Southern Fried Nirvana

Arnold’s
605 8th Ave. South
Nashville, TN

I’ve written about that Middle Tennessee institution known as “the meat-and-three” on several occasions now.

But, on yet another trip through Trashville, I felt it was now time to quit fooling around and review the pinnacle of meat-and-threes – the granddaddy of them all – Arnold’s.

What makes Arnold’s the greatest?

Simple. Really, really good food.

That’s it.

Trust me, it’s not the atmosphere, service or the location.

Literally on the wrong side of the tracks (actually about 100 feet from the railroad overpass to be exact), in a run-down industrial section of south Nashville, Arnold’s is mobbed at lunchtime five days a week by perfectly respectable businessmen, cops and record company executives.

(Well, okay, you’re right, there’s nothing respectable about Nashville record company executives, but you get the idea.)

While the staff at Arnold’s is Southern-friendly as can be, the service is pretty much do-it-yourself.

First you stand in a long line that often stretches all the way to the front door. As you contemplate what slow-cooked Southern delicacies you are going to consume today, you inch along in the cafeteria line by pie (always first in a real meat-and-three), then lard-flavored vegetables and finally meat.

Kinda like how they always make you walk through the entire damn grocery store to get the beer section. This is classic meat-and-three prioritization.

Once you tell the man behind the counter which three vegetables and which meat you want, you slide your tray to the cash register, pick out your sweet tea and pay the lady at the cash register.

Then the real adventure begins. Finding a table to sit and eat all this goodness at in the tiny packed dining room.

If you’re a single suit like me (suits rarely travel in pairs), you may need to share a table. But don’t worry about awkward conversation-starters with strangers. Everybody’s too busy concentrating on appreciating the exquisite goodness in every bite of this destination-dining institution.

So why do so many Nashvillites endure this hassle? The trek to the wrong side of town, the long wait, the table hovering?

One bite of Arnold’s fried chicken and the answer becomes obvious.

The food here is so good, I’d travel from anywhere, even across country, just to get a whiff of the collard greens. Come to think of it, I DID travel across country today. So the sketchy drive from Music Row is nothing for the locals.

My chosen “three”? Green beans, turnip greens and – in a nod to the fall season – stewed apples.

The beans and greens were chock full of earthy flavor. You know from the first bite, these vegetables have never darkened the inside of an aluminum can. The fact that they weren’t loaded with spices or pig parts made them even more impressive. These vegetables were so good, they stood on their own – nothing but slow cooked goodness.

The stewed apples were excellent also. Unlike the soft apple mush you get at some Southern restaurants, these apples still retained their crisp skin and tart bite even under their sweet syrupy nectar.

I also liked the corn bread variety served up by Arnold’s. As something of a corn bread connoisseur, I consider Arnold’s to be among the best.

Both kinds.

On a small side dish, you get one traditional corn muffin and a small pancake-looking circle of corn bread known in these parts as a “flap jack.” If you are lucky enough to grab them fresh out of the kitchen, they might still retain enough warmth to melt your pat of butter.

The sweetness of the corn bread is a perfect compliment to the earthy flavors of the green beans and turnip greens.

Corn bread. Vegetables. Apples. What about the meat?

Okay, okay, I’m getting to that.

This is the best fried chicken I’ve ever had in my life!

There. I said it.

That statement might cause some issues at home, but it just can’t be denied.

My fried chicken thigh was the moistest, most tender, juicy and flavorful piece of poultry I’ve ever bit into to.

But best of all was the crust. Crunchy, packed with powerful seasonings in every nook and cranny, the crust was a party in every bite. I couldn’t stop eating it – even the crust on the gristle and bones.

The texture was perfect – not dry, not greasy – and the crust didn’t all come sliding off the meat on the first bite like some lesser elevated fried poultry.

This was fried chicken nirvana.

After that meal, you could understand how the pie might be a bit anti-climactic.

But not at Arnold’s.

My chocolate meringue certainly didn’t look like much. It wasn’t going to win any Davidson County Fair beauty contests. The meringue was sort of shriveled up, teetering to the side like it would slide right off into oblivion the moment I touched it with my fork.

But looks can be deceiving.

The chocolate was light but packed an explosion of sweetness. You can not just taste the sugar. You can feel it on your tongue.

Powerful goodness.

And a great way to cap one of the best lunches to be had in all of America.

Rating: Bought the Shirt!

Judy’s Castle Fit For A King

Judy’s Castle
1302 U.S. 32W Bypass
Bowling Green, KY

Beer selection: None.

Food: Good southern cooking.

Kentucky has always suffered a major identity crisis.

Are Kentuckians Yankees? Southerners? Mid-Westerners?

The answer is yes.

A state that shares a border with both Tennessee and Illinois just can’t seem to make up its mind.

During the War Between the States, both the Union and the Confederacy claimed Kentucky. In fact, the central star in the rebel battle flag represented the Confederate Government of Kentucky, while the politicians in the state capital refused to secede.

Was Kentucky a Yankee state? Or a Confederate state? The answer is yes.

Is Kentucky the only Northern state with a Southern accent? Or is Kentucky the only Southern state that lacks a Right to Work law? Again, the answer is yes.

But no one seems to suffer such schizophrenia down here in Bowling Green, the former hub of Kentucky’s Confederate Government. A stone’s throw from the Tennessee line and just an hour drive from the meat-and-three capital of America, Nashville, Bowling Green’s roots are firmly planted in Southern soil.

If you doubt me, just carry your growling stomach to Judy’s Castle, a 43-year-old pre-interstate institution of good old Southern cooking that dates to a time when U.S. 32 Bypass was the only way to get from Alabama to Indiana.

A classic Nashville-style meat-and-three with the added luxury of a barbeque pit next door, Judy’s Castle is the place to go in Bowling Green for Southern-style breakfast or country-cooked lunch.

“No hassle at the castle” is the motto.

My “meat and three” were the pork chop with black eyed peas, sweet potatoes and baked beans.

My lunch came with a pair of the most perfect freshly baked biscuits you’ll ever find. Crunchy on the outside. Soft, warm and buttery inside.

Pork chops can be tricky. I’ve had way too many that were over-cooked, tough, dry, tasteless, or all of the above.

I’m happy to report, Judy’s Castle does pork chops right. Well seasoned and juicy, the meat in my meat-and-three was pork perfection.

The vegetables were excellent also, especially the well seasoned black eyed peas and the sweet, onion and pepper studded baked beans.

But, you know what I’ve found over these years of traveling Southern back-roads? No matter how good the meat and slow-cooked vegetables, the highlight of any meat-and-three is…

…Pie!

My friendly waitress told me her favorite is the peanut butter/chocolate pie. She even offered to heat it up a bit for me.

I’m glad I took her advice.

A half inch layer of creamy peanut butter under another half inch of warm chocolate under a three inch mound of delicate meringue conspired to create one of my top ten desserts of all time.

The rest of the Commonwealth of Kentucky might be on medication for schizophrenia, but one thing can be stated with certainty here in Bowling Green: Judy’s Castle is the king of Kentucky Southern cooking.

Rating: Bought the Shirt!

Meet Meat-and-Three

Iron Pork Chop
930 Lebanon Pike
Nashville, TN
Visited October 13, 2010

Ah, the good ol’ “meat-and-three”.

The meat-and-three is as much a part of Nashville as cheesy pop-country songs and broken dreams.

Sometimes a good meat-and-three is the only thing to look forward to on a trip through Trashville.

I guess I should start with a definition of the meat-and-three, for those of you who have never ventured south of the Ohio River. (Southerners feel free to skip the next paragraph).

Meat-and-threes are humble little Southern-style restaurants that pop up all over weird places in middle Tennessee. The idea is you pick a meat from among four or five choices and then you pick three vegetables on the side from a board that typically lists 10-15 side dishes that rotate on a daily basis.

Hence, the name, “meat-and-three”.

Sweet tea is the requisite beverage. Biscuits or corn bread comes on the side (in the Iron Pork Chop's case, both). Pie is for desert.

The really appealing thing about meat-and-threes to occasional veggie frowners like me is that they usually play fast and lose with the definition of “vegetable”.

For example, macaroni-and-cheese is ALWAYS a meat-and-three veggie option. So is Jell-O, coleslaw and a whole host of other non-garden grown species that would make your Yankee grandmother roll over in her grave.

First of all, let me state that the Iron Pork Chop is not one of Nashville’s more famous celebrity-attended meat-and-threes. No Faith Hill sightings here.

No, I just happened to be driving by while I was hungry. I thought the name sounded cool, so I swerved my compact rental car into the parking lot.

Like Nashville’s best meat-and-threes, the Iron Pork Chop is not in the best location. In fact, it’s directly across the street from a motel that actually advertises rooms for $23 for three hour intervals and “free adult movies”.

But that’s okay. A trip to the seedy side of town is all part of the requisite meat-and-three experience.

The meat part was easy. At the Iron Pork Chop, you get the pork chop. Duh.

But narrowing the vegetables down to just three was harder than the well-worn mattresses across the street.

You have to understand, ordinary sounding vegetables like “green beans” at great meat-and-threes are anything but ordinary. Vegetarians ordering vegetables at a Nashville meat-and-three would run screaming from the building like Anderson Cooper at the Gold Club.

No. Green beans are never just green beans. They are always enhanced with pork or bacon or fat or all three to give them that delicious hearty flavor of the South. I’m convinced pig fat is the single essential ingredient in all Southern cooking, especially vegetables.

Vegans, don’t say I didn’t warn you. (Why are you reading this blog anyway?)

Squash casserole and stewed tomatoes are other meat-and-three staples, so sweet and slow cooked, they could qualify as desert. I’ve had squash casserole so carb-loaded, the dish could better be described as “squash cobbler”.

So I have to admit being a bit disappointed when I was served my chosen “three”.

The macaroni and cheese was the runny Kraft in-the-box kind your mother made you when you were a kid. Not too exciting.

The turnip greens had a decent earthy flavor to them, but no sign of any hog fat, hog jowl, ham hock, pork belly. Nothing. Just a vegetarian-friendly mulch of mushy greens.

Iron Pork Chop’s squash casserole tilted toward protein rather than carbs, as the squash was stewed in a mild cheese sauce which I really liked. Definitely the top draw of my chosen three.

The highlight of this meat-and-three was…the meat.

Pork chops can be tricky. Too often they can be bland, tough, dried up or -- heaven forbid -- all three.

But not Iron Pork Chop’s namesake.

This beauty is breaded and fried.

Do I need to repeat my Suit757 mantra about frying? Yeah, pig is good. Fried pig is awesome!

The thin crust reminded me of the zesty delicate layer of grease and corn meal you find on good fried chicken. It also locked in the flavor and moisture of the perfectly cooked chop.

If you are going to name your joint after a menu item, that menu item sure as heck better be good. The Iron Pork Chop passes.

Of course, no visit to a meat-and-three is complete without one very important meal capper – PIE!

My chocolate meringue was nice. I’m not sure it was home-made. But whether it is frozen, store-bought or from scratch, there just ain’t no such thing as a bad chocolate meringue pie.

It turns out the pie was a good analogy for my entire Iron Pork Chop experience. It was good. How could fried pig, Southern veggies and pie be anything but?

However, it just doesn’t quite live up to those other more famous Nashville meat-and-three legends like Arnold’s and the Loveless Café.

But hey, look on the bright side. At least you don’t have to fight Faith Hill for that last piece of pie.

Rating: Would Wear Shirt If It Were Free.