Road Trip 04-24-09

04-24-09
Our last day in Nashville.We are headed to Monell's for lunch. Monell is located in Germantown in a residential neighborhood.You pass thru the side yard with ponds and a tree shaded courtyard to enter.Family seating ie. 12 to 14 people sit at the same table and everyone sits at the same time. When you are seated the salad meal is on the table waiting for you, pickled cucumbers squash and tomatoes, cole slaw, brocolli salad, and banana pudding. You serve yourself and pass to your left. Start eating right away, even though your meal is not all there, because everything is brought out when it gets ready in the kitchen. Next the best Biscuits in the world. They do not even need butter, they are hot and almost fall apart in your hand. Then spinach lasagna,real mashed potatoes, then comes sweet corn pudding,white beans,turnip greens, keep eating, finally the pan fried chicken and fried catfish arrive 5 minutes later.It's like you went home(Time warp to 1960). The menu changes everyday. $12 per person for lunch.Homecooking at its best. We leave Monell's and are walking back to the car when we pass "The Cupcake Collection". We were already stuffed from eating at Monell's, however we were drawn into this place. It is a bakery inside a house. The owners came fron NewOrleans fixed up the house to live in and for the bakery in front. The cupcakes are fresh made and a new kind keeps coming out during the day. There is a chaulk board with the daily menu. We got a six pack, coconut, strawberry,chocolate,red velvet,carrot cake and wedding cake. Yum yum. Every cupcake blasted the flavor into your mouth.The strawberry was my favorite right after the chocolate, I just finished 2 for breakfast as I am writing this review and am trying to control myself and not eat another. Too late another one met its demise. We figure that it is time for a brewery tour so we head to theYazoo Brewery, we find out they only give tours on Saturday, there goes that plan for free beer. We are now off to the west end of Nashville near Music Row to a Pub called Dan McGuiness. As the names implies it is an Irish Pub and they pour a LOT of Guiness. Almost every beer poured was a Guiness. We got the Dan McGuiness Light, their own house brew. A suprisingly light beer. This is where locals hang out. When we were there two guys,both named Todd, reunited, they had not seen each other since High School 1983. Kelly the bartender knew how to keep everyone happy and could pour a Guiness like the pro she is. Either the outside deck or the inside will make you feel right at home. They have a great Happy Hour, half price appetizers, $1.75 domestic bottles or 20oz, Drafts for $2.75. We go back to Broadway for our last visit of this trip. We have decided that Tootsies is the best bar. Always the best bands and always the best friendliest crowd. I got to talking with the bathroom attendent, his name is KuntaKinte, like from the movie Roots. He makes his living on tips as do the bartenders and the bands, so when you are in Nashville have a stack of dollar bills and don't be afraid to share them. Time for dinner and we are headed back to Music Valley to a restaraunt we have eaten at before. The Santa Fe Cattle Co. This place packs them in with cheap prices cold beer and the best Margarita in town. Don't get their special millionaires Margarita or Outlaw Rita. When you are at the bar Chad the bartender will fix you what he calls the Chadaritta. Get it, it's $9 and worth every penny. We decide to eat at the bar. It was as good as we had last time, both of us had tender tender filet mignon, they have a tendency to under cook the steaks in this place so order accordingly. A Good ceaser salad, loaded baked potatoe for me, and a sweet baked potato for Dixie finished the meal. Nothing at all to complain about with this place. This place is consistantly good and we make it a must stop at place in Nashville. We head back to the coach and our new neighbors (nice thing about RV parks you get new neighbors almost every day) have a brand new beautiful 600HP Coach that make ours loot tiny, it is 46' long, this is a big rig. The 4 of them are from near Lafayette La. and they knew about Fred's in Mamu so we chatted about the places we have been and then, Out the door we went. Time for bed, we are beat. Headed to Knoxville tomorrow. See Ya Brian