Chocolate cake in a jar with chocolate ganache  with sprinkles and sea salt is the dessert that is kid friendly but really for grown ups.  It’s laced with a little bourbon and if you don’t want to bake it in jars, makes the absolutely perfect one layer cake when that’s all you need. It doesn’t crumb, as it is rich, dense, moist, fudgy (due to the brown sugar and espresso). The bourbon added to the ganache adds even more depth to the chocolate satisfaction. Be warned, though, this cake is chocolate crack and it was never even supposed to be a post.

Did you ever have one of those dreams where you are supposed to be somewhere, but in the dream, you just can’t get there. Things keep happening;  you can’t find your clothes or your keys or maybe even your car.  This is how I felt trying to get a picnic post together for the monthly Creative Cooking Group.  I had something completely different in my head for this that was a little less Betty Crocker and far more gourmet, but it never happened. It’s not that I didn’t try, but plans got foiled and I began to feel like I was in one of those dreams where I couldn’t get to my kitchen, because no matter what room I entered in my house, the kitchen was no where to be found. This is my default post, not nearly as creative as a former picnic post for this group… grilled watermelon with blackberry syrup and sprinkled lavender salt.  But I have confidence that if you make it, you’ll make it a lot.

So what is so creative about a chocolate cake? On the surface, nothing, but in my many years of chocolate cake baking, I discovered that not all chocolate cake is alike, and more importantly there are reasons there are so many different chocolate cakes. I recently posted these adorable chocolate cupcakes that have a buttercream frosting. They are the best chocolate cupcakes I ever had, perfect for  birthday parties, but not so perfect for hot weather picnics and  patio parties. The cake is a light and moist and the frosting would melt. This cake is dense similar to a  fudge brownie,  and more hot weather friendly.

Perfect Chocolate Cake for Outdoor Eating, Picnics or Barbecues

This chocolate cake, however, is the perfect picnic cake. Once baked in jars and dolloped with ganache, the jars are put into the refrigerator. The ganache gets very dense and fudgy. If taking these to an outdoor picnic, you can pack them frozen, and they will defrost along the way. See, I’ve thought of everything. I put sprinkles on the ganache because it looks fun and festive, but for the adults you might want to add in some flaky sea salt.

This is a very adult type cake because there is whiskey in the ganache and espresso in the cake. I cut the sugar and made the cake dense, more to a grown up’s liking, although a scoop of vanilla ice cream will take you back to childhood in a very good way.

This recipe is also perfect when all you want is a one layer lake. It’s great for parties, potlucks, etc. because it doesn’t crumb up and it’s easy to pick up and eat. Serve in small squares and let people eat by hand.

You can play around with this cake. Top this cake with toasted slivered almonds, even coconut as soon as the ganache is poured for something really different. Just make sure to add your toppings while the ganache is wet. Make this chocolate cake with whiskey ganache in jars or do a one layer cake, depending on your occasion.

When baking in jars, I used wide-mouthed half-pint mason jars, which are the perfect size and very handy for pantry items too.

This post is part of the Creative Cooking Group. Joan of Foodalogue will be running a round up on Wednesday with lots of gourmet picnic ideas.

This one is a real favorite because all my life I have loved the real strawberry shortcake.

It’s Sunday Biscuit Day. It seems that at least once a week, I’ve been featuring a biscuit and I think Sunday is the perfect biscuit day, especially shortcake biscuits.

When I say  real, old fashioned strawberry shortcake with homemade short cake biscuits, I hope you all know what I mean.  Not those sponge cakes we all had as kids. Who’s idea were those? They still sell them in the store, but please take a minute and see how easy this recipe is and make your own shortcakes. These are so much better. They absorb the strawberry juice, yet don’t get soggy and make a perfect bite of cake, fruit an cream.

Sweet crumbly biscuits that are so suited to absorb the juice of strawberries and cream. The only thing that makes it even better is adding a tiny dollop of ice cream which melts into a creamy sauce absorbed by the biscuit. Pushing chocolate aside, the strawberry shortcake dessert is grown up childhood comfort food. Adding a few blackberries to the strawberry shortcake makes it even better.

Shortcake biscuits are different from regular biscuits. They crumble, which is what “shortbread” does. . Similar to short bread, they are crumbly due to the butter/flour ratio.  My basic biscuit recipe has a high fat content so I didn’t increase that. I used my basic biscuit recipe, adding more sugar and using cream instead of buttermilk.

This is a great make ahead dessert.  You can freeze the biscuits and warm them in microwave, or make them early in the day. Assemble immediately before serving. Mason jars come in very handy for an outdoor barbecue.

So tell me, how do you eat your strawberry shortcake? Soggy store bought sponge cakes or the real shortcake biscuit?

If you’re interested in some other strawberry recipes, try this strawberry simple syrup or this strawberry sangria.

Tuscan Kale Salad with raisins, almonds, Pecorino, all dressed up in a lemony salad dressing might make one ask what the fuss about kale is all about.

Kale is trendy. Kale is healthy. Kale is a super food. Kale is here to stay. Kale is versatile.

These are all true statements. But notice that I didn’t say kale tastes good and I’ll tell you why.

Kale, in and of itself, is a rough ,tough, grassy green, friendlier than turnip greens or mustard greens, but not as friendly as raw spinach. However, when marinated in a salad dressing, I find it superior to spinach for a salad. Raw spinach sometimes leaves a film in your mouth and cooked spinach cooks down to nothing.  Kale does neither. Also, Kale can dressed hours in advance and it holds its shape. Even overnight. Make a kale smoothie or put kale in the right  salad dressing  and kale is transformed.

While much of God’s good produce can be eaten all by itself when it’s picked, such as  a carrot or an apple, kale needs to dressed with a bit of fat and acid. Once, kale is understood and properly attended to, it takes on an unusual seductive charm.

 Here in the Southeast of America, kale has become the “it” salad. It’s hard to find a restaurant that doesn’t serve it, and this salad was featured in the supper club I participated in. Kale has gone mainstream in an era of people rushing to eat sensible farm food that can elevated to gourmet status. Kale is performing well with its new found popularity and nearly every day I hear about a convert, someone who used to hate kale and now eats it all the time. (I was one of those).

The Tuscan Kale Salad

This is a sexy kale salad because the salt in the pecorino and the heat in the cracked chili pepper mingle together with the acid in the lemon to make you want to take one more bite and then one more bite. It’s similar to the kale salad I made here, but I added in pecorino cheese and raisins for texture. This is the side salad to serve when you’re grilling boneless chicken breast. The aroma of toasted almonds and the lemony dressing and Pecorino hit your nose first. The almonds give crunch, the raisins some sweet chewy texture and the pepper flakes add zing and the shavings of Pecorino Romano bring in perfection as yet another layer of flavor. This is so good, you might just want to add in some chicken or shrimp and call it a main course summer dinner.  Be sure to use genuine Pecorino Romano and leave it out for at least twenty minutes before you shave it. It’s very salty and flavorful. You can use a good Parmesan as a substitute, and on the milder side, even a Manchego cheese would work. It won’t have the same bite as a Pecorino Cheese, but goes well with a lemony dressing.

So tell me, have you gotten on the kale band wagon yet? Do you have a favorite kale salad? Leave a link if you do.

Sweet Stash, located in the Nashville Farmer’s Market, is a sweet find.  I first stumbled upon this bakery when I took Mr. ST to Bella Nashville Pizza for his birthday lunch. To my surprise, Sweet Stash is located in the nearby vicinity and there were cupcakes in the display case. The  birthday dinner and cake wasn’t scheduled until the following night, so we thought it might be nice to finish our meal with a birthday cupcake.

Whitney May, owner and baker, has been bringing cupcakes and cookies to market since 2010, as a temporary vendor. Last year, they got a permanent location inside the Nashville farmer’s market, and it’s adorable, everything a cupcake shop should be as there is a vintage feel to it. They get the important things right, flavor, taste, size, price and service.

I usually don’t eat store bought cupcakes, as they are generally too sweet for my taste, and never as good as what I can make at home. I take exception with the cupcakes at Sweet Stash.  Each confection is balanced with flavor and sweetness, yet there is a simplicity to the baking that is elegant and palate pleasing, for kids and adults. Today’s cake baking seems to be all about fondant and decoration, but not necessarily flavor. Whitney drives flavor and texture into her baking, while keeping it pure and unfussy. She bakes the kind of cupcakes that make you buy more than one and some to take home.

I asked Whitney, who lives in Franklin where the professional kitchen she bakes in is also located, why she chose her shop location in the Nashville Farmer’s Market. I loved her answer. “These are my people.”  When Whitney was carting all the baked goods and retails props for over two years to the market, setting up and tearing down daily, the market clientele became her loyal customers. It’s easy to see why. As I said, I bake, and I can honestly say Whitney has a delightful “sweets” palate, baking with flavor, creating cakes, cookies, and truffles that are stand out from the crowd of cupcake places.

One of the most popular treats, however, is not cupcakes. It’s the Oatmeal Sandwich cookies. My husband went crazy over these, as does everyone at the market, as she often sells out of these quickly. Moist, oatmeal goodness with cream in the center, promises to remind you of childhood. They make 15 different types of cookies, but they may not always be available at the shop.

If you’re not into oatmeal cookies, you might fall into the peanut butter cookie sandwich bunch. You can see again how moist and good they are.

They make over 30 different types of cupcakes. They are not always available at the store, but most are available to order. The ones on the left  are my personal favorite. They are called the  Vanilla Almond Wedding Cake with traditional vanilla buttercream and a hint of their signature sparkle. The crumb is light, tastes like almond but not too much, and the frosting is not sickening sweet, again, just right.

My second favorite is the Triple Chocolate. Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate: Milk chocolate cupcake topped with milk chocolate buttercream dipped in semi-sweet chocolate ganache, sprinkled with a hint of gold sparkle. I haven’t had the red velvet yet, but so far every single thing at Sweet Stash is delicious.

Miranda, one of the staff, is as sweet as can be. She is the gal we first met who made sure we had a candle for our birthday cupcake.

The Nashville Farmer’s Market has grown significantly over the years. It draws a clientele from several surrounding areas and to my surprise, both times I’ve gone there, a Friday lunch and a Sunday, it was packed with people who’ve come to eat from the many little eateries gathered under the roof. If you haven’t been there in years, it’s worth a trip, as in the last few years, many artisans have set up shop such as the Bella Nashville Pizzeria, and a personal favorite, Jamaica Way. As we sat there, I watched Sweet Stash nearly sell out of every cupcake and cookie, so get over to Sweet Stash and see why.

You can order cupcakes with a two week notice. They will do mini-cupcakes with a minimum of two dozen, and they have one vegan choice. Some of their other yummy flavors include chocolate raspberry, french toast and sweet potato (a seasonal cupcake).

Sweet Stash is located at the Nashville Farmer’s Market, 900 Rosa Parks Blvd., Nashville.

I devoted a whole page to the Relish Epicurea Supper Club this past month, because something so cool happened to me. Carlos Davis, the chef I’ve written about here and here asked me to be his guest chef at the premier of this new culinary adventure.

His dream is to share good food with the community, to cook for family and friends and to involve local food bloggers. I was deeply honored to be first and given the hand to choose the menu.

What is a supper club or a pop up restaurant?

The pop up restaurant does what is suggests. It pops up in a location often disclosed a day before, adding to the excitement and anticipation. Pop ups usually move around, and are a clever marketing approach to opening up a new restaurant, helping a more permanent venue grow legs. A supper club might also share in the mystery of an undisclosed location or might be a monthly event at the same place. Both pop ups and supper clubs sell tickets in advance  (and sometimes at the door also) and take full advantage of social media.

The food is what the rave is really about. It’s a fixed menu, of several courses, usually giving a chef the chance to pump it up, cook his or her dream food and express their true culinary style while delivering more than a restaurant experience. It’s an event where it’s not uncommon to come out at the end of the night having gained new friends and a relationship with the chef.

A question for you foodies, home cooks, and food bloggers: If you are asked to come up with five courses for a supper club, what would you choose?  I have over 450 recipes here at Spinach Tiger, so I consulted me first, which I know sounds funny. I knew I wanted the food to represent fresh produce, an Italian note or two and a Southern note and nod because for the last 14 years I have lived in Nashville.

My personal approach to food is a cross between Marcella Hazan and Alice Waters, two legends that have inspired home cooks and chefs for decades, focusing on fresh, high quality ingredients. My heart went to beets, sweet potatoes, kale and Brussels sprouts, for these are readily available locally and that was important. Out of character for me, I planned the menu backwards and  I went straight to dessert first, grasping to find something very Tennessee in spirit that might celebrate my  personal home cooking accomplishments.

Then I had to figure out how a menu could wow a supper club crowd, and harmonize with the culinary genius of Carlos Davis. He is from Barbados, and has a very specific culinary viewpoint that Nashville has more than embraced making him the most popular street food chef in Nashville because he has knows how to layer flavor, make a beautiful presentation and leave folks wanting more.

This is the menu we finally decided upon, loaded with fresh vegetables, with many ingredients sourced locally.

What is Relish Epicurea?

Firstly, it’s a dream of a chef who migrated from Barbados to America, coming with heart for food, cooking and community. Carlos Davis sees his supper club as the pinnacle of his life, the way he personally gets to express who he is, which is a chef who cooks food full of flavor and panache, yet humble enough to involve others (like me) in the planning of the menu. Carlos and I designed the menu together, which included buttermilk pie and and an anchovy seafood pasta, representing food close to my heart.

I was more consultant than chef on many of the courses, except for the dessert and appetizer.  I personally made 50 tarts and all the pie dough from scratch. I was able to work in a professional kitchen, which at Casa Azafrán, is a dream. The brand new professional kitchen is part of a plan to provide a place for the community to have access to a professional kitchen rental as needed and to share culinary and artistic expression.

The Five Courses

I love beets and that’s reflected on all the many beet recipes here. The first course coincidentally matched the beverages at the table. Carlos made a deep red sorrel punch and I brought a lovely Rose, Chateau Des Annibals,  to start the dinner.

The First Course: Crostini with Red and Yellow Beets, Noble Springs Goat Cheese Mousse, Thyme Honey

I eat cheese from goats I know and I wrote here why I think this is the best goat’s cheese you can buy in Nashville.

The beet crostini was inspired from this dish here.

The goat cheese was turned into a mousse with a bit of heavy cream, and the honey thyme was just delightful. Before I took my place at the table, I was able to get back into the kitchen to snap a few shots of the food plating.

The Second Course: Kale & Apple Salad with Sweet Potatoes, Walnuts, Raisins, Benton’s Bacon, Maple.

This dish  was inspired from here.  I chose a kale salad, because it’s one of those staples in my kitchen at all times and I want people to love it as much as I do. I can’t think of a food that reminds me more of the South than Sweet Potatoes and I am always trying to find new ways to enjoy them.

The Third Course: Squid Pasta with Anchovy Sauce,  Scallop and Pistachio Butter

Many great dishes evolve from varying culinary viewpoints. I first had anchovy sauce with seafood and pasta at a restaurant on my honeymoon in the San Francisco area. This was a mere starting place for this dish. The dish was further refined with squid ink pasta from local pasta company Alfresco , and then topped with pistachio butter. The folks at my table didn’t leave a drop, which tells you how good this was. The wild sea scallop was perfectly cooked and delicate, harmonizing well with the pasta and sauces.

The Fourth Course: Coffee Infused Braised Beef Short Ribs with Brussels Sprouts

When Carlos and I were talking about short ribs for them menu, we both had coffee on our minds at the same time. The ribs were crusted with ground espresso beans and browned,  and then tendered in a braise of tomatoes, onions, and special seasonings.  The short ribs cam from  Nashville’s Porter Road Butcher, where quality prevails.  They were fall off the bone good with a deep, complex flavor profile.

The Fifth Course: Hatcher Dairies Buttermilk Pie with Whiskey Cream inspired from here.

I chose a buttermilk pie because I wanted feature local  Hatcher dairy, which makes exquisite full fat buttermilk. It was exciting for me to make one of my favorite desserts which reminds most people of their childhood. Buttermilk pie is not too sweet, not too heavy and when flavored with bourbon and paired with a berry compote, it’s a perfect way to end a great meal on a happy note.

It was a bring your own wine event, which we personally love, so can drink wine that might be a bit too expensive in a restaurant. We started the night with a Rosé  and ended with this lovely Italian Red.

Relish Epicurea will be a monthly event at the same location,which is a beautiful venue, conveniently located to serve both Nashville and Williamson County. The Conexión building is a story all in itself, so please check it out. During the warmer months, expect to sit outside in a very beautiful setting.

The next event is May 24 and will represent the personal vision of Chef Carlos as inspired from his Barbados roots and the love for flavorful, colorful food. Each dish will represent a different color.

You are welcome to bring your favorite bottle of wine to accompany your meal, glasses will be provided. Read more about Chef Carlos and where to order tickets here.

Biscuit IS the new cupcake and I can prove it with this chocolate chip cookie dough biscuit. Or I could say, brownie hot fudge sundae, move over, there’s a new girl in town and she packs everything into a dessert that everyone loves. Soft warm chocolate chip biscuits that smell like the cookie, ice cream,  and warm dripping chocolate.

The way my husband and his family and many others around here talk about biscuits, it’s if they are a thing of the past. I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that no one can make biscuits the way (fill in the blank) could, and that person is always dead, taking her secrets to the grave with her. Folks will reminisce about how they watched their mother or grandmother throw flour and fat into a bowl without a recipe, as mysterious as someone concocting a spell.
They’ll never be another biscuit like Meemaw’s, and because those biscuits made on that woodburning stove were so legendary, no one dare attempt to make them. The lore surrounding those biscuits made this generation believe they just couldn’t be recreated. I broke into biscuit making and through much trial and error ended up with my fluffy buttermilk biscuit, which now serves as a base for many different types of biscuits, and we are creating our own family biscuit memories.

Not everyone has a childhood memory of biscuits, but most can recall chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. This is the bird that kills two stones, bringing those same smells and tastes of chocolate chips with brown sugar and butter into a biscuit. It’s two classics in one, and brings a double smile.

This is a just a fun take off of the biscuit I am so proud of. I know this is unique and some Southern grandmothers may point a finger at me for stepping out of line and call me a Yankee, but Nashville is doing all kinds of things to Southern Food, creating a near food revolution here, so at least I’m in good company.

Today is Mother’s Day. I give you the chocolate chip cookie dough biscuit to honor all the mothers and grandmothers of past and present  who have pulled a tray of chocolate chip cookies or biscuits out of the oven for their family. Now just make sure to teach your children how to bake, no matter if they are boy or girl, so they can in turn do the same thing for their family.

You can start with the chocolate chip cookie dough biscuit, which honestly was made by a five year old boy. If you’ve been around for any time at all here, you’ll know I have two sous chefs who love to be in the kitchen.

My inspiration for healthy spelt and flax pancakes with cinnamon and orange zest comes from my favorite french dessert, Crepes Suzette, only this is a little healthier.

Orange zest is powerful and pleasurable and a little goes a long way in waking up a recipe, especially when paired with vanilla or cinnamon. Sometimes just to have a nice smell in the kitchen, I’ll boil water and add in orange slices, vanilla and a cinnamon stick and then let it simmer on the stove.

This is a little different than the banana honey spelt pancake  and or the strawberry spelt pancake.  Those pancakes used apple sauce instead of fat and cook differently. This makes a fluffier pancake, but not dense or heavy.

I used milled flax seeds (which are ground up flax seeds) which is a fiber and nutrition booster. Everyone knows by now flax seeds are high in omega 3 fatty acids, but there are many benefits.  I use them in smoothies, and yogurt.

The batter is thick and may seem odd for pancakes, and it almost seems like they aren’t going to cook. Cooking pancakes is always tricky for most people.  I used a cast iron griddle with hardly any fat. I used a paper towel to glisten oil in the seasoned pan and that’s it. I was patient. These pancakes don’t bubble up the way thinner battered pancakes do, but take a look at the edges to see when they are ready to turn. I started with a medium high heat, but quickly turned to a low heat because cast iron retains heat so well.

The flavors are amazing, as you smell  and taste the orange and cinnamon gathered in a fluffy textured pancake. We used plain maple syrup and an added dash of orange zest. I made two batches right in a row and every single pancake disappeared before lunch.  I have a feeling that these are going to be my most requested pancake in the future.

I am eating a special organic green salad five days in a row now, all made with a chive vinaigrette made with my homemade chive flower vinegar. This is odd considering I don’t like anything resembling onions in my salad.

When I was a little girl, my family switched the way they made green salad and started putting onions in it, to my horror, I might add. I would make them keep my salad separate. Onions can make me cry, and they did, but not how you think. They started lying to me and I would bite into my salad and taste the onion which led to tears. Why didn’t they understand that I hated raw onions, and I loved salad.

I only use vinaigrette for salad and just like in childhood, I still eat a salad with every dinner. This means I have to find creative twists to not get into a salad rut. I know you do too, because this honey lemon salad dressing is always in my top ten ranking posts. Knowing how much  just a little honey can do for a vinaigrette, I featured it in this recipe. A little goes a long way in helping the oil and vinaigrette bond together.

I stumbled onto chive vinaigrette by sheer accident. I grew one chive plant last year and over the winter I saw it blossom and grow beautiful flowers. I didn’t know about chive flowers and when I talked about it on social media, someone sent me a link for making chive vinegar. I had no idea and I made the vinegar that very day using champagne vinegar as a base, but a white balsamic or a white wine vinegar works too.

The recipe called for storing the vinegar with the flowers for two or three weeks, but I didn’t want to wait. My vinegar had enough chive flavor for me by the next day. The vinegar turned a beautiful color resembling  soft pink tourmaline.

The chive flower vinegar became chive flower vinaigrette using only two other ingredients, honey and olive oil. So far, we’ve been eating this dressing for the past week, stored in a mason jar, and I’m loving it.

It makes ordinary baby lettuce taste better with no additional ingredients, but it pairs really well with chopped green apple with cheddar or blue cheese. The bite of this vinaigrette would also complement beets in a salad.

To further the chive experience, serve with these  bacon cheddar chive biscuits.

Maple Buttermilk Scones with Lavender Sea Salt is an evolutionary, maybe revolutionary scone. The inspiration and most of the maple scone recipe came from a post on the  Lives and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch. You know it’s a funny blog when Grumpy is the name she gave to her husband.

This exchange is part of what we do every month on the Secret Recipe Club. We are assigned a blog at random and then it’s up to us to find a recipe we most want to make. I chose maple scones because Mr. ST used to always love them at Starbucks, a coffee place we rarely frequent now that we have so many good coffee houses in town.

So far, this is our favorite secret recipe post, and maybe even a five star winner that makes it into our top ten favorites. These are that good. I made two batches with different flour, and I’ll post the recipe that came out the best. I used White Lily soft wheat flour for the first batch and they were a little too crumbly. I used 2 cups all purpose flour and 1 cup spelt flour for the second batch and the crumb was perfect, tender, yet not falling apart. Instead of heavy cream as in the original recipe, I used buttermilk, because I always use buttermilk in recipes like these.

My personal touch was a last minute decision. I sprinkled lavender sea salt on top of the maple glaze. The last time I was this excited about lavender sea salt was when I used it with this grilled watermelon. I can’t tell you why this works, but it more than works. Salt always helps a sweet along, but I didn’t expect the lavender to do what it does, because normally, I’m not much of  a lavender fan, but I’ve learned to never say never when it comes to ingredients, because all it takes it change my mind about an ingredient is to taste the right combination.  The maple scone without the salt is very good, but the lavender sea salt with the maple glaze reminds me of a refined and elevated salty caramel.

Of course, I always have my helpers, and if truth be told the boys did all the mixing and stirring. Ryder is making the glaze by mixing 3 tablespoons of confectioner’s sugar with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup.

These are HUGE! I might suggest making two smaller rounds and cutting them much smaller than I did. I cut the recipe into 8 diagonals and I’m thinking you can easily get  a dozen normal sized scones, so I’ll write the recipe to reflect that. They won’t be as big what you see pictured, but they’ll taste just as good.

Holland House is one of my favorite restaurants in the Nashville area. If I lived in this East Nashville neighborhood, I would be a regular, frequenting their rather huge but friendly bar which also serves small bites, dinner and a nightly happy hour.

Holland House is the fruit of a good idea, shared by Terry Raley and Dutch businessman Cees Brinkman. Together they restored an old building, and married smart, Epicurean cocktails with rustic yet eleganty food, which I put under the heading of modern, lighter, comfort food.

When cocktails are made as well as the Holland House makes them, the food has to compete and stands the chance of falling short by comparison. No worries here. Over two visits, I’ve experienced several cocktails, five different entrees, appetizers and desserts and I’m happy to say the food is just as worthy as my favorite cocktail, the blackberry lemon old fashioned.

The design maintained some of the materials of the original building, including lots of wood and a sultry feel, illuminated by no less than sixteen stunning chandeliers. Yet, even with that little bit of ceiling bling, it’s a welcoming, approachable neighborhood place, special enough to drive across town for.

I’ve eaten both inside (love the decor) and outside. This particular night we finally had a weather break in a rather cold Spring, and it was warm enough to sit outside. We jumped at it, and although we were outside, the wait staff  was very attentive, and was spot on in helping us  choose our dishes and select our cocktails.

Cocktails

We decided to forgo wine completely and stick with two cocktails each. We liked the first round so much, we were almost hesitant to switch, but we like to try as many options as we could.

Blackberry-Lemon Old Fashioned: Bourbon, Blackberry, Lemon, Honey, Bitters (this was my personal favorite, and one I’m sure to make at home as soon as blackberry season comes).

Reunion: Four Roses Bourbon, Nardini, Fresh Lemon, Vanilla, Cinnamon Ticture, Chocolate Housemade Bitters

Toronto: Rye Whiskey, Fernet Branca, Maple Syrup, Orange Bitters, Twist of Orange Peel

Blackberry Lemon Old Fashioned, Reunion Bourbon, Toronto

We were just as happy with the second set of cocktails, but the Old Fashioned and the Toronto far exceeded our expectations. Are you as into the old fashioned as much as we are? I’m going to figure this drink out and serve them at home very soon. The next weekend, we kept talking about the cocktails and went out and purchased various bottles of bourbon to start making our own Holland House type cocktails. Once I’m happy with my version of the blackberry lemon old fashioned, I’ll share it here. I’ve already made the first step in buying true old fashioned glasses, which shows just how much Holland House inspired me.

Carondolet 1862, Base Burner, Beatnik

Carondolet 1862: Rye Whiskey, Cafe du Monde-Cinnamon Cordial, Pineapple, Citrus

Base Burner: Four Roses Bourbon and House Made ginger Ice Cubes, showing off of the specialty ice cubes Holland House is known for. We are trying to figure out how to make these ice cubes, as this was quite an enjoyable sipping cocktail.

The Beatnik: Rye, Amaro, Cia Ciaro, Broadbent Madeira, Coffee-Pecan Bitters Made in House

The Food

Holland House takes their cocktails seriously, but they put that same passion into the food.

Our server suggested the charcuterie plate and he was right. It was not the same old, same old. Pork Rillets, grainy mustard, fois gras mousse, goat cheese, blue cheese, marcona almonds made it hard to choose where to start because each bite was a good bite.  The fois gras was divine and not overwhelmingly rich. Although we like to try new things when we revisit restaurants, this would be a must reorder.

We went straight to entrees after this, but would have loved more appetizers if we could have fit it in, such as the roasted marrow bone or warm chevre tart.

The open ravioli of rabbit fricasee was tender, flavorful, robust, yet light and the celery puree perfect. It’s not easy to portray tan colored food to convince you, but one bite of this rabbit dish and you feel like you are in a country kitchen in France eating food made with love.

Open Ravioi of Rabbit Fricassee, parma ham, spinach, cheddar grit cake, celery root puree

The trout was tender, the skin crispy, but those potatoes (which I don’t usually eat) were spectacular. Baby potatoes, left whole, in a sherry cream sauce should never leave the menu.

Pan Seared North Carolina Trout, Peeky Toe Crab, Roasted Marble Potatoes, Sherry Cream, Whole Grain Mustard, Snow Pea, Orange

Mr. ST had the duck sausage made with candied carrots inside, just as good as it looks.  I like to see an elevated sausage dish be treated with this kind of respect as  sausage making is an art. It was balanced, not too salty, yet full of delicate flavor and you can see the grill marks. Skin crispy, duck goodness inside.

Special: Duck and Candied Carrot Sausage

We finished off the night with a bread pudding dessert that was made with the same care of balance and nuance that went into the cocktails. Normally a bread pudding is heavy and off putting as a dessert following a goodmeal. In this case, it was light, not too sweet,  and we all fought over the last bite.

Warm Cocoa Nib Bread Pudding

I highly recommend the Holland House if you appreciate old time, smart cocktails that nod to the speak easy era, paired with  good rustic  food that is not ordinary.  I’ve read some reviews where some diners felt intimidated and I can’t share that sentiment. The wait staff has always been friendly, helpful and mindful of the combinations of food and drink.

The happy hour offers $5 cocktails and wine, $2.50 beer and food items I can’t wait to try such as the nola fried oysters or truffled frites. The hours are limited, and you can check them out here. Thursday night is happy hour all night long.

Holland House is located in East Nashville and is the place for delicious food and smart cocktails.

Location: 937 Eastland Avenue, East Nashville. Phone: 615-262-4190.