Nashville Lifestyles, then you have already seen our ranking of Nashville's best restaurants 2019.
We're counting down our list revealing 1 of our top 15 picks every day. We hope you use this list as a guide whenever you find yourself asking the question: Where should we go to eat tonight?
Jen McDonald
#12 ETCH
For more than 30 years, Deb Paquette has made her indelible impression on chefs, diners, and eateries across Nashville.
At Etch, opened in SoBro in 2012, she’s had a fitting stage to give her singular dishes full expression.
Indeed, Paquette’s fare takes on a range of artistic forms and global tastes. Plates arrive sculptural in construction and painterly with vibrant brushstrokes and beads of sauces.
Her taste profiles can trek to East Asia with tempura-crusted oyster mushrooms, served with Korean hot chili aioli and ponzu sauce. Or, south-of-the-border in a salad of grilled chicken, hominy, tomatillos, avocado, chile-infused honey, and pepitas. Or, North Africa with spiced lamb loin, surrounded by sweet potato korma, charred eggplant purée, okra, turnips, smoked fig yogurt, and Moroccan berry preserves.
Within the cosmopolitan “It City” setting (the dining room and open kitchen are an architect’s minimalist dream), Etch offers modern fine dining, served with aplomb. Both meal services are equally sophisticated, whether power lunch or celebratory dinner.
(303 Demonbreun St., 615-522-0685; etchrestaurant.com)