Top 5 for 2024

Best Restaurants I Ate at in 2024

Starting a food blog with my inability to spell restaurants is a choice. Took multiple changes before spellcheck could even help. Anywho, I am going to attempt to rank the five best places I ate last year.

1. Lockland Table (Nashville, TN) – It may be recency bias because I ate there most recently but holy moses was it delicious. We had somewhat late reservations but got the last order of cheddar biscuits. Would’ve doubled up if they had more. These legit melted in your mouth. So delicious. I had read their pizza’s were delicious, but as the first time there, I had to do an entrée. Your boy had the wonderful idea to get the pizza as an app as there were four of us. Other than swiping right on Kelsi, this may have been the best decision I have ever made. We got the LT Pig. All of the pork goodness on a perfectly woodfired crust. It was the absolute perfect amount for the four of us to split. Pizza app for the win! For my entrée, I ordered the 12 oz bone in pork chop. Ill copy the menu listing for the rest of the dish…”TN smoked cheddar mac and cheese, local braised greens, maple / honey black pepper glaze, TN chow chow” It was large and I ate every single bit. The crust on the outside was perfect and the meat was the most succulent. 10 out of 10 would get again.
2. J.C. Holdway (Knoxville, TN) – this was a celebration from that best decision I made. Kelsi and I celebrated our first anniversary at JC Holdway ( they definitely thought I meant wedding and gave us free dessert). I didn’t plan on starting a food blog and this was back in September so I do not remember everything we had. I do know they had a chicken gnocchi soup (Slow Cooked Farm Egg is the name on the menu), and it was the most magical chicken noodle soup you could ever had. Imagine your grandma is a James Beard award winning chef and she makes you chicken noodle soup with gnocchi instead of noodles…that’s what this tasted like. We also had some Benton’s Bacon Bolognese…I don’t remember enough adjectives to describe it but I do know I would get it again.
3. Herb’s and Rye (Las Vegas, NV) This will get its own post at some point, probably after I go again in June. Kelsi and I went solely for the drinks. I had read that it was one of, if not the best bar in Las Vegas. They opened at 5 and it was first come first serve at the bar. We got there at about 4:45 and got a seat at the bar when they opened. This is when we found out that it was happy hour which was half off steak. WHAT?!!? We had plans to get dinner with my parents but we had to try a steak. We were basic (and I think it was the smallest) and got the filet. Yo!!!!!! SO many fire emojis. Absolutely delicious. Ill post more about the drinks later on. But they were also amazing.
4. Esther’s Kitchen (Las Vegas, NV) Conversations at Herbs and Rye led us to this place in the Arts District. Sidenote, if you’re in Vegas, check out the Arts District. Such a different experience than the strip or downtown, and so freaking cool. We had lunch at Esther’s as that was the only reservation we could get that late.  I had a chicken parm sandwich, which is a go to for me. If it is on a menu, there is a really good chance I am getting it. This one was fried perfectly. The sauce had the right amount of tang and the mozzarella was divine. I will also be going back here in June and will report back.
5. Holy Land (Knoxville, TN) I debated number 5. I definitely ate this one more than any other. It is one of my go to’s in Knoxville. It will also be getting it’s own post soon and this blog is already quite long, so I will keep this short. Fresh boiled corned beef daily makes an incredible Reuben, so get it.

We’ll see where this blog goes, but for now that was my top 5 for 2024. If you have been to any, let me know! If you have recommendation’s for your city, shout them out. Will travel for food!!