by Danielle Boyd | Jun 23, 2011 | News Slider
If you are looking for fun, entertainment, tours and great southern home-cooking, The Fontanel is a great place to go for the entire family. The Fontanel Farm and Mansion is one of Nashville’s newest and fastest growing attractions for tourist and local Nashvillans. The Fontanel Mansion was built in 1988 for country-music-star Barbara Mandrell and her husband, Ken Dudney. The large immaculate Mansion now stands as a tourist attraction with lingering artifacts from some of Nashville’s greatest country stars. The Mansion is 27,000 square feet long with 13 bathrooms, five fireplaces, 20 rooms, two kitchens and an unbelievable indoor pool. Not only does the historic Mansion make The Fontanel such a highly recommended summer experience, but the food at Fontanel’s Farm house Restaurant “is to die for.” The wait is at least fifteen minutes for some weekend days, but one will definitely find it to be worth it. With the covered porch, hillside view and gift shop right outside of the restaurant the wait time flies by. The menu is combined with options for anyone with an appetite for a fresh southern home-cooked breakfast, lunch or dinner. For my visit, I tried the Good OL’ Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes, skillet greens and corn on the cob — and it was absolutely magnificent. The prompt service, filling meal and live jazz band that played softly in the background truly made my visit to The Fontanel a very enjoyable one. To top it all off the prices are very reasonable, especially for the taste and size of the meal. It’s not highlighted on the menu, but I thought the biscuits...
by Danielle Boyd | Apr 5, 2011 | News Slider, Opinion
Are you looking for a restaurant to experience a great, southern home-cooked meal? Look no further, because Monell’s is the best spot in town for a delicious breakfast, lunch or dinner. The restaurant serves their multiple-course, made-from-scratch meals family-style, bringing all the food to the table in large bowls to pass around the table. As good as the food is, washing it down with their incredible sweet tea might be the best part of the whole meal. I went to Monell’s for dinner with my mother for the first time, and it was so impressive. My mother told me about the restaurant many times before, but I was a bit turned off by the family-style seating that I decided it wasn’t really for me. Finally, after months of my mother ranting and raving about the fried chicken, I just had to try it–and I am certainly glad I did. As soon as I entered the restaurant we were seated promptly and I was astounded by the tempting chocolate pie that was placed at the table right in front of me as soon as we sat down to eat. After quickly being seated, dinner was served within minutes. Not knowing what to expect I was taken away by the constant replenishing of all the food — from cucumber salad to the roasted potatoes, corn pudding, green beans, apples, fried chicken, meatloaf, chicken and dumplings, corn on the cob, topped off by the homemade biscuits and cornbread with peach preserves. So much food was brought out, I lost count of all the dishes! All I can say is everything was seasoned...
