belle of the ball

Nashville November, Part 2

We love the Elizabeth James. Capital L sort of love. And we is not just me but all the Hardcastles. Well, maybe not Bradley. He's all unemotive teenager these days. But that's not the point. The point is we wanted to do something special to express this love, and Mom in particular wanted to do something special for EJ as she was so immensely helpful in planning her 50th anniversary dinner and generously wouldn't accept any compensation. EJ and I always try to have a meal or a drink together when I'm in town and I was able to turn that scheduling into a surprise party from the family (and including fab friend and EJ's BFF Leslie Roberts Dabrowiak).

Carrington Nelson Fox has taken over as Nashville's prominent restaurant critic, and the Nashville Scene published her best ten picks (I got it forwarded in an e-mail, can't seem to locate it online at the moment), and "Belle" at the Belle Meade Mansion Plantation was included as an excellent new choice for lunch (and now dinner).

While suspect of a museum/historical landmark eatery, "belle" (lowercase theirs in the design) was a beautiful surprise. Belle not only features a kitch- and theme-free formal dining setting, but a menu that challenges the most snobby of diners. Everything about Belle is suitably formal, while somehow retaining a local charm and informal welcome. I felt a little thorny hosting a surprise party with presents and toddler in this dining room, but staff and patrons alike seemed to welcome the festivity.

In this era of plastic water glasses and paper napkins, the service and setting of Belle was refreshingly and contextually appropriately proper. This was nice, as it accented the superb nature of their cooking.

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Brother Mac and Mother Fran______________Papa John enjoys his Bloody Mary
Papa John and I opted for breakfast foods, he ordering the steak and eggs which looked amazing and I for the southern take called the Belle Benedict, which included country ham on some of the lightest and tastiest biscuits I've ever had (so much better than ham on an English muffin!). Baby Leland's "chicken fingers" were large gourmet southern fried chicken breast meat that were the envy of the table. Even the French fries were served in over-sized juleps. But the belle of this ball was the "205 Burger" (I am assuming this refers to our 37205 zip code). Land sakes and all my stars and garters is this a bit of culinary heaven. The 205 burger is a sirloin patty stuffed with braised short rib meat, pepper crusted, with red onion jam and tomato concassé. I can't wait to go back.

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Lelands's gourmet chicken strips__________Leslie and the 205 Burger
The sweet tea, Bloody Marys, and other libations were lovely too. And as for the surprise party, EJ felt the love.


Belle that she is.

Flickr set. Nashville November 2009, Parts 1 and 3.