Nashville has moved well past its hot-chicken-only reputation. On a recent weekend back in their hometown, a writer at The Points Guy mapped out a single-day food crawl through the city — and the itinerary doubles as a handy eating plan for any visitor.
The day starts at Biscuit Love, a southern breakfast spot a short walk from the writer's hotel in the Gulch neighbourhood. The order to beat: the Princess, a buttermilk biscuit piled with fried Nashville hot chicken and house-made pickles, plus the seasonal Sunshine latte — iced, with tangerine, cinnamon, vanilla and salted honey cold foam. Lighter options like biscuits and gravy (well, lighter in spirit), shrimp and grits, omelettes and oatmeal round out the menu.
Lunch is a deliberately modest stop at Ladybird Taco, an Austin-inspired taco joint a few blocks away. A single brisket taco with chips and queso keeps things manageable — and if you're there earlier in the day, the breakfast tacos and Crema coffee are worth a look. Mid-afternoon calls for coffee at Barista Parlor, a local roaster that holds its own against West Coast standards; the iced whiskey-caramel latte is the move. There's also an ice cream stop at Jeni's, the seasonal-flavour chain found in select cities — Brambleberry Crisp is the classic order, but the fall Pumpkin with Brown Sugar Blondies scoop pairs surprisingly well with it.
Dinner is the splurge: The Optimist, a seafood restaurant from Georgia chef and restaurateur Ford Fry. The standouts were the Alabama blue crab dip, a half-dozen oysters, and the Crumbed Halibut with brown butter, parsley and charred lemon, served alongside "proper chips" with malt vinegar aioli. One warning from the table: the spicy kale salad is genuinely spicy. The verdict was that the hype is deserved.
The piece frames the trip around a rewards card — the Navy Federal Flagship Premier Visa Signature, which earns 3 points per dollar on dining and 4 on travel, with a $95 annual fee, a $100 airline credit and up to $120 back on Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fees. You can ignore the card pitch and still keep the itinerary, but the underlying point stands: a food-focused weekend like this racks up restaurant and hotel spending fast, so a card earning on both categories pays off.
Practically speaking, the whole crawl works on foot if you base yourself in the Gulch — Biscuit Love, Ladybird Taco and the Thompson Nashville hotel are all within a few blocks of each other. Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, Grand Ole Opry and live music scene fill the non-eating hours, and nonstop flights serve the city from most major US hubs, including Alaska Airlines routes from the West Coast.
