Nashville Food- Martin's BBQ and Calypso Cafe

I recently took a trip to Nashville and sampled the fare.  I won't do a separate blog for each place (mainly because my laptop is heating my man hood to unsafe levels) so I'll combine them here.

Calypso Cafe, Nashville:
EAT HERE!!! Great signage.  You can't miss it.  There's a to-go place but I suggest eating at a table so your food is hot.


If you are there, get the bean dip.  Bean dips are usually reserved for jock events and is just a conglomeration of all things poly-saturated and has the culinary nuance of school cafeteria pizza.  This was layers of brown beans, onions, pickled jalapenos, and chives.  The jalapenos were also sweet (I love science) so when you dipped the salty chip into the creamy, earthy beans with savory onions, sweet jalapenos, and sharp cheddar, you experienced a level of food harmony that could replace those annoying "coexist" bumper stickers.  The only wasted taste were the chives but chives are really only good for looking at... sort of like the hot girl in remedial math.

I got a taco salad, of sorts.  A good taco salad will be all about the meat. The accompanying flavors should be present only to support the star.  I got mine with a jerk chicken and what a combo!  The chicken was bold enough to cut through all the other flavors (something the ground beef on traditional taco salads can't do) without taking the top layer of skin off the roof of my mouth.  All the flavors worked wonderfully.


Really, the only thing I can count off for is the bathroom.  In theory, two people could be in here at once but that would make for a really awkward time, especially if there's eye contact.  Maybe a divider?

9.5 out of 10.  Good price and they know their niche: Mexican/Carribean food fast.  Fix the bathroom and I'll give you a 10... or at least use a lock that doesn't make me wonder if the door will fly open at any moment.  It's hard to hover that long.




MARTIN'S BBQ:  A GREAT REMINDER THAT TEXAS HAS THE BEST BBQ.  PERIOD.

Martin's, from what I learned, is a local chain bbq serving up smoked meats until they're gone.  I love the business concept but the BBQ left me wanting a bit.  For starters, the walls are covered with stuff.  I hate stuff on the wall.  I know from my brief stint in food that no one dusts said stuff on the walls and that's gross.  Ordering is easy enough.  Points to Martin for explaining each of the styles of sauce.  I didn't get to try most of them but I can tell you that my Southern Belle sauce was definitely sweet.  I wanted to try the really hot sauce but was a bit scared.  Then my brother told me it wasn't that hot and he has the heat tolerance of a Minnesotan so I'm going to go ahead and take a point off for false advertising.

I ordered a stuffed potato.  Baked potatoes aren't super difficult to make.  It's hard to over cook them and they hold flavor well, especially the skin.  I think a potato at a BBQ restaurant should be smoked, not baked.  If mine was smoked, I couldn't taste it.  Perhaps they used pine or poplar.  The Brisket was a bit tough.  I like it to be dripping and falling apart.  If you are shaving all the fat off to appease the salad eaters out there, I think your BBQ license should be revoked and you be forced to eat kale for a month.  As to the balance of the other flavors, it was fine.  Nothing too surprising but a good, solid potato.  The sauce mixed well with everything and I didn't feel too badly about eating the entire thing: so I'll award a point for portion control... but then I am at a BBQ where I should feel badly about eating everything so point taken back.


I give Martin's a 7 out of 10.  More fat on the brisket, make a variable heat scale by which part of the country you come from, and smoke your potatoes.
Very friendly workers.  I hope they don't have to dust all that stuff.

Happy Eating, Y'all.