Plan

132 acres on West End, open since 1903. Lake Watauga and the sunken garden are the walkable parts. The north side is fenced for construction through fall 2026, but the lake and garden paths stay open.

Sunrise to 11pm

On the National Register of Historic Places. Lynn Chandler opened it in 1939, taking over a soda fountain that had been on this block since the 1920s. Get the Dreamsicle: vanilla ice cream spun with orange juice and sherbet. Or the griddle burger with crinkle fries. Jimmy Buffett ate here after playing Exit/In.

Mon to Sat, 7:30am to 4pm. Sun, 9am to 3pm.

Hot chicken ordered by heat level, from Southern all the way to Shut the Cluck Up. This is the 19th Ave South location, the one closest to Music Row. The line is usually long and usually moves.

10:45am to 10pm, until midnight Fri and Sat

The 1957 studio on Roy Acuff Place where Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings and Chet Atkins cut records. Tours run about 35 minutes. Tickets are sold only with Country Music Hall of Fame admission and the shuttle leaves from the museum downtown, so book ahead.

10:30am to 3:30pm daily

A steakhouse on Louise Ave that has been running since 1934. Doors open at four every day, so an early dinner is easy to get. Reservations are worth making.

From 4pm daily, until 8pm Sun

Pat Martin's whole-hog tradition from Henderson, Tennessee. Same operation as the original Nolensville spot. Brisket, ribs, pulled pork on Elliston Place, walkable from most of Midtown.

Open through dinner · Elliston Place location; verify hours before you go.

Open at 19th and West End since 1987. Southern cooking done as a sit-down meal, with breakfast and lunch on weekdays and dinner starting at 4:30. Valet parking is complimentary, which matters on this block.

Breakfast and lunch daily, dinner from 4:30pm

Coffee bar on the ground floor of the Graduate hotel on 20th Ave N, a block off West End. Opens at 6:30 in the morning and runs to six. Espresso drinks, pastries, and enough table space to sit a while.

6:30am to 6pm daily

Ten acres of Gothic stone buildings at 19th and Grand, built for Scarritt College and now run as a conference and retreat center. The grounds are quiet and free to walk. Open weekdays only.

Weekdays 9am to 4pm

Indian cooking on 21st Ave N, with a lunch buffet from 10:30 to 2:30 and dinner service from late afternoon. Closed Tuesdays. Plan around that one day and it works the rest of the week.

Lunch and dinner, closed Tue

The building has been a bar since 1896, built as the barroom for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Speakeasy during Prohibition. The lore says Al Capone and Jimmy Hoffa both hid out here. Pool tables, pinball machines, bumper stickers floor to ceiling. Live music five nights a week. Just go.

Open late

A neighborhood bar on 28th Ave N by Centennial Park, with a working stage. The easy pre-show drink when you don't want a plan.

Open through late

A full-scale replica of the Greek Parthenon standing in Centennial Park, with an art museum inside. Adult admission is $15. Last entry is well before closing, so go early in the afternoon.

9am to 7pm Mon to Thu, 9am to 4:30pm Fri and Sat, 12:30pm to 4:30pm Sun

Vanderbilt's art collection, housed in Cohen Memorial Hall on the Peabody campus at 21st and Edgehill. It reopened in September 2026 after a rebuild. Closed Mondays.

Tue to Fri 11am to 4pm, Sat and Sun noon to 5pm

In the old Café Coco space on Louise Ave, still pulling the Vanderbilt crowd. Coffee and Japanese comfort food until 3pm. Cocktails heavy on amaro Thursday through Monday from 5. Happy hour 5 to 7.

Dinner hours

Wendell Smith opened it in 1952 and died in 1967. His widow put son-in-law Jakie Cook in charge two years later, and Jakie is the one who turned it into a meat and three. Benji Cook runs it now with his sisters. The corner is named after the family.

Until 7:10pm Mon to Sat, closed Sun · Counter service, no reservations.

A trolley car parked here in 1931 and never left. The stage is hung with tinsel and old 45s, and the map by the bathroom is old enough to still show the Warsaw Pact. Betty Butts took it over in 2000 and charges bands no production fee, which is how it became home base for the noise and free-jazz players.

Until midnight daily · Walk-in dive; cash is safest and shows are rarely advertised.

Walk-up soft serve on Charlotte since 1951, renamed for Bobbie McWright when she bought it in the eighties. Harmony Korine shot the milkshake scene in Gummo here and the stand still looks the same.

Until 9pm Mon through Thu, 10pm Fri and Sat, 5pm Sun · Walk-up window; cash-friendly, seasonal hours.

Corner of 19th and Broadway, with more than 70 beers on tap and a Cajun-leaning menu. The bar runs to 3am daily; the kitchen stops at nine or ten.

Bar until 3am daily, kitchen until 9 or 10pm

Chuck Cinelli cooks his grandmother Lucia’s recipes, and his mother Joan comes in six days a week to check the kitchen still does it her way. Grocery in front, tables behind it. Bocce courts on the lawn.

Until 9pm Sun through Thu, 10pm Fri and Sat · Call ahead on busy nights.

Burgers and a beer list longer than the food menu, in a bar about the width of a hallway. Two in the morning Thursday through Saturday.

Until midnight Sun through Wed, 2am Thu through Sat · Walk-in counter service, and it is a tight squeeze.

Built into the old boiler house of White Way Cleaners in Edgehill Village, with the 1920s coal hopper and smoke stack left in place. There is no sign. Look for the gold triangle off Edgehill Ave.

5pm to 1am daily

James and Louisa Green opened it in a converted Charlotte Avenue repair shop in 2020 and left the SERVICE DEPT. sign hanging over the bar. Cocktails and tacos, and the door stays open until two on weekends.

Until midnight Mon through Thu, 2am Fri and Sat, 11pm Sun · Walk-in bar.

Division Street bar with a kitchen, open from eleven in the morning until three the next. Cheap and loud and reliably there when everything else has shut.

11am to 3am daily

Tex-Mex on 21st Ave S that has fed Vanderbilt students, hospital staff and Music Row for decades. Open until eleven six nights a week. Counter ordering, no ceremony.

11am to 11pm Mon to Sat, 11am to 5pm Sun

Asian fusion on Church St with a bar that keeps going after the kitchen slows. Drag dinner runs Friday and Saturday nights and drag brunch on weekend mornings. Closed Mondays.

5pm to 10pm, until 11pm Fri and Sat, closed Mon

Cash register, dart board, cheap beer. Ten minutes from Elliston and open until two-thirty every night of the week.

Until 2:30am nightly