Hattie B's Hot Chicken Visited 8/10/2017 4 Forks

Hattie B's Hot Chicken    112 19th Ave S., Nashville, TN 37203

When I asked a few friends what's the one place I should go to if I had only 24 hours in Nashville, almost everyone said Hattie B's.  So I guess that settles it.  Nashville is legendary for its hot chicken and this is really the only place anyone ever talks about.  Yes, it's a tourist trap but there were also plenty of locals there too.

I stupidly thought there would be no line when I went at 2pm on a random Thursday but it was about a 30-40 mins wait in the blistering hot sun.  According to my driver, there is always a wait.  You order at the counter and they give you a number to put on your table.  The menu is really quite simple - hot chicken in either a plate or sandwich format and you pick your spice level (no heat to shut the cluck up).   They also have a yummy line up of Southern side dishes and if you get a plate, you get a choice of 2 sides.  Since it was just me, I opted for the small dark meat plate ($8.50) hot (which is the 3rd hottest level) with collard greens and pimento mac and cheese along with a banana pudding ($3) and a large ice tea ($2.25).  God damn, I love the prices here.

I was ready to sweat my face off with the heat of the spice but either I've gotten better with my spice tolerance or it wasn't really as spicy as everyone made it out to be.  It definitely had heat to it but I didn't feel like my face was going to fall off or anything like that.  But the chicken was juicy and tender and not greasy or oily on the outside.  It was also the right amount of crispiness on the outside. The mac and cheese was gooey in the most unhealthiest of ways but that's what makes it so good. It's not some fancy pants mac and cheese made with gouda or gruyere but it's good old fashion yellow oozey cheese.  I got the collard greens to be "healthy" but in all honesty I think it had pork in it as well but that's what gives it its salty, smokey flavor.  By this point, I was stuffed and had to run to the airport but I took my banana pudding with me and you know what?  It was just as good in the cab too.  It was probably even better since the wafers were soft and melted into the pudding.  Banana pudding is one of my favorite unsung dessert heroes and this one at $3, really hit the spot.

It would have been sacrilege if I visited Nashville and didn't try out this place.  It was worth the wait even with the slightly annoying tourist population but the staff is super sweet, the food at it's Southern best and cheap as hell - what more could a girl ask for?  Total bill: $17 with tax and tip

Husk Visited 8/9/2017 4 Forks

Husk  7 Rutledge St., Nashville, TN 37210

Several years ago I visited Charleston, SC and I was so excited to to check out Husk.  But unfortunately I ended up having to cancel my reservation so I always had this place in the back of my mind as a place to come back to. While I never ended up back in Charleston, I did get the pleasure of traveling to Nashville for 24 hours and luckily I was able to squeeze this meal in before some work outings. 

While the location is kind of in a random area of Nashville, the decor was lovely - pure Southern charm.  It is an old Victorian House that they transformed into a restaurant but they still kept a lot of the finishes and character of it inside and out.  They have a great lunch menu where you can choose a la carte or also a Nashville Plate Lunch for $14 which includes a choice of 1 of 2 entrees and 2 sides.  I was all set to get the fried chicken plate lunch but then the waitress started describing the BBQ chicken sandwich ($14) in a mouth watering way that I got totally swayed into choosing that instead. For appetizers, we started with smoked trout deviled eggs ($8) and both Holly and Susanne got the cornmeal crusted catfish plate lunch.  

As a starter they bring out these pipping warm Parker House rolls and Jesus Christ are they delicious. The butter has pork fat in it, so you know it's good.  I could have eaten all 3 rolls but I was good and only ate 1 but don't say I didn't warn you when you try to inhale the whole basket.  I was excited for the appetizer as I'm always a sucker for deviled eggs and these were pretty damn good.  I originally thought the trout part was going to be in a roe topping but it was mixed in with the yolk instead. Either way, it was smokey and delicious and I was surprised that we got 5 pieces - I guess this is Nashville and not New York where you would have literally gotten 1 egg cut in half for that price.  It was beautifully presented and that was the case with the rest of our meal.  The catfish came out in this beautiful large mini tree stump-like plate.  I had a small bite of the catfish with the sweet onion relish and it was nice and tender.  My BBQ chicken sandwich wasn't plated quite a nicely but that wasn't a deal breaker at all.  I was expecting it to be kind of like a pulled pork sandwich and piled high on some kind of fluffy Texas toast but it was more like regular bread and cut up chicken instead.  The chicken was tender dark meat and was nicely sauced but I was kind of regretting not getting the fried chicken after all   Apparently they are also famous for their burger but after seeing it (it was a double cheese patty), I just couldn't bring myself to order it if I wanted to not fall asleep right away.

If our meal had ended here, I probably would have given it 3.5 forks - really solid but I was a bit let down by the chicken.  However, the dessert totally made up for it.  We got the brown butter soft serve ($9) which came with cocoa nips, caramel, and pecan.  I was a bit doubtful of this dessert and wanted a more traditional Southern dessert like peach or blueberry pie but this was out of this world.  It was sweet but not overly icky and it was just perfect.  This dish, the parker rolls and the deviled eggs definitely made it worth 4 forks.  The service was also fantastic - we had a super sweet and nice waitress who made the whole meal incredibly pleasant.  It was a great way to kick off my introduction to Nashville!  Total bill:  ~$80 for 3 people including drinks, tax and tip