After an attempt to eat a burger at a place recommended by a friend (even though I had called them on Friday and asked if they were open on New Years’ Day – she must have answered for New Years’ Eve), we were looking for another option. From the list I found a recommendation from the Southern Living “Best Restaurants in the South” article from a couple of years back – Pinewood Social. 

This place was hipster heaven – I did a walk through on the way to the bathroom (which was by the bowling alley – yep a bowling alley.  They also have pool and bocce),

and couldn’t find another person over 40, much less one over 50.  Luckily a couple came in with their adult children and stood next us to at the bar, so we weren’t the lone soul from pre-1980.  

When we arrived around 12:30, I was worried about parking, as they are just down the river from Nissan Stadium.  And the Titans were playing at noon.  But, Pinewood has their own free lot.  Walking in, the wait for a table was 45 minutes, but they offer first-come-first-served seating at the bar and I saw a trio of folks leaving…

We asked the bartender for food suggestions and he recommended three.  We couldn’t make up our minds, so we decided to share all three.  

The first was a braised short rib hash with peppers, onions and a sunny side up egg (we asked for ours fried well).

The short rib was fork tender and this was a very well composed dish.  But it was lacking a bit of “heat”.   I couldn’t flag the bartender down to ask for some hot sauce, but I did finish the dish.  

The second dish was chicken and biscuits, with gravy and fried fingerling potatoes.

The gravy was slightly sweet and the biscuits had a crispy top and bottom.  Those little potatoes were fresh from the fryer and almost burned me when I ate the first one.  And they were really tasty dipped in the gravy.   

The third dish was the Graceland – a waffle with banana, bacon and peanut butter mousse.  

This trio resulted in a good mix of savory and sweet.