Nashville Hi-Lites for the Ruby Hoedown

Seeing as how Nashvegas is the venue for this year's Ruby Hoedown, and it's OGC's hometown, we thought we'd jot down some notes to help our Hoedown homies make the best of their time in NV. So, without further ado, here's the cream of the crop:

Entertainment / Events

• Thursday night, at 5pm, join NashDL (the Nashville Dynamic Languages group) (#nashdl on freenode IRC) at J-J's Market and Cafe for our weekly coffee shop hacking / socializing session. By 6:30, however, the venue changes to the Broadway Brewhouse (but not the one right next to the hotel, the one on down the road a little bit) for "one beers", which can last quite some hours. The BBH is half a block away from J-J's, btw.
• Friday night Hoedown entertainment: Jeremy (@jm) will have details forthcoming...
• Saturday night OGC-hosted party: Free beer, live music, dead music, yard games, rubyists, anarchists, etc. Invite (not for the seizure-prone).
• The Belcourt Theater - good independent theater down in Hillsboro Village; everything from art films to independent films to classic westerns; have a beer at your seat.
• Dude. Brooks and Dunn are playing a block away! Or something like that.

Music

• honky tonkin'. (You probably won't be sad if you start at Robert's.)
• The Station Inn - bad-ass bluegrass, all shows. Not too far from the hotel.
• The Wildhorse Saloon, crazy boot-scooting line dance venue on 2nd Ave.
• 3rd and Lindsley - Some great acts turn up here quite frequently.
• The End - one of Nashville's many non-Country venues. Everyone and their punk-rock grandma has played here.
• The Exit/In - Another storied (and even famous) non-Country venue, check their calendar.
• The Bluebird Cafe - Famous for breaking in new stars. Always good music.
• Be sure to check the Nashville Scene calendar and the Nashville Metromix calendar

Food

nearby

• Monell's - sit-down-pass-the-biscuits Southern style dining.
• Jack's BBQ - the Trinity Lane location is the bomb, but the lower Broadway location is prime.
• The Hermitage Cafe - Wow, you must be out late drinking.
• Bolton's Spicy Chicken & Fish / 624 Main Street / Nashville, TN 37206 / 615-254-8015 -- across the river in East Nashville, would be a quick cab ride.
• Mary's Open Pit BBQ - mmmmmm. Open way late, cures what ails ya: like eatin' a smoked rack of 'tussin.

A bit further

• Woodland's Vegetarian Indian Cuisine
• Eastside Fish - aka, "The Crunkest Fish in Town". Brave "the King Fish".
• Rotier's - classic Meat & 3.
• Las Paletas - excellent Mexican popsicles... you might also find them at Bongo Java, Fido's and a few other random locales.
• Southstreet - Parking may be tight but the pulled pork is solid. Front page of lunch menu changes daily, set nightly menu. Open air seating in nice weather, upstairs and downstairs bar.
• Princes Hot Chicken Shack / 123 Ewing Drive / Nashville, TN 37027 / 615-226-9442

I hope you're driving

• The Loveless Cafe - them's some good-ass biscuits.

Boozing

near the hotel

• The Broadway Brewhouse - great selection of beers, multiple locations, good jukebox, wifi; the other (midtown) location, however, is considered by some to be the best bar in Nashville
• The Flying Saucer - HUGE beer selection, wifi, food (including the "Sheboygan Side-by-Side") check it out.
• Brandon's Bar and Grill - good food and brew in Arcade Alley (also on Facebook)

further but still close

• The Villager Pub - great bar, great jukebox, great darts bar, so smoky you will throw away your clothes. Free dog bowl of beer on your birthday.
• The Springwater - THE dive bar
• The Family Wash - East Nashville. Donald Ball recommends the "Pint & Pie"
• Bosco's - high octane local microbrews in Hillsboro Village. Start here and stumble to the Villager.
• Blackstone - another local brewpub with pretty good food to boot.
• Yazoo - Nashville's answer to Sierra Nevada? Regardless, hanging out in their tap room is a good time. Limited hours.
• 12 South Taproom - Good beer selection, great front patio, good food, great live music. Within walking distance of the 12th South Portland Brew and Frothy Monkey.
• 3 Crow Bar - Great East Nashville bar, food, pints, open air, convenient to many of the "5 points" attractions. See also the 5 Spot.

Coffee Shops

• Crema - Small, but the coffee is excellent, decent snacks, and great wifi. Pretty close to the hotel.
• Dunn Brothers - Downtown, limited hours, but great food, coffee, and wifi. A really good environment if you can catch them when they're open.
• J-J's Market and Cafe - A NashDL favorite. Good coffee, great tea selection, impressive beer selection. Wifi is good but can get slow if there are a lot of college students hanging out. Within crawling distance of the Broadway Brewhouse and a bevy of decent Vanderbilt-area restaurants.
• Fido - High-traffic Hillsboro Village coffee shop (see also, Bosco's and the Villager). Great food for a coffee shop, part of the Bongo Java empire, hence pretty good coffee. A few beer selections, but for real beer walk across the street. Good wifi, but power outlets are very scarce (laptop row up front and a couple near the back entrance).
• Frothy Monkey - Great 12 South coffee shop, good food, good coffee, good wifi, nice atmosphere, nice deck.
• Bongo Java - Decent food, good coffee, ok wifi, a popular place to hang out. NashDL does Saturday morning brunches here (when there's no Hoedown to compete with).
• Portland Brew - 3 locations:
  • 12th South - Had been under some renovations, but worth checking out -- very popular, good coffee, good wifi, may have some food these days. Convenient to various attractions on 12 South.
  • Murphy Road/West End - Small, good coffee, good wifi, not much in the way of food. A good pre- (or post-) Woodland's stop.
  • East Nashville - this is a two-story affair, fairly new, across the street from Ugly Mugs, and near some decent East Nashville eats.
• Ugly Mugs - close to the Portland Brew East Nashville location, good wifi, good coffee.
• Cafe Coco - 24 hours, also has a front deck and back room. Coffee, teas, beer on tap, food. Wifi has been known to be spotty, but a lively locale with a diverse crowd. Your best late night bet.

Attractions

• The Frist Center for the Visual Arts - Nashville's art museum. Within walking distance
• The Parthenon - if you've never seen this, you must. Significant contributor to Nashville's high national "WTF" ranking.
• The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum - Twang.
• The Ryman Auditorium - Historic venue, and a great, if expensive, place to see a show.
• Bicentennial Mall - outdoor craziness including fountains, capitol, railroad bridge, a Tennessee you can walk on, push the big stone globe, Art Bell-era "spaceship landing zone", etc.; near the Farmer's Market
• Dragon Park - aka "Fannie Mae Dees Park", a nice park near Hillsboro Village (aka coffee, beer, food, fun) with an awesome dragon covered in mosaic tile.
• Dagohir weirdos in Elmington Park on saturday morning.

Outdoors

• Two Rivers Park (frisbee golf, skate/bmx park, wave pool), not far from the hotel
• Natchez Trace Parkway - 444 mile road, starting at the Loveless Cafe and ending in deep Mississippi. Nice drive, bicycling (you can rent a bike at the Loveless Cafe), hiking, views off a gorge bridge, etc.
• Radnor Lake - great hiking, you will probably need a car
• Warner Parks - great hiking, near Loveless Cafe, you will need a car
• Beaman Park - great hiking, you will need a car
• Bells Bend - great hiking/walking, you will need a car

Greenways

• The Nashville Greenways system provides walkable and bikeable paved trails connecting many parts of downtown. There are greenways that pass near the Opryland Hotel and connect with downtown Nashville. Greenways map