How Do You Know…

that a restaurant is a popular tourist destination? When people line up to have their photographs taken in front of the sign and others—well, not tourists, but travelers like us—can photograph them having their photos taken. Such is the fame of the Loveless Café located in the far suburbs of Nashville, TN.

I usually don’t like to rely on a restaurant’s web site for information, but in this case the café’s site contains the most thorough summary of its history so I quote:

“Fried chicken and biscuits. These tried and true Southern food staples have been a part of Loveless Cafe’s history for more than sixty years. In 1951, Lon and Annie Loveless began serving them right out the front door of their home to travelers who passed by on US Highway 100….

“Beginning as a party house in the forties, the little white structure…had one of the largest hardwood living room floors around—perfect for dancing the night away. Weary travelers found comfort and refuge in the cozy home and in the food the owners served. As the tiny house became a planned stop for treks along Highway 100, the then private home became known as the Loveless Motel and Cafe. Lon Loveless built and ran the property’s 14 motel rooms while hungry crowds were drawn to Annie’s homemade preserves and scratch-made-biscuits…” (lovelesscafe.com).

The restaurant and motel changed hands in 1959 and again in 1972. “Thankfully, Annie Loveless’ biscuit recipe never changed with the ownership, enabling the Loveless Motel and Cafe to maintain its position as a true Tennessee tradition.”

Then, “In January 2004, under…new ownership, Loveless closed its doors for the first time in its history to undergo much-needed renovations. When the doors re-opened that June, folks were standing in lines thicker than sausage gravy to get a taste of their favorite dishes! To everyone’s delight, the Cafe menu was the same but better—enhanced with more southern favorites like pulled pork BBQ, lots of fresh country vegetables, and for the first time, homemade desserts! A new smokehouse was built on property

BBQ Pit. The lettering in red reads: The Keys to Great BBQ: (1) A Skilled Pit Master (2) TN Hickory Wood (3) A Good Dry Rub (4) Mighty Fine Swine (5) Some Sweet Sauce

and those fourteen original motel rooms were converted into unique retail shops—including the Loveless Hams & Jams Country Market.

Hams and Jams Country Market

Lil' Biscuits Gift Store

Harpeth Room, Dining Events

The Loveless Motel Shops provided visitors a wonderful way to pass the time while waiting for a table during busy weekend lunches” (lovelesscafe.com).

“For a long time it has been a favorite haunt among Grand Ol' Opry performers, whose pictures line the walls, and whose tour buses frequently can be seen parked towards the back of the lot. The Loveless has gotten a lot of good press in the last few years, praised by everyone from CBS-TV to Martha Stewart…” (Michael Stern at roadfood.com).

Not surprising for a café that began as a private residence, seating is in a series of small cozy rooms. The one in which we were seated had blue and white checked table covers,

And—they aren’t caricatures nor are they portraits—I’ll call them likenesses of famous country music stars. While I am not that familiar with the country music scene, I did recognize “The Man in Black”

and off to his side is Dolly Parton who is easily recognizable for her two distinguishing and impressive characteristics.

It should come as no surprise that every breakfast begins with a plate of biscuits along with samples of three preserves.

The biscuits—while small—lived up to all claims made about them. “Those preserves…are reason enough to celebrate the Loveless. Peach is the color of a summer sunset, sweet and deeply fruity, just perfect in conjunction with a faintly sour biscuit. The blackberry is more tart: wonderful on biscuits or toast or waffles, or on ice cream, or (we confess) spooned straight from the jar” (Michael Stern at roadfood.com). And the strawberry tasted of fruit just off the vine.

Chuck’s breakfast consisted of a seven-ounce slice of the Loveless’ country ham with two eggs, red eye gravy, and home fried potatoes. “…ham is the pride of the Loveless kitchen: It is country ham, slow cured and salty, fried on a griddle until its rim of fat turns translucent amber and the coral pink meat gets speckled sandy brown…” (Michael Stern at roadfood.com).

To accompany his breakfast, he ordered a side dish of sausage gravy, and just as he was going to tell our server not to bring the red eye, I intervened and said that I was going to want it with my breakfast. I didn’t bother to taste the eggs. Scrambled eggs are scrambled eggs. The cube shaped potatoes appear to have been deep fat fried. And the sausage gravy? Perhaps the best we have had since July of 2008 when we got lost and found ourselves in Sparta, NC and, acting on the recommendation from a gentleman we met at a gas station, had a late breakfast at The Pines Restaurant. From first taste, it was apparent that this was sausage gravy made the right way with the rendered sausage fat being used to construct the roux that thickened the cream sauce. Wow!

I ordered all a la carte—one ham biscuit, one chicken biscuit, and hash brown casserole. It was with my ham biscuit that I used Chuck’s red eye gravy as a dipping sauce. This was true red eye gravy—pan drippings plus coffee—and not the faux stuff that many places claim to be red eye gravy.

The hash brown casserole was rich with sour cream and cheddar cheese and reminded me of what my mother called Duchess Potatoes and what are known in Utah as Funeral Potatoes (cheesy au gratin potatoes that LDS Relief Societies frequently serve as part of a dinner prepared for the grieving family to eat after a funeral).

Given its richness, it was a good thing that this was a small portion.

The Loveless Café is almost as well known for their fried chicken as they are for their biscuits, and the chicken was on the menu when “In October of 2012, an unexpected surprise came knocking on Loveless’ door. The prestigious James Beard Foundation extended an invitation for Loveless Cafe to serve dinner on Valentines Day 2013 in the famed James Beard House in New York City…. They pulled off one of the most successful dinner events in Loveless history, appeasing sophisticated New York palates with five courses of authentic Loveless cuisine, and warming their hearts with true Southern hospitality…” (lovelesscafe.com).

“Despite cultural changes that dot the timeline over the years, the Loveless Cafe remains true to what started it all in 1951: Serving true southern comfort food, encompassing a time when people ate what was indigenous to where they lived. Before the ‘super highways,’ the rural South was a remote area with back roads leading to treasures known only to those who ventured down them…. The Loveless Cafe represents a treasure trove of memories ‘out Highway 100’ and the generations of families who regularly return to relive those memories….” (lovelesscafe.com).

As we left following our 5.0 Addie breakfast, I felt that we had also taken a bite out of history.

To review the role of Adler, Kitty Humbug, and the Addie rating system, read the November 14, 2011 blog.