Meet me at the Loveless

Chad's best friend Za and his wife Krishon came to Tennessee to visit from California. We were hoping to get them around sooner, but they had plenty of family that trump us. We got to catch them on their last day in town. Krishon was desperate for Sonic. The poor dear doesn't have one close enough to her in Cali, so it's a must-eat when she's in Nashville.

Chad and Za ran out to pick up food to bring back to us at the house. While most of the order was correct, there were a few things wrong. When you dine in at a restaurant, you have the luxury of asking your waiter for condiments and paper products or to correct an order, but at a drive-thru (or drive-in, in this case), you could be miles down the road before realizing that the order was wrong or that you were missing items. That was our case. Krison's mozzarella sticks weren't accompanied by their usual marinara sauce, but an extra corn dog was thrown in. Tolerable, but not ideal.

Their big treat before hopping on a plane back to LAX was a trip to the famous Loveless Cafe. Krishon was star struck because the one and only Carol Fay Ellison (The Biscuit Lady) showed us to our table. I could eat biscuits there all day long. The server brought a plate full of them with three flavors of Loveless preserves. We also got some sorghum molasses.

You can never go wrong with breakfast at the Loveless, but I always lean toward a vegetable plate. (The hash brown casserole was the best I've ever tasted there.) We were warmly greeted and well accommodated at the Loveless. Drinks were always kept full, but our server was unobtrusive.

Probably the best service of the day, though, was in the Hams and Jams Market. Dolores, the precious woman behind the counter was so gracious and helpful. She was also incredibly kind to my children. She executed a perfect balance between letting us shop in peace but also suggesting items we might be interested in. The upsell is tricky and needs just the right touch. Be sure you check it out online.

Before leaving for the airport, I overheard Krishon on the phone with her mom. She was hitting all the highlights of her trip. While she seemed pretty excited to have met Carol Fay, she was even more complimentary of an experience earlier in the week. She said, "Mom, it's called Shoney's. It was this awesome southern soul food buffet and it was wonderful." If she was most pleased with Shoney's, we're going to have to do a better job of showing them the best dining establishments on their next visit in!