breakfast at the loveless

Way back in June I traveled to Nashville to give a presentation to a bunch of librarians. It wasn't about food, but oh, how I wish it had been.  A few posts ago I wrote about the interesting Persian experience we had on that trip, and today, I'm following up with the story of how my first trip to the Loveless Cafe went. 

For some reason I thought it was somehow affiliated with Patty Loveless, the singer. I was wrong. The restaurant is way outside of Nashville. Maybe it was Amy who mentioned how off in the backwoods it was, and made the typical "Deliverance" comment. (Seriously, that was north GEORGIA, not anywhere in Tennessee. If we'd been in north Georgia, no problem. But I hate to hear a Deliverance quote out of context; 99% of them ARE.) There was a wait. But the grounds had several shops to browse; several were already closed though. The gift shop is well stocked with almost every gift imaginable. I brought home bacon-flavored dental floss for Ian.

Dinner was breakfast. I wasn't clear on the fact that every table gets a basket of biscuits, so I ordered breakfast that included biscuits. Otherwise, I had my eye on the chicken liver dinner. Grew up eating organ meats, and just like 'em. What else can I say? But, I'd never had red eye gravy before. So that was a new experience. Or could have been. 

I didn't know that's what was in the ramekin. I thought it was au jus. So I didn't try a bit of it. And I queried the waitress about where my biscuits and gravy were? She took my order for that, and I reminded her that she didn't bring my coleslaw on the side that I ordered initially. 

So the biscuits were the real draw for me, because I love them so. And the Loveless is known for biscuits. In fact, I think their biscuits may be labeled the best biscuits in the south? Yeah, they were very good. But--and this is sacrilege--I think I like Cracker Barrel's biscuits better. Their jams and jellies were simply fabulous. And their cheese grits were some of the best grits that have ever passed through my mouth.

When the biscuits and gravy came out, this fella toted them over to our table and said he had to see me eat the biscuits and gravy and slaw. Nobody else'd ever ordered that combination before and he had to see it. I explained my love affair with coleslaw and told explained that I wasn't eating coleslaw on my biscuits and gravy. Also, I told him to have a seat, there was an empty one. He sat and chatted with us for a bit until the waitress came over and told him that he was supposed to serve the food, not sit and socialize with the customers. It was all in good fun.

Marie and Amy were being good dieters. And actually, we all were so full from the abundance that we completely skipped dessert. My colleagues' influence was such that they ordered drinks, as did I. My bloody Mary was above average, so, perhaps I drank my dessert. It was a shame. Their pie case looked good. Too bad I didn't try the peanut butter pie or the banana pudding.