King Daddy and I like eating out. We ask ourselves this question as we pull out of the driveway: “Do we feel bad or do we feel good?” If we’re feeling bad, we head to a burger joint. If we’re feeling good, we go Thai. Or somewhere in between. Come join us.

Guava BBQ riblets

Guava BBQ riblets

Pollo Tropical: This Miami-based fast casual chain just opened in Cool Springs and it takes this Florida-girl back to her Latin favorites – fried plantains, black beans and rice, flan – all the good stuff. They’re known for their chicken, which is very tasty. But I gravitate toward the guava BBQ riblets,  tender planks of pork with a sweet guava glaze. I’m not a huge guava fan, but I love Pollo Tropical’s sauce and I especially love their guava cheesecake.

Las Americas Market: Attached to the Las Americas Market on NolenvillePupusa Road is a real-deal Mexican restaurant that serves a Salvadoran treat: the pupusa. It’s a corn pancake stuffed with meat, beans, cheese or all three and it’s served with a vinegar coleslaw. Yummy doesn’t begin to describe it. Las Americas makes its own corn tortillas and they come warm and slightly crispy wrapped around traditional Mexican fillings. King Daddy and I are partial to the beef cheek tacos, served simply with chopped onion, cilantro and lime with a slice of avocado on the side. This is not a chips and salsa place. This is a Spanish is on the TV place, with a clientele that looks like the United Nations. We are very at home here.

Banh mi sandwichThe InterAsian Market and Deli: Ah, the beauty of the banh mi sandwich from InterAsian Market and Deli on Nolensville Road. This Vietnamese treat is loaded with roasted pork, pate, and sweet pickled vegetables on a crusty French roll. And all for just $3.20. Interasian is a great place to buy vegetables and any Asian ingredient you can possibly think of and some you can’t even imagine. You can buy a banh mi any day of the week, but on the weekends (starting Friday), the owners add a delightful small buffet of other Vietnamese options. I wouldn’t say the InterAsian Market has changed my life…but almost.

Zoe’s Kitchen: K.D. hates, hates, hates Zoe’s Kitchen for exactly the reason I love, love, love it. Healthy food. Zoe’s is Mediterranean inspired, although a pimento cheese somehow snuck onto the menu.  Think beautifully fresh Greek salad, grilled chicken in a pita with feta-laced slaw and braised white beans with rosemary. There’s very little mayo to be seen at Zoe’s. The fabulous potato salad is dressed with oil and vinegar and the slaw is vinegar-based, too. You’ll feel good about pretty much anything you order. I’m particularly partial to the Chicken Roll Ups (pictured) and the Gruben, which is a sandwich of grilled turkey, Swiss, slaw and spicy mustard on rye bread. You’ll feel so virtuous eating at Zoe’s that you won’t even feel the slightest bit guilty ordering Yaya’s hand-made chocolate cake for dessert.

Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom: King Daddy and I haven’t tried anything else on their menu because we are totally stuck on the all-you-can-eat pizza bar, which includes a salad or soup, for $7.50. This is very, very good pizza but it’s not really classic Chicago pizza (trust me, I was born there). The crust isn’t thick enough. But, that said, it has the taste of a Chicago deep-dish pizza and the servers bring out a new pie about every three minutes so there’s a huge variety to choose from. I am also a fan of the salad because the restaurant serves it in chilled bowls, which is a plus, and the dressings are very good. Someday, I’ll venture away from the pizza buffet line and order something off the menu. Someday. But not anytime soon.

Great Wall of China: King Daddy and I found this place through sheer, dumbluck. My pedicurist is in the same strip shopping center in Grassland. Great Wall is easily now one of our favorite restaurants. The cuisine is restrained (not a lot of gloppy sweet sauces) and the family who owns Great Wall are always just thrilled to us there. The meal always opens with sugared peanuts. I have no idea why, but it’s a nice touch. My favorite is the Triple Crown

Boneless duck

Szechuan Style, a delicious mix of beef, chicken and shrimp with vegetables. Noah joined us over the holidays and was curious about the boneless duck. You should be, too. An added bonus is that Great Wall is almost next to the Grassland Market, where Daisy King offers succulent casseroles and other prepared items to go. You need the poppy seed chicken. Trust me.

Pueblo Real: Tucked away in a strip shopping center just past the Williamson County offices, Pueblo Real is perhaps the best Mexican restaurant in Middle Tennessee. Family owned and operated, Pueblo Real offers a huge menu with all the usual suspects and some unusual additions. Left is the Special Lunch #1: a taco, chile relleno, refried beans and guacamole for $5.25. Mark got the real deal, chorizo with eggs that comes with a lovely warm packet of tortillas to wrap all the goodness in. Some of the unusual menu items include sauted shrimp with chipotle sauce, a whole fried tilapia and a ribeye steak topped with fajita vegetables. And for dessert, yes! Flan and sopapillas.

Krystal’s: Krystal’s is not known for its breakfasts, but they serve a pretty good basic one. The scrambled eggs are creamy, the bacon crisp, the grits buttery. For less than $5 you can’t go wrong. On the other hand, King Daddy was feeling very, very bad on our last trip. He ordered the chili cheese fries. Then he kept waving them at me to taunt me. I stuck to my grits. Not pictured are the two Krystal cheeseburgers he ordered along with the fries.

Culver’s: Looks like we’re still being bad. Culver’s recently opened in Cool Springs. It’s a Wisconsin chain that boasts of its Butter Burger. I figured I needed me one of them. Delicious! King Daddy ordered a pot roast sandwich. Yes. Good. So good that K.D. ate most of it before I could get the camera out. Love the fact that their menu has a lot of different offerings. They’re also famous for their frozen custard but we’ve been too full to try that yet.

Peter’s Thai and Sushi: K.D. and I figured we were being 90 percent good ordering the husband and wife roll: spicy crunchy crab and spicy tuna rolled together and served with Pon-Zu Sauce. Deep fried. I learned there must be variants in sushi etiquette because I could neither pick up a piece of husband and wife with chopsticks nor eat it in one bite. Peter’s Thai and Sushi is locally owned. Eat there in Brentwood or don’t eat there at all.

Chile Burrito: Is it Mexican? Well, sort of. Not authentic, but whiffs of a homage to Mexico wafting through the air. I am generally good at Chile Burrito, ordering the salad which starts with a bed of greens. You request the toppings you want. Good: chicken, roasted corn, black beans, cucumbers, dressing on the side. Bad: cheese and fried tortilla strips. Extra cheese, actually. K.D. was bad, bad, bad. Deep fried fish tacos. Delicious! But bad.

Jim and Nick’s Barbecue: We had an unintentionally hilarious time at Jim and Nick’s. It’s new in Cool Springs and our waiter was, well, let’s just say his career probably won’t be in food service. Mark ordered the pulled pork sandwich with collard greens. Pork was fabulous and the collards, he declared, were the best he’d ever had. I ordered a chopped Southern salad with pulled pork on the top. Salad arrives. No pork. Waiter: Pork will be right out. Halfway through salad. No pork. Waiter comes by to ask if everything is okay. No. Pulled pork. He says he’ll ask for it again. I observe that there is probably 10,000 pounds of pulled pork back in the kitchen and I only want about three forkfuls of it. He brings the pork and then promptly and deafeningly drops 3 plates as he’s clearing the table behind us. Then he drops more when he clears our table. I cannot help it. I burst out laughing. Good note: They didn’t charge me for the pork. I will be back. The cheese biscuits, by the way, are out of this world.


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