Here Are The 7 Best Spots For BBQ In Nashville
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Home to hot chicken, country music and the legendary Grand Ole Opry House, Nashville is the ultimate city for a weekend away. Also known as Music City, the vibrant capital of Tennessee has a little bit of everything. On one end you have celebrity chef-owned restaurants with innovative Southern cuisine and on the other, you have classics like Prince’s Hot Chicken and there’s all the comfort food you can handle in between. Nashville’s barbecue scene has become destination-worthy over the years, with hot chicken at its very center. Music City’s dynamic audience along with its access to a certain quality of meat and produce make it the perfect destination for chefs and restaurants to flock to. Here’s the best BBQ in Nashville.
Nashville’s barbecue scene has become destination-worthy over the years, with hot chicken at its very center. Music City’s dynamic audience along with its access to a certain quality of meat and produce make it the perfect destination for chefs and restaurants to flock to. Here’s the best BBQ in Nashville.
1. Hattie B’s Hot Chicken (Multiple Locations)
If you’re going to pick one reason to go to Nashville, make it the hot chicken. At a fundamental level, hot chicken is comprised of pieces of chicken thigh, breast or leg that are soaked in buttermilk, hot sauce and fiery spices, and then fried in a cast iron pan until crisp and juicy and slathered with spicy oil. It gets served on white bread with pickles. Music city has two top contenders when it comes to this spicy masterpiece. Hattie B’s and Prince’s Hot Chicken.
Hattie B’s is a spring chicken compared to Prince’s. The relative newcomer has locations in nicer areas. You can expect insanely long lines. You can get the hot chicken in sandwich form or however else you prefer, and it’ll come with coleslaw and a kosher pickle. Heat levels range from Southern (no heat) to “Shut the Cluck Up,” which you’ll most likely need to chase with a ton of bread or gallons of sweet tea. Make sure to get a side order of the pimento mac and cheese.
2. Arnold’s Country Kitchen
At Arnold’s the meals are served cafeteria-style with choices like catfish, dumplings, chicken, mac and cheese, creamed corn, fried apples, kielbasa and sauerkraut, stewed okra and fried green tomatoes. The desserts are just as tempting with coconut, peach and spicy chocolate pie. The average meat and three will run you about $11. All you have to do is a grab a tray and go to town.
For over 30 years, Arnold’s Country Kitchen has been feeding the masses with its classic meat-and-three-style service. A meat-and-three restaurant is one where the customer picks one meat from a daily selection and three side dishes. It usually comes with cornbread and sweet tea. While this style is popular all around the U.S., its roots can be traced to Nashville.
3. Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint (Multiple Locations)
The western Tennessee style of whole-hog BBQ is at the forefront of Martin’s. Pat Martin’s Tennessee empire has been featured everywhere from the Food Network to the Travel Channel to Bon Appetite to Conde Nast Traveler. Martin’s main philosophy is that there are no secrets in barbecue and what you see is what you get. The first thing you’ll notice when you walk into Martin’s is the smokiness that’ll take over all of your senses.
You should order the whole hog with slaw or the redneck taco — with your choice of pork, brisket, sausage, chicken, turkey or catfish — on a cornbread hoecake. The spot also has killer smoked wings tossed in a mayo-based Alabama white sauce. The restaurant is huge with over 500 seats in a 13,000-square-foot warehouse space. You’ll get to listen to live music while you eat your BBQ and wash it all down with more than 30 types of beer.
4. Prince’s Hot Chicken (Multiple Locations)
If you want the gold standard for hot chicken you’ll need to make a visit to Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack. The spice levels range from mild to “XXXHot” and the mild doesn’t even really mean mild. It comes with two slices of white bread and a few pickles. Everything is made to order so you might have to wait a few minutes for your food. While it’s a little bit outside of the downtown area, this hole-in-the-wall is worth the trip. You can get a quarter leg of dark meat for $5 or three whole wings, bread and pickles for $5.
In 2013, the James Beard Foundation gave Prince’s the American Classic Award, which is given to restaurants across the nation that are distinguished by timeless appeal. Thorton Prince is known as the father of Nashville’s hot chicken. In the 1930’s his girlfriend thought she was getting revenge by dousing his fried chicken in hot sauce, but he ended up loving it and perfecting the recipe to serve to the masses. While the dish has spread like wild fire over the years, Prince’s will always be the OG.
5. Peg Leg Porker
Since opening in 2013, Peg Leg Porker has become a staple of the Nashville BBQ scene and the barbecue sauce is one for the books. Nashville native and pitmaster Carey Bringle was brought up on western Tennessee-style BBQ traditions and smokes his meat low and slow with Memphis-style sauce. Bringle seems to have discovered the perfect sweet-to-tangy ratio that keeps customers coming back.
The BBQ nachos — pulled pork, sauce, jalapeños and cheese — or the “Memphis sushi” with sausage, cheese and saltines are both pretty popular. Try the “Peg Leg wings,” Yard Bird platter or the dry ribs. If you’re feeling up for it, Kool-Aid pickles are on the appetizer menu. There’s also a full bar with plenty of bourbon and whiskey and fried pies for dessert.
6. Edley’s (Multiple Locations)
This Nashville institution follows the meat and three tradition. It smokes all of its meats fresh, daily using white oak wood, so when they run out that’s it for the day. The side dishes, they have about eight to 10 daily, are just as good as the meats. Let’s not forget to mention they offer banana pudding as a side.
The pork sandwich is pretty popular and comes with a red sauce and pickles. The Tuck Special, which was voted best sandwich in Nashville, is a fan favorite with smoked brisket, house-made spicy pimento cheese, an over easy egg, red and white sauce and pickles. You can choose between pork, chicken or turkey at any time, but the Tuck Special is only served during lunch. If you want to get your hot chicken fix, the spot has a sandwich with jalapeño ranch, slaw and pickles. If you want something on the lighter side go for the tacos, which are packed with pork, brisket, catfish or shrimp.
7. Jack’s Bar-B-Que (Multiple Locations)
Known as the godfather of BBQ in Nashville, Jack Cawthon opened Jack’s in 1976. Overlooking the riverfront on Broadway and 1st Ave, the OG Jack’s Bar-B-Que continues to serve up some of the best smoked meats in Music City. There’s no shortage of BBQ styles here. You can choose between the Tennessee pork shoulder, smoked Boston turkey, St. Louis-style ribs, Texas beef brisket, smoked Texas sausage and smoked chicken. Afterward, you get to smother it in a plethora of sauces. Pro tip: When you check in on Yelp you get a free bottle of their dry rub. All plates are served with two vegetables and bread. Jack’s is a classic you’ll need to try while you’re downtown.
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