Restaurants in Tennessee

Offering diners a varying selection of Southern classics and 14 protein-and fruit-packed smoothies, the chefs at Scales Café whip up healthy snacks and filling dishes anchored around farm-raised catfish. A dusting of seasoned cornmeal prepares their signature catfish fillets to swim laps in the deep fryer before emerging triumphantly with either a crispy golden coat or a gold medal. Cajun or ranch spice blends can flavor the fresh fish, or diners can forgo the crispy crust in favor of a grilled or skillet-blackened fillet. Although house-made hush puppies, french fries, and coleslaw accompany most entrees to the table, eight other side options, including velvety mac 'n' cheese and sweet-potato fries, can smother hunger like a mother who cleans her son’s dorm room. Straws plumb the creamy depths of Scales Café's smoothies, which are made from fresh fruits, crushed fruit concentrates, and protein boosts. Each sippable meal is packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, but steers clear of fat, lactose, and artificial flavors.

La Shish Cafe isn't a typical all-you-can-eat buffet. While diners do build their own plates, there are no sneeze guards or heat lamps to maneuver around?just hot and fresh food options. This begins with an all-you-can-eat breakfast with biscuits and gravy, eggs, grits, and waffles. There are also plenty of meats, from sausage and bacon to catfish. At the omelette station, the cooks whip up fluffy egg creations stuffed with cheese, veggies, and meats. After breakfast, lunch and dinner entrees might include everything from fried catfish and macaroni and cheese to shrimp pasta and beef kabobs. Fruit smoothies and raspberry or peach-mango tea add a sweet touch.

The new Nashville Shores Marina location offers outdoor deck seating overlooking the J. Percy Priest Lake. They also provide live blues and jazz on Friday, Saturday and Sunday featuring performers including local artists like John Richards and Gil Gann.

The tale of Papa Turney's begins humbly, in a tiny trailer with a hickory smoker out back. Every Saturday, barbecue aficionados Mike Turney and his wife Mrs. Irene would open up the trailer for business, doling out plates of slow-smoked meats to an ever-growing following of devoted diners. When demand for Mike's tender brisket and fall-off-the-bone pork ribs grew too great for the little trailer to handle, Mike moved the family-owned and operated business into two full-service restaurant locations, complete with checkered-cloth tables and photograph-speckled walls.

Within the restaurants' kitchens, Mike and his chefs continue to whip up the barbecue specialties that made his trailer famous, piling pork, brisket, chicken, and catfish onto sandwiches and plates. The chefs douse the slow-smoked meats in house-made barbecue sauce before pairing them with classic sides of greens and baked beans. They also offer a selection of rotating daily specials, such as bacon-stuffed rib eye and smoked bologna lauded by reporters from Nashville Scene as, "thick-cut and delicious". For dessert, the chef dish out slices of signature pies made fresh 5 days a week, which can also be found on the shelves of local Kroger and Publix grocery stores and cooling on the windowsills of enchanted cottages.

One of Tennessee's oldest independent eateries, the story of Peerless Restaurant begins more than 75 years ago with the Kalogeros family. And yet the founders' legacy endures not just through their descendents?the current owners?but also in the food. Many of the steak-and-seafood house's dishes come from decades-old Greek family recipes, and even the signature barbecue sauce hasn't changed since it was first concocted in 1938. Hand-picked and butchered Midwestern steaks are aged and grilled until caramelized. Tender chicken is marinated with Mediterranean spices and cheeses, or slathered in that iconic barbecue sauce and served country-style at the bottom of a giant tin drum. Fresh seafood?such as cold-water lobster, Maryland lump crab, and diver scallops?forms the foundation for the rest of the menu.

To match the eclectic selection of dishes, the bar specializes in mixing craft cocktails and curating a list of more than 50 international wines that's often explored during monthly tastings. At both Peerless locations, the sounds of clinking glasses, forks, and laughter echo throughout a palatial dining room characterized by rows of dark wooden booths and giant mosaic-style glass disks on the ceiling. Just out of sight, even more lavish rooms host banquets and other special events.

The chefs at Terra Nostra Tapas and Wine mix European, American, Asian, and Caribbean cuisines on a small-plates menu that changes daily, ensuring consistently fresh tastes. Within the bustling kitchen, they can be found architecting shareable servings of tender meats, fresh vegetables, and market fresh seafood. Servers keep diners hydrated as they pour out 80 wines by the glass and 90 wines by the bottle, offering palate-tickling quaffs that both sate grape thirsts and wash away tablemates' memories of conversational gaffes.

Terra Nostra's space comes to life with international art and nautical murals depicting schools of fish. Outdoor seating is available in a festive patio area, and indoor diners are arranged at spacious dining bars designed to foster sharing of food, conversation, and bootlegged films. Along with bringing the local community together over shared meals, Terra Nostra's staffers remain committed to serving the global community via work with charitable organizations. In 2010 and 2011, they took part in medical-relief mission trips to Ecuador.

Sleek light fixtures dangle from Kohana Japanese Restaurant's ceiling and subtly illuminate a tidily minimal fleet of indigo and white chairs, booths abutting wavy-lined wall paneling, and plates featuring eats carefully crafted and presented by the chefs. Sharply dressed in the only two colors that can be worn together, black and white, servers march out with precisely sliced sections of signature dishes such as the Phoenix specialty roll, which combines spicy tuna, snow crab, and avocado with a multifaceted dressing. Non-sushi selections, such as crunchy shrimp tempura and baked salmon with eel sauce, also pair well with Kohana's selection of wine, beer, and sake.