This We Eat

"Yes, you can give him a message. You do take shorthand, don't you? Good, we take it in the South too. Anyway, just tell him that I have been a Southerner all my life, and I can vouch for the fact the we do eat a lot of things down here... and we've certainly all had our share of grits and biscuits and gravy, and I myself have probably eaten enough fried chicken to feed a third world country - not to mention barbecue, cornbread, watermelon, fried pies, okra, and... yes... if I were being perfectly candid, I would have to admit we have also eaten our share of crow, and for all I know - during the darkest, leanest years of the Civil War, some of us may have had a Yankee or two for breakfast. But... speaking for myself and hundreds of thousands of my Southern ancestors who have evolved through many decades of poverty, strife, and turmoil, I would like for Mr. Weaks to know that we have surely eaten many things in the past, and we will surely eat many things in the future, but - God as my witness - we have never, I repeat, never eaten dirt!"
- Ms. Julia Sugarbaker

The thing about Southern favorites is that most of the time we find them in Mom or Grandma's kitchen, so don't usually go out to enjoy them. But every so often there is nothing better to top off an evening outing of shopping than a good ol' meat and three, and in such cases we head straight to Swett's.

The cafeteria serving style makes it dangerous to come here when you're starving since your eyes will inevitably overestimate the capacity of your stomach. But there they are, all your home favorites, lined up, steamin' and just waitin' to be piled up on your plate. Fried chicken, meatloaf, chicken fried steak, BBQ or fried fish for your meat,

macaroni and cheese, turnip greens, squash casserole, candied yams, sweet potatoes, green beans, fried okra and fried apples for your three (for those not familiar with the system, "three" as in you pick three veggies to go with your meat choice). And then of course there is your bread choice - dinner roll, baked cornbread or fried cornbread.

Dessert at Swett's, of course, cannot be passed up. Even if all you manage is a single bite at the end of your dinner, take the rest home with you for a snack later. Peach cobbler, blackberry cobbler, fudge pie, pecan pie, sweet potato pie - these are the things that make my heart sing.

Thanks for the class and the sass Ms. Sugarbaker.


Swett's
2725 Clifton Ave.
Nashville, TN 37209
615-329-4418

How do you like your gravy?

One of my favorite things to do when I am home in Nashville is to wake up Saturday mornings, drive down the Natchez Trace to the Franklin farmers market with my mom and stock up on whatever produce is looking good. As much as I love the market, it's what comes after that also gets me out of bed those early mornings.

For me a trip down to historic Franklin would not be complete without a stop at Dotson's for breakfast. As evidenced by the dilapidated building in which it is located, Dotson's has been around far before Franklin became the hip and trendy place it is today, but you would be hard pressed to find better offerings of traditional southern fare. Yum!

Dotson's is the type of place where I wish I could eat and eat and never get full. Or where you wish it would not be socially taboo, not to mention disgusting, to have a Roman emperor moment. Point is, there is so much to pick from and as hard as I try I never succeed in venturing outside of my standard breakfast - coffee, scrambled eggs, enough crispy bacon to sink a ship and of course biscuits with white gravy that would win the approval of both Mammy and my grandma.

But aside from breakfast choices, you can find all the Southern dishes one could hope for in their tried and true meat and three style. Huge plates of meatloaf, greens, mac and cheese, and fried chicken like mom makes. And the pies! - so gorgeous with their 7 inch high meringues!

I can't wait to take my Italian honey here when he comes to Nashville. It's the type of place that shows you A.) just how freaking good southern food is! and B.) that we are more than deserving of our friendly reputation.

One of my favorite conversations that I overheard the last time I was there was the booth behind us asking the waitress what red-eye gravy was (clearly they were out-of-towners). "Honnnney, it's just the grease from the ham that we booll with some coffee." They didn't order it, but I promise you that it's real good.


Dotson's Restaurant - inexpensive
99 E Main St.
Franklin, TN 37064-2249
(615) 794-2805