Mad Donna's Brunch

So...after two recent visits to Mad Donna's on the East Side (I had never been before), I have decided to officially declare it (possibly) my favorite brunch spot in town.  Ok, Ok...I'm not going to lie...I am a tiny bit swayed by the fact that they have this...

A Bloody Mary bar.  

Fact:  Bloody Mary's are one of my favorite indulgences...especially for Sunday brunch.  However...I do not like most that are made for me...therefore I rarely order them. I'll admit I am pretty picky when it comes to this, but I like what I like.  Which is my own Bloody Mary.  Lots of hot sauce, Worcestershire, and horse radish.  In short--spicy with a lot of flavor.  So if you have a bloody mary bar, I'm pretty much sold from the start.  I'll worry about the food after I have had one of these...

So good.  And beautiful, right?!  A good Bloody Mary is a colorful one IMHO. 

And then there's the food...

What I've ordered...

The Big Don.

Grilled Provence Tuscan bread stuffed with eggs, bacon, pepper jack cheese, tomato, and dijon mayo.

Let's be honest, you can't really go wrong with these ingredients on buttered toast...so, naturally, it's seriously good.  But I especially like this bread.  I don't eat a lot of sandwiches because I always feel weighed down afterwards, but this bread is really light.  Balances nicely with the other heavy additions to the sandwich.  And the grits are just grits.  With melted cheese.  Pretty basic...but completely fine with me.  I don't need my grits too fancy. 

AND...

The Maltese Omelette.

Spinach, caramelized onions, tomatoes, artichoke hearts with rosemary potatoes and grits.  **I actually left off the artichoke hearts (not a fan).

As I have mentioned before, this girl loves an omelette.  A lot. And I give this one a thumbs up.  Just a good old fashioned omelette.  Nice egg consistency with a good veggie mix.  Also, it's huge.  I actually ate 1/2 for lunch and the rest for my dinner.  I was a little skeptical about the potatoes at first.  I usually like messy hashbrowns (whatever that means)--these were perfectly sliced bits of new potatoes with rosemary.  But, they were pretty tasty.  Tip: order a side of the gravy (or do like I did--steal from someone who ordered some) and dip them in it...unreal.  But they are pretty good without, as well.  Certainly healthier, that's for sure.  

Other plates found on the table...

Quiche of the day. 

Sausage, onion, and cheese quiche with a side salad and...gravy.  Woah, the sausage gravy.  It was one of my favorite things on the table.  After reaching over for 1/2 the meal to steal bites, I eventually just took it into my possession.  Pretty sure I was just using the potatoes as a vessel for the gravy.  Or, I was dipping everything in it, actually.  It's unreal.  I will order it as a side every time from here on out. No matter what I order.

Overheard at the table...

Ben: "Real men don't eat quiche.  You've heard that before, right?!"  They apparently eat this one, though.  Both guys at the table ordered it, in fact.  It was huge.  And really, really good...like a rich, eggy, sausagy cake.  The gravy was to top it, but he wasn't into it.  Worked out well for me and my potatoes, though.  

The Captain's French Toast.

Why The Captain's?  Because it's crusted with Cap'n Crunch.  This needs no explanation.  It's obviously amazing...unless you are that one person on this planet who doesn't like Cap'n Crunch (and I shame you).  It's definitely interesting and worth trying.  But really sweet--I'd also order a salty side to bring it down a notch.

I. Love. Brunch. 

  

Burgers, Bratwurst, and Billiards

Last night The Walter's (one of my most favorite duos) and I made it over to East Nashville for dinner and drinks at The Pharmacy.  I've wanted to eat here for a while now because almost anytime anyone brings up good burgers in Nashville this is always brought in the mix. And since I am always down for a really good burger...it was only a matter of time.  

I have to say after last night's venture, this is definitely one of my new top spots.  The atmosphere, food, beer selection, price range--it's one of the best, for sure.  It's considered a biergarten--which I was unaware of until last night--so the interior was very German--dark wood panels with contrasting white walls--with an old school milkshake parlor feel, as well.  There is a wrap around bar in the back of the restaurant where the bartenders are serving beer and making milkshakes--next trip I'm trying one.  That's a certainty.

There is a patio that opens to a huge lawn with large tables where almost everyone is drinking from liter-sized beer mugs.  On a perfect night like last night, sitting outside in the biergarten with a great beer and friends is as close to my heaven as I can get on a Friday evening.  

I'd love to be able to tell you the exact name of this beer but for some reason...I can't imagine why...not one of us can remember it.  We did manage to pull together Tangerine Wheat though--which I thought was pretty impressive.  It was really light--a great outdoor-warm-night-beer.  

Emily had been one time before and on the ride over told me about The Farm Burger she had last time...it has bacon...in the patty. That's all I heard and I was sold. I intended to order that, but after seeing The Stroganoff Burger on the menu, I changed my mind.  If not for any reason other than absolute curiosity.  It is a...stroganoff....burger.  Had to try it.  Had to.  

Clearly it was unreal.  It tasted exactly how you would expect, too--stroganoff on a burger.  Simple enough description. But that is really how I would explain it.  Oh yeah, and tots dipped in the dripped sauce.  Yep.  I did that.  And it was so, so good. 

Emily decided to try the right side of the menu (the bratwurst) and went for a The Currywurst this time.  She liked it, but she had burger envy.  But, hey...gotta try it at least once, right?  

Kevin's The Mission Burger.  

I didn't try it, but it looked pretty tasty.  Guac and black beans on a burger.  Done and done.  He said it was fantastic.  

Love this photo Kevin took of me and Emily...

Hm...what to do after ? Naturally head to Melrose Billiards for some pool.  

One of my favorite spots.    

Gotta love a good Nashville Friday night...

 

No Such Thing as a Bad Egg

I have  never heard of such a thing as National Egg Month. And I'm going to go ahead and speak for most of you and say I'm probably not the only one. But apparently it does exist. And...May is it!  So, in honor of this, my most favorite food of foods (I eat eggs at least twice a day. 3 times on a really good day. True story.) I thought I would show some love for some of my favorite egg dishes from around town...as well as a few others worth noting.  

Sadly my two very favorite Nashville egg dishes that I eat religiously I (ironically) don't have photos of.  Not sure the reasoning behind this but it probably has something to do with me cleaning my plate before I even think to document it.  Guess I will just have to eat them both again soon and save them for a later post.  

I mean, if I must...

So, here we go... 

My always favorite way to eat an egg--the omelette.  Filled with just about anything. This is from brunch at Marche on the East Side (mushroom, I believe). So, so good.  And I love it with a light side salad and of course some hashbrown potatoes. 

Frittata from Margot Cafe (also on the East Side) topped with hashbrowns. This was actually my first frittata ever--I always, always go with the omelette--and it ended up sparking a bit of a craze for me.  I now make them at home regularly.  They are so easy to make and I love that you can put pretty much anything in them and they always turn out great. 

Here is one of mine.  Not nearly as good as Margot's, but it does the trick. I put pretty much any fresh veggie and cheese I have in them.  Most always with a balsamic salad.  Love the combination of tastes.  And it is so light.  Definitely one of my steady go-to's.  

This one I filled with portobello mushrooms, roma tomatoes, and onions. I will do a post later about how I make my frittata.  So simple.  

Eggs for dinner?! Oh yes.  Did you know The Frothy Monkey on 12th Avenue South started doing dinners a few months ago?  I really want to dedicate an entire post to this since it's probably in my top 5 (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) spots, but for now I will just say that if you haven't been yet, definitely try it.  Soon.  This is my usual--the steak and eggs.  Brisket, sauteed spinach, two fried eggs, and underneath that pile of amazingness is...wait for it....sweet potato bread pudding.  One thing I will say now is that The Frothy Monkey can seriously mash up some flavors.  A bite of each together is, in one word, incredible.  And the prices are so, so reasonable.  But...more Frothy in a later post....

That's just a small sampling of my Nashville egg-loving.

Many, many more to come...

I simply can not complete this post without giving props to these other favorite EGG dishes of mine...

One of my homemade omelettes.  Also a regular in my house.  This one is filled with mushrooms and goat cheese.  With yukon gold hashbrowns and the 2nd best thing on the planet--bacon. 

My mom's fried eggs.  Best. ever. 

And in the heart of my home state, there is a tiny hole in the wall restaurant in Centerville called Twix 'n Tween (yeah it's really named that) and although it's pretty unbelievable to say...this is home to my most favorite omelette in the entire world.  Scout's honor.  It is about a 30 minute drive from my home, but we go there so much (just for the omelette) that they know us by name.   

I give you...world's best egg dish...  

I always, always get the western with hashbrowns, bacon, and grits.  You just can't beat it.

Eat. More. Eggs.