We Sipped, We Slurped, We Shopped: A Night In Nashville
Call Nashville Music City, fashion city, or food city—or just call it a good time. When we set out to plan a weekend kick-off event with the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, we knew we wanted to showcase all three of the things that make this city great.
Enter the happy hour of our dreams: two hours of food, fashion and music at White’s Mercantile in the 12South neighborhood. We called on some of our favorite area chefs to showcase riffs on their favorite local foods (Tennessee paddlefish caviar, anyone?) Nashville’s own New North band provided entertainment as guests sampled bites from chefs Julia Sullivan of Henrietta Red, Josh Habiger of Bastion, Deb Paquette of Etch and etc. and Sarah Gavigan of Little Octopus and Otaku Ramen. We don’t know about you, but we want to do it all over again next week. You in?
Luis Garcia1/15The only thing we like as much as food trucks? Flower trucks. We tapped mobile shop Amelia’s Flower Truck — a frequent fixture at White’s Mercantile—to decorate our tables for the night and give guests a place to purchase flowers to take home.
Luis Garcia2/15Henrietta Red’s Chef Julia Sullivan and Pastry Chef Caitlyn Jarvis shucked over 300 oysters for the event, topping them with cucumber, shiso, and Tennessee paddlefish caviar. Did they make it look easy? You bet they did.
Luis Garcia5/15Chef Josh Habiger honors Nashville’s long standing marriage of hot chicken with white bread with Nashville hot sweetbreads topping quarters of Bunny bread.
Luis Garcia6/15Sarah Gavigan is credited with bringing ramen to Nashville with her restaurant Otaku Ramen, so it’s no surprise she easily melded Japanese flavor and Tennessee ingredients in this dish: Koji marinated local beef, pickled local vegetables and preserved shiso.
Luis Garcia7/15You can’t have a party without cold beer. Fortunately, local brewer Tennessee Brew Works kept our bars stocked with a variety of their excellent craft brews.
Luis Garcia8/15Housed in an old service station, White’s Mercantile added a dose of insta-cool to the event. Not surprising given that its owner, singer/songwriter Holly Williams, comes from a long lineage of talented Nashvillians—she’s the daughter of Hank Williams Jr. and the granddaughter of Hank Williams Sr.
Luis Garcia9/15Pro move: eating dessert first.
Luis Garcia10/15Guests could listen to the band, shop at White’s, buy some flowers or just hang out an eat the point of uncomfortable fullness. No? Just us?
Luis Garcia11/15Clear eyes, full plates, can’t lose.
Luis Garcia12/15Musical act New North entertained guests with a mix of country classics and Top 40 hits.
Luis Garcia13/15In a town known for hospitality, Chef Deb Paquette stands out as one of the friendliest faces in the business.
Luis Garcia14/15Bon Appétit’s Deputy Editor Andrew Knowlton shares some laughs with Sarah Gavigan, chef/owner of Otaku Ramen and Little Octopus.
Luis Garcia15/15That’s a wrap! We’ll see you soon, Music City.
