GLEE CLUB MEET & EAT, FEB. 18&19. NASHVILLE

....and a good time was had by all!
 
Some 18 desperate for food Roadfooders converged on the Loveless Cafe last evening for a wonderful night of fun, friends and catching up!  Many thanks to Poverty Pete for organizing this event and to the Mayor for his accounting skills in reconciling the tab!
 
The Rev. Traveling Man led us in a brief, but poignant remembrance as we all raised glasses to our recently departed friend and felllow Roadfooder Rick F....very nice and deserving!
 
The Loveless was hopping with a line out the door and an overflowing parking lot, but with reservations by Poverty Pete, we were quickly seated.  Large tables of families and friends were interspersed with 2 & 4 tops creating a loud, party like atmosphere.
 
After plenty of catching up time, we were served family style.  Dinner included fried chicken, catfish & hush puppies, country ham & red eye gravy, mac 'n cheese, greens and hashbrown casserole.  Everything was unlimited, served hot and tasted fantastic!
 
And yes...there were biscuits...served in quickly diminishing piles along with homemade peach, strawberry and blackberry preserves!!!  :) :) :)
 
We spent a good 2 hours circulating around the table chatting with fellow Roadfooders.  The highlight of the post dinner segment was a presentation by Michael Hoffman and his lovely bride lleechef of the Roadfood Trip Report of the year award for 2011.  This year's award was deservedly presented as a tie to Wandering Jew and buffetbuster who were both in attendance.
 
Buffetbuster declined comment instead referring all inquiries to his publicist who remarked that "this award was a hallmark of his long and distinguished Roadfood career and would not have been possible without the countless chefs, servers and doggie bags he has encountered throughout America."  Wandering Jew did choose to say a few words and concluded some 90 minutes later.
 
Brunch this morning and then it's another year wait...mark your calendars now!  President's Weekend 2013!!!

Considering that Sundancer and Iwannago were my ride and due to lack of sleep the night before I think I concluded my speech sometime after I returned to my hotel room and went to sleep.
 
After brunch, I will be returning to Birmingham for my evening  flight home with hopefully a stop at the Birmingham location of Dreamland BBQ

We arrived home at 4 PM Sunday, Tired but full of memories and good food !  Thanks to all for making this a fine reunion. Film and Journal entries will be posted shortly.
BTW- The rain/snow mix we faced in Nashville ended as soon as we got on I-65  going North. The road was dry and clear all the way home !

At the Airport in  Birmingham AL waiting for my flight home.
Mostly rain on my drive for about 40 or 50 miles outside of Nashville then an occasional light sprinkle clearing up before arriving in Birmingham. 
 
It was great to see everyone again, and glad that all the original Glee Club folks could attend- my last event in Charleston 2 years ago just didn't seemed "out of place" without you. 
 
On a different note Will -work- for-bbq and I were having a conversation about a coffee house I visited in the Birmingham area about 7 years ago. I couldn't remember the name,however after my final meal stop on the trip, I plugged in "coffee" on my gps- and there it was only 2 miles away!
 

 
 

OK, Since WJ (Dale) has given you a peek at his coffee obsession...Let me present WJ as he focus's on another obsession...photographing his roadfood order ! Now WJ is by far not the only one of us who does this, but please note the emotion in his face as he prepares to attack his target !!
 
 
Another 'High Point' of this Glee Club Meeting, was the introduction of the "Honeymooners" Michael and Lisa Hoffman!
They received hearty congratulations from all attendees, and seemed to reflect their new found happiness in all of the activities of the weekend.

 
We were pleased to have New-Kid-On-The-Block, "Will-Work-for-BBQ" (Lynn) join us (from Alabama) for the weekend of food and fun.

 
Now another of the CTD Pork Chop Specials. Here he poses with a coveting eye, over the 4 Giant Chops and a plate of Ribs We ordered at Kock'em Hill BBQ Saturday morning.  The Pork was very good...I am enjoying some left-overs tonight !

 
These are just teaser intro-photos... The trip report of many of the members will wander on from this point til we ALL run out of photos !!

It was all fabulous!  Especially the company!  I enjoyed every minute, every conversation, every food venue.  Have already had some of my leftover pork chop for supper!  Ha!  I'll be noshing on it for a good while to come.

Enjoy the pork chop, Lynn.  When I have one of those, I generally spend three or four days eating one.
 
This next weekend I'm going to make a 100-mile run (one-way) to Knockum Hill for several people where I live.  I generally do this in the summer without calling ahead and have never had a problem.  Never have done it in the winter, though, so I will call a few days ahead.
 

Is it wrong that even though I have never met either one of these people that when I saw the picture of Michael and Lisa Hoffman together I smiled about as big as humanly possible?  I guess this place is a family even for those of us who only post occasionaly and have never been to any of the events. 
 
Congratulations again to the two of you!

Lleechef and I had a great time in Nashville. It was a blast finally meeting so many wonderful people. We can't wait for the next Glee Club gathering. I might even wear my stupid Hawaiian shirt again -- although I'll be kicking and screaming.

hatteras04 many thanks for your kind comments.  Michael and I had a wonderful time.  All the food was great but the company was extraordinary.  Some of the folks I had seen photos of but had never met face to face and for me, that was the highlight of the trip! 

Michael and Lisa:  Roz and I were finally glad to meet the both of you.  We particularly enjoyed the libation with Bushie and you two at the Maxwell House.  Thanks for sharing your time with us.
 
Sincerely:
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Paul, it was a pleasure. We hope to be able to do it again sometime.

It was a great time.  I got to see some old friends, and I met some new ones (including some good friends that I had never met  )  Very much looking forward to next year.
 
My favorites of the trip were Silke's and Ron's BBQ & Fish.
 
I'm just really disappointed that ChiTown was on a diet.  He just picked at his food the whole trip.

Great reporting so far and I'm sure there's plenty more to come!  And thanks to CK I'm thinking that my trip to Ohio and back later this year should maybe include a visit to Hinkle's.
 
Brad

lleechef and I had been looking forward eagerly to visiting the Loveless Cafe outside Nashville and sampling their famous biscuits. That's why we went down a day early, in order to be able to have breakfast there on Friday. We'd both been hearing about the biscuits for years. Frankly, we were underwhelmed. The biscuits we were served were just about as ordinary as can be. There was absolutely nothing wrong with them, but they were not, as was stated on the Food Network, "America's best biscuits."
 
That afternoon we met Bushie and Poverty Pete at the Flying Saucer for a few adult beverages and mentioned our disappointment. Bushie said he'd found that sometimes the biscuits were better than at other times, and Saturday evening we found out he was right again. The biscuits served at dinner were absolutely terrific -- nothing at all like the ones we'd had the previous morning.
 
By the way, dinner at the Loveless with everyone was great. The fried catfish, the greens, the country ham, the hashbowns casserole and the macaroni and cheese were delicious. Yep, the food was almost as great as the company.

Micahel & Lisa -
 
It was great to meet you both and attach faces to the names.  Hoping we cross paths in the future...
 
I beleive I am completely addicted to hash brown casserole...hoping there is no photographic evidence of my many helpings!

ChiTownDiner


I beleive I am completely addicted to hash brown casserole...hoping there is no photographic evidence of my many helpings!

and thanks to YOU

I've put on the 10 lbs that I lost before this trip!
 

wanderingjew

ChiTownDiner


I beleive I am completely addicted to hash brown casserole...hoping there is no photographic evidence of my many helpings!

and thanks to YOU

I've put on the 10 lbs that I lost before this trip!
 

 
 
In Vegas, that means you broke even! Congratulations!

ChiTownDiner

wanderingjew

ChiTownDiner


I beleive I am completely addicted to hash brown casserole...hoping there is no photographic evidence of my many helpings!

and thanks to YOU

I've put on the 10 lbs that I lost before this trip!

In Vegas, that means you broke even! Congratulations!

CTD:  Great analogy and very funny
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

OK- It is time for my version of the GLEE CLUB MEETING-Trip Report covering this expedition. I hope several of you will also give reports that cover the weekend from your own perspective...sort of like having the various networks covering the same news event...
 
 We were late comers to the extended event, but planned to include the main meetings in our weekend visit to Tennessee. We visited Silke's Bakery and German Cafe in Clarkesville... Knock'em Hill BBQ in Hearndon KY, The Loveless and Ellendales, both in Nashville.
  Leaving home at 3:30 AM Saturday morning, we were among the first drivers to cross the newly repaired I-64 bridge to Louisville. It had been closed for 6 months due to structural failure found last September. Anyway it reopened to traffic at Mid-Night, just hours before we left, saving us several miles of city detour had it remained closed. Then down to E-town on I-65, and SW on the Western KY Parkway to the US 41 Parkway south to Clarksville/Ft Campbell. We timed the drive just right, planning to arrive just as SILKE'S BAKERY AND GERMAN CAFE opened . All well and good, except I forgot to factor in the one hour time change from EST to Central Time. Thus we arrived right at 6:30 and had an hour to wait til the place opened at 7:30 !!  Sort of a "Delayed TTM treatment" !  The Cafe actually opened for us about 7:10 and we were able to get some shopping for take home bread  done before the rest of the crew arrived.
They had a nice variety of loaves of various breads and pastries for take-out as well as some nice rolls and 'Plates' of meats and cheeses for a light breakfast in the dining area. Please look up above in this thread for a copy of their complete menu. We were pleasantly surprised at the very high quality of the food presented at SILKES. In a Military-centered town one expects a lot more in terms of GI targeted food offerings, but this is really good baked goods. The Sourdough we brought home is as good or better than any we have enjoyed elsewhere. The pastries were tasty, and the samples of the meat platters that were shared were very good...especially the liverwurst.
Here the boys sample pastries and look on at CTD's Meat Plate. He did share his Pickle chips with me !!

TTM ordered a meat sampler and a Latte' that looked great. The round disk is the slice of Liverwurst, It was outstanding.
 
 
We then left SILKES at about 9 AM and convoyed out into the border area countryside to Knock'em Hill BBQ. The owner and his assistants made us feel quite welcome and took our order. We had ten folks present so we ordered 4 of the Giant Pork Chops, and several other rib and pork plates. We heard a lot of mixed reviews of the various sides. Some folks like the beans, some didn't, and same for the Potato Salad etc. The Pork, both the ribs and the giant Chop was good. The Chop is really a 4 rib pork roast cooked slowly yet retaining most of it's moisture. It was "Interesting"!! We brought about half of ours home and finished it off Sunday night.  About 11:30 am we were pretty well 'Porked Out" and headed to Nashville to check into our Motel and rest a bit before the evenings session.
AL & Jan shared this Giant Chop and the rib plate-

 Here is Gregg (again) hoping we will not make him share the four chops !!
 
  Lyn managed to consume "some of her Chop, but she took it home along with a Chocolate Pie that WJ had picked up at the Family Pie Store in Arkansas on his way to the meeting. She went home happy !!
 
 Here's a close-up (minus CTD) of those Monster Chops

After a morning of pastry sausage and BBQ we were slowing down a bit.
 
 
As darkness settled in we headed west on I-40 to exit 192 and took the short side road over to the Loveless Cafe. The place was very crowded and parking spaces were few and far between, but we eventually got settled and seated within minutes of checking in. Even though the place was jumping and quite noisy, the servers hustled food and drink to the 18 of us with amazing speed and courtesy. It really helped keep the spirit high to see the way they worked so hard to be sure everyone ALWAYS had full plates and drinks.
Greeting were warm and friendly, even in the big crowd.

Ralph and Lori check out the menu before the food began arriving. Lots of Biscuits and fresh Preserves  helped start us off.

Chris brought his wife Ellen to her first RF meeting. She seemed to fit right in with the group. Chris (Pogophile) is our resident expert on Middle Tennesse locations !

The family style service meant that the platters and bowls saw a lot of movement as the dinner progressed

I managed one photo of my dinner..Ham, Catfish, Hashbrown Cassarole, Greens, Hush Puppies and Fried Chicken, with a Cucumber salad on the side. Outstanding..I rated the Ham as the top meat on the dinner. Some of the Varsity did a few desserts too, but we had our fill from the main menu.

MH and Lisa made the presentation of "Best trip Reports" to BuffetBuster and Wandering Jew. Well deserved awards, I must say.

The "Boys" show off their Trophies !! Congratulations Cliff and Dale, Keep the reports coming in.
 
 
Sunday Morning found the weather turning a bit sour. Our numbers dropped a bit due to some wear and tear for a couple of folks and the threat of bad weather affecting the ride home for others. With a dozen or so in attendance , we entered a much mellower environment at Ellendale's. The O J was fresh, the food quite good and the service, again, more than what one expects at a buffet/brunch. Lots of good conversation and a brief Sharing of thoughts on the Meaning of Life by our young philosopher, T T M , was a fine ending to an excellent example of how the Roadfood Experience has brought us all together in a real "Spirit of Friendship".
TTM and Janet enjoy a light breakfast and some fresh O J

Steve (TTM) delivers a brief sojourn on the Meaning of Life to give us "food for thought" on the trip home.

The guy really mellowed out as the brunch came to a close. Everyone said they were looking forward to the next meeting !

 
We will participate as we can in other activities later this year, but will be sure to mark our Calendar for a Gulf-Shore/ Mobile Weekend this time next year!!!

Cousin Johnny was sitting next to me at Silke's, and I believe that it was his meat plate that you described.  I ordered all pastries!  :-)  The cheese danish has few peers, the apple streusel cake made its way around the table, and a fresh, warm German pretzel was top notch.
 
I would not hesitate to recommend this place or stop by again, if I were nearby.

What fun you all seemed to be having! Thanks for the updates, and looking forward to more........

Not being much of an Old Fashioned fan, I passed on the Old Fashioned made with bacon-infused Bourbon at Patterson House Friday night with Bushie and pogophiles, who both did seem to enjoy them, and lleechef, who stuck with wine -- although she did take a taste of my Jack Daniels (and grimaced). Bushie, who's been experimenting with making a bacon-infused bourbon concoction also ordered a shot of just the bourbon and he kindly offered me a whiff. The aroma was magnificent. I've said before that while I'm not a big fan of bacon, I do love the way it smells while being cooked. And that's the way this stuff smells -- ambrosia in a shot glass.
 
One of the neatest things about the drinks there was the ice. I ordered my Jack on the rocks, with just one rock, and boy was I surprised by that rock. My drink and the Old Fashionds each came with just one ice cube that wasn't a cube. It was the size and shape of a golf ball (without the dimples), and the best part was that it didn't melt and dilute the drinks..
 
Thanks again Poverty Pete for getting us to go there and slip past the curtain.

I did indeed pass on the bacon-bourbon Old Fashioned because it sounded a little too "boozy" for me but it surely was a very sexy cocktail with the unique ice.  I took a sip of Bushie's drink and it was divine. 

It wouldn't surprise me if Silke's was my favorite stop on the  Nashville portion of the trip. 
I arrived in Nashville and joined in right after Chi Town Diner had to "slow down a little" for his dining companions.  I'm sure there were other great stops before my arrival and when I left after Ellendales.
 It seems like several of the roadfood stops I visited on this trip (both pre Nashville and in Nashville)  had some items on the menu  that were real winners and some that were ok. I just had one big bomb on this entire trip- but I'll get to that when I begin my trip report hopefully sometime this weekend. Everything was a winner at Silke's- even the coffee which they get from Nashville's local coffee house- Bongo's.

OK I am going to back up just a little and post some filler from my stop with pogophiles @ Martin's BBQ and the rest of the events.
 
Dad and I drove around the south side of Nashville and headed to the J Percy Priest Dam and lake.  This is the lake you all saw near the airport (just east of it)

I the distance is Nashville Shores Waterpark,  as you can see from the sign
WEAR YOUR LIFE JACKET
Here is the dam

 
I went back to my dad's and waited to hear from the wrecking crew on their monsterous day trip that was going to end with Eastside Fish and maybe a dessert or 3.
 
I got the call and headed to meet the crew at Eastside Fish, i was excited because I was going to meet the LEGENDARY cousin Johnny.
 
My navigation system DID NOT LIKE NASHVILLE (if you all name a street something STAY WITH THAT NAME DONT CHANGE IT EVERY BLOCK)
 
I got to Eastside Fish and I knew something was up, there was Buffetbuster, WanderingJew, TheTravelingMan, ChiTownDiner and Cousin Johnny.
 
ALL LOOKED like they had been hit by a fully loaded semi truck.  There were the remains of a fish sandwich amongst them.
 
I came to find out CJ was under the weather and so was TTM, BB and CTD had eaten enough for 23 people in the past several days, WJ looked tired and ready for a good nap after his drive into town.
 
So I ordered, and we talked for a few moments, my sandwich came up quickly
 

The original OG Fish Sandwich
Here it is after 1/2 the sandwich was eaten and the bread still not touched that is how BIG this sandwich was.
 

minus the onions and pickles
 
The wrecking crew headed back to the Hotel for their early start inthe morning.  it ws good to meet CJ if only briefly.
 
 
sorry for the blurriness of the picture I was laughing too hard when I took the pix.  the kid standing there had his drawers at about half mast and they kept falling to the floor. NOT a pretty picture.
 
I did order 2 pieces of Chess Pie to go and ate one when I got home and the other disappeared in the night and I didnt eat it 

 
Dad said it was a good 3am snack.
  
Next Day's Events:  I will post after dinner Smoked ribs, rice and beans yummmmmmmmm
 
Jack's BBQ
Robert's Western World
Loveless Cafe
 
TTFN

Dale, We agree with your rating of SILKE's. It was a nice variation from the usual roadfood breakfast place with tons of 'heavy' protein boosting foods  and Carbos falling off the plate.  Light and very very tasty, this IS a real find !
 
CK, We missed the Hot Fish this trip. The Catfish with our Loveless dinner was good, but it was overshadowed by that GREAT Country Ham that I could not stop eating.
 
      It has been way too long since we have enjoyed 'real' Country Ham ! I have ordered one from Allan Benton's Hams from the Knoxville area. Hopefully it will saturate our desire for real ham !!!

Michael Hoffman

One of the neatest things about the drinks there was the ice. I ordered my Jack on the rocks, with just one rock, and boy was I surprised by that rock. My drink and the Old Fashionds each came with just one ice cube that wasn't a cube. It was the size and shape of a golf ball (without the dimples), and the best part was that it didn't melt and dilute the drinks..

Here are a couple of pictures of the machine that makes those ice cubes...
 
The basic pieces:
 

 
 
In action:
 
 

 
 
The end result:
 

 
 
In a glass:
 

 
 
The overall effect is incredible!!

The Eastside Fish was ok, not spectactular, i should have went with something besides the OG Fish Sandwich.  It was not my favorite of the trip.
 
 

OK - Showtime, this is my day in eats leading up to and including the Loveless.
 
I was going to head out in morning and join the group at Silkes & Knock Em Hill BBQ, but my dad got his days confused and thought that he was going to make his biscuits and sausage gravy that morning (we had agreed on Sunday morning).  I waited thinking he was going to start them around 7am giving me time to eat them and then jet to Silkes or Knock'Em Hill.
 
Well............ he got sidetracked on "frontierville" and time got away from him.
 
So I read the post about Paul & ROz going to Jack's Legendary BBQ on Broadway in downtown Nashville.
 
I called them and made plans on meeting them there.  Well parking around the Ryman or Broadway was ridiculous, I eneded up in a parking structure paying "early bird" prices of $12.00 to park, and it was 3 blocks away down hill.
 
I finally got to Jack's BBQ

 
  Note the line out the door, I called Sundancer and they had gotten their food and were right inside the door.  So I skirted the line and went to join them.
The BBQ was ok, but not LEGNDARY (maybe in their own minds, which will turn out to be the theme of my broadway experience)
 
With Paul and Roz getting ready to head back to the hotel, I decided against waiting in line to order the BBQ.  Yes the line now stretched down 3 store fronts and was over 2 hours.
 
Instead i went next door to Robert's Western World Honky Tonk
http://robertswesternworld.com/
 
The live Honky Tonk band playing was Ike Johnson & The Roadhouse Rangers
They were good and loud, the place was packed but I got a spot at the bar near the grill.  I ordered lunch and was told there was 1 1/2 HOUR wait for "The Best Burger In Nashville", what the hell the diet coke was cold and the music good.
 
 

and then there was ths sign (this was the "cleanest' one I can post)

 
The grill was a 36 inch flat top and those two worked their arses off just trying to break even getting the tickets cleared (they never did the wait when i left was still 90 minutes)
 
The burger was a preformed frozen puck, the mushrooms were dumped from the can onto the grill, the O rings were good and crucnhy with beer batter.
 
(ANOTHER BROADWAY LEGEND...... In their own mind)
 
I will return, im thinking Banananana puddin for dessert where did i put my shoes?