Nashville, TN

My friends and I took in the latest and greatest of the Jason Bourne trilogy on Friday. We bought tickets to the 9:00 at the Carmike Cinema in Cool Springs. After securing our spots at the theater, we had dinner at the muoy delish Ghengis Grill nearby. If you haven’t been there yet, stop what you are doing right now and fix that. It is the Mongolian barbecue concept, and they have everything you could possibly want to throw on a grill with rice. Chicken, steak, shrimp, lobster, vegetables, fruit, seasonings, sauces, you name it. You won’t be disappointed.

After dinner, we had about an hour or so to kill before movie. We decided to walk around outdoors in attempt to settle the copious amounts of food we had just ingested. And not too long after we started walking, the inevitable happened. We needed to find a restroom.

Someone had the big idea that Chuck E. Cheese would suffice. I wasn’t too sure. I thought we had to buy admission just to get past the faux velvet ropes. So we sent in the lackey (the only boy in our trio) to get the sitch. As we peered through the windows like stalkers without restraining orders, we saw him gain access to the facility with little-to-no quandary. So we did what any good friends would do. We followed suit.

Sure enough, we too were admitted without so much as a puzzled expression. The door-master did, however, roll her eyes at us in exasperation when we tried without success to convince her that our “special adult friend” needed retrieving from the skee-ball stand, and that we were very sorry for letting him out of his car seat unattended.

So here we are, three adults wandering the child-packed Cool Springs Chuck E. Cheese on a Friday night, with no other business there but to…well, do our business. And had the entire restaraunt not smelled like stinky feet (I think that was the pizza), we might have stayed for a round of Caveman Crashers.

All I’m sayin’ is…parents beware. Not of us, of course - we’re harmless. But not all unsupervised adults aimlessly pacing a children’s facility are quite as safe as we are.

If you know what I mean.

My inside sources have told me that the Caffino on Old Hickory Blvd at Nippers Corner has packed up and moved out. In it’s place, a glorious industry pioneer will establish presence, bringing light, love, and low-fat, low-carb, high-protein, deliciously smooth and cold pre and post workout meals-through-a-straw to all who patron its walls. What is this modern marvel, you ask?

Why Smoothie King, of course. Sandwiched in between Schlotsky’s and State Farm.

Life is about to get even better.

Alright, during yesterday’s comments regarding “where are all the single people?” (answer: not in Nashville), I noticed a little snarkiness over one of our local Dining Experience du jours.

I have to ask: what exactly is everyone’s beef with Cabana?

No, I’m not a regular who sits at the 5:00 bar, sweeping in and ordering up, “Tony! My regular!”

Yes, I’ve eaten there once or twice. It was good. A little more than I like to drop on one meal, but tasty. A fine, casual, breezy dining encounter.

Dare I ask again, what’s your beef with Cabana? Seriously, if there is a reason I need to dislike this place, just let me know what it is. I can be persuaded…even bribed. But as it stands, I’d recommend it to people I like.

I need to know so I’m gonna do a quick poll:

Best barbecue in Nashville?

I have a few in mind, and have a new partial-fav. But as always, I want to hear from you.

Call me co-dependent.

So last night I was at Sambuca, hanging with friends and listening to Eric Heatherly play on stage. I’ll admit right now I didn’t really want to go. I was tired and I wanted to get in bed at a decent hour, and every time we go to Sambuca we end up leaving much later than we intended. But I went because this was the last night Eric would be playing at Sambuca for the summer.

My resolve to leave early was strong though, and as soon as Eric was done with his first set, I got up to leave and started making the rounds of good-byes. I finally came to Eric to wish him well on the road this week. He and his band leave on a three week tour soon, and I knew he was really pumped.

Me: Good luck on the tour!
E: Thanks! I can’t wait to get OUT of Nashville!
Me: Yah, I think I know what you mean. But it’s good to be from Nashville…
E: Yah, it’s a great place to live, but it’s cancer when you’re working here (in the music industry, that is).
Me: I get it…when you’re a performer, you HAVE to go on tour. You have to get out of the local scene and get your music out there.
E: Are you from Nashville?
Me: No. I was born in California, and then we lived in Texas, Virginia, and Florida. This is the first place I’ve ever chosen to live.
E: Really?! So you had to live in all those other places…
Me: Yup. Eric, have a great tour. But just remember: it’s good to be from Nashville.