With the team’s recent presentation of The Trazees, I was lucky to also enjoy what the city of Nashville has to offer. Food tours are my personal favorite way to explore a city, other than bike riding and walking.

A quick internet search led us to Local Taste of Nashville. Our guide, Dean, had all the insights on the city.

I learned that a gulch is not a type of bird, but a geographical term, meaning small ravine. For locals or frequent visitors of Nashville, you’re already familiar with this bustling neighborhood, but not noobs like me.

We visited some of the most delicious spots we definitely would not have found on our own:
Stop 1: Santo Añejo — We tried its spin on Nashville hot chicken in taco form. I was skeptical at first, but consider this skeptic a convert. You just don’t declare a place serves the best Mexican food when you have a Mexican in the group.

I recommend you pair the taco with the white sangria, which is so refreshing.

Dean regaled us with the story of how Nashville hot chicken came to be. Basically, a cheating man betrays his woman, and she takes revenge out through her cooking. She expects to hurt him with super fiery chicken, but he loves it so much it actually inspired him to recreate the hot fried chicken recipe, and there goes the start of Princes’ Hot Chicken. What are the chances!?

A bite of fire with the perfect balance to avoid a situation.

Stop 2: Biscuit Love. Meet the bonut. This is exactly what you might guess, a donut hole made with biscuit dough. Like how did no one think of this earlier? Thank you!

A beautiful love story of an accountant figuring out she needs a change in her life, she goes to Europe with her friend to go to culinary school. They have a baby. They start with a small cart around farmers markets for a few years. As the Gulch starts to develop, they got in on the ground floor of a new development and found the now brick-and-mortar location.

A bite of love.

Stop 3: Pegleg Porkers

The best pulled pork sandwiches met the Tennessee veggie (a.k.a. mac ’n‘ cheese). This is the result of true passion.

This place had the most inspiring story of a young man dealt a difficult life card. Early cancer in his teens launched him on a mission to only do things he enjoyed because he was never sure how much time he actually had left.

A bite of passion.

Stop 4: 404 Kitchen
At our last stop we enjoyed a sweet treat, one of the best sticky pudding concoctions I’ve ever had (right next to another gem, Gumbo Bros.). By the time we made it here, I was pretty full, but I still made it a point to enjoy a taste.

I enjoyed myself in Nashville a lot more than I expected, and there’s still so much more to see. Thank you, Dean!

An afternoon of Taste of The Gulch with Dean from Local Taste of Nashville.

— Maria Angeles, account executive