The Flavor of Nashville

As our city grows, changes and becomes even more diverse when it comes to our culinary options we find more people who are delving into the deliciousness all over the city. Many of us still love the traditional Southern types of food like fried chicken, pork chops, greens, mashed potatoes, corbread, biscuits and things that you would find at a meat and three restaurant or at your grandmas house but also love the new options.

Over the last few years we have seen restaurants like Margot's, Zola, Mambu, Rumba and others open and become very popular as they bring exciting new flavors to Nashville. They bring spiciness, fusion, boldness and a sense of adventure to the culinary landscape but they also have become very comfortable places to visit and enjoy. I love having the culinary options of Italian, Mediterrean, French, Caribbean and more in the same neighborhoods as traditional Southern foods.

Read the entire article here, http://www.webbspunideas.com/news.html

Where to eat in Tennessee - bar-b-que sandwich and white beans

Adam True Country Market
6332 Owens Chapel Rd
Springfield, TN 37172
615-384-3322

Food Network And Gaylord Opryland Resort Present: The Southern Food & Wine Festival At Gaylord Opryland

This premiere event will be held at the South's iconic resort July 31-August 2, 2009. It will include a variety of exhibitors, food and wine samplings and food competitions, plus live cooking seminars and exclusive opportunities to meet celebrity chefs including Alton Brown, Bobby & Jamie Deen, and The Neelys.

"We are thrilled to partner with Gaylord Opryland Resort and bring this fantastic wine and food experience to Food Network fans.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/
http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylord-opryland/?source=www.gaylordopryland.com

Chef Frank Stitt visits Nashville today for a cooking demo and book signing

The legendary Frank Stitt is coming to Nashville for a cooking demo and book signing at Williams-Sonoma in the Mall at Green Hills.

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Be sure to pick up a copy of his new book "Bottega Favorita, A Southern Chef's Love Affair with Italian Food" ($40), his new cookbook of Southern-tinged Italian dishes, two cuisines he feels share the commonality of bringing out the best of the most simple ingredients.

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The demo and book signing is at 1 p.m. Feb. 27 at Williams-Sonoma (the Mall at Green Hills, 2126 Abbott Martin Road). Call 292-5066.

Local Aficionado- Nashville; episode 3

Interview with Sam Davidson from Cool People Care
part 1
part 2
part 3
Visit the Cool People Care website
Check out New Day Revolution a book written by Sam and Stephen Moseley
Read Sam's blog
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Interview with Chef Joe Shaw
part 1
part 2
part 3
The Standard at the Smith House

167 Rosa L. Parks Blvd (8th Ave.)

phone 615-254-1277

A brief look around the Loveless Cafe

Delicious experience and had the pleasure of talking about good, local food with "the Biscuit Lady" Carol Fay. They will be open for Thanksgiving but stop out there anytime for a great experience.

Josh Smith, Chef Joe Shaw and everyone at The Standard are winning awards and in multiple magazine articles

Congrats to Josh, Joe and their entire team at The Standard. You guys truly deserve this award and I'm sure there are many more to come.
~Corey

Visit the website to see what they had to say about Nashville and The Standard. Great article about our fair city.



Enter Joe Shaw, alumnus of Watermark, who brought his passion for Southern cuisine to the gracious former residence.

Read the rest of story by Carrington Fox at the Nashville Scene website.

Joe Shaw making the rounds at the Jazz Cafe

Food from the Bourbon and Bacon Dinner and a word from Chef Joe Shaw

Chef Joe Shaw talks about the food at the Bourbon and Bacon dinner

Bourbon and Bacon Dinner - October 1st

The Standard Restaurant in Downtown Nashville is truly excited to bring two of the Southeast’s finest and most recognized artesian specialty food andbeverage producers to town for a great culinary treat. Julian Van Winkle of the award winning Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon line of Louisville, Kentucky willbe at The Standard on October 1st to host a dinner prepared by Chef Joe Shawfeaturing his bourbon’s and the bacon and ham products of Allen Benton of Madison, TN.

There will be a meet and greet hosted by Julian Van Winkle in The Standard Ballroom from 6:30- 7:30. A choice of bourbon toddies will be made available to guests including: Mint Julips, Sazerac, Old Fashioned, Whiskey Sour, Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon poured Neat and On the Rocks. Chef Joe Shaw will provide a variety of Southern hors d’ oeuvres featuring Allen Benton’s Tennessee country bacon to include: Benton’s country ham and local melons,open faced BLT’s and bacon wrapped bacon.Following the meet and greet in the Ballroom a four course dinner preparedby Chef Joe Shaw will be served in the front of the house.

The menu follows.

First Course
Alan Benton’s braised slab bacon on creamy country grits with house pickled okra served with Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year Bourbon

Second Course
Foie Gras wrapped with Benton’s country bacon, bourbon pudding, fig puree, and arugula served with Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year Bourbon

Third Course
Bacon larded buffalo eye of rib with sweet potato Swiss chard and bourbon and berry jam served with Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year Bourbon

Fourth Course
Ginger snap with Pappy Van Winkle bourbon and Allen Benton’s bacon ice creams and Benton’s bacon and pecan brittle

Chef Joe Shaw offers his philosophy on food

Chef Joe Shaw's turnip green recipe

Chef Joes Turnip Greens

3 turnip greens stemmed, washed, chopped
6 rashers bacon in julienne
1 large onion in julienne
1/2 C chicken stock
red wine vinegar
granulated sugar
salt
black pepper

In a large pot or roaster over low heat, render the chopped bacon. Add all the onion, increase heat and cook until the onion begins to brown, add all the greens and the chicken stock and cover the pot for 2 minutes. Open the pot and stir the veggies down. Cover and cook for 10 minutes more, add 1/4 C vinegar, 2 T sugar and salt and black pepper to taste.

Chef Joe Shaw is the chef at The Standard at Smith House in Nashville, Tn.

5 course wine dinner at The Standard at the Smith House- Sept. 18

The Standard Restaurant and Chef Joe Shaw in conjunction with Horizon Wines and Raymond Merlo of R. Merlo Estate Vineyards presents the first annual fall wine dinner at The Standard Restaurant on

September 18th at 6:30 pm. R. Merlo, a California winery lies in a remote river valley hidden amongst the inter-costal mountains of Northern California. Drastic temperature changes from between 90 degrees and 40 degrees nightly result in a rich and complex tannin structure that gives the wines strong backbone. It is against the backdrop of these full bodied and lush red wines that Chef Joe proposes his menu.

First Course

R. Merlo Estate Vineyards 2003 Pinot Noir

Sorghum glazed rabbit tenderloin with yellow corn grits and blackberry compote

Second Course

R. Merlo Estate Vineyards 2002 Merlot

Coffee and chocolate barbequed duck leg confit with Yukon gold and Vidalia

onion potatoes O'Brien

Third Course

R. Merlo Estate Vineyards 2004 Syrah

Syrah braised Destin grouper with Benton’s bacon and turnip greens

Intermezzo

R. Merlo Estate Vineyards 2001

Cabernet Sauvignon

Fourth Course

R. Merlo Estate Vineyards 2004 Zinfandel

Spice rubbed venison Denver leg with Jerusalem artichoke gratin, red wine

cassis demi glaze, and green beans

Fifth Course

A Variety of Ripe Cheeses

Talegio, Italy

Livarot, France

Roaring Forties, Australia

Presented Family style with local figs and Georgia pecans

There will be a one hour meet and greet hosted by Raymond Merlo in The Standard’s Ballroom with champagne and hors d’ oeuvres. The meet and greet will begin at 6:30 and dinner will be served in the main house to begin at 7:45. The price is $75.00 per person plus tax and tip. To make reservations please call

The Standard at 615.254.1277. Seating is limited.

Joe Shaw will be at the Farmer's Market again

Learn more at the Farmers Market website.

Star Cafe- Meat and Three's in Nashville series

Star Cafe

429 North Main Street (across from O'Reilly Auto Parts)

Goodlettsville, TN

615-855-0903

White Lily baking flour leaves Tennessee

FOR generations of Southern bakers, the secret to weightless biscuits has been one simple ingredient passed from grandmother to mother to child: White Lily all-purpose flour.

Biscuit dives and high-end Southern restaurants like Watershed in Atlanta and Blackberry Farm outside Knoxville use it. Blue-ribbon winners at state fair baking contests depend on it. On food lovers’ Web sites, transplanted Southerners share tips on where to find it, and some of them returning from trips back home have been known to attract attention when airport security officers detect a suspicious white dust on their luggage.
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But at the end of June, the mill, with its shiny wood floors, turquoise and red grinders and jiggling armoire-size sifters, will shut its doors. The J. M. Smucker Company, which bought the brand a year ago, has already begun producing White Lily at two plants in the Midwest, causing ripples of anxiety that Southern biscuits will never be the same.

Maribeth Badertscher, a spokeswoman for the company, said the new White Lily was the result of thorough product testing and promised that customers “won’t know the difference.” But in a blind test for The New York Times, two bakers could immediately tell the old from the new.

Read the complete story in the New York Times/ Dining.

Meet Joe Shaw and watch and learn as he cooks up some amazing dishes

The amazing Chef Joe Shaw of the Standard at the Smith House, 167 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., will be the featured chef at the Farmers Market’s first Chefs at the Market cooking demonstration at noon Saturday, June 28.

Shaw will start the day by shopping for fresh meats and produce at the market’s farm sheds and cook a few dishes for everyone to sample. The event starts at noon at under the shade of the Farmers Market tent in the Market Midway, between the two farm sheds. This event is the first in a series of cooking demonstrations that will take place every month at the Farmers' Market and features some of Middle Tennessee's finest chefs and best farm products.

For more information about events at the Farmers' Market, visit their website or call Marne Duke at 615-880-2001.

Wendell Smith's in Nashville (meat and three series, part 1)

The first in our series about meat and three restaurants in Nashville. We'll have more coming up in the future so come back and check them all out.

Watermelon salsa recipe from Pick Tennessee Products

Watermelon Salsa

You will need:
1/4 cup Smucker's Orange Marmalade
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup jalapeno peppers, finely chopped
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups seeded watermelon, coarsely chopped
1 cup sweet onion, chopped
1 cup orange sections, chopped

Stir together first 6 ingredients. Add watermelon, onions and orange sections, tossing until coated. Chill at least 1 hour before serving with Frito Lay Tostidos Gold chips. Yield: 4 cups. To can, heat all ingredients in a large saucepan and allow to simmer 10 minutes. Pour into hot pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims and adjust lids. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool on wire rack (untouched for 12-24 hours) away from drafts. Do not tighten lids. Store at room temperature.

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This recipe comes from the Pick Tennessee Products website.