run eat blog

Fido

2010-03-27T10:55:00.003-05:00

Okay, so this is not a running experience, but I wanted to talk about this so I hope you guys don't mind. Yesterday afternoon I decided to meet an old friend of mine for lunch in Hillsboro Village at a place by the name of Fido. I had been in before for an early morning cup of coffee and a bagel, but lunch was going to be a new venture.

First off, I think that anyone walking into a hipster/coffee shop/pastry joint should not expect sizable portions of food form their lunch and dinner menu. This was my first mistake. The man I ordered from recommended me fish tacos, and I'm not gonna lie, I LOVE me some fish tacos. We sat down with our coffees (which was quite a delicious cup of joe) and waited on our entrees.

A friendly waiter man came around the corner with our plates and I took a minute to enjoy the pleasant presentation of the plate. Unfortunately, no chips, no salsa, no guac (though they did serve the tacos with a couple slices of avocado in them), and 3 small fish tacos sat in front of me.

I felt like a beluga whale approaching a small school of krill that I felt obligated to eat because of the hunger pangs, but I knew that in no way I would be completely satisfied by the tortilla wrapped sea creature that lay before me. So 10 bucks out of pocket and 5 short minutes later, they were gone. Don't get me wrong, they were pretty tasty, but throw me a bone Fido! Chips and salsa would be killer with this, and if they don't throw those in, they should consider lowering the price a couple Washingtons.

To end on a good note, I would definitely recommend them for their coffee, bagels, and pastries (aka their reasonably priced breakfast essentials). My pal Jason, who I was their with for lunch yesterday, is a major proponent for their muffins, and I will personally vouch for their vanilla lattes and whole wheat bagels. Go out and get the Fido experience at a Nashville near you! And please call me out if I am wrong. Maybe they just had a bad fish taco day or something.

2009-11-25T08:27:00.005-06:00

The Cheesecake Factory

The Route

View Cheesecake Factory in a larger map

The Playlist

1. The Eagles- "Life in the fast lane"
2. Rage Against the Maching- "Gorilla Radio"
3. U2-"I Still Haven't found what I'm looking for"
4. Backstreet Boys- "I want you back"
5. Kanye West-"Stronger"
6. John Mayer-"Assassin"
7. Matchbox 20-"How far we've come"
8. Blue Scholars-"Loyalty"
9. People Under the Stairs- "Acid Raindrops"

The Review

Not gonna lie, I was really impressed with the Cheesecake Factory. The service was great (thank you Andy) and the Cheesecake is UNBELIEVABLE!!! If you are looking at going to the Cheesecake factory for Cheesecake or dessert you are looking at spending around 8 bucks, but it is worth every penny (as far as my experience goes anyways). Otherwise, the entrees looked like they were priced between 8 dollars up to 20. I liked that they had such an extensive menu and such a broad variety of food. Overall I would give Cheesecake Factory a 9 out of 10. You may pay more for your dessert than you would at Chili's or Sonic, but it is definitely worth it.

The Run

Let me start out by saying that I would not recommend the path that I took. Hillsboro pike does NOT have sidewalks on certain parts of the road. So unless you want to run in the same gutter I did which is about 3 feet away from oncoming traffic, I would not recommend this route. Otherwise the run was a good distance for me round trip (approximately 6.4 miles), and it was AWESOME going in to check out the Nashville Chess Center. You guys should check them out at nashvillechesscenter.org. SWEEEEEEET!!!!

Video Update!!

2009-11-20T21:37:00.002-06:00

COME JOIN ME!!!

Meet me tomorrow Saturday, November the 21st at Bongo Java at 1pm to run over to Jack's Barbeque downtown. Even if you're not a runner, meet us over there around 1:30 to eat lunch and chill out with some good people. You guys are the best!

Jack

2009-11-20T19:00:00.002-06:00

COME JOIN ME!!!

Tomorrow, Saturday November 21st at 1 pm, we are meeting to take a run downtown to Jack's Barbeque to check out the cuisine and enjoy the company. This is open to everyone and anyone who wants to come. We've got about a dozen people that are accounted for that are going to join us for the run and lunch. Even if you don't want to run, just us there around 1:30 pm. Hope to see you there!

Jack

Chipotle free burrito day

2009-11-13T18:24:00.012-06:00

The Video

The Route

View Belmont to Chipotle in a larger mapt

The Run

Then run ended up being about as long as I initially estimated. It was 1.6 miles of pretty flat city terrain. Be careful going through the busy intersections on the way over and back. I almost got whacked by a car that was pulling out onto west end during the return trip (hence my long pause and quick glances on the return part of the video). It took me about 15 minutes to get over there with the route I chose, but it probably took a little longer to get back due to burrito discomfort.....yikes.

The Playlist

John Mayer Mix (In honor of his upcoming album)

1. Something's Missing
2. Bigger than My Body
3. Who did you Think I Was
4. Good Love is on the Way
5. Who says

The Review

Overall I would give Chipotle a 8 out of 10. I really like both the quality and the quantity of food that they provide. The chicken was fantastic, the vegetables and salsa were fresh, and the guacamole was pretty good too. Other than that, you are probably looking at spending around 6-7 bucks for a main menu item (chips and drink sold separately). I only have two problems with Chipotle: the first being that they don't have queso?!?! I think that a place like this that already has such good quality food and a solid reputation should be making some epic queso. Which brings me to my next point, if you don't have queso, how are you going to do nachos on the menu? Answer: Chipotle does not serve nachos!!! I'm a huge nacho fan, so it was pretty disappointing to scour the menu and not find nachos on there. In the end though, I think the quality of their ingredients was able to make up for their lost ground in the areas of nachos and queso.

So what's next?

Throw out some suggestions of places that you guys enjoy eating around the Nashville area! The primary goal of this blog is to run to the places that YOU suggest and try out the food YOU love. Then I'll let you know what I think of it. Also, runners, PLEASE give me playlist ideas and let me know what you are listening to while you run. I love listening to new music while I'm exercising and I want to know what bands and artists are doing it for you. Feel free to leave these suggestions in their respective comment boxes on the page. And keep in mind, the more you comment, the more I run, eat, and blog. Thank you!