Nathan Zucker
Just as Nashville seems to be pumping the brakes, ever so slightly, on new restaurant openings, there’s been an accelerated number of closings—every week finds the announcement of another restaurant (old or new) shutting its doors. That fallout is normal for a city that’s seen such explosive growth—and now, there’s a rush to fill those prime-location vacancies.
Enter Big Bad Breakfast, which slid into the space once occupied by the short-lived health-food spot, EiO and The Hive. The Oxford, Mississippi-based operation brings its loaded omelets, skillet plates, and cathead biscuits to a corner of Charlotte Avenue where breakfast has long been a popular draw. (See: Meat-and-three institution Wendell Smith’s a few doors down.)
This marks the seventh location for founding chef John Currence, who says Nashville’s “youthful vigor and the affluence lends itself toward what it is that we’re trying to convey through our brand, which is an elevated look at a meal that was just sort of cast off.”
Nathan Zucker
Indeed, the menus at all Big Bad Breakfast locations are brimming with scratch-made and occasionally over-the-top creations, many of which get a “chef’s shot in the arm,” as the menu explains. It’s a robust list broken down by biscuits, omelets, salads, eggs & such, skillets, lunch, and more. There’s even a section of Nashville specialties that includes the Pecan “Cluster” Shortstack, a nod to Goo Goo, which tops chocolate chip pancakes with pecans, caramel, and chocolate sauce.
A signature is the “Cathead” chicken biscuit, loaded up with fried chicken and gravy. There’s also the BLT omelet, brimming with spinach, bits of bacon, tomatoes, and topped with a creamy tomato gravy. (Note: That tomato gravy is a tangy, creamy wonder—order it alongside a biscuit, or anything else for that matter.) The egg-scramble skillets can be hearty—the Low Country version gets shrimp, andouille, peppers, onions, and cheese—or less so, like the Yard Work, which is heavy on the veggies. On the Nashville menu, we like the Huevos Rancheros grit bowl or you can order like the chef does with the Breakfast Crumble: a gut-bomb of biscuits, grits, bacon, poached eggs, and tomato gravy.
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Nathan Zucker
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Nathan Zucker
There are lean plates, too, like avocado toast and steel cut oatmeal, or you can opt for a salad—the BBB cobb is packed with bacon, turkey, boiled egg, and avocado. For the kiddos, there are small plates like a single pancake with fatback bacon or a kids’ burger.
You’ll find a few boozy daytime eye-openers, like a breakfast margarita or the mimosa made with fresh-squeezed orange juice. There’s also a stiff Nitro cold brew on tap sourced locally from Switters.
The space is bright and sunny—and comes with a little dose of Currence humor. Two giant chicken illustrations frame the kitchen. Superimposed on top are the heads of Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash, who watch over the scene with a gleam in their eyes.
Big Bad Breakfast is open from 7 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. daily but weekend waits can be over an hour. Better to head over super-early to fill up for your big day.
Big Bad Breakfast, 5304 Charlotte Ave., 615-610-3403; bigbadbreakfast.com