Nashville Trip | The Eats

In July we went to Nashville, TN for the 3-day Con of Thrones convention.  It is the biggest Game of Thrones convention, and it encompassed both the TV show and George R. R. Martin’s “Song of Ice And Fire” book series.  Nashville was the first of our six trips this year, celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.  Today’s post will be all about the places we ate at in Nashville.  There will be two other posts about the convention itself:  programming and cosplay.

We flew into Nashville on Thursday 7/11, arriving at night.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express by the airport for convenience, because our return flight was at 6am and we wanted to make it as painless as possible.  The drive from the hotel to the Music City Center (convention center) downtown was only about 10 minutes.  After checking into the hotel, we looked on Yelp and decided to eat dinner at Mission BBQ at Opry Mills.  We arrived around 8:30 PM local time and the restaurant closed at 9PM.  But the lady at the counter was super nice.  She even called me “honey”, ha ha.  She gave good food suggestions too.  This is probably a stereotype but when we travel to the South or Midwest, I feel like people are much nicer in public than here in CA. 

We shared a Meat Market Sampler with three meats, a side of mac n cheese, corn bread, and a banana pudding dessert.  We chose brisket, pulled pork, and sausage for the three meats.

It was quite yummy.  The portion was meant for only one person, I think.  But it was enough food for us.  After all, there was more noms the next day!  :)

Friday 7/12 was the first day of Con of Thrones convention.  We ate breakfast at the hotel, and had decent Tex Mex food at the convention center food cart for lunch.  There’s convention panels and programming the whole day, including lunch time, so we didn’t leave the convention center for lunch all three days.  Twice we had this Tex Mex taco salad, and then once we had pizza.  They were both pretty good for convention center food.

Music City Center was really architecturally beautiful.  The outside resembles a guitar.  We enjoyed the facilities a lot.  There was room for all the panel discussions and main stage, and plenty of bathrooms too. 

Friday evening we walked over to Broadway, which is the craziest party street with bars and the biggest live music scene.  It is similar to Austin’s Sixth Street. 

We had no idea that Nashville was a big bachelorette party destination.  We saw tons of flat-bed trucks full of women just cruising up and down Broadway.  You could hear loud live music as you walk past bar doors.

We ended up at The Stillery, which had live music but not country music.  We saw two musical acts and they were both very good.  One was a solo artist and one was a band.

One of Todd’s ex-bandmates from The Northstar Session, Matt Szlachetka, now lives in Nashville.  (The one on the right.  Photo from their performance at the 2005 San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon.)

At The Stillery, we got the brussels sprouts appetizer.  It wasn’t as tasty as we had at other restaurants.

I got the strawberry gargonzola salad.  It was pretty good.

Todd decided to get the hot chicken tenders, which is a thing to get in Nashville.  He liked it.

We were there for a couple of hours eating and listening to music.  After dinner, we walked by Savannah’s Candy Kitchen and had to check it out.

On Saturday (7/13) night, we had dinner at an upscale restaurant by our hotel called Darfons.  The food there was actually really good, but we forgot to take photos.  Oopsies!  The only thing I have a photo of is the bread pudding dessert!  Todd got some sort of roasted vegetables plate and I had a salad with chicken. 

On Sunday night (7/14), our last night in Nashville, we decided to visit a famous BBQ place by the convention center called “Martin’s BBQ Joint”.  There was a line out the door.  Luckily, it moved pretty fast.  We got inside in about 15-20 minutes.  Once inside, you order at the counter.

Then you sit down and they bring the food to you when ready.  I got ribs with broccoli and mac n cheese sides.

Todd got beef brisket with fries and green beans.

The food was good and we enjoyed it!  I guess when in Nashville, have BBQ or hot chicken!  That’s it for our culinary adventures in Nashville.  Stay tuned for more Con of Thrones posts!