Matty’s Alley

Nashville Restaurants and Food
Matty’s Alley
2410 Gallatin Ave.
Nashville
615-915-3967
http://www.myspace.com/mattysalleymusic

It’s a hair metal mood at Matty’s Alley. Van Halen is booming on the stereo, quickly followed by Guns and Roses. A few people are playing pool in the large room next door and we’re perusing a menu of Mexican favorites. Oh and did we mention the owners of the place are from Ecuador? If that’s not eclectic enough for you, then we really can’t help. As incongruous as it all appears, the owners are genuine and welcoming. Best of all the food is pretty good.

This location has had a number of restaurant enterprises. We first visited when it was El Paso Mexican restaurant several years ago. Then it was a taqueria called Juncal. The Ecuadorians owned the building the entire time and finally decided it was time to run the business themselves. It has a regular customer base thanks to the Nashville Auto Diesel College right across the street. It brings in students for tacos and sopes as early as 10am on weekdays.
The taqueria theme remains: tacos, burritos, chimichangas and quesadillas. You get a choice of meat with any option: al pastor (pork in adobo sauce), lengua (tongue), barbacoa (barbecue beef), pollo (chicken) and picadillo (marinated ground beef). That doesn’t leave many options for the Veggie Eater, especially since the owners are nice enough to point out that even the beans are not veggie friendly (nor are they in most places).

The obligatory salsa has a little zip but not much flavor. Luckily guacamole soon arrives. It’s wonderfully fresh and unusual in the simple preparation. There are just onions, salt, cilantro and mayonnaise. I know, I know…mayonnaise is often used to hide unripe avocado. Not here. The mayo gives it a creaminess that accents the ripe avocado. It’s addictive and we wind up capturing every last bit out of the bowl.

The one nod to Ecuador on the menu is Churasco: broiled marinated steak, a fried egg and French fries. There’s nothing fancy or unusual about this dish. It’s simply a well seasoned, tender steak with crispy fries. One fork full makes the egg run all over the steak, bringing everything together in a comfortable way. Even the carrots and peas on the side are cooked well. The Ecuadorian version is different from the more well known Argentinean steak often served with chimichurri. In Ecuador there is no chimichurri, and the steak is thinner. Churasco describes the whole plate of food in Ecuador. It’s kind of a working person’s meal.

You have a choice of soft shell or hard shell tacos. Despite the nod to American tastes it’s a pretty good taco with hearty, beef barbecue and good soft shell corn tortillas. The sopes is the big star for this visit: a big round of crispy, fried masa piled high with beans, meat, lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream. It’s a tasty meal in and of itself and one of the best deals around for just $3. The only disappointment this time proved to be the salsa which was really salty.

Veggie Eater: To say this is not a veggie friendly place is minimizing the virtual non existence of veggie items on the menu. Thankfully, the owner’s daughter 1) spoke and understood English well and thus 2) was kind hearted enough to respond to my plea of vegetarianism. She explained that Ecuadorian culture is a very meat focused culture and set about to discuss veggie options with her father. She fessed up to the lard in the beans and stated they could make some for me that were lard free. She and her father came up with a veggie taco salad. I don’t think I’ve had a taco salad since my high school cafeteria days and was surprised at how good they could be. Mine included a slathering of non meatified beans, grilled fajita veggies, lettuce, avocado, crema, and salsa all in the obligatory fried flour tortilla shell. It was satisfying and filling. They must do a bang up lunch business (thanks to Nashville Diesel College across the street) because they were sold out of flan and tres leches by 7 pm.

Meat Eater: This place has changed a lot in the management shift. The attempt to bring in the gringos is understandable. It has a sports bar look on the outside and a rock and pool theme inside. They are doing live bands, DJs and even poetry nights on a regular basis and they stock a full bar. Rock and roll, booze and good Mexican food has always been a good combination. We’re hoping they add more Ecuadorian to the menu to help them stand out a bit in the Mexican crowd. Either way the attention to detail and quality of the food makes this place work. Even when Axel Rose is whining on the stereo. We paid $25 with tax and tip for two entrees and guacamole for a dinner visit. A trip for lunch procured a taco and sopes for $6 with tax and tip and a full stomach to boot.

Café Bosna

Nashville Restaurants and Food
Café Bosna
5751 Old Hickory Blvd.
Hermitage
615-889-7008
http://www.cafebosnanashville.com/

Schnitzel is popping in the pan and Sevala Kulovic is quietly pulling together a hearty lunch. She moves about her simple open kitchen in plain view of the dining room. The experience is low key, warm and relaxing; kind of like having grandma cooking for you. Sevala greets you with a big smile and an energetic recitation of the specials, and then she’s off to cook. You may remember the Bosnian immigrant chef from her previous restaurant, Sevala’s Café, across from the State Capitol downtown (Sevala’s is still there, with a different chef). She moved to Washington State for family reasons and then back to Tennessee. Café Bosna has been open in Hermitage, near Summit Medical Center, since January.

Café Bosna is just a little bigger than her old joint: eight tables and the kitchen crowded into the same room. While Sevala is trying to branch out a bit with music on the weekends, movies and even cultural presentations on Bosnia, food is still the star attraction. The menu ranges from simple breakfast (omelets, pancakes), served anytime of the day, into lunch and dinner. Soups, sandwiches, and salads dominate the regular menu, with little European touches here and there: a Polish sausage plate, Bosnian Chevapi (the minced meat dish is a national specialty) and pastas: Alfredo, portobello mushroom ravioli and veal and sage ravioli. The specials menu is where the big guns come out. On this day Sevala offers goulash, well loved from her previous café, stuffed grape leaves and, in a move to make the Veggie Eater smile, there is a vegetarian special listed as such in bold type: bean and truffle oil salad served in a whole wheat tortilla.

Vienna Schnitzel arrives in a big bowl. Three large, golden cutlets are placed on top of the sides, which for this plate include mashed potatoes, linguine, salad and pita. It’s a small mountain of food and yet each taste remains distinct, despite being in the same bowl. And let’s face it: Schnitzel was made to go with some type of noodle. Sevala lets you choose a sauce to accompany a variety of pastas for the side dish. Creamy mushroom and green onion can come in a brown or white sauce. Bacon asparagus and marinara are also options. Customizing your food is not unusual at Café Bosna. We can hear the chef speaking on the phone to a regular. She goes through the soup line-up for the day, at the end of which she reports “we can cook-up whatever you want.” Of course that only works if the food is top notch. The Vienna Schnitzel has a light breading, tender cutlets and great flavor. The mashed potatoes are tasty and well seasoned. The Linguine is cooked just right and the silky sauce a nice accompaniment to everything else on the plate. It’s one heck of a lunch, probably better suited in portion size for dinner. Even the little salad sports fresh greens, olives, and a zingy lemon yogurt dressing. The pitas that threaten to tip off the sides of the bowl are toasted and lightly brushed with olive oil.

Veggie Eater: This is a real gem. I am sad that I no longer work in the immediate area, as I would have patronized it often during lunch time. As Meat Eater stated, everything really is made to order, so quite a few of the menu items could easily made veggie friendly. There are several dedicated veggie items (ginger veggie omelet, veggie and cheese sandwich, veggie delight), but most importantly, Sevala always offers a Vegetarian special item daily. Today, my good fortune was the bean and truffle oil salad. It consists of marinated kidney and pinto beans, broccoli, generous portions of diced avocado which is used to thicken the salad, celery, small chunks of tomato, all tossed in truffle oil. This is then housed in a whole wheat wrap and nestled atop mesclun greens and dusted with parmesan; a really inventive, great veggie lunch item. I asked Sevala about the daily veggie specials and she stated her Bosnian spinach pie is a sensational hit; it generally sells out at lunchtime on the day it is offered. She took my name and number to call me the next time it is offered. Her philosophy also includes, “There is always enough room for dessert!” We were stuffed from our meals and tend not to be dessert people, but she insisted we try today’s creation; it was some sort of pound cakey thing rolled around a strawberry cream filling and topped with chocolate sauce. I have no idea what it’s formally named, but it was damn good. Oh, and the dessert sample (appeared to be a regular portion), was free. Café Bosna is definitely a do-over. Plenty of food for left-overs. She was lamenting that business remains a bit slow, so I would encourage everyone to make it their personal mission to partake in Sevala’s hospitality.

Meat Eater: The Bosnian burger and the Jaeger schnitzel may have to be priorities on our next visit. Although that goulash is supposed to be pretty darn good. I can’t tell you how much a warm hostess/chef, great food and a leisurely lunch can perk up a gloomy weekday. I would imagine dinner and live music would be a fun way to experience Café Bosna as well. We paid $30 with tax and tip for two entrees. As mentioned though, that Schnitzel was really more of a dinner and you could easily do lunch on a more modest budget.

Mr. Pan

If I could do it without fear of arrest, I would enjoy just showing up at various ethnic households in Nashville while they are cooking lunch and dinner. I might bug them with a thousand questions, but I'd be more than happy to bring the wine. In the meantime I do this in a less obtrusive form by dropping in on little mom and pop restaurants.

My latest visit was with the kind folks at Mr. Pan in Hendersonville. As they name might imply they are a bakery specializing in Cuban, and Latin American baked goods. The owner is from Guatemala and his wife from Honduras. He baked for Cuban restaurants in California and they taught him how to make Cuban sandwiches.

Walking into Mr. Pan is like stepping in to someone's kitchen. They're busy rolling out dough and the owner greets me with a big smile. The brief menu features a Cuban pressed sandwich, a chicken sandwich and a steak sandwich. At the bottom there is a small mention of pupusas. I ask and the pupusas are not available. However, the owner launches into a few other items he could cook up. I wind up with a Cuban sandwich: A foot long white bread roll layered with ham, pork leg roast, cheese, mayo and pickles. The bread is quite good and the sandwich a comforting lunch. Plantains come lightly fried and nestled in a bowl of rice. Chunks of hard, Guatemalan cheese come piled up in a bowl for mixing with the plantains and tasty black beans that are served in a little bowl. The cheese is pungent, sharp and a real surprise. It's the interesting twists that make these places fun. As I exit I notice a bun with something on the top. I inquire and they tell me it is cocoanut and insist that I take one to sample. It's simple pan with a sweet accent.

I'm not sure what you will find if you decide to visit. It seems like everything may change here day to day. I guess that isn't much different than the typical household kitchen.

Mr. Pan
115 Walton Ferry Road
Hendersonville
615-578-9746

Sylvan Park Restaurant

Nashville Restaurants and Food
Sylvan Park Restaurant
4502 Murphy Road
Nashville
615-292-9275

You almost have to divide meat and three in this city into two categories: the old and the new. It’s a question of style, not so much when the place started business. Some folks are trying to update traditional Southern with new twists on the classics. Other joints are just doing it the way they’ve done it for many years. Sylvan Park falls firmly into the later camp. The tiny dining room on Murphy Road has been serving up good meat and three for more than 40 years.

You hit the door and count yourself lucky if there isn’t a line. They open up at 10:30 a.m. and depending on the day there could be a crowd inside by 11 a.m. The waitresses move quickly from table to table dispensing sweet tea and more “sugars” and “honeys” than you could count. It’s a natural part of the place and one of the prime ingredients that has brought people back for years: Sylvan Park is real down home Southern, not a facsimile created for business.

That food is pretty darn real as well. The corn bread muffins are a great start: just a little slight crunch. Yeast rolls are your other choice and they are doughy and good enough to give you a lunch dilemma right off the bat. The fried corn is sweet and semi-creamed, with kernels still holding their own. The sticky mac and cheese has real flavor and a nice consistency. The food is good at Sylvan Park nearly across the board. That’s a compliment for a meat and three, where the sides can often take a back seat in quality. That’s not to say there are not some bumps in the road. The country fried steak comes out looking like a car crash. The meat is pounded into submission and drowned in brown gravy. It is cafeteria food at best and a real let down given the rest of the plate. The interesting thing is people have been complaining about, and praising that country fried steak for years.

Another visit brings catfish to the spotlight and it is excellent. Some places focus on a thick crispy crust. At Sylvan Park they let the fish do the talking with a light fry and moist filet. Mashed potatoes have been whipped to death. They still have comforting goodness, enhanced by the brown gravy with little bits of debris. Green beans are left with texture and bite and the baked squash is simple and tasty.

Lunch at Sylvan Park simply has to finish with pie. The chess pie is about perfect: not too sweet, crispy and browned on top. It’s warm right out of the oven on this day and the combination is out of this world. Many people order the meringue creations. The coconut is tasty enough, but I’ve never been a big fan of huge, towering meringue. It is pretty on the plate. The chocolate pie is one of the best sellers.

There are currently two other Sylvan Park locations doing business: Melrose and Donelson. They opened an East Nashville version a couple of years ago. It never lived up to the quality of the original and soon shut down. If you’re looking for a taste of old fashion Nashville you can’t go wrong with Sylvan Park on Murphy Road. Overall the food is good and the atmosphere a throwback that makes a simple lunch a lot of fun. I paid $10 for meat and three with pie, and $13 for catfish and three with pie.