Nashville Food: Rolf & Daughters

Ever since I was clued into the culinary secret that is Rolf & Daughters, located in the Germantown neighborhood of Nashville, by my friend who works as a chef there, I have been dying to go. Until last night, the closest I'd gotten was a beer at the bar and a taste of the bombolino-Italian doughnuts that are filled with a vanilla cream and served alongside a chocolate dipping sauce - both which left a pleasant first taste and an itch to return. Since then, I'd made it my life's mission to get a dinner seat here.

And last night it happened.

Tucked in a corner of the Germantown neighborhood, where industrial meets residential. The space itself is a converted industrial building and many of the rustic and metal elements of the space are showcased.

Even though the menu isn't large, it's hard to choose what to order!

 Milano Mule - Gin based and made with their homemade ginger syrup - spicy and delicious! Also tried the cucumber sour

(L-R, Clockwise) Chicken liver pate, carrot marmalade, cacao; Crostini, whipped ricotta, beets;
Baby octopus, black garlic, pork belly, celeriac, Sourdough, seaweed butter

(L-R, Clockwise) Turnip greens and polenta; Hanger steak, spring onion, swiss chard, olive, rosemary;
Garganelli verde, heritage pork ragout, parmesano; Heritage chicken preserved lemon, confit garlic

(L-R, Clockwise) Even the coffee creamer presentation is awesome; Olive & Sinclair chocolate torte with sea salt;
Vanilla panna cotta with almond cookies; Bambolino-Italian doughnuts with vanilla cream and chocolate dipping sauce

There wasn't one thing that disappointed any of us at the table. Every bite we took was divine and so well crafted. You can certainly drop some money at this place, but every dollar is worth it for the quality of food they deliver.

I hear their menu is coming up for a change with the seasons, so I know it won't be soon enough before I can get back here!

Uncooperative restaurant and 6 mile walk

That's the approximate route I took on my walk today - approximately 6.18 miles according to MapMyRun.com. Honestly, it wasn't a bad walk (I've had worse). My time was 1:57:25, which is about a 19 minute pace. I'm happy with that for now since the last long walk I did was 4 miles three weeks ago. I know I'll need to get my time to 18:30 per mile eventually.

Two things I remembered about half-marathon training:
- You get freaking HUNGRY after your walk - I wanted to eat everything in sight (and I nearly did)
- My FEET hurt

Eating out at restaurants
This morning I shared the joy of a friend's pregnancy and unborn child at her baby shower. It was a wonderful celebration at a local restaurant, with a meal served buffet style.

I filled my plate with fresh fruits and cooked zucchini, squash and carrots and headed to the omelet station - passing up all the tasty looking fried chicken, pork, waffles, biscuits and gravy.

My first clue of impending trouble should have been when the omelet cook paused when I asked about egg whites and gave me a condescending reply yes. Then I asked for him to go light on butter and oil. A couple tablespoons of oil and a teaspoon of butter later (note: not light in the least) my veggie omelet was frying like the eggs I used to wake up to on Sunday mornings as a child.

The cook left my omelet there frying and stepped away for a few minutes. When he returned, I asked him if he would make another another egg white omelet with no butter or oil. He said he couldn't and when I protested, he laughed at me and rolled his eyes. At that point I gave up on eggs. After realizing there wasn't much for me to eat otherwise, I went to the manager asking if the the kitchen could make something for me. He wasn't helpful at all and told me they had to use oil to prevent it from sticking - saying this as he walked over to the omelet cook, not the chef in the kitchen. At this point, I wasn't going to eat anything anyone cooked me because the way they were acting (like it was a huge inconvenience) - who knows what they would have put in my food - bodily fluids or otherwise.

I didn't want to be a bother, I was a guest at a baby shower after all, and the focus wasn't on the meal, it was supposed to be on celebrating my friend and her child. So I mainly ate some fruit, veggies, and potatoes. Has anyone had trouble with a restaurant not being accommodating at all? What did you do? Is there anything I could have done differently?

Tomorrow I will begin the Carb Lover's Kickstart week again. I'm working on a post about that with some tips I jotted down about last time I did Kickstart and some things I'm going to do differently.