Nashville, its been a while! I think, five years to be exact! Last weekend, I had the incredible pleasure of getting to spend the weekend in my hometown and experience it in a way that I’ve never had the pleasure of experiencing it before. It was the first time that I had ever come home purely to have fun, all thanks to Layer Cake Wines! In honor of the launch of their new Bourbon Barrel aged Cab, they rounded up a fun group of influencers to come into town for a weekend of fun. Luckily, since I still have my family back home in Nashville, I was able to fly in a day early and spend some quality time with them. My sister Jo always knows the coolest spots, so I let her show me around to some yummy restaurants and bars, so let’s jump right in and recap the first day of this trip, shall we?
Flying makes you extra hungry….is it just me or is that not true? I feel like on days when I fly, my body just doesn’t know what to do with itself. I needed sustenance and I needed it fast, so we headed to this awesome ramen spot in East Nashville called Two Ten Jack. Let me tell you, I was skeptical of ramen in Tennessee….honestly I’ve been skeptical of anything but BBQ in Tennessee, but I guess I’m behind the times because the food scene in Nashville is exploding! Two Ten Jack was so yummy and the ramen was some of the best I’ve had, even in comparison to some of my favorite LA spots.
After dinner, it was off for drinks. Pearl Diver is a pretty freakin adorable spot, also in East Nashville, that has a sort of 50’s retro spin on a tiki bar. If you’re looking for a refreshing (and strong!) blended tropical drink, this is the spot!
The next morning, I basically got to comandeer my younger sister’s photo taking skills for the better part of the day. We roamed around downtown Nashville looking for cool spots to shoot and occasionally to stop and have a little sister time.
She introduced me to Germantown, which is another neighborhood of Nashville that has a fancy name which I had never known about when I was growing up there. Marathon Village was a fun place for us to stop and take some fun photos. It is yet another previously industrial factory building that has been revamped and flipped into a fun retail space. Inside, you can find all kinds of different shops, from boutiques, to a hair salon, small places to grab a bite, fancy coffee, and, to my surprise, a wine tasting room.
Grinder’s Switch is a local winery here in Tennessee, and to my shock, they weren’t half bad! I would’ve never thought of Tennessee as a wine growing region, but I actually really enjoyed these wines. The best part is, after your tasting is over, you can grab a wine slushie cocktail to go for only $5. Cheers!
After a little fun there, we had to eat. On her recommendation, we headed to the Nashville Farmer’s market, which is really trying to be sort of like the Los Angeles Farmer’s Market, or Grand Central Station….you Angeleno’s know what I’m talking about! We had some delicious and very inexpensive Jamaican food and then I had to check out the local pumpkins because…fall.
Of course, no trip to Nashville is complete without a walk down Broadway. Its amazing to me how much Broadway has just exploded since I moved away. There’s huge, multiple story bars everywhere you look named after one famous country star or another, and a bachelorette party around every corner.
As always, Broadway is where you want to go if you’re in the mood for a beverage and some live music. Each bar you walk past is jamming and people are inside having the time of their lives. One thing we have no shortage of here in Music City are awesome musicians, so you are bound to find a great act wherever you choose to grab a drink.
Of course, no trip to Nashville would be complete without a little boot shopping. You can find some awesome boot stores up and down Broadway, some with some really awesome deals! One shop I walked into was offering a deal where if you bought one pair, you got the second pair free! As “western” boots are making a comeback in style this year, you can grab yourself a pair without the huge price tag if you do a little hunting.
After the afternoon’s excursions, it was time to head to the hotel. If you’re looking for a place to stay while visiting Nashville, I can’t recommend Noelle enough. It opened in 2017, and is probably one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever had the pleasure of staying in. Just take a look at some of the shots from their lobby and you will see what I mean!
Noelle originally opened in the 1930’s during a time when downtown Nashville was a bustling city center. When I was growing up, this part of town was largely thought of as dangerous, as it is backed up to Printer’s Alley, which was a place my mom always told me stay away from….Printer’s Alley has since cleaned up too and gotten really fun, but more on that later! The way they have reimagined this historic space is breathtaking!
If you need a coffee, they’ve got you covered downstairs in the lobby at Drug Store Coffee. I highly recommend the bourbon vanilla latte…it is so so good!
No hotel review would be complete without showing you a little room tour, right? My room was cozy but I loved the clean, slightly masculine and modern elements in the decor. Also, I felt very fancy each morning when I could just hit the controls by my bedside and control the blinds, lamps, and tv with just a touch of a button.
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p style=”text-align: center;”>When I travel, it really is all about the small touches that make me fall in love with a hotel. Noelle has them in spades. One of my favorite aspects of this hotel was that they had a water station on each floor of the hotel where they had taps from which you could get either cold flat water, sparkling, or “ambient” water, which I’m guessing was room temp water. They even had little empty plastic bottles you could use to fill up and take with you wherever your day took you. When I travel, I am always forgetting to drink water, but this trip was probably my most hydrated yet!
After checking in, it was time to get the weekend with my Layer Cake Wines friends started. I skipped up to Noelle’s rooftop bar, Rare Bird, to grab a drink and meet everyone. The view was just incredible!
After a glass of wine or two, we were off to dinner at another new spot that did not exist when I was living in Nashville, Mop/Broom Mess Hall. This delicious, casual dining spot is over in Germantown and the food was honestly so good! This is a new restaurant opened by James Beard award winning chef, Tandy Wilson. The food did not disappoint, and I will definitely be taking my family back here on my next trip home for a visit. If you eat here, he is known for his family’s BBQ Chicken recipe, which is on the menu. Make sure you try it because it was my favorite thing we ate!
There was a lot of wine and a lot of food consumed this night, but it was such a fun time getting to know people from all over the country who all converged onto Nashville for a weekend of wine and bourbon! More to come of the rest of the weekend soon!
If you enjoyed this post, you’ll probably also love some of my other recent travel posts! Check them out and get some inspo to get out there and explore:
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