Monday Munchies- 5th and Taylor
There is a currently a sweet spot in the Nashville food scene where it’s really thriving and constantly growing. It’s that “mid-range, let’s see how hipster we can make this” type of restaurant where you can pull off the “I woke up like this” outfit and style that Instagram models like for people to think actually looks good, or you can dress up for a post work event or date night and not feel like you’ve overdone it. This list includes spots like Butchertown Hall, Bakersfield, Bartaco, Lockeland Table, Barcelona…and goes on endlessly depending on what neighborhood you’re in. I think it’s pretty safe to say that 5th and Taylor falls right in line with that demographic. Housed in the outskirts of the rejuvenated Germantown, it’s just north of the residential district that has seen a boom of condo and apartment living. With such a compact metro area compared to other major cities, it’s easy to get five minutes out of the downtown area and feel like you’re in a different city.
Many of these restaurants feel cramped, packing people in to small places due to tight real estate options and businesses doing their best to elevate earnings per square foot- if you happen to watch Shark Tank then you know that they ask this question every time someone comes in with a restaurant idea asking for an investment. 5th and Taylor, on the other hand, is expansive, with high ceilings and a spread-out seating arrangement thanks to it calling an old warehouse home. In the middle of the dining room, a life-size sculpture of General Francis Nash presides over dinner proceedings. In the back of the restaurant, the bustling kitchen is open to the patrons. Chef and designer Daniel Lindley had his hand in every part of the design, from the menu to the tile on the floor. It’s his homage to the standard American meal.
Life-size statue of the founder of Nashville, Francis Nash.
First off, I want to talk about the brunch menu. As it is in any bustling city, brunch becomes more popular every weekend and is a good pulse check on where a restaurant is and the success it’s garnering. 5th and Taylor’s brunch menu is killer top to bottom. Keeping it simple, there two columns on the menu- “to share” and “entrees”. The first item available to share is monkey bread with a cream cheese glaze-sign me up. There is a sausage cheddar biscuit appetizer, as well as a hashbrown casserole, which seems to never not hit the spot. For the entrees, there are a few stunners as well (when you only have five menu choices, they better be good). My favorites are- the fried chicken biscuit, because if you live or grew up in the South you know all about a good country fried chicken or steak. The eggs benedict, which comes with the ever-famous Gifford’s bacon and a homemade hollandaise sauce. And for all of you non-meat eaters, they have a tomato toast entrée that comes with fromage, gooseberry and shisho, which is a Japanese variety of spices from the mint family. Betcha didn’t think that you’d learn something new reading this today, huh. Brunch is open on Sunday only, just FYI.
For the regular dinner menu, they definitely trend toward the meat lovers of the world, with some dishes that would make our Neanderthal ancestors salivate in their caves. Their appetizer list contains eleven options, ranging from mussels, to cornbread with onion butter and sorghum sour cream, to duck wings that are raved about on Yelp. Pretty positive we went with the cheese dish last time we went, because my France loving wife refuses to pass up on cheese plates. For the a la carte grilled options, the beef zabuton is the best bang for your buck. At $27, it’s half the price of the prime ribeye and packs a great flavor. They also have a Leg of Lamb, grilled trout, and a rotating cut for the a la carte grilled section of the menu.
Mussels
The most underrated seafood.
On the entrée side- I’ve not been able to try this yet, but it’s highly rated- the duck looks delicious. The only other time I’ve ever had duck was in a French restaurant in London, and the photos of this dish take me back there. The slices of duck are wrapped in prosciutto and come with haricot verts and are swimming in a delicious fig sauce. I will 100% be getting this the next time that we go. As per usual, (I’m not a huge dessert guy mainly because I don’t need to add 1,000 calories to an already large cheat meal most likely, and I get too full to enjoy it anyway) the desserts look fantastic. Your standard cast-iron skillet cookie with bourbon vanilla ice cream, spiced oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and a cinnamon caramel crème brulee. Hillary and I love a good crème brulee, so we will have to make sure we save room for it on our next visit.
The duck’am entrée. Most entrees come with a side of home-made whipped potatoes that are worth the price of admission alone.
SCORE- 8.6/10