Now on Resy: 1865 Club, Ella’s, Mercado, and More Local Favorites

Add this to your list of romantic hideaways: It’s a civilized speakeasy in an old tobacco company auction house, with cushy seating and warm chiaroscuro lighting. The cocktails are perfection and there are snacks to keep you going, plus a regular lineup of events — keep an eye out for upcoming cocktail classes and live music nights.

Pair Germantown’s butcher shop roots with Texan barbecue culture, and you get Butchertown Hall, an imposing temple to meat, where a custom-built smoker and open-fire hearth produce what may be the finest brisket in town.

Because Liberty Common goes all-in on brunch, four days a week. The menu covers all the classics with a bit of Southern flair — avocado toast, biscuits and gravy, chicken and waffles, and a fried egg-topped brunch burger — and you can’t go wrong. Bottomless Bellinis optional (but recommended).

You’ll want to make this exuberant Wedgewood-Houston Tex-Mex destination from Amaranth Hospitality (Butchertown, Liberty Common, etc.) a regular stop for its vivid aguachile-to-brisket fare, not to mention oysters and cocktails upstairs at the genial greenery-filled rooftop bar.

You can always trust this Aussie café for all of your flat white and avocado toast needs. At night, the lights dim and Two Hands wows with a $45 prix fixe (with options like burrata with roti and Goan-style coconut curry), while the à la carte menu offers a killer steak au poivre.

Book Two Hands in The Gulch, too.

For excellent Mexican food in Dickson, head here, where the menu boasts all the tacos, tortas, burritos, and nachos variations your heart could desire. Don’t skip fun twists like the birria ramen, a cheese-crusted burrito, or a chicken taco club. And do be on the lookout for live music nights and cocktail specials.

You can’t go wrong at chef Alonzo “Zo” Furtick’s hot spot, where Southern-style comfort food is the order of the day. The menu is stacked with imaginative variations on favorites like blackened chicken Alfredo and honey Cajun catfish — and you’ll want to sample it all.

First, there’s the location: A historic general store overlooking the rolling hills in Thompson’s Station. Then there’s the food: Circa Grill delivers impeccable Southern cooking with an international accent — get ready for bourbon-glazed pork belly, barbecue shrimp with jalapeño cheddar cornbread, and coffee-rubbed ribeye.

Magic happens when your wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizzas come out of a brick oven literally built in Naples. And Il Forno heightens the experience with luscious wines and Italian-accented craft cocktails, all in an industrial-chic space in Chestnut Hill. Don’t skip the antipasti (definitely try the filet mignon carpaccio) and pastas, either.

Franklin lost something special in 2017 when Saffire — the community’s favorite neighborhood gathering place for 16 years — closed its doors. Cue the celebrations, though, because it’s back (same location, same owner) and better than ever, with its quintessential bar-and-grill atmosphere and its chicken-fried chicken and smoked pork chop menu. 

Roberto Santibañez draws throngs to his real-deal modern-Mexican Fonda restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and you’ll definitely want to be one of the crowd at this family-friendly Nashville outpost, where he serves all his most popular dishes, from street corn with grilled lobster to Wagyu ribeye with chipotle-hazelnut mole. 

Chef Jose Serrato made his mark with the original Serrato’s in Franklin, and you’ll definitely want to put its sibling on your list, for its classic salads, hand-cut steaks, and signature seafood and surf & turf offerings — and did we mention his unique adobo pork burger and those garlic mashed potatoes?  

Bill Darsinos’ GReKo is East Nashville’s go-to Greek taverna. But at this wood-clad Sugar Valley restaurant and bar, he adds Greek and other Mediterranean accents to a Southern-leaning American menu, and the atmosphere is as warm as the Aegean sun. 

Bring a crowd to this high-spirited pizzeria on Broadway — part of a 50-year-old, 16-state, Atlanta-born chain — for the party-time vibe, the 32 beers on tap, the live music (this is Nashville after all), and above all, the irresistible, shareable pizzas, including specials like the Marley, with jerk chicken.