The December Hit List: Drusie & Darr, Elliston Place Soda Shop, Sadie’s, and More

Nashville’s food pedigree just received a boost with the addition of Jean-Georges Vongerichten to the scene. The Hermitage Hotel’s restaurant of record is now Drusie & Darr, a modern American fine-dining restaurant showcasing Vongerichten’s international style combined with French technique. Ahi tuna tartare, lobster with ginger and chile, and black truffle pizza make a nice introduction, with more simply prepared mains like a NY strip and Maine lobster. It’s an appropriately splashy replacement for the Hermitage’s longstanding Capitol Grille, where chefs like Sean Brock made their names. The updated interior maintains the Art Deco style for which the entire building is known, while the name is a reference to Drusie and Darr Hall, the children of former hotel manager Dick Hall, who spent their childhoods in the ’50s and ’60s living on the sixth floor of the hotel. 

Breakfast is served at Egghill, a gourmet breakfast spot from veteran Nashville chefs Parkes Brittain (404 Kitchen) and Luke Webster (Tailr), and the investment team behind Jack Brown’s Beer and Burger Joint. The focus is breakfast sandwiches, specifically indulgent, creative mash-ups of ingredients and cuisines like the chopped cheese with ground beef, scrambled eggs, cheese, Dijonnaise, onions, and house-pickled sweet peppers on a bun, or the cochinita con huevo with braised pork shoulder, scrambled eggs, tomatillo salsa, and more. Roll up expecting something. 

Elliston Place Soda Shop has been serving classic meat and three, milkshakes, and diner fare since it opened in 1939. It’s now operating out of a fresh new space next to its original Elliston Place address, complete with refurbished booths, jukeboxes, and neon. Grab fried chicken with squash casserole, creamed corn, and mashed potatoes with gravy every day of the week, and make sure to finish up with a slice of Miss Linda’s chocolate meringue pie, or a banana split.  

Nashville’s restaurant scene is growing rapidly with splashy big-name restaurants coming to town. But many of its best dining destinations still are embedded in its neighborhoods, continuously delivering Nashville hospitality and inventive dishes to locals. Answer is one of the best of the genre, tucked into Sylvan Park with a menu of inventive Latin, Italian, and Asian flavors. Weeknight dinner on the covered patio is ideal.

Black Dynasty Ramen is now operating full-time out of the kitchen at Bearded Iris’s Sylvan Supply taproom, where its bowls of rich broth and noodles pair particularly well with the brewery’s more experimental brews (try Easy Tycoon, a rice lager that can cut through the fatty broth of a tonkotsu). There’s a distinct Southern component to Black Dynasty’s self-described Japanese soul food, with pickled collards joining creamy miso pork broth and housemade noodles, topped with soy egg, rayu, and more. Keep your eyes peeled for specials, including crispy chicken karaage and ramen with surprising ingredient combos. 

New York chef Andrew Carmellini has come to Music City with two of his restaurants in tow: The Dutch, a bistro-style restaurant, and Carne Mare, an Italian steakhouse. Both are located in the exceedingly shiny, newly completed W Hotel in the Gulch, featuring decadent design details and top-notch food. Oysters, caviar, tuna carpaccio, dry-aged steaks, and lobster en purgatorio deliver the high-end steakhouse vibes that Nashville loves, but with a decidedly sharp New York-Italian twist. Cocktails are classic and lean into Italian liqueurs and spirits, too.

Call 615-379-9000 for more info.

Whiskey weather is here, which means a cozy dinner at 404 Kitchen is in order. Settle in for cavatelli with oyster mushrooms, sumac, pistachio, and preserved lemon, or cornmeal fried rabbit leg with grits and mustard greens. The whiskey list is truly one of the deepest around, with hard-to-find brown liquor sourced everywhere from Tennessee and Kentucky to Japan and New Zealand.

Located in the former location of longtime clothing shop Katy K’s Ranch Dressing, the aptly named Buttermilk Ranch is now open, serving breakfast, brunch, and daytime items. It’s a small batch bakery, so there’s plenty to love in the carb department, starting with the cube-shaped croissants that act as the buns to the restaurant’s breakfast sandwiches. These “breakfast cubes” come stuffed with hearty fillings like steamed farm eggs with chives, Gruyere, and Boursin cheese for a very buttery breakfast indulgence. Elsewhere on the menu, salads and bowls pick up the daytime aspect of things, and a long list of bakery items rounds it out. Milkshakes, ice cream sodas, and coffees are also available.

Edgehill continues its upward trajectory in the dining scene with Sadie’s, a Mediterranean-inspired all-day spot. It’s occupying the former Taco Mamacita space, which means a roomy patio awaits when the weather is nice. It’ll be ideal for consuming whipped feta with honeycomb and peppercorns, or perhaps slow-roasted lamb with fava beans. Cocktails, wine on tap, and a light, bright, updated space is a win for the neighborhood at lunch and dinner.

Cool weather and modern Middle Eastern flavors are mingling perfectly at Lyra right now, where diners can start their meal with Hakurei turnips with mizithra cheese and parsley vinaigrette, or butternut kibbeh bil sanieh stuffed with spinach, cherry, and caramelized onions, served with apples and greens. A glass of red wine from Turkey (or any selection from the wine list, which has a good deal of wines by the glass from around the world) is a great pairing for short rib with urfa biber, labneh, and turmeric pickles.