If you have been paying attention in Nashville to the
meat-and-three scene at all, you know that Sylvan Park is a pretty popular name around these parts. Serving savory veggies, wonderful meat choices, and delicious desserts, especially the banana pudding and the pies.
"Wait a minute ... which Sylvan Park are you talking about, man?"
"Oh, you didn't know there was more than one?"
"Why, yes there is more than one, and there's a new one in town, too. Let me tell you about it."
That type of conversation has likely already occurred in the Middle Tennessee area, and I am sure it will happen more over the coming weeks/months. Believe it or not, I had never been to one of the Sylvan Park meat and three restaurants. Had planned to several times, but something always came up.
This week, I decided to do something about that, and have a little fun with it. Starting with the newest addition to the Sylvan Park lineup, I visited the
Sylvan Park East location [
http://www.meatandthree.com/tn/sylvanparkeast/] on Gallatin Road in East Nashville on Monday with my good friend, Randy Fought. This is the location of the former Knife & Fork Restaurant that I mentioned in a previous post [
http://historyblog.meatandthree.com/2007/05/16/lunch-visit-to-k-and-f-cafe-in-madison-tn.aspx].
One interesting thing we noticed was the drive-thru window which, I am sure, is a pretty popular feature at times with our American dining style. Outside the restaurant, the old Knife & Fork signs are still on display, but there is a note on the door informing patrons that it is now
Sylvan Park.
Once inside, the interior appears to have been updated - light walls and a rose-colored trim. There is no smoking in the restaurant, but the ceiling fans and a few other clues indicate that the previous owner allowed smoking. The interior is not fancy, with just a few paintings and drawings on the wall and a faux brick wall on the left room where Randy and I sat. We were able to get a table right away at 11:30 at one of the booths in the left room. There is a mix of tables and booths, and a party of several guys corraled a large area next to the kitchen entrance.
As in all of the Sylvan Park restaurants I visited, the menu is essentially the same, with a standard choice of meats and vegetables for each day. Sausage and kraut, cole slaw, green beans, and congealed fruit salad filled Randy's plate while I opted for the meat loaf, green peas, potato salad, and baked squash. We both also enjoyed sweet tea and corn bread.
Tuesday,
Sylvan Park Melrose [
http://www.meatandthree.com/tn/sylvanparkmelrose/] was the choice, with my mother joining me for another meeting. This one is located in between a couple of auto dealerships (Beamon Lincoln Mercury and Throughbred) on 8th Avenue, just down from the Douglas Corner area, with its antique stores and Zanie's Comedy Club. The building formerly housed Melpark Restaurant, and looks as though it possibly had a life as a steakhouse at some point in the past.
With over 30 booths and some large tables, this one is the largest restaurant of the three Sylvan Park restaurants. It is also non-smoking, and enjoyed a wide mix of diners from all walks of life, age groups, ethnicity, etc. on the day we visited. There is a "celebrity" wall which features a number of signed glossies of entertainers, as best as I could tell from my vantage point in the center of the restaurant.
We were seated right away, although the parking lot was essentially full at 12:45. Mom ordered a veggie plate of cabbage, spinach, fried okra and a drink. The catfish sounded appealing, so I ordered it along with green beans, cole slaw, black-eye peas, sweet tea and corn bread. The waitresses were very busy, but were attentive and friendly and, actually, right on time with our refills. There was an ample amount of "honey" and "sweetie", also, which is fine with this southern boy.
On Wednesday, I enjoyed a nice lunch with my son (Chris), my daughter (Kelley) and my mother again. My daughter and mother take an art class together on Wednesdays with one of my neighbors, Christy Pilkinton, an excellent Nashville portrait artist (check out her website at
http://www.portraitcreations.com) and I grabbed them to come along.
We made our way over to Murphy Road, across from the entrance to the
McCabe Golf Course. Our goal was the first
Sylvan Park Restaurant [
http://www.meatandthree.com/tn/sylvanpark/], located at the confluence of Murphy Road, 45th Avenue North, Westlawn Drive, and 46th Avenue. It's a neat little area with a number of dining establishments and shops in a great extended neighborhood of older homes that are being renovated and updated.
This small meat-and-three restaurant has 11 tables and a couple of booths, and is fairly plainly decorated with white walls, black trim and not a whole lot else. This is a place to come to eat and socialize and be treated like you belong. Our waitress, Nita, took our orders and was as sweet as she could be from beginning to end. Our choices varied from meatloaf with creole sauce to country fried steak, and the vegetables included green beans, cole slaw, spinach, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, corn, lima beans, and candied yams. I can tell you that there was virtually nothing left on our plates. However, we did leave enough room to share a
big bowl of banana pudding. One member of our party had eyes bigger than his (or her) stomach when ordering the banana pudding, and we were more than happy to pitch in and help him (or her) finish it off.
It seems that Eleanor Clay, Sylvan Park's owner, has a solid recipe for success with meat-and-threes here in Nashville. Maybe you won't hit all of them on consecutive days like I did this week, but you should visit at least one of them in the near future, whether you are a local or a traveler/tourist coming to or through Music City. Take someone with you or pop in by yourself and make a new friend. Just do it soon.
Phil (mn3guy)
