Tag: fresh to order

Travels: A food and music-filled trip to Nashville, 2017

(Attention: If you are only interested in the “food” section of this post, please scroll down to the bottom.)

This is the fourth year that Drew and I have attended CMA Fest in Nashville, TN, and I believe this one was the best yet! (minus a new complaint I’ll explain soon.)

We arrived Thursday morning around 9:30. After finally finding a parking spot and walking to the entrance of the Chevrolet Riverfront Stage (the biggest free stage, where Old Dominion was beginning the show), and waiting in line for about 45 minutes to get security checked, we finally made it to see the last two songs of Old Dominion. =(

Throughout the four day festival, we spent a lot of time at the Riverfront Stage, but also ventured out to the new Budweiser Dome, the new Crackerbarrel Stage,  and the usual Park Stage and Hard Rock Cafe Stage.  Here are some pics of just a few of the great acts we saw:

Chevrolet Riverfront Stage:

Bretty Young
Cam

Budweiser Dome Stage:

Maddie & Tae
Deana Carter
Lauren Alaina

Crackerbarrel Stage:

Danielle Peck

Park Stage:

Clare Dunn

Music City Center Stage:

Post Monroe

We also enjoyed a bit of time each day inside of FanFairX, where my complaint comes in. Years before, you can get in line to meet artists at their “meet and greets”. If you were there early, you could probably make the cut. However, this year, you now have to win a technology-based doorprize to be able to get in line to see these stars. So, I won nothing and got ZERO pics or autographs this year. Not cool, CMA Fest, not cool.
The best I could do was stand on the side and take embarrassing pictures of stars.

Kellie Pickler

However, there are a few stages in FanFairX as well, and we got to see a few great artists here as well, in the lovely air conditioning.

Hunter Hayes

One of my favorite things about CMA Fest is always enjoying the many “freebies” we come across. Here’s a blog post specifically showing all that we got this year: http://twogirlsonedish.com/?p=972

 

THE FOOD!

In a very particular order, least favorite to favorite, here are the full blog posts of all four dinners we had while in Nashville. And yes, this was the best food weekend here yet!

Fresh to Order: http://twogirlsonedish.com/?p=1019

The Wild Cow: http://twogirlsonedish.com/?p=991

Thai Esane: http://twogirlsonedish.com/?p=1024Otaku

Ramen: http://twogirlsonedish.com/?p=1035

The only other restaurant I have drastically enjoyed in Nashville is Mas Tacos, which we visited last year.
If you have any other suggestions for places I MUST try during our next Nashville trip, please let me know in the comments!

 

 

Food Review: Fresh to Order in Nashville

Fresh To Order was another stop I had in mind for some healthy food while in Nashville. Here’s the breakdown:

ATMOSPHERE

Fresh To Order was much more of a “fast casual” restaurant than I expected, based on the food reviews online. It was very similar to Panera Bread. The inside is modern and clean. You order at the counter, get your own beverage, and your food is brought to you at your table.

The beverage station not only had your typical soda fountain, but also had many other options, such as sweet or unsweet tea, raspberry mojito lemonade, mango orange juice, or cucumber water.

THE MENU

        

The menu has a wide variety of foods, many healthy options included. There are burgers, veggie burgers, small plates or entrees of different types of seafood, chicken, and veggie dishes.  There are many different “paninis”  (and they mean “panini”…but I won’t get on that soap box again) and salads and a kids’ menu as well.

THE FOOD

Almond Chicken Skewers (full size), $11.90
Description: Almond-rosemary crust, sweet mashed potatoes, Asian slaw, twin sauces.

I ordered this with grilled vegetables instead of the mashed sweet potatoes. The “twin sauces” included a peanut sauce and an orange ginger (or so it tasted) sauce.
The chicken was delicious! It was tender, perfectly cooked, and the almond crust was flavorful with some crunch. The sauces were tasty, too, though the citrus-y one was more flavorful and paired better with the chicken than the peanut sauce did.
The grilled veggies included corn, bell pepper, zucchini, and mushrooms and were flavored nicely and cooked well.
The Asian slaw was a little lack-luster. I love a good vinegar slaw, but this one tasted mostly of strong ginger and not much else.

Coconut Curry Chicken, $11.50
Description: Fresh coconut curry sauce, tender fire grilled chicken, roasted corn relish, wheat berry rice, baby green.

Drew ordered this with grilled vegetables instead of the wheat berry rice.
This dish surprised us. I expected a bowl of coconut curry sauce with chicken in it. Instead, it was a very thick, slightly overcooked, chicken breast covered with a small amount of coconut curry.
While the sauce was delicious, the dry chicken needed much more of it.
The greens in the middle were lightly covered with a balsamic vinaigrette and were a nice, fresh touch.
The veggies, well, we already went over those in the previous dish.

OVERALL

This very casual restaurant has some impressive menu items and many that are diet-friendly. While I may consider getting the almond chicken again, I would skip the coconut curry dishes to try something different, perhaps a salad?
We were not overly impressed here, but we were not disappointed either. So…meh, it was fine.