Restaurants in Clarksville

When Zoë Cassimus would appear at a party with a bowl of her homemade chicken salad, everyone's face would light up. In between mouthfuls of creamy chicken, her friends and relatives often urged her to open up her own restaurant. Encouraged, Zoë gathered her family's time-honored Mediterranean recipes and opened the first Zoës Kitchen in Homewood, Alabama. Hungry diners flock to her restaurant in search of her chicken salad, pita bread, and pasta.

Today, Zoë's family-run eatery has branched out into more than 50 locations across the country. Within each kitchen, chefs continue to adhere to Zoë's original recipes, folding fresh ingredients into wholesome Mediterranean-inspired roll ups, sandwiches, and kabobs each day. Out on sunny patios, diners clink glasses of beer and mop up last dollops of hummus with fresh pita. Others opt to take meals to go, carrying out still-steaming four-person dinners of chicken kabobs and steak roll-ups to enjoy at home with their family or with the band of outlaws they call their family.

Brightly colored fish swim lazily in an aquarium recessed into the wall at Majid St. Matthews, evoking coastal wildlife as the eatery’s cuisine evokes the coastal culture of the Mediterranean. In the newly remodeled eatery’s dual dining rooms, duck bruschetta and escargot starters are enjoyed at tables topped with white cloths. The small plates whet appetites for vegetarian pastitsio—baked pasta tubes with squash and leafy greens in tomato sauce—or a rack of spring New Zealand lamb flame-roasted kebab style.

For a change of scenery, diners can retire to a fully stocked bar and lounge area lined with sleek grey couches and arm chairs. The lounge menu of small plates, also available throughout the eatery, centers on finger foods such as smoked salmon crostini. Sonically separated from the main dining area, the bar hosts live music Wednesday through Saturday. Visitors can also step onto the outdoor patio to get a breath of fresh air or try to signal a passing helicopter for a pickup.

Louisville’s own Courier-Journal likens the coziness of J. Harrod’s Restaurant to that of an “old-school suburban sanctuary”—an apt description, though the upscale eatery sidesteps clichéd décor for an elegant dining room that refuses to pander to nostalgia. Like the green plaid wallpaper and other subtle touches of décor, chef Jenny Ballard’s menu reflects a refined simplicity with its comforting dishes of boneless fried chicken, center-cut pork chops, and veal marsala. The kitchen’s five house-made dressings spruce up salads with recipes that represent America’s diverse culinary traditions, from a zesty peppercorn ranch to a dressing that boasts ingredients from each of our country’s 1,000 island territories. Waiters whisk dishes from the kitchen to large tables, whose polished surfaces are illuminated by the glow that emanates from a wood-paneled fireplace.

As its name subtly hints, this sports-bar chain prides itself on signature onion rings and nine flavors of buffalo wings that come big, boneless, breaded, and range from mild to atomic on the tongue-melting scale. Beyond wings, the menu is a study in classic sports-bar Americana, with burgers, quesadillas, and that most American of late-night snacks: Greek gyros.

Buffalo Wings & Rings diverts diners' attention from their sauce-covered fingers with TVs airing sports and enough space for a herd of buffa-chickens to graze. The boisterous atmosphere also makes Buffalo Wings & Rings the ideal environment for talking loudly, trading high-fives, and second-guessing the coach's decision to wear pleats when the whole league has switched to flat fronts.

In the bone-dry days of the early twentieth century, residents of the Phoenix Hill neighborhood could only legally purchase spirits at the Vienna Bar & Restaurant or the Phoenix Hill Brewery. In 1984, The Brewery Restaurant and Bar took up the mantle of these venerable beer barons, conjoining two 120-year-old buildings on Baxter Avenue and opening up shop for nights of revelry and feasts of juicy burgers, hearty pastas, and deli-style sandwiches.

In the back, an antique 5,000-pound bar top from the original Vienna Bar & Restaurant evokes an air of old-timey nostalgia, and fully functional antique beer coolers chill drinks with traditional mule-powered refrigeration methods. Occasional live bands serenade diners and dancers, and the restaurant's mobile unit of caterers delivers payloads of mouthwatering pub fare to distant parties and events.