Nashville Hi-Lites for the Ruby Hoedown
July 17th, 2009 by rickbradley 1 comment »
Seeing as how Nashvegas is the venue for this year’s Ruby Hoedown, and it’s OGC’s hometown, we thought we’d jot down some notes to help our Hoedown homies make the best of their time in NV. So, without further ado, here’s the cream of the crop:
UPDATED: No list is complete without coffee shops! Also added a couple other random bits.
Greenways
- The Nashville Greenways system provides walkable and bikeable paved trails connecting many parts of downtown. There are greenways that pass near the Opryland Hotel and connect with downtown Nashville. Greenways map
Entertainment / Events
- Pair Programming w/ NashDL & OGC – if you’re in town during the pre-Hoedown week and want to get together to do some pair programming with peeps from the Nashville’s Dynamic Languages Group and/or OG Consulting, drop a line to ogc@ogtastic.com or sign on to #nashdl on freenode. There may even be the possibility of during-the-week accommodations for a person or few.
- Thursday night, if history is any guide, a monthly free-beer mixer at Centre{source}, a local web shop, prime for conversion to the Ruby Way. Details as they emerge.
- Friday night Hoedown party: Jeremy will have details forthcoming…
- Saturday night OGC-hosted party: Free beer, live music, dead music, yard games, rubyists, anarchists, etc. Details forthcoming.
- Cheatham County Fair demolition derby - tentatively, Thursday night, $6 fair admission unless they’ve changed ticket prices
- Wilson County Fair demolition derby - Friday and Saturday night
- Wednesday night Old Time Jam at the 5 Spot . If you are a musician and are in town on Wednesday night, you MUST be here with your instrument(s).
- The Belcourt Theater - good independent theater down in Hillsboro Village; everything from art films to independent films to classic westerns; have a beer at your seat.
Music
- The Station Inn - bad-ass bluegrass, all shows.
- The Wildhorse Saloon - Charlie Daniels Band (thur.), 38 Special (fri.). I’m just sayin’.
- The Grand Ol’ Opry - near the hotel; shows every Friday and Saturday night
- 3rd and Lindsley - Some great acts turn up here quite frequently.
- The End - one of Nashville’s many non-Country venues. Everyone and their punk-rock grandma has played here.
- The Exit/In - Another storied (and even famous) non-Country venue, check their calendar.
- The Bluebird Cafe - Famous for breaking in new stars. Always good music.
- Be sure to check the Nashville Scene calendar and the Nashville Metromix calendar
- honky tonkin’. (You probably won’t be sad if you start at Robert’s.)
Food
- The Loveless Cafe - them’s some good-ass biscuits.
- Woodland’s Vegetarian Indian Cuisine
- Eastside Fish - aka, “The Crunkest Fish in Town”. Brave “the King Fish”.
- Rotier’s - classic Meat & 3.
- Las Paletas - excellent Mexican popsicles… you might also find them at Bongo Java, Fido’s and a few other random locales.
- Monell’s - sit-down-pass-the-biscuits Southern style dining.
- Mary’s Open Pit BBQ - mmmmmm. Open way late, cures what ails ya: like eatin’ a smoked rack of ‘tussin.
- Jack’s BBQ - the Trinity Lane location is the bomb, but the lower Broadway location is prime.
- The Hermitage Cafe - Wow, you must be out late drinking.
- Southstreet - Parking may be tight but the pulled pork is solid. Front page of lunch menu changes daily, set nightly menu. Open air seating in nice weather, upstairs and downstairs bar.
- Jamaica Way - good Jamaican food in the Farmer’s Market (see also Bicentennial Mall)
- Princes Hot Chicken Shack / 123 Ewing Drive / Nashville, TN 37027 / 615-226-9442
- Bolton’s Spicy Chicken & Fish / 624 Main Street / Nashville, TN 37206 / 615-254-8015
Boozing
- lower Broadway
- The Broadway Brewhouse - great selection of beers, multiple locations, good jukebox, wifi; the midtown location is considered by some to be the best bar in Nashville
- The Flying Saucer - huge beer selection, wifi, worth a visit
- The Villager Pub - great bar, great jukebox, great darts bar, so smoky you will throw away your clothes. Free dog bowl of beer on your birthday. You’re in luck if Kevin is tending bar.
- The Springwater - the consummate dive bar
- The Family Wash - East Nashville. Donald Ball recommends the “Pint & Pie”
- Bosco’s - high octane local microbrews in Hillsboro Village. Start here and stumble to the Villager.
- Blackstone - another local brewpub with pretty good food to boot.
- Yazoo - Nashville’s answer to Sierra Nevada? Regardless, hanging out in their tap room is a good time. Limited hours.
- 12 South Taproom - Good beer selection, great front patio, good food, great live music. Within walking distance of the 12th South Portland Brew and Frothy Monkey.
- 3 Crow Bar - Great East Nashville bar, food, pints, open air, convenient to many of the “5 points” attractions. See also the 5 Spot.
Coffee Shops
- Fido - High-traffic Hillsboro Village coffee shop (see also, Bosco’s and the Villager). Great food for a coffee shop, part of the Bongo Java empire, hence pretty good coffee. A few beer selections, but for real beer walk across the street. Good wifi, but power outlets are very scarce (laptop row up front and a couple near the back entrance).
- Frothy Monkey - Great 12 South coffee shop, good food, good coffee, good wifi, nice atmosphere, nice deck.
- J-J’s Market and Cafe - A NashDL favorite. Good coffee, great tea selection, impressive beer selection. Wifi is good but can get slow if there are a lot of college students hanging out. Within crawling distance of the Broadway Brewhouse and a bevy of decent Vanderbilt-area restaurants.
- Bongo Java - Decent food, good coffee, ok wifi, a popular place to hang out. NashDL does Saturday morning brunches here (when there’s no Hoedown to compete with).
- Portland Brew - 3 locations:
- 12th South - Had been under some renovations, but worth checking out – very popular, good coffee, good wifi, may have some food these days. Convenient to various attractions on 12 South.
- Murphy Road/West End - Small, good coffee, good wifi, not much in the way of food. A good pre- (or post-) Woodland’s stop.
- East Nashville - this is a two-story affair, fairly new, across the street from Ugly Mugs, and near some decent East Nashville eats.
- Ugly Mugs - close to the Portland Brew East Nashville location, good wifi, good coffee.
- Cafe Coco - 24 hours, also has a front deck and back room. Coffee, teas, beer on tap, food. Wifi has been known to be spotty, but a lively locale with a diverse crowd. Your best late night bet.
- Crema - Small, but the coffee is excellent, decent snacks, and great wifi.
- Dunn Brothers - Downtown, limited hours, but great food, coffee, and wifi. A really good environment if you can catch them when they’re open.
Attractions
- The Frist Center for the Visual Arts - Nashville’s art museum.
- The Parthenon - if you’ve never seen this, you must. Significant contributor to Nashville’s high national “WTF” ranking.
- The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum - Twang.
- The Ryman Auditorium - Historic venue, and a great, if expensive, place to see a show.
- Bicentennial Mall - outdoor craziness including fountains, capitol, railroad bridge, a Tennessee you can walk on, push the big stone globe, Art Bell-era “spaceship landing zone”, etc.; near the Farmer’s Market
- Dragon Park - aka “Fannie Mae Dees Park”, a nice park near Hillsboro Village (aka coffee, beer, food, fun) with an awesome dragon covered in mosaic tile.
- Dagohir weirdos in Elmington Park on saturday morning.
Outdoors
- Two Rivers Park (frisbee golf, skate/bmx park, wave pool), not far from the hotel
- Natchez Trace Parkway - 444 mile road, starting at the Loveless Cafe and ending in deep Mississippi. Nice drive, bicycling (you can rent a bike at the Loveless Cafe), hiking, views off a gorge bridge, etc.
- Radnor Lake - great hiking, you will probably need a car
- Warner Parks - great hiking, near Loveless Cafe, you will need a car
- Beaman Park - great hiking, you will need a car
- Bells Bend - great hiking/walking, you will need a car
July 17th, 2009 at 02:49 PM
Awesome. Thanks for doing the re-con work guys ;)