Best Restaurants in Nashville

Nashville’s food scene has exploded. What used to be “meat and three” country cooking has become one of the most dynamic restaurant cities in the South — James Beard nominees alongside hundred-year-old lunch counters, hot chicken that’s become a national obsession, and neighborhoods where every block has a restaurant worth trying.

Hot Chicken — The Nashville Original

Nashville hot chicken is a style of fried chicken seasoned with a cayenne-based paste that ranges from warm to genuinely painful. It’s Nashville’s most famous food export and every visitor needs to try it at least once.

Nashville Hot Chicken — The Complete Guide

Nashville hot chicken isn’t just spicy fried chicken. It’s a specific preparation — bone-in dark meat, fried in a cast-iron skillet, painted with a cayenne-lard paste, and served on white bread with pickles. The heat comes from the paste, not the breading, and the good versions hit you twice — once with the initial burn and again with the slow creep that builds for 10 minutes after.