Best Places to Eat in Nashville: Monell's Is #1

If you come up the river to Nashville you're gonna get hungry. I mean, you could eat before you leave, but why would you do that to yourself. So here's my list. It's short and it's opinionated and number one was never in question.

1. Monell's

Monell's is in Germantown, just north of downtown, at 1235 6th Avenue North. It's in an old Victorian house built in 1905. You sit at big tables with whoever shows up and pass the bowls to your left. Skillet fried chicken, cheese grits, biscuits, green beans, all of it, and they just keep bringing it. One set price covers the whole thing, drink and dessert included.

Michael King opened it on Thanksgiving Day, 1995. He says he was broke and they served 80 people that first day without any advertising. He's a Yankee from Massachusetts cooking Southern food, which I love. Their saying is "Enter as strangers, leave as friends," and it's real. You will end up talking to the folks next to you. I've learned more about strangers' grandkids over a bowl of grits than I ever planned to.

The weekend country breakfast is the one. Go hungry. Wear the stretchy pants. You'll thank me.

And here's the part that got me excited. Monell's has been working on a second spot in Ashland City, which is right on Cheatham Lake. It was first announced for The Harbor House, and later reports call it Monell's on the Cumberland at The Braxton by the marina. Last I read they were aiming for this fall but I haven't seen a firm opening date. So check before you go. But a Monell's I might be able to get to by boat? Come on. That's the dream.

2. Prince's Hot Chicken

Hot chicken started with Prince's. The original shop is on Nolensville Pike, and there's a counter in Assembly Food Hall downtown at 5055 Broadway. The downtown one is the easy pick if you're walking up from the river.

Tongs pulling a piece of hot chicken out of a fryer basket — Hot chicken coming out of the fryer. Photo by Amy C. Evans, Southern Foodways Alliance, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Order one level milder than you think you can handle. Trust me on this. Your mouth is writing checks your stomach can't cash, and you've still got a boat ride home.

3. Hattie B's

Hattie B's opened in 2012 and it's the hot chicken a lot of people try first. They've got several spots around town, including one on Lower Broad at 5069 Broadway Pl, close to the river. Expect a line on weekends. It moves though, and the people watching is free.

4. Arnold's Country Kitchen

Arnold's is the classic Nashville meat and three, at 605 8th Avenue South. Jack and Rose Arnold started it in 1982 and it won a James Beard America's Classics award in 2009. Lunch only on weekdays, so plan around that and check their hours before you go. Nothing worse than showing up hungry to a locked door.

5. Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint

Martin's does whole hog barbecue. The downtown one is at 410 4th Avenue South, a short walk from Broadway, and it has a big beer garden. It's open every day, which helps if your boat day lands on a Sunday. Grab a tray, grab a beer, sit outside. Good afternoon.

A boat day plan

Tie up at the East Bank dock, walk the pedestrian bridge, grab hot chicken or barbecue downtown, and get home before dark. Save Monell's for a morning when you can take your time and maybe need a nap after. My river guide to town is The Cumberland River in Nashville.

So that's my list. I know I left off somebody's favorite. Who'd I miss? Tell me and I'll go eat there. For research.