Southern Grist
Late last year, local brewery Southern Grist — established in 2016 — upgraded its East Side digs with a move to a bigger spot on Douglas Avenue. Grist also has a taproom in the Nations, but it’s clear that with the Douglas location, owners Kevin Antoon, Jamie Lee and Jared Welch wanted to place a heightened emphasis on the food program. They brought in executive chef Andrew Coins and his sous chef Kenji Nakagawa — both formerly of Miel — to head the restaurant concept they christened Lauter, named after a beer-brewing process.
What Coins and Nakagawa have accomplished at Lauter is, in short, pretty special. The restaurant rotates its menu. There’s an abbreviated late-night menu toward the end of service and all-day brunch offerings on Sundays. For our purposes, we’ll focus on a few dishes that are on offer with some regularity at the moment.
Among the shared plates, there are light items, like a summery blueberry salad with a complex array of flavors — the bright, ripe berries cut through the savory pesto-coated cucumber and pickled kohlrabi. On the heavier side, there’s a rich cavatelli that I have difficulty not defaulting to every time. The flavor of the smoked mozzarella and the texture of the rich, plump pasta are addictive.
On the snack menu, Lauter’s crab claws and bao buns demonstrate Coins’ ability to take seemingly typical bar-menu standbys and elevate them, creating something entirely new and unusual. The crab claws are small, powerful bursts of umami — prepared with smoked butter, aleppo, lemon and pea tendrils — while the burnt-sugar roast pork bao buns are about as good as any buns in town, and the crispy vinegar potatoes are ideal for sharing.
Southern Grist’s summer blueberry salad
Sunday brunch is served from 11 am until 7 pm, and offers some creative turns as well. A spicy shrimp with sushi rice is spiked with tart flavors from chili-tamarind cucumbers and turmeric squash. The Sunday menu also offers more conventional fare, like excellent biscuits and tasty Danish pastry.
Considering the wide array of inventive dishes on Lauter’s menu, it was my fifth or sixth visit before I finally decided to try the burger. But, surprise, it’s as unusual and tasty as pretty much everything else Lauter has. The dry-aged burger is topped with fontal cheese, half-and-half pickles, “burger sauce” (a zippy, Thousand Island-esque sauce), onion and smoked Worcestershire. I’m a firm believer that hamburgers are to be eaten with your hands, but this gloriously messy offering might force you to pick up your fork by the final bites. Bonus: Make it even sloppier by adding “mushroom gravy” for an additional $4. Wash it down with a Summer Crisp — Southern Grist’s tart, citrusy lager.
There’s more, and I haven’t had it all yet. I’m working my way through the menu. But so far, every single item at Southern Grist’s Lauter is better than brewery food has any right to be. DPR
Smith & Lentz
Smith & Lentz’s pepperoni pie
There’s a moment in the oven when good pepperoni, with the help of several hundred degrees, begins to curl on top of a pizza. Slowly, each slice of meat starts to render just a little, leaving tiny pools of pork fat in the bottom as the sides form little bowls. If the pizza is cooked properly, it will stay under the heat until the very top edges of the meat begin to blacken just a touch.
This is what has happened on every Pepperoni Pie I’ve ordered at Smith & Lentz. It’s a sublime combination of simple, classic flavors: crushed tomato sauce, garlic, mozzarella and oregano. A small drizzle of hot honey adds an occasional sweet note.
I always knew that I would love Smith & Lentz’s pizzas when they brought in Chris DeJonge from Folk to start up their program. You can’t make a truly great pizza without great dough, and DeJonge’s crust is damn near perfect. It’s maybe a touch thicker than some of the other wood-oven or Neapolitan-style pies around town, and it really works.
There are only six pies on the menu, and five of them are vegetarian. You can add soppressata or anchovies to the Red Pie or the White Pie, but quite frankly, you don’t need to if you’re just looking for great flavor. A better move is to “take your pie to prom” for an extra $2 by adding parmesan, extra oregano and chili flakes to your pizza, and getting the crusts brushed with garlic butter.
But back to that pepperoni pie. My argument about pizza places is generally that you have to be superior at the classic American favorite before you can be called great. The Smith & Lentz version is my new platonic ideal for what a pepperoni pizza should be. The ratio of crust to toppings is perfect, and there’s a complete balance of flavors. Take a bite and the gooey cheese will stretch between your mouth and the slice. (Unless of course you use a fork and knife like some kind of sociopath.)
Having written enough “best of” lists in my lifetime, I know that calling something “the best” is often a fool’s errand. Nobody has eaten at every place or tried every style. But let me just put it to you like this: If you ask me if I want to get pizza, I’m going to suggest Smith & Lentz first. SC
Five More Brewery Bites
Fat Bottom Brewery: Bavarian Pretzels + Ruby American Red Ale
What makes a pretzel Bavarian? Apparently, it’s lye — a corrosive ingredient used to make soap. Yummy! But seriously, lye is what gives German pretzels their crisp, brown outside while the inside stays soft. (And the caustic qualities of lye disappear when baked, so you’re safe there.) Now, I don’t know how authentic the Bavarian pretzels at Fat Bottom Brewery are, but I do know this: They are good. The oversized pretzel sticks have the right chew, just enough coarse salt and a surprising butteriness that’s similar to garlic bread. They come with a sinus-clearing mustard and a decadent beer cheese. So grab a Ruby Red American Ale to drink and double down on the dips, because beer and cheese? Two things you can never have too much of. AWAY
Bearded Iris Brewing: Onigiri & Sunomono + Hallucination Sour
Bearded Iris is not for the faint of heart. Their funky beers are hop-forward, which means they need strong, flavorful food to stand up to them. Enter Black Dynasty Secret Ramen House. While I think their ramen is OK, they excel at small plates. Their crispy rice snacks — which are more like confit-stuffed arancini than onigiri — are packed with every damn thing you can think of: chashu pork, teriyaki chicken, scallions, chipotle, collard greens, cream cheese, bonito! Then they’re deep-fried and served with more scallions, nori powder and miso-basil dressing. To balance the nuclear nature of these gut bombs, pair them with a Hallucination Sour — it’s got papaya and passionfruit for brightness — and the sunomono. Their cucumber salad is made with green tomato, vinegar, seaweed and chili honey, and it’s secretly the best thing on the menu. AWAY
TailGate Brewery: Pepperoni Feta Pizza + Orange Wheat
Much like Jackalope’s Lovebird, TailGate’s Orange Wheat started out as a seasonal release — and then the people revolted. Well, more likely, the people bought so much of it no matter the season that the folks at TailGate decided to make the zingy, creamy ale available year-round. However it happened, it’s a win for diners. The beer’s citrusy notes pair perfectly with the Pepperoni Feta Pizza. What makes this pie so satisfying? Well, it’s pepperoni pizza, so it’s the ultimate comfort food. But by simply adding fresh slices of Roma tomatoes and zesty feta to the gooey mozzarella, TailGate gives you a pie that’s a little fancy, a lot familiar and tasty all the way down. AWAY
Tennessee Brew Works’ Baja fish tacos and Walk the Lime
Tennessee Brew Works: Baja Fish Tacos + Walk the Lime
Walk the Lime has long been one of my favorite local beers. The zippy wheat brew is crisp and refreshing, which is why — according to the folks who make it — you should pair it with two things: seafood and Mexican food. With their Baja Fish Tacos, you can do both. Most importantly, you must add on their McDonald’s-level shoestring fries and house-made ketchup. Why, you ask, would you do such a thing since everyone knows house-made ketchup is garbage? Because it’s not really ketchup — it’s really a ketchupy barbecue sauce made with Basil Ryeman saison, and it’s a tangy, addictive dipper. AWAY
Monday Night Brewing: Cheese Box + The Tiger That Killed My Father
I’ve never understood why brewery food is so heavy. If drinking a beer is equivalent to eating two slices of bread, why throw 10,000 more carby calories on top? Sometimes a snack is all you need, and that’s all you’ll get at Monday Night Brewing. Grab their cheese box — Brie, fontina, Tillamook sharp cheddar — and gussy up your crackers with Castelvetrano olives, figs, chocolate-covered almonds, local honey and the like. Then take your pick of seats in their Germantown taproom, which is easily Nashville’s most beautiful. The old meatpacking facility is kid- and pet-friendly, has actual waterfront seating — including an outdoor “Boiler Room” where they play movies (Bueller? Bueller?) — and an airy taproom that also packs a full bar for the non-beer -lovers among you. If, however, you are there for the suds, order their maple-bourbon-vanilla stout, because how can you not get a beer called The Tiger That Killed My Father? AWAY