Wings of Glory: Nuttin' But Wings Opens New Location

A couple of years ago, when I was relatively new at the Scene and still discovering the perks of employment, I was invited along on a mission to decide who had the best wings in town. I'll never forget the trip out to Clarksville Highway and Nuttin' But Wings. Their famous "Honey Hot" sauce had a stong impact on my young and impressionable mind—it was sweet, then hot, then sweet again. Magic.

So, imagine my delight when I spotted a "Coming Soon" sign for the wing joint on Charlotte Pike, just a few short blocks from the Scene's offices. I'm pretty sure the cross street was 15th; I do know that it was before the Jiffy Lube.

Check out Jim's 2006 Best of Nashville write-up after the jump.

What Is Wild Ginger's Growth Potential?

In this week's review of Wild Ginger in Cool Springs, I rave about the colorful, inventive sushi and the overall gorgeousness of the building at the corner of Bakers Bridge and Market Exchange Court. The owners, working with H. Michael Hindman Architects, clearly went to a lot of expense to build a consistent identity that is reflected in the clean flavors and contemporary, organic design of their independent restaurant.

Seems to me that's exactly what you'd need to do if you wanted to replicate your restaurant concept in a few—or a few hundred—other places. Assuming Wild Ginger can deliver a consistently delicious and elegant experience, the brand could find success beyond the sprawling asphalt pastures of Cool Springs.

Coincidentally, Wild Ginger is located just a few blocks down the road from another independent restaurant that we think could have legs for branding: Basil Asian Bistro. A much smaller concept, based on Thai and Laotian cuisine, Basil's simple, sultry décor and exquisite menu—think banana leaf wraps stuffed with salmon and banana spring rolls drizzled with honey and sesame for dessert—could be shoehorned into virtually any strip mall in the country, upping the ante for Asian food in almost any neighborhood.

For now, let's see if Wild Ginger can live up to its early promise. If you get there, please report back on your experience. In the meantime, what other local independent brands would you like to see expand their reach? If the world is doomed to be paved with chains, at least they could be our own homegrown businesses.

Ouyang House Introduces Dim Sum

The rumor is true: The year-old Ouyang House recently introduced dim sum. With a roster of Cantonese specialties, including steamed shrimp dumplings, pork shu mai, pan-fried turnip cake with spicy sauce, steamed bean curd skin roll and sweet rice wraps with chicken, dim sum is available daily. On weekends, traditional carts circulate the dining room for guests to pick and choose from the steam baskets.

Named for owner Mike Ouyang, a native of China's Fuzhou province, the restaurant hosts an extensive daily lunch buffet, with items such as jalapeno chicken, fried frog legs and stuffed crab shells. Chef David Qian, an alumnus of the bygone Shanghai Cafe and a native of Shanghai, recently joined Ouyang House. In addition to the lunch buffet, Chef Qian prepares a menu of traditional Chinese items including Shanghai-style duck, stir-fried rice cake and a seafood hot pot.

Located at 4523 Nolensville Road (Phone: 834-9989), Ouyang House is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends.

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

Que-Less

When I stopped at Dee's Q the other day for a shoulder sandwich, I noticed a sign that said they'd be closed on Sundays until further notice. I asked the girl at the counter about it, and she said that owner Reggie Crowder and his daughter, restaurant namesake Dee, were recovering from "a minor heart ailment" and "minor surgery," respectively. She stressed that both are fine and just need some time to heal up. Here's wishing them both a speedy recovery, and not just because I get hungry for Dee's smoky goodness every day of the week (and twice on Sunday).

Fresh Blends Gets Juiced

By this time next Monday, you may be sipping an açaí smoothie, fresh-squeezed carrot juice, or a Sunny Side Up breakfast cocktail of pineapple, mango, banana, oatmeal, OJ and honey. The sign and a few more finishing touches are the only things holding back the opening of Fresh Blends, East Nashville's new juice and smoothie bar, which is joining the new Ugly Mugs coffeehouse in the Walden space on Eastland Avenue across from the Eastside Portland Brew.

Co-owner/operator Tony Reall, who runs Fresh Blends with partner David Edwards, says a soft opening is tentatively scheduled for next Monday, July 28. If all goes according to plan, a grand opening will follow that Saturday, replete with giveaways, free T-shirts, gift cards, and special prizes for the very first customers to walk through the doors.

But as Reall admits, "according to plan" doesn't describe the effort that beset him and Edwards as they set out to open their first food venture.

"It was a much different process from what we imagined," says Reall, a familiar face to neighborhood residents from his work at the East Nashville YMCA. From scouring other juice bars for ideas on pricing and procedure to lining up a location and finishing the interior, two years of work have gone into Fresh Blends before the first grapefruit has even been squished.

When it opens, though, Reall says that customers can expect an assortment of juices and smoothies derived from fresh or individually quick frozen (IQF) fruits and vegetables, including locally grown organic wheatgrass. The menu promises health-nut staples such as pomegranate, green tea and açaí. (I've been meaning to ask Claudia if she's noticed any benefits from the açaí, or if the Brazilian berry is all hype—pulp fiction, as it were.)

So why is East Nashville hopping with restaurant activity while numerous places have closed across the river in recent months? Don't know, but Reall and Edwards both say that their fellow East Nashville restaurateurs and small-business owners have been generous with time and advice. Perhaps a rising tide of juice and coffee raises all boats.

Fresh Blends is located at 1888 Eastland Ave. If you want a peek at the location, an exterior photo of Reall, his dog Macey and Edwards follows after the jump.

Snacks at Macke's

When I was getting my tags renewed (belatedly), I was reminded of Macke's, the low-profile but lovely restaurant upstairs in Grace's Plaza, across from the county clerk's office. So my Stepford wife and I recently stopped in for lunch.

Macke's dining room, overlooking the august offices of Tennessee Bank & Trust, was dotted with several quiet pairs of ladies who looked like they nosh on crab cakes and lobster BLTs as a regular ritual—not a deviation from perusing meat-and-three, splat-Mex and pizza restaurants across the Midstate.

I ordered a Tuscan fish sandwich, which piled a fabulous piece of grilled tilapia with remoulade on too-tough slices of bread, which I could not bite through without smushing the fish out the sides. Once I abandoned the bread, the fish was a succulent and light lunch, plated with a bowl of jewel-colored melon and berries.

The Stepford wife (so-called because she and I live a block apart, work in the same office and drive matching minivans filled with equal numbers of children exactly the same ages) ordered the crabcake sandwich. Topped with lettuce, cold roasted red peppers and remoulade and served on a lighter roll than the impenetrable Tuscan loaf, it was a hearty sandwich with bursts of brightness. More remarkable were the thick steak fries, whose paper-thin fried skin gave way to soft, piping-hot potatoes that melted across the tongue.

While lunch and tip set us back about a steep $20 each, it was a luxury to dine in that noontime oasis, sipping mango iced tea from graceful (and bottomless) wine glasses, while the rest of the world went about its business—renewing tags on minivans and other such drudgery.

Located at 2131 Bandywood Dr., Macke's serves lunch daily (brunch on Sunday) and dinner Tuesday through Saturday.

Revising the History of Athens

If you are one of the legions of Athens Family Restaurant fans who read this week's dining guide and thought, “What the hell, Fox? That's ancient history!” you were right.

The Scene is undergoing a major website overhaul this week, after which we no longer will we have to inscribe the paper's online content into stone tablets. The good news is that news, event listings, blogs, archived stories and everything else will be a lot easier to access. The bad news, of course, is that overhauling a website is a pain in the ass, and Athens Family Restaurant caught the brunt of it when some out-of-date material surfaced and made it into print.

Our apologies to Adel Elostta and Dina Kazakos-Elostta for this week's antiquated dining guide listing, which failed to reflect the changes they have made to their authentic Greek eatery in the last three years.

For one thing, last year, the tireless couple introduced all-night service Wednesday through Saturday. Now you can get eggs, pancakes, toast, souvlaki, sandwiches and many Greek specialties into the wee hours. Recently, Athens added a 20-seat patio on the north side of the building, bringing a rare outdoor-dining option to the Franklin Road corridor. Now you can enjoy Athens' delicious Greek-style fish with lemon and olive oil, or the recently added lamb chops char-grilled with Greek seasoning, while gazing out at the Acropolis—I mean Eighth Avenue.

We hope there won't be many more mistakes during the conversion, but please let us know if you catch some. We're happy to set the record straight.

Located at 2526 Franklin Pike, Athens Family Restaurant is open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m Monday and Tuesday, all night Wednesday through Saturday, and until 2 p.m. Sunday.

Firefly Grille Post Script

Last week’s review of Firefly Grille went to press just as chef Kristen Gregory was turning over a new summer menu. I stopped by for lunch today and perused the new list, which includes an Amish tomato—stuffed with smoked salmon, capers, olives, crème fraîche and watercress—and a sandwich of tomatoes, mozzarella, arugula and basil pesto on French bread. Today’s special was a gorgeous plate of coconut curry with grilled shrimp, with a side of julienned pea pods and pink onions sprinkled with white and black sesame seeds.

Don’t miss the tuna tataki salad with slices of seared tuna over mizuna, cabbage, carrots, soba noodles, crisp fried wontons and peanuts, tossed in soy-ginger dressing. The generous and pretty plate offers a medley of tangy and nutty flavors and soft and crunchy textures that makes a light and satisfying meal.

While you’re there, pick up a card that offers a permanent 20-percent discount on lunch. With the card, the tuna tataki salad costs $12.

Space Invaders

Now that we’ve got a wish list of new restaurants, let’s start housing them. For starters, what would you like to see in the following spaces:

Cummins Station, in the former Jody's Bar Car and Kazu

Longhorn Steakhouse at 110 Lyle Avenue

New Orleans Manor at 1400 Murfreesboro Road

Nick & Rudy’s at 204 21st Avenue

Green Hills Grille at 3805 Green Hills Village Drive

Fire & Ice at 1805 Church Street

Bethel Ethiopian at 1909 Division Street

Calling All Foodies: A Plea From Mr. Pink

Dear Bites Brain Trust: You seem like a worldly, well-traveled and discerning group. (Why else would you be here?) Do any of you have suggestions for eating places—upscale, downscale, family, non-family, burger joint, roadside crab shack, whatever—around Destin? Specifically in the area near Seaside and Seagrove Beach? I figured if anyone would have the answers, it would be the Bites Brigade.

Chain, Chain, Chains

Lately, some of our loyal readers have complained that Bites is starting to look like a graveyard, what with all the memorials to fallen restaurants in recent weeks. But where others see problems, we at Bites see opportunities—especially opportunities for new and varied forms of gluttony.

Of the many restaurants that have boarded up in recent months, some, such as Green Hills Grille or Beethoven's Grille in Cool Springs, sat in locations so choice, pricey and large that most likely only a chain would follow. So instead of sitting back and waiting for yet another Applebee's, we'd like to suggest some regional and national chains—among the single-digit few that haven't already invaded—that should take a chance on Middle Tennessee.

Would we prefer more chains? Oh, hell no. Would we rather some enterprising, talented local chef assumed one of these spaces and gave Nashville the bistro/charcuterie/world-class veggie cafe it deserves? Oh, hell yes. But damn, folks, if tomatoes won't kill you these days, the price of gas will. Who else is going to fill these empty spaces? Who else has the mad money? Who indeed: Chains.

With that in mind, we extend a muffin basket of welcome to these candidates for Middle Tennessee expansion, after the jump. Please weigh in with alternatives, thoughts, testimonials, blind searing hatred, etc.

Second Mugging in East Nashville

Oh yeah, Germantown? East Nashville sees your new coffeehouse and raises it to two—on the same block of Eastland Avenue. Currently in the finishing stages is Ugly Mugs Coffee & Tea at 1900 Eastland in the Walden building. Hmmm, you say—isn't that right across the street from the East Side's Portland Brew outpost at 1921 Eastland? Indeed it is, but owners Jarod and Courtney Delozier say the folks at Portland Brew have been nothing but encouraging.

"Our hope is that we will complement them in some ways and hopefully help East Nashville grow as a local coffeehouse district," Jarod says. "My wife and I have always talked about having a place where we could stand behind the counter and watch people have conversations and meet for the first time."

Ugly Mugs will stock Drew's Brews, the Nashville upstart that's the java of choice for Crema and Sip, along with eight to 10 loose-leaf teas provided by Minnesota-based TeaSource. Jarod says the shop will serve iced teas in summer as well as homemade chai made without concentrates. He adds that Ugly Mugs will offer pastries, breakfast items and desserts, but they won't be made in house: he says he'd rather outsource to local specialists such as The Sugar Bar than "serve mediocre food." For the same reason, he says that instead of serving smoothies he'll direct people to Fresh Blends, the concentrate-free juice bar that will open next door in the same building.

Jarod hopes to be open by mid-July, at which time Ugly Mugs will start booking live music as well. In the meantime, enough about East Nashville. Now that java mills rival cupcakeries as Nashville's growth industry of the moment, where's the coffeehouse that Woodbine wants so desperately—preferably within walking distance of Peachtree Street?

Sugar Buzz

Picture this: You're headed home from a movie, but you feel like stopping on the way home for a nightcap. And by nightcap, we mean a slice of Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie—made mostly with locally grown and produced ingredients—and a cup of specialty coffee. That tantalizing possibility appeared over the weekend on the Maple Sugar blog. A call to baker/blogger Rebekka Seale raised our hopes even more.

Seale is closing down her popular dessert blog, alas. But she's devoting her energies now to The Sugar Bar, a bakery and dessert bar she plans to open this year. It's a venture with Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Michelle Branch, formerly half of the popular country duo The Wreckers, who posted the news on her own site last weekend. Seale says she and Branch met through Seale's former blog The Cake Parlour, an outgrowth of her wedding-cake bakery of the same name, and struck up a friendship over their mutual passion for baking.

A Belmont alum who moved to Nashville from Alabama, Seale credits Branch with the Sugar Bar concept, which she describes on Maple Sugar as

a sweet little bake shop where you can purchase cakes, pies, cupcakes, and other old-fashioned homemade goodies, but also a place where you can go after dinner and have a specialty cocktail or local dessert wine with your slice of French vanilla almond cake.

Right now they're eyeing a location in 12South, but their immediate mission is to rent a commercial kitchen to provide catering as well as desserts for local coffeehouses. (If anyone knows of one, contact Seale through the website.) For regular progress reports, check out Seale's new blog—which carries (along with a photo of one heckaslammin' peach pie) a link to a menu.

Items listed include cupcakes (chocolate, red velvet, the usual suspects), baby cupcakes (pina colada!) and layer cakes (caramel, German chocolate, hummingbird), along with seasonal pies, cookies, and Mamah's Classic Banana Pudding ("in its own Mason jar"). To place orders, contact orders(at)thesugarbar.com. And don't schedule any blood work the day after they're delivered.

Busterburger or Bust

The cool Ulika Food Blog, devoted mostly to all things barbecue, takes a rare detour to one of my favorite old hangs in Murfreesboro: Buster's Place at 1615 NW Broad.

Back when the Scene was mounting its ground-meat death match to determine Nashville's best burger, I kept my mouth shut about Buster's 30 miles down I-24. But I knew that if Buster's was as good as it was 20 years ago, when the late Buster Pugh was running it and I ate there every other week, there wasn't a burger in Davidson County that could whiff its buns. (That includes the contender who's still bitching that some Asian restaurant claimed the prize over his. Cowboy up, bud—your burger couldn't carry PM's wasabi.)

If the picture Ulika snapped above tells the story, Buster's is still burger heaven: nothing but burgers, crinkle-cut fries and onion rings. The decor sounds the same, down to the "mismatched tablecloths" and "the same soft beige hard plastic plates that were in your middle school lunchroom." But it's worth going back to see if Buster's still has the two things (besides the burgers) that earned my hardcore patronage.

One was Coke in real old-fashioned glass bottles. No cans, no plastic bottles, no fountain drinks: just ice-cold Coke longnecks sweating rings on the table. I always ordered two, just because. The other was, without question or rival, the greatest honky-tonk jukebox I've ever encountered. I could sit in there on a Saturday afternoon, with the sunlight outside scarcely daring to poke in its head, and wash down that first battery-acid sip while Ferlin Husky sent down his love on the wings of a dove, or George Jones praised his pappy's corn squeezin's.

Just looking at the picture, I can see, hear, smell and remember it all. A return trip is many years overdue. Thanks, Ulika.

YouFusion Restro

Enjoy this glimpse of downtown's “newest and finest restaurant,” Pearl Fusion Restro, located at the corner of Commerce and Second.

It's not an illusion.

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

Pearl Fusion Restro Opening Downtown

Pearl Fusion Restro officially opens for business tonight at 10 p.m., after the conclusion of a private opening event early in the evening.

With a menu of Asian-influenced items, including sushi, teriyaki and grilled meats, and a full bar including hot and cold sakes, Pearl will serve dinner only, Monday through Saturday, 5 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.

Pearl is owned by Chao Liu, who also owns Sake restaurant in Cool Springs.

Located at 204 Commerce St. (Phone: 942-6918), between Sbarro and San Antonio Taco Co., Pearl fills the location that formerly housed Royal Thai and later a Chinese buffet.

Boxed into a Corner

The restaurant group that includes the The Corner Pub in midtown and Alley Pub and Dalton's in Bellevue is adding two new nameplates. The Corner Pub in the Woods opened May 9 at 8058 Highway 100, and the owners are in the process of renovating the former Box Seat in Green Hills into a family-friendly smokehouse-style restaurant slated to open July 1.

Keith Blakely, former general manager of South Street and Bound'ry, is overseeing the renovation of the building at 2221 Bandywood Drive, which housed the bygone den of teenage iniquity known as Gameland prior to its sports bar days as The Box Seat. The building has been taken down to the studs and will be rebuilt with a new kitchen and bathrooms and garage doors that open onto patios on both levels (read: smoking will be allowed).

Chef Kelly Weatherford, an alumnus of the recently shuttered Trace restaurant, will man the menu of house-smoked ribs, brisket and salmon. In addition to barbecue, the restaurant will have a taste of the Gulf Coast, with oysters on the half-shell and fresh grouper.

The Corner Pub in midtown and The Corner Pub in the Woods were founded by the same group that opened The Corner Pub in Green Hills at 4111 Hillsboro Pike, but that restaurant is now run by an independent team.

Stimulate Your Appetite

On the off chance that you stumble across an extra $1,200—either in the sofa cushions or in a window envelope from the IRS—you might consider doing this with your windfall.

Rosales by Any Name

Los Rosales Mexican restaurant has a new owner, a new look and a new menu, but the sign at the corner of Blue Hole and Bell roads remains the same. Carlos Moncayo, a native of Guadalajara who formerly operated taco stands inside dance clubs, took over the fledgling restaurant in November. Banking on the fact that the Rosales name hadn’t made an impression, bad or good, on the dining public, he decided to keep the original short-lived brand and change everything else.

Moncayo remodeled the interior to create a “rustic, elegant” look with white tablecloths, and he rewrote the menu to focus on healthy spins on traditional Mexican cuisine. The majority of items are cooked using olive oil and organic vegetables, with a focus on grilling. Specialties include Filete Montez—flat steak rolled around mushrooms and vegetables and wrapped in smoked bacon—and grilled shrimp with avocado cream and almond extract, served with vegetarian rice and vegetables.

Located at 1307 Bell Road, Los Rosales is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Sunday. Margaritas are two-for-one 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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

Justify My Lunch

While I was reading Carrington's review of Mad Donna's this week—you should check it out if you haven't already, it's one of her best—this passage struck me:

"While the renovation of the building dragged on for months last year, the team devised a menu that meanders through the greatest hits of Mexican, Italian, Middle Eastern, Asian and American cuisines."

Uh-oh. I have not been to Mad Donna's, and for all I know it's a culinary wonder. But has there ever been a good restaurant that mixed that many ethnic cuisines, or that served the U.N.'s Greatest Gustatory Hits in a way that did justice to any of them? Maybe Mad Donna's is the place; I don't know. But when I think of places that might fit that description—most of them with names like Happy O'Slappy's or Terwilligers' or Whipsnade P. Livelicue's, where the servers peer at you from behind a bullet-deflecting vestload of flair—I just have to wonder.

In other words: is there a Ruby-Tuesday-Applebee-Charley-type chain that's better than all the rest?