next time you're cruising the high-rent sidewalk between Whole Foods and Anthropologie in the Hill Center, duck into (yn). The zippy little wine shop with streamlined shelves and a cryptic name is the project of Ed Fryer, formerly of the Wine Shoppe of Green Hills. You might also recognize wine educator and so-called Burgundy Bootlegger Melanie Armstrong, who is helping get the store off the ground.

The name (yn) is the only quasi-pretentious thing about the store. The "y" should have a bar across the top, making it sound like “Y”, which, combined with “N”, should sound like “wine.” Get it? (Editorial note: I don't know how to type that bar across the top.)

Beyond that, (yn) is as straightforward as possible. With 365 wines in stock—one for every day of the year—Fryer focuses on bottles under $20. The store is divided into red, white and bubbly, with signs above the racks denoting “Light,” “Lively,” “Lavish” and other such flavor profiles, so if you like, say, Vivacious Vicky, you'll probably like the other labels surrounding her on that shelf. Or you might want to walk further down the wall toward the fuller-bodied wines under the “Rich” sign.

Don't be surprised if the next big thing on the tony streets of Hill Center isn't a $500 handbag, but is instead a white cardboard carrier for six bottles of wine. You can mix and match a 6-pack for a 15 percent discount.

(yn) is located at 4025 Hillsboro Road, 383-N2YN (6296).

Mole Contendere

You might remember a few weeks ago when Bites posed the question of where to find good mole in Nashville. We came up with a few places—Lime, Sol and Rosario's among them—that make the intricate Southern Mexican sauce, which is often served with chicken and tamales. But the consensus was that there's a shortage of the Oaxacan specialty in these parts.

Maybe that's because mole is a complete bitch to make. With dozens of hard-to-find ingredients that need to be roasted, toasted, ground and even set on fire, mole is not for dilettantes.

Intrigued by the online conversation, frequent Bites contributor Claudia Young tried her hand at mole negro this week—using 29 ingredients, including Mexican cinnamon and an avocado leaf. It took her the better part of a day to roast and grind sesame seeds, pecans, bread, chiles and plantains, mixing them in a delicate titration with Mexican chocolate and pork fat. After forcing it all through a fine sieve countless times, God bless her, Claudia packed up the finished product with a chicken and some rice and schlepped it down to the Scene office, where we devoured it in about the time it takes to say, “Yo no quiero Taco Bell.”

The end result was a mysterious marriage of spicy and soothing, sweet and savory, in which fruity tones of raisin and chocolate nestled up against the sultry burn of pepper, with a dusty finish of cinnamon and clove. For us benefactors of Claudia's kitchen labor, the experiment was an unqualified and delicious success. Then again, we didn't spend all day Monday trying to ignite chile seeds.

For Claudia's part, she vows never to repeat the tedious chore, and she is deaccessioning the surplus guajillos, pasilla Mexicanos, chipotles mecos and anchos negros via a contest at her own website. All visitors to cookeatFret.com will be entered in a random drawing for a mole kit, complete with all the ingredients necessary for mole negro—with the exception of one ingredient that Claudia can't provide: time. You'll have to find that for yourself.

McCormack Nominated for James Beard Award

Congratulations to Margot McCormack, chef-owner of Margot Café & Bar, the only Nashville chef and restaurant to make the semifinals for the prestigious James Beard Foundation Awards. McCormack is one of 20 semifinalists in the category of Best Chef Southeast. The only other Tennessee contender in the category is Erling Jensen from Memphis. Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tenn., is in the running for Outstanding Wine Service.

On Monday, March 24, the James Beard Foundation will announce five final nominees in each category, from which the winners will be selected and announced on June 8 in New York City.

For a full list of nominees and information about the awards process, see the press release.

Without a Trace

It is a headline that has seemed inevitable. The Trace, the sleek and chic restaurant and watering hole at 2000 Belcourt Avenue, is closing. After tonight’s final clearance dinner, when everything on the menu will be marked down 50 percent, owner Ken Perry will turn out the lights and, he says, possibly return to the healthcare field from whence he came.

Founded in 1997 by Herb Allen and Greg Shockro, The Trace first traded hands in 2003 when restaurateur Danny York took over. Since purchasing the place three-and-a-half years ago, Perry has faced a series of challenges, including an eviction lawsuit, rumors of closing, the advent of no-smoking legislation and a shifting economy.

While legal wrangling over the lease is ongoing, The Trace is no longer under an eviction notice. And Perry recently declared the restaurant a 21-and-up establishment to circumvent the new no-smoking laws. But, he says, “It’s time to move on to the next thing and let someone else take a shot.”

Just who will take the next shot is still unclear. Attorney Adam Dread—coincidentally, Dread was the first general manager of Faison’s restaurant, which predated The Trace in that location—has a list of prospective tenants. Dread is working with the Hayes family, who own the property, to select a business that complements the neighborhood. Dread is unusually tight-lipped about the process, but he says the transaction could happen fast.

Randy Rayburn, owner of neighboring Cabana and Sunset Grill, says he will not throw his hat into the ring. Meanwhile, Perry will leave all the restaurant equipment on site.

Joining the Circle

Brett Allen, former owner of Wild Boar restaurant, has signed on as general manager and wine director of 360 Bistro. Allen will work with co-owner Nick Jacobson to expand the wine list this spring.
Last year, owners Jacobson and Joe Gordy brought on chef John David Crow to help reinvent the restaurant formerly known as The Grape, after separating from the Atlanta-based chain of The Grape wine bars.
Located at 6000 Highway 100 in Spaces shopping center (353-5604), 360 serves lunch and dinner seven nights a week.