Nashville Biscuit House

805 Gallatin Ave.
Nashville, TN 37206
(615) 228-4504
Website


Nashville is know for a couple things. One being biscuits, another being "meat and three" and the third being hot chicken. More on hot chicken later (I will be writing about it next). For now, let's focus on biscuits. Nashville Biscuit House is a literal box of a diner, with a drive through window and no other windows. There is a line about all open hours, so just suck it up and wait if you want some greasy breakfast.

I was ready to get down, but I HAD just eaten my weight in late night burgers and hot chicken at Dino's about 8 hours prior.

They offer things like the below.

I decided to be healthy and skip the ultimate platter, instead opting for a breakfast platter, featuring only grits, bacon, fried eggs, and toast. To that, I added a whole order of biscuits and gravy, and a country ham biscuit sandwich. Who said I couldn't do moderation?

The country ham biscuit sandwich was great, and featured ribbons of fat through the ham, a flaky, baking powder tinged biscuit, and a folded fried egg. The biscuit itself was a thing of beauty, and the sum of the parts was a nice breakfast sandwich.

A better application of the flaky dough was as a vessel for sausage gravy. This gravy was rich, silky and indulgent. My biggest problem with it was that there was a piece of plastic wrap hiding in my calorie pile. Poor quality control from the kitchen. It may have been from the sausage or the biscuits, but either way, it was not part of the allure.

The bacon was nice and thick, cooked crispy, and helped console me after the gravy incident.

The grits were coarsely ground, and smothered in butter. Not too shabby. This was a good meal, but it was overshadowed by the lack of care in the kitchen. The embarrassed waitress quickly took the gravy off of the tab, but that's the kind of thing that sticks with you. I would go back, but would look carefully in my sausage sauce on the next go-round.

Little Pete's

219 S 17th St
Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 545-5508

I had another encounter with one of the funniest writers around, @TVMyWifeWatches and this was a mission for tuna melts. Only I didn't get to go where I wanted, so I protested by ordering something else. We had originally wanted to find the perfect tuna melt in the city of Philadelphia. After our initial investigation, we can say for sure it is NOT at Little Pete's.

In all honesty, I had never been to Little Pete's in the light of day. My only memory (or lack thereof) of a L.P.'s encounter was likely half a decade ago - and no doubt nearing 3am, after a long night of boozing. They are one of the few 24 hour joints in Rittenhouse area, so I assume that was how numerous nights had ended in my younger days. The service is good, the counter is great, and the food is, well, predictable. Though we were "those people" at the counter (the only ones who were actually talking and enjoying ourselves, not wallowing in sadness-piles of chicken strips), no one seemed to be too annoyed by our (my) ADHD banter. Look at how jealous the girl who was dipping her toast into her coffee looked of this guy's plate next to me.

So the two "true believers" actually ordered tuna melts, while I maintained a safe distance with a Reuben. Remarkably, the melts came with fries, a soda, and a bowl of soup. My tuna guest ordered some kind of red soup, I think it had clams. He was more upset that they served wheat saltines than traditional white with the bland soup.

The other tuna adventurer ordered chicken orzo soup. Let's just say, Little Pete's does NOT have Progresso on the ropes.

Let's start with the good. Little Pete's makes an entirely passable Reuben. Is it the best I have had? Not even close. Is it somewhat delicious, and something I would order again? Absolutely.

Now, the tuna melts were another beast altogether. I will go on the record and say it was the worst "tuna anything" I have ever tasted. The croissant version was shitty, as was the one served on toasted rye. The tuna was low quality, dry, and lacking any flavor whatsoever. It was strangely reminiscent of cat food. See croissant below.

And where was the mayo? Oily Swiss was the prevailing flavor here, with a tinge of mildly-catty tuna-texture. See rye toast below.

If you are lucky, you might just stumble upon an urban cowboy. All in all, Little Pete's has crappy diner food. The greasy spoon breakfast is probably your best bet. Stick with the Reuben if you are there for lunch, and stay far, far away from the tuna. Anyone have any recommendations for tuna melts?