Blahhgg #8: Q &A on The 'ville...le chapitre l'un

Pardon my French. It's just the -ville suffix of Nashville, Smallville, Alphaville, etc. is directly from the French for town or village; French being the language of sophistication and taste during the Enlightenment. Nashville was founded in 1779 as Fort Nashborough at a site on the Cumberland River known as French Lick. Precisely when it became Nashville I haven't sussed yet but someone obviously was under the spell of Francophilia - and rightly so. Any day is a good day for le français!

So those of you kind enough to actually read this blah, blah, blahhgg before you wrap your Second Life fish in it are asking questions about "how's life/food/your place/the town/the people..." So I'll try to answer those questions over the next several posts and if I can keep my (surprising only to me) loquaciousness down to a mere gush, you may get only a few tangential subjects thrown in as well. Here goes:

Q: How's the food?
A: I don't know if this is a testament to my physique, behavior or my true home of San Francisco - Foodie Heaven - but this is the most FAQ I've gotten so far. Here's the answer: The 'ville is known for its music.

With respect to culination the big claim to fame here is the "meat & three" phenomenon. This is a designation - used only at dinnertime - for a one-price meal that includes a meat-based entree and three sides (none of which are salads unless you count potato salad). Here's a typical meat & three plate: meatloaf with mashers & gravy, fried okra and crowder peas (more on them later).

As a way to advertise a bargain - it's marketing genius. And as a marker for the best canned vegetables one can buy under the sun, you can count it for that as well. All that snidery aside I've had some very enjoyable and even really, really good meals here. But even for Southern cuisine I wouldn't say The 'ville is distinguished. For BBQ Memphis is apparently the place and I've already expounded at great length about my currently fav fish shack: Soul Fish Cafe. But I know there are several purportedly really good fish/chicken shacks in town and local Dee's BBQ is supposed to be great too. I'll report on them after I've recovered from the inevitable food coma.

TODAY'S BLAHHGG BULLSEYE: This is an occasional item which will highlight a local establishment of any ilk - today it's one of The 'ville's "Best Diners": Rotiers.

The minute I saw this place I liked it, despite the fact they it is pronounced locally as Row-Tears.

This is an old, gorgeous diner that reminds me of places from my own upbringing. It's got that pre-"gentrification, the whole world's gotta look like Disneyland or the new Times Square" authenticity that I really love. Don'cha love the stone facing and the signage?

The other delightful thing about the palce is it's interior which I didn't have the nerver to shoot. I've linked their website to this post so you can see the booths and paneling - the effect is that warm, cozy, dog-eared feeling of the places your grandfather or uncle or father might have taken you to which none of the women in your family would approve of. They opened in 1945 and Coca Cola sent them a certificate of acknowledgement for serving Cokes there since 1945. They still serve the beverage in those little shapley glass bottles that have not been super-sized!

That said the food is righteous steam table fare: I had the 3-vegie combo selecting the fried okra, turnip greens and the crowder peas. The greens were great - obviously cooked in some porcine effluvia which made them taste fantastic even if they were almost dissolved. The fried okra was a dissapointment and I'm fairly certain that they began their life at Rotiers in a freezer bag. The crowder peas were something altogether different:

The crowder pea is not a pea at all but a true bean (legume) related to the black-eyed pea. I've attached a short description of them and their relations (generally called cowpeas or field peas) below from http://www.victoryseeds.com. Anyway the crowder peas served at Rotier's looked like those small Spanish peanuts. They were cooked soft, with a starchy texture and nutty flavor. They were absolutely yummy mixed with the greens. And of course, they were out of a can, which means that Val can make them too!

Rotier's is "famous" for it's burgers: Mike ordered one and it looked and tasted quite serviceable but overall for me, Rotier's is about the atmosphere and aesthetics of place. That way cool sixties, groovy logo says it all for me.

From Victory Seeds:

There are four types of cowpeas. They are:

• Field pea - Vigorous, vine-type plants with smaller seeds.

• Crowder pea - The seeds are crowded into the pods and starchy.

• Cream pea - Small plants with light colored peas. Examples are 'Texas Cream' and 'Zipper Cream'.

• "Black-eyed" pea - Intermediate size plants. Examples are 'Blackeye Pea' and 'Pinkeye Purple Hull BVR