Friday, September 2, 2016

The Old School Farm to Table Restaurant

Every so often, I peruse OpenTable to find out what's available when I'm thinking of dining out.  (I have a mild distaste for restaurants that don't take reservation, admittedly...  I'm a planner!)  I kept seeing The Old School pop up, so when my friend B wanted to have a girls' night, I asked her if she was game for a road trip.




The Old School is well off the beaten path, but still lives within Nashville "proper" so to speak...  It's to the northwest of town in the Scottsboro neighborhood.  The school building is used for offices, venue space, and, at the rear, a restaurant and bar.  Park to the side of the building (left side as you're facing the front) and enter the restaurant from the back of the building.  Reservations recommended!



If you have time before your reservation, check out the games (tetherball!) in the beer garden, or explore to see the chickens and herbs and other farm produce and flowers growing around the building.  It's awesome to think about eating food so close to where it came from.  We learned that the farm itself employs adults with intellectual disabilities and other challenges, and that it functions as a non-profit.  The restaurant is a separate for-profit entity.  Judging from the outdoor covered area and restaurant, I envision a lot of hipster weddings happening here as it gets more popular!




Inside, there is a bar to the left in what used to be the gym/stage of the school, most likely.  They serve a limited menu of food there, and you don't need a reservation.  To the right, you have the small restaurant, and the singular little bathroom that is kind of adorable.  (Check out the vintage print poster reminding kids to sit up tall and straight at their desks!)





I think it surprised us how small the restaurant itself was... small, but full and mighty!  There were craft cocktails in all their deliciousness too.  I started with the Lulu, which was a low ABV cocktail (i.e. I could drink it all day) with rose lemonade, lavender bitters, and cava.  Delicious, and my fav.  My second drink is no longer on the menu; I ordered it off the chalkboard, and it was great too.  The prices aren't as crazy as Nashville, either.  Overall, this place was priced more reasonably than in the city.





For starters, we had to dive into some farm-fresh eggs!  Scotch Eggs, to be exact: fried soft-boiled eggs in housemade sausage.  Amazing!  The mustard is made with local craft beer, at a brewery where my husband used to work.  So that made me happy too.



B got the fried chicken, and she got it Nashville-style... hot!  But if you're afraid of spice, it wasn't TOO hot, just kind of mild to medium.  It came with greens (I don't even like greens, and I liked these when I tried them!) and baked gouda & provolone macaroni.  Yum.



Do you see the tomato in my photo below?  You know that's farm fresh.  And the orange tint to the yolk?  Again, FRESH.  I went for the Old School Farm Burger.  I was torn (I'll have to come back to eat some of the other things on the menu that caught my eye) but this felt like a solid choice.  I opted for the mac instead of potatoes, and I didn't regret it.  Even the bun was awesome.  The burger was stacked so high I had to cut it in half to get to work.  I ain't complaining.




For dessert, we shared a peach cake, which was the perfect sweet ending to our road trip to The Old School.  We both said we'd love to come back for brunch, and the car ride was the perfect opportunity to jam to Pop2K and catch up on girl talk.



Have you been off the beaten path lately?

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...