This Week’s Nutrition Adventure’s

Happy Friday, friends! It’s time for our weekly virtual coffee/tea/juice date so grab your beverage of choice and let’s catch up.

This week’s recap is more of a “What’s New in Nashville” post. My friend Jessica and her husband were in town last weekend so we checked out a few new places around town. Nashville is booming and it’s been a challenge keeping up with all of the new restaurants and shops opening. If you’re planning a visit to Nashville any time soon, definitely add these new hot spots to your list of things to do!

New & Noteworthy in Nashville

First up is Plaza Mariachi, located in South Nashville on Nolensville Road. Described as Nashville’s cultural shopping experience, Plaza Mariachi offers food, entertainment, shopping, art and more. It’s a short drive from downtown and definitely worth checking out. My parents are visiting next weekend and we’re definitely going! My favorite part of Plaza Mariachi is the MazFresco Market—a beautiful little international grocery store with Latin influence.

Before heading to dinner, we decided to check out the view at the L27 Rooftop Bar at Westin Nashville. WOW! This place offers incredible views of north, east, and west Nashville. Oh, and did I mention the infinity pool?

We couldn’t pass up a photo here! Nashville has been nicknamed Crane City with all of the construction going on. Even with all of the cranes in sight, it’s still a beautiful view from the top of the Westin Nashville 🙂

I’m considering moving into this hotel because it’s gorrrrrgeousssss from top to bottom. They have a million air plants and succulents hanging everywhere. Adding this to my Pinterest board for future home inspiration 😉

For dinner Saturday night, we went to Nicky’s Coal Fired in The Nations. My friend Holly has been raving about this place and I’m always game for pizza and/or pasta! Usually I try to take a sneak peek at a restaurant’s menu beforehand but I didn’t think about it this time. At first glance of the menu that night though, I immediately knew what I wanted to try: the Basil Risotto with olive oil poached snails, preserved lemon and grana padano. This dish seemed too good to pass up and it was incredible! Sorry there’s no photo of my snail risotto…it was too dark by the time we ate to get a good pic.

I did however go back to Nicky’s last night for dinner with some of my dietitian friends and this time tried the pizza. We had the red pizza with house-made mortadella, roasted peppers, spicy honey, mozzarella and the white pizza with peaches, gorgonzola, walnuts and vin cotto. Vin cotto means “cooked wine”, which is slow-simmered until thick and syrup-like.

Welcome to my soon-to-be favorite place to hang/do work! Caviar & Bananas started in Charleston, South Carolina, and this week they opened their first location here in Nashville. They had their soft opening Monday and Tuesday so I went both days. Ya know, just to help them work out any kinks before the official opening 🙂

On Monday night, I ordered something from the prepared foods section which is filled with a ton of great, healthy options like simply prepared proteins, whole grain salads, vegetables, and fresh fruits. The Asian Glazed Tofu was calling my name and was delicious! It went really well with the kale salad too. Caviar & Bananas also has a sandwich station, salad station, and a bakery/bar area where they serve breakfast, then tapas and wine in the evening.

[bctt tweet=”Check out these new & noteworthy places in #Nashville! #travel” username=”KarmanRD”]

More New & Noteworthy Places in Nashville

We didn’t get a chance to visit all of the newest places in town during Jessica’s visit last weekend (there’s only so much time and a certain amount of food one can eat in a day!), but here’s a few other great new spots worth checking out!

• Lulu Nashville — this a great spot for breakfast or lunch + free matcha soft serve ice cream is always available! Try the Ricotta Toast with Seasonal Fruit.
• Answer Restaurant — awesome happy hour menu (everything is $5) at the bar. Can’t wait to go back for dinner.
• Sea Salt — I talked about this lovely new dinner spot in downtown Nashville a few weeks ago so I couldn’t leave it off of this list!

Hope you all have a wonderful, relaxing weekend!