Quintessential Nashville is made up of a few things: fruit tea, hot chicken and biscuits. Oh, the biscuits.

Biscuit Love specializes in that last one. And, it is very quintessential Nashville. So I had to go - much to Brittany's chagrin. Overrated, she scoffed. And ... she was maybe right.

Biscuit Love has the coolest little outdoor patio surrounded by buildings, and the interior is the standard run-of-the-mill hipster I've come to expect in Nashville (that's not a bad thing!). It's cute with mixed textures, fun art and modern.

While online reviews lament the long wait, we came at a good time because we were ushered right in. I ordered the Princess, which is a biscuit, Nashville-style spicy hot chicken, honey, mustard, and pickles.

So, this sandwich was good. I had so much amazing hot chicken in Nashville, though, this hardly compared. The biscuit wasn't bad, but once I got some extra honey to temper the spice, this was a solid meal. Not bad by any means, but I've had both better biscuits and better hot chicken. But, this was a good place to get both at once.

Grade: B

If there's one iconic restaurant in Nashville, it's gotta be The Loveless Cafe. Located on Highway 100 just on the fringe of town, The Loveless Cafe serves up legendary biscuits that are quintessential Nashville cuisine.

In 1951, Lon and Annie Loveless began serving [fried chicken and biscuits] out the front door of their home to travelers who passed by on US Highway 100, the then primary route between Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee. Weary travelers found comfort and refuge at the cozy home and in the food the owners served to them while seated at picnic tables in the front yard. As the tiny house became a planned stop for treks along the Trace, Lon and Annie Loveless expanded their private home into the Loveless Motel and Cafe. Lon Loveless built and ran the property’s motel and was responsible for smoking the meats while Annie whipped up batches of her homemade preserves and scratch-made-biscuits - a secret recipe that remains unchanged to this day.

After a bit of a drive, we arrived to this property that houses the restaurant, as well as the hotel, event venue, a few shops and more. But, first, we went to the main restaurant, expecting a lengthy wait. Fortunately, we had no wait and were seated quickly.

Biscuits are immediately brought to the table with sides of peach preserves, strawberry preserves and blackberry preserves. The peach was my favorite, followed closely by the strawberry. Nice hunks of fruit atop a buttery, airy biscuit. Yes, please. And, you can get as many as you want - it's the free appetizer that keeps refilling.

I clearly couldn't get enough biscuits because I also ordered some for my main meal. The "Biscuit Sampler Platter" comes with your choice of four biscuits: Fried Green Tomato & Pimento Cheese, Barbeque, Country Ham, Fried Chicken, Bacon, Sausage or Steak.

I went with a fried green tomato & pimento cheese, BBQ, fried chicken and bacon. And, for my side, I got the hashbrown casserole.

All of these were tasty, though the fried green tomato and pimento cheese took the cake. It was different, and it pleasantly surprised me. Cheesy & fried - what is better? Next would have to be the fried chicken because I just can't get enough fried chicken biscuits in my life. The BBQ was good, not amazing. And the bacon was plain. I should've shoved some of that hashbrown casserole on it. That, by the way, was exactly what I was hoping for. It's your aunt's cheesy ambiguous dish at the family reunion that seems as though it has crack in it. ... Wait, is that just my family, or...?

This place is down-home, comfort breakfast food. Freshly baked biscuits? You got it. Everything with an added slab of butter? Definitely. Rich flavors, kinda hospitality and feeling like you're in your grandma's kitchen? Yep.

Grade: A

I love, love, love southern food. What's not to love about fried chicken, corn pudding and sweet potatoes drowned in brown sugar?

A big part of soul food is "Meat and three." Meat and three, which has roots in Nashville, is essentially a plate that consists of a main meat (fried chicken, meatloaf, pork chop, country ham), and three side dishes (vegetables, potatoes, macaroni and cheese).

Arnold's Country Kitchen is the iconic meat-and-three restaurant. Once we parked in the Arnold's lot, we walked inside restaurant and were met with the large, open dining space. Long communal tables ran the length of the room, with few open seats spaced out in between. We added ourselves to the back of the line and waited as people filed up to the cafeteria-style counter.

The menu changes a little bit by the day. And, fortunately, we were there on a meat loaf day (yum!). You can get a main and just one or two sides, but what fun is that? I wanted the full meat and three experience. So, I got the meat loaf, candied yams, macaroni and cheese, and corn pudding. I probably should've thrown something green in there, but ehhh...

We just so happened to find an empty booth along the wall, so we hunkered down there before we began devouring these plates. My god, I wish this blog had tastebuds, because that meat loaf killed the game. So flavorful. So moist. So hella good. The macaroni and cheese was a delicious baked mac with some nice dark spots along the top. Sweet candied yams bathed in brown sugar were sweet as a dessert, and the corn pudding had more of a spice factor, but it was perfect for this plate of food.

Just, go. Immediately. Go hungry and eat all these things. You're welcome.

Grade: A

"Enter as strangers, leave as friends"

Preserves and biscuits. Cinnamon rolls. Smoked sausage, bacon, gravy, country ham, breakfast potatoes, pancakes, scrambled eggs, hash browns, cheese grits, skillet fried chicken, fried apples, corn pudding ...

Buckle up, folks. Let's get ready for a month's worth of Nashville.

I recently traveled to the city (8 hour drive from Morgantown) to see my friend, Brittany. While there, we embarked on a week's worth of gluttony, adventuring and boozing. The first stop, after the long drive: dinner at Hattie B's Hot Chicken.

Hot chicken is a regional specialty in Nashville, so I had no fewer than at least three places (maybe four) that served it on my wish list.

According to Wikipedia, hot chicken was discovered by accident:

It is generally accepted that the originator of hot chicken is the family of Andre Prince Jeffries, owner of Prince's Hot Chicken Shack. She has operated the restaurant since 1980; before that time, it was owned by her great-uncle, Thornton Prince III. Although impossible to verify, Jeffries says the development of hot chicken was an accident. Her great-uncle Thornton was purportedly a womanizer, and after a particularly late night out his girlfriend at the time cooked him a fried chicken breakfast with extra pepper as revenge. Instead, Thornton decided he liked it so much that, by the mid-1930s, he and his brothers had created their own recipe and opened the BBQ Chicken Shack café.

Hattie B's has a bit more of a polished look compared to some down-home chicken shacks and has found itself on all the must-try hot chicken lists for its welcoming environment and easy locations. The branding is on-point with the red accents carried throughout the decoration (and the chicken!).

When we arrived, we were greeted with a small line. No worries, it moved quickly. Once we got close enough to the counter, I was able to make out the menu and figure out what I want. Dark meat or white meat? White. Large or small? Small. I ended up with a small white meat plate, which came with a breast and wing (mild please) and two sides: I went with pimento mac & cheese and red skin potato salad.

After placing our order, we found a table outside and awaited our food. My chicken arrived atop a piece of bread with pickles speared through the top. This plump, juicy chicken breast packed a little cayenne heat in that crisp deep-fried breading, but nothing too toxic - for that, I was thankful. It was flavorful and went along perfectly with my sweet lemonade. My favorite part was as the chicken settled into the bread, the bread soaked up all this flavor and spice and was just delicious.

Pimento mac & cheese was so good - how could it not be? And the cool potato salad added a welcome break from the hot temperatures otherwise.

This was tasty! And, with it being my first, real hot fried chicken, I was impressed and couldn't wait for more. Fortunately, I had options already lined up!

Grade: A