Restaurants in La Vergne

Barbecue is about balance, about finding the right suspension of smoky and sweet flavors even if it requires hours of labor and patience. At Slick Pig BBQ, chefs achieve flavor harmony by slow cooking and saucing up meats—which range from classic ribs to honey-barbecue wings—and then plate them with requisite sides such as corn bread, turnip greens, and mac ‘n’ cheese. They also tantalize visitors with an array of Southern staples, frying up catfish, baking chess pie, and sweetening tea by telling it how special it is.

White plates designed to hold five separate pockets of food adorn the glossy tables at Mesob Ethiopian Restaurant, where diners can sample dishes such as rich lamb stew, Ethiopian-style steak tartare with herbed butter and chili powder, and beets simmered with garlic and ginger. Pieces of injera flatbread sop up savory sauces, and sips of rich Ethiopian coffee or imported beer wash back each bite.

Looking back on a rough-and-tumble career, songwriter and artist Bobby Pinson laments the slow arrival of his success. But having written hit songs for acts including Toby Keith, Sugarland, and Rascal Flatts, it's hard to deny he's made a name for himself by feeding America's ears. Now he's striving to bring his same brand of warm honesty to stomachs.

With the help of his wife, Lucy, and recipes passed down over three generations, the self-proclaimed Panhandle Texan has opened Lucy’s Country Cafe, which liberates the aromas of homestyle cooking to drift across nearby Music Row. As Bobby twists the tuners on his guitar to bring the metallic twang into tune at live weekly performances, forks click a steady beat against plates laden with chicken and dumplings, tender pot roast, and warm sides of mashed potatoes or cornbread bought à la carte or from the all-you-can-eat buffet. Caterers race from the restaurant, bringing feasts for party hosts to pass off as home cooked when trying to prove their kitchen isn't just a mirage.

Inside a cheerful restaurant decorated with yellow walls and streamers, culinary wunderkinds dish up traditional Mexican–style enchiladas, burritos, and fajitas. Green sauce, sour cream, and salsa drizzles over three types of enchiladas, and eight different burritos encase protein-packed mouthfuls of chicken, grilled steak, pork tips, and beans. Traditional desserts such as churros and fried ice cream celebrate the marriage of crispiness and sweetness, much like a deep-fried love letter. Barkeeps also pour imported beers, blend monster margaritas, and expound on the virtues, vices, and variances of more than a dozen tequilas stashed in their well-equipped watering hole.

Executive chef Vito Randazzo, a veteran of the kitchens of Café 123 and his father's restaurant, Caesar's, crafts classic Italian dishes splashed with wine sauces or marinara. Brick-oven pizzas and crumbly cheesecake desserts fill out a menu that was praised as "well-rounded, well-executed" in a Nashville Scene review (http://gr.pn/Ad7pmA). Around the dining room, black tablecloths support plates of elegantly arranged pasta, and walls host paintings by local artist Anna Ray depicting colorful pastoral settings.

After honing his culinary chops at restaurants owned by Disney, Marriott, and the Wyndham Union Station hotel, chef Angelo launched a local bistro and steakhouse that makes dining feel like a vacation. Here, he stuffs whole racks of lamb with fresh basil, garlic, and feta cheese and sautés veal picatta in white wine and capers. To accommodate diners with dietary restrictions, they also prepare vegetarian and gluten-free items, such as a baked eggplant with zucchini, squash, organic spinach, and a tomato-based broth as light as cotton candy spun from summer sunbeams.

In addition to delivering grilled beef tenderloins and cowboy rib eyes, attentive servers uncork bottles of wine from around the world during dinner and special events such as tastings and private parties. Live music wafts through the restaurant Thursday–Saturday as the house pianist tickles the ivories from 6 p.m.–9 p.m.