Holland House Bar & Refuge: Nashville, TN

Holland House Bar & Refuge

Ward 8

As we walked up the flower lined steps to the Holland House Bar and Refuge, in the east Nashville neighborhood, I could see Jeremiah, the bartender, waving and smiling from inside the big front windows.  This normally would make me happy, to feel welcomed and known, but on this day it was particularly warming because we had patronized the rustically elegant neighborhood joint only once before, on the previous night.  From the moment we entered the HHB&R, I felt a sense of comfort; a square bar sits center stage in the restaurant under soaring, exposed wood ceilings and the soft glow of chandeliers.   The suspender clad bartenders possessed an easy going air, serving up intricate craft cocktails to a full bar, yet not rushing or looking harried, instead taking time to converse genuinely and at length with the patrons.

Admittedly, part of our newly found nostalgia could also have been enhanced by the $5 cocktail happy hour menu.  While we are not cheap, and would happily have paid triple that for a truly wonderful libation, somehow the sense of landing a deal, heightened the experience even further.   While the full cocktail menu consisting of multiple pages of concoctions was still available, the 10 listed on the happy hour menu were plenty diverse.  On our first visit, as a whiskey loyalist, I opted for the Ward 8 -- composed of rye whiskey, lemon juice and grenadine and served up.   This drink was more tart than a Manhattan or old fashioned, yet in a very balanced, palate pleasing way. In researching the history, I lovingly found that the recipe originated in Boston, Massachusetts, just like me, and would have been served with a little paper Massachusetts flag garnish.  Instead of a flag, mine came with a sidecar.  While I am tempted to hunt down miniature Massachusetts flags, now that I am south of the Mason Dixon line, I will happily accept a diminutive carafe of the extra cocktail to top off my glass.

Pimms Cup

Mark ordered a Pimms cup, a light, refreshing summer highball, hailing from Britain.  Named for the gin based citrus and herbal liqueur, Pimms no. 1 cup, the cocktail also includes lemon juice and in this case cucumber soda.  Fittingly garnished with a cucumber, this is by far the best version we have every tried.  A bowlful of truffled popcorn was the perfect accompaniment, as we relaxed and peppered Jeremiah and the other guests with questions about great local eateries.

Clearly when deciding our cocktail destination the following night, it was no surprise that we were drawn back into the HHB&R fold.  After catching-up on the day’s events with our new found friend, Jeremiah, he whipped us up an Americano and a Chelsea Sidecar.  He sold the Americano perfectly, when he described it as the ideal way to slide into your night.  Not a drink for those with something to prove, he extolled, as it is void of a base liquor and instead made up of Campari, which is a fruity herbal aperitif, as well as noilly prat, a sweet vermouth, and lastly a bitter lemon phosphate soda.  Sweet and ascrebic notes blended easily and when served in a highball over ice, the red punch color made for a stunning glass.  The Chelsea Sidecar was also a fresh summer selection.  Gin was shaken with lemon juice, angostura bitters, and a lavender simple syrup, served up in a sugar rimmed glass with a sidecar.  

Pickled Produce & Chelsea Sidecar

The second night we enjoyed a little taste of their farm-to-table menu with the pickle and hummus plate.  A crunchy toasted baguette smothered with creamy, garlic hummus and topped with crunchy pickled okra, could easily top my bar snack list, and add carefully crafted, summer cocktails and you now have happy hour perfection.


While this aptly named refuge could easily be described as upscale, it is refreshlingly unpretentious.  In fact during a lull in activity, when we inquired about the dozen different amaro varieties, the bartenders spent time explaining the history of the herbacious digestif.  They pointed out the various flavors and nuances, based on the Italian region of their origin.  After hearing Mark complain about Cynar, an artichoke flavored amaro stocked in his childhood Italian home, they even poured Mark a small taste and encouraged him to try it as an adult.  Surprisingly tasty, they shared simple recipes with us, mentioning that while they serve fancy, classic cocktails at work that can include up to a dozen ingredients, when they are home, they typically lean towards easier concoctions, like a high-end sweet vermouth on the rocks or amaro and dry cucumber soda.

Americano

While I know I will miss the zealously made drinks, as usual, I am reminded that it was the people who clearly made the experience. The guys next to us who turned us onto the Food Truck Awards in Centennial park, the yoga instructor who texted us about a free class the next day, the adorable, witty couple and their parents whom reminded us of dear friends back home, and of course authentically charming Jeremiah and the other bartenders, all bring me shamelessly close to quoting the Cheers theme song.  To save you, I will simply leave you one thought - happy hour at the HHB&R is perhaps the best kept secret on this planet, but please do not go, as I would hate to not have a seat the next time I visit.

Restaurant Iris, Memphis, TN

I am a fan of eating in the bar.  Perhaps this draw stems from my high school and college years spent waiting tables, where the bar was the staff’s social epicenter of the restaurant or maybe it was my early career years in sales where eating alone at a bar was a way to feel less alone. Regardless of the origin, one of my favorite bar tables is at Restaurant Iris in Memphis, Tennessee.  Set in a house in midtown, the bar at Iris is a cozy nook off the entrance, encased in plush floor-to-ceiling curtains, bathed in alabaster candles, where you can watch everyone come and go, while enjoying the full menu and top-notch service.  I would probably also love a table at Iris, but seeing as you have to book weeks in advance, I will leave that to all those who actually plan in life. 


Dinner and a show in the city - what girl would say no?  While I was very excited to see the world's most renown jazz organist, Joey DeFrancesco at the Germantown Performing Arts Center, the deal was sweetened further by a promise of dinner at my favorite restaurant in Memphis, whose chef this very night was off winning an award cooking up heritage pork raised by my friend Brad at Ole Thyme Farms in Oxford.  

At Restaurant Iris on this rainy night, I fine-tuned a theory that will require countless hours of research to ensure validity -- that is, I hypothesize that restaurants that offer Sazeracs on their cocktail menus are more likely to serve memorably decadent food.  The Sazerac, a classic New Orleans cocktail made at Iris with pernod, bitters, rye, simple syrup, and lemon twist, was served in a wine glass on the rocks and hit all the right herbal notes with a sweet, yet strong finish.  The Pimms cup cocktail, a historic drink hailing from London, featuring Pimms No. 1, a gin based liqueur, laced with herbs, and mixed with lemon, spritz, and cucumber, while great on this dreary night, has most certainly secured a spot at the top of my summer cocktail list. With our drinks, we were treated to an amuse-bouche, and although it was not much larger than a quarter, the chopped green apple, goat cheese, pecan and honey-drizzled crostini, packed huge flavor in one bite.  This is one of those dishes that seems so simple that I make all sorts of promises to myself to try to recreate it at home for for friends.

While I grew up in a food loving family that valued dining out, the restaurants we patronized were of the all-you-can-eat crab leg or twin lobster variety, not French cuisine.  I adore both, and by no means am I complaining about great seafood, but I keenly remember my first foie gras, at Farallon in San Francisco.  Like most “firsts”, this little slice of livered heaven changed my life and palette forever.  Iris’ version was seared to perfection with a salty, caramelized crust, encasing a silky, rich interior, with a roasted sweet shallot with an herbed oil.  Like a child, I must have cut my piece into a dozen miniscule bites, but in this case it was to savor every last morsel.  


Not one to shy away from an unusual dish, I could not help but resist one of the new winter dishes for its pure schizophrenic appeal; the veal schnitzel was topped with a farm fresh sunny side-up egg and fresh anchovies, on a bed of knöpfle tossed with oregano and capers. 

 As if that was not sensory pleasure enough, the entire dish was served over a boysenberry glaze.  The briny flavor of the anchovies counter-balanced the buttery veal and the runny egg yolk for a wonderfully salty bite, that when dipped in the sweet boysenberry sauce, made your taste buds jump.  The flavorful knöpfle, a Hungarian style noodle with a chewy dumpling texture, completed the dish.   

The braised American kobe short rib, was served over a roasted winter vegetable fregula, a pasta similar to an Israeli couscous.  This meal was most certainly the antidote to a drizzly winter night; the rich braised texture of the beef was deeply satisfying and frankly there are not too many things in life that make me happier than a perfect baby carrot, smaller than my pinkie finger, with the miniature greens still attached.  

Farm cheddar with sea salt and honey immediately sold us on the cheese plate for dessert.  Creamy and salty, the cheddar was perfect on its own and also wonderful when paired with the tomato marmalade.  The Manchego coupled nicely with the rich caramelized onion marmalade and the fresh gouda was mild and clean, completely unlike the more popular aged or smoked versions.  Being a cheese purist, I didn’t try the crostini that came with the dish until the end, which was a blessing, as the toasts glean what I am calling their “crack essence” from being flash fried, creating a crispy crunch with a very satisfying chew.  Deep fried bread…might make me as happy as baby carrots....