Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter/ Chef Scott Eiselstein’s Virginia oysters with charred jalapeno and apple mignonette, applewood-smoked candied bacon, fresh fennel, basil-infused oil and fresh cracked pink peppercorns is seen at STIR Restaurant on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn.Food trails are popping up everywhere, allowing travelers to experience the foods that places are known for, typically in off-the-beaten-path locales that give visitors a taste of local culture they won’t find with a quick internet search. Here are a few of our favorite food-centric road trips within a few hours’ drive from Chattanooga.
Nashville Biscuit Trail
From down-home diners to hipster haunts to upscale foodie havens, Nashville boasts a wide variety of biscuit-focused restaurants. The 24-mile Nashville Biscuit Trail covers six of them spanning from southwest of the city up to East Nashville. Whether you plan a road trip dedicated to savoring the area’s best biscuits or decide to hit a different featured spot each time you’re up that way, Nashville’s biscuit trail is a great way to explore the city’s various neighborhoods while experiencing the local food culture.
Nashville Biscuit Trail stops
1. The Loveless Cafe8400 TN-1002. Biscuit Love2001 Belcourt Ave., Hillsboro Village (also locations in the Gulch and Franklin)3. Husk in SoBro37 Rutledge St., SoBro4. Sky Blue Cafe700 Fatherland St., East Nashville5. Barista Parlor519 Gallatin Ave. B (also locations in East Nashville, Germantown and the Gulch)6. Nashville Biscuit House805 Gallatin Ave.
Begin your journey in West Nashville at The Loveless Cafe, a local institution that’s been drawing generations of biscuit-lovers since it opened as a motel back in the 1950s. In 2004 it expanded into a full-fledged restaurant, and it’s the perfect way to start the trail and appreciate the simple goodness of a fluffy homestyle biscuit with a swab of butter or jam before you move along the trail to more creative interpretations of the South’s favorite baked good.