I checked the mileage from my house to
Jay’s Family Restaurant [
http://www.meatandthree.com/tn/jaysfamily/], and it is only 4.6 miles. Having driven by this place on Dickerson Road a few times, and even taking pictures of it on my
1/07 Mid-TN Photo Tour, I knew that something good was going on at this Nashville, TN meat-and-three restaurant. The parking lot was at least 75% full each instance I drove by during the lunch hours.
Thankfully, there was a parking section out back yesterday at 11:45am, because the front and side lots were full. Yes, it was Friday the 13th, but that has never stopped me from visiting a Meat-and-Three before. My friend, Randy Fought, and I stopped in to see what all the fuss is about. We didn’t have trouble getting a center table, but all the booths were full. The place has a pretty large seating capacity.
We did notice quite a consistent stream of traffic coming through, typical of a meat and three that has found a following. The staff was familiar with a number of the patrons, calling them by name. One of those patrons happened to be Susan, a person I went to college with and who was a former suite-mate of my wife‘s over at
Trevecca Nazarene University. She lives only a few miles from us, and it was fun to catch up and discover that we both still live in the area. Randy also saw a familiar face that he has seen frequenting
Mason’s Restaurant in Goodlettsville several times.
Our waitress made a quick visit to our table to obtain our drink selections, came back soon, and took our orders. Friday is catfish day, so Randy and I both thought we would try it out. Jay’s also offers salmon patties on Friday, which made it a tough decision for me. Randy chose pickled beets, corn, fruit jell-o and hushpuppies to go along with his catfish and sweet tea. I opted for the lima beans, white beans with onion, hushpuppies, and sweet tea. For dessert, the big pie cooler had quite a number of delicious offerings, but I settled on the lemon meringue pie while Randy went for the fudge pie. Let’s just say that both Randy and I cleaned our plates.
We surmised that Jay’s lived a former life as a pizza place, from the style of the building and the layout. Maybe somebody knows and can post a comment about it. I probably ate there at some point when I was in college or soon after, but do not remember quite exactly. We sat in the non-smoking section up front - the smoking section is in the rear where there are 3 of the circular smoking fans to help filter out the smoke.
The brick exterior is continued inside throughout a portion of the interior, and there is some stained-glass in a few places around the dining room. A few pictures are on the walls along with a newspaper article about Jay’s, and some music artist shots are there, too. I am sure that Randy’s wife, Patty, would appreciate one of the sports pictures, as it has some sort of orange and white coloring on the jerseys. Probably something about Rocky Top.
Sure, I will go back to
Jay’s Family Restaurant. It is always nice to find another place that serves solid, down-home cooking, especially when it is so close. But, being close is definitely not the only criteria us meat-and-three fans use to find good places to eat. Sometimes we will drive clear out of our way to enjoy a great meat-n-three meal. I have done that. And, I received an email a few days ago from a guy who uses MEATandTHREE.com regularly to find great places to eat when he travels. He was nice enough to even let me know about one that had closed, that we still had listed on the site.
If you have made an out-of-the-way trip to a meat and three café, restaurant or diner, why don’t you tell us about it. How far did you drive, and why did you go that far? Which meat and three did you go to? Who was with you and what was the occasion, if any? Feel free to email me (
phil@meatandthree.com) and I will post your story (after reviewing and editing, if needed). Or, you can comment (below) to let us know about your visit to a meat and three, whether far away or close to home. Your comments can be about one of the ones already on our site, or about one that is not yet on the site. If it is actually a meat-and-three (
read our official definition), and we don’t know about it yet, we will go ahead and add it to the MEATandTHREE.com site. You will be helping the meat and three out by exposing them to more potential visitors, and you will be playing a part in telling their history.
Well, thanks for reading. I appreciate the feedback and encourage you to write me about the site and, especially, about the meat-and-threes that you have had experience with. Remember,
phil@meatandthree.com.
Phil Roberson (mn3guy)
