Nashville really swept me right off my feet and I’m actually happy to say I didn’t document much with my camera for the entire two days and a few hours that I was there. Too be honest, one part was because I was having the most amazing time taking it in and the other part was because I had a little bit of a meltdown. A meltdown pretty much fueled by exhaustion, a little bit of life, and then more exhaustion. There will be more to come on my time spent in Nashville but this post is dedicated to the darling and delicious, Loveless Cafe.
Located in southwest Nashville, off highway 100, the Loveless Motel and Cafe has been serving up amazing southern food since 1951. Martha Stewart is known to have called the Loveless Cafe the best breakfast she ever had. I’ve heard it’s not a good idea to disagree with Martha on many topics, one of them being breakfast. I was warned by a few locals that it can get quite crowded and there can be a hefty wait but even though it was Sunday morning, I got so lucky and walked right in and was gifted a table by the sweet hostess.
Within two minutes of settling into my nook of a table, as if they came down from heaven, I got my plate of their world-famous biscuits and jam. They make 4,000 to 7,000 biscuits every day. So in comparison, the five that I ate don’t even count. And yes, they gave a table of only little ol’ me, a plate of five biscuits. Oh, and for free. I wonder if Red Lobster knows they got crushed at the free biscuit game.
The plate came with three homemade jams–apricot, strawberry, and boysenberry. Without a doubt, my favorite was boysenberry because of that tiny bit of tartness that offsets the sweet jam.
My waiter highly recommended the chicken-fried steak, as one of their house specialties and his personal favorite. He said it was between that or the fried chicken. Now, I had specific fried chicken aspirations in Nashville, so I had to go with the first choice. It was incredibly crisp and evenly so.
The inside though, oh goodness, in such contrast was so tender. There was no shoe leather, dog growling pulling meat with teeth, struggles to be found. It was perfectly seasoned and what really impressed me was that it wasn’t too salty–it was just right. So many times, when it comes to heavy dishes, I find that everything goes overboard simply because the dish is indulgent. They proved that just because it’s a splurge, doesn’t mean it can’t be easy handed and delicate.
It was strongly and enthusiastically suggested that I get the hash brown casserole as my side dish. This glorious concoction consisted of hash brown potatoes, who knows how much cheese, probably a whole bunch of cream and milk, and sour cream. Potatoes, cream, and cheese are one thing but the crispy texture of starting with hash browns and the sour cream that gave the casserole the most incredible tang.
The coffee mug absolutely stole my heart. I knew instantly that I needed to roll myself over to the on-site store after breakfast and buy a couple for morning coffee time when I one day, got back home.
The 14-room motel portion of the Loveless became no more in 1985 and it wasn’t until its current new owner, in 2004, that the Loveless Hams & Jams Country Market opened. By the time I was at the shop, there were equal numbers of hungry customers passing their time waiting for a table and stuffed full customers, buying a taste of their breakfast to take home.
The market has endless souvenirs as well as of course…hams and jams. They also have biscuit mix (I called one of these my own), fried chicken breading, and signature seasoning blends. Luckily, they do have an online shop, that I just spent 35 minutes drooling over.
Without a doubt, no trip to Nashville will ever be complete for me without a little Loveless.
