A Chocolate Soufflé in Nashville - Part II

For my 57th birthday in February my wife Julie surprised me with a very unique gift: A weekend in Nashville, Tennessee. Neither of us had ever been to Nashville. They only time the family had been through the State of Tennessee was years ago on our way to Starkville, Mississippi when Julie’s brother John was a professor of German at Mississippi State University. We had to make that trip to visit John, Judy (John’s former wife, and friend of ours to this day), and our kids’ (Michael, Tony and Debbie) cousins Courtney, and fraternal twins Stewart and Betsy. It was a delight to visit them, experience Southern hospitality, eat muffulettas for the first time, and to capture the enchantment of a Cudzu framed landscape.

During that trip we spent an overnight in some hotel in Memphis. In the morning we could all see that we were within walking distance of Graceland, the home of the late Elvis Presley. The five of us all trekked over to the gates of Graceland, but could only peer onto the grounds, because it had not yet opened to the public. The bus, which Elvis had apparently used on tour, was now the home of an Elvis souvenir shop. Even though Julie and I were not Elvis fans, we were too young by a few years to really appreciate “the King”; we took the family into the shop to gawk at the paraphernalia which they were selling.

Our “kids” are all married now and beginning to have babies of their own, so Julie felt we were free to travel the six hours from Decatur, Illinois and enjoy Nashville. Julie had become comfortable enough to allow me to express the “country” side of me.

Julie had made reservations at an historic Hermitage Hotel on Sixth Avenue. The hotel had been gorgeously renovated. The hotel had been perilously close to being razed in the 1970’s having been closed by the city briefly, after falling into such disrepair that the restaurant had been shut down for health concerns such a rat infestation and other city violations.

But today the Hermitage Hotel is exquisite. It has been restored to it original architecture of the École des Beaux-Art which will remind you of a French palace. The doorman all wore formal black suits and top hats and they and the rest of the hotel staff were as splendid in their demeanor as the environment that surrounded them.

If you visit Nashville, regardless of where you stay, plan to have a lunch in the Capitol Grille, which is in the Hermitage Hotel, and is divinely decorated as well. Be certain to imbibe enough of your favorite beverage so that you won’t forget to stop into the Men’s Bathroom, which was recently voted the “Best Bathroom in the U.S.” That is no joke. With its bright lime green-and-black glass tiles, and terrazzo floor, and a two seat shoe polish stand it is clearly a site you cannot afford to miss.

If you have a lady friend with you, she will have to “whiz” in, when the coast is clear, (the lady’s room is not as spectacular, sorry, ladies) so that she can view a bathroom that is clearly a “head” above all the rest.