Don’t worry about your tongue tripping over the name of this restaurant or their signature pizza, because your tongue will be busy going to town on impossibly light and fluffy focaccia and pizzas topped with amazing ingredient combinations inspired by Sicily. Working out of the tiny kitchen at Van Dyke Bed and Beverage, Chef Michael Hanna has brought truly new food to a town that thought it has already seen everything.

The husband and wife team behind East Side Banh Mi make sandwiches the way they think they should taste, not by any book. Their version of the classic pork pate banh mi comes to the table with ham hock terrine and smoked bologna. Their “cheffy” takes on sandwiches have inspired several other top chefs in town to come up with their own creations that live on the ESBM menu as specials.

Build a bowl from a list of proteins including lamb, honey jerk chicken, curried shrimp, or vegan jackfruit and then pile on up to four toppings from a dizzying variety of veggies ranging from Cuban black beans to tangy peppers or queso fresco. The last decision is your desired heat level, but choose wisely because the fire ratchets up quickly as you move up the capsaicin continuum.

Another Nashville secret, King Tut’s food truck was where local chefs craved their fix of Egyptian food artfully prepared from family recipes, and they used to chase the truck all over town to eat their fill. Now that the truck is parked and a covered patio has been added on, it’s a lot easier to find and more comfortable to enjoy. The crispy scratch-made falafel is unbelievable, as are the spice profiles of the shawarma and lamb plates. Chefs definitely know their stuff!

Unlike some celeb chiefs you see on television that you imagine never set foot in their kitchens anymore, Maneet Chauhan is still one of the hardest-working cooks in town. She runs four restaurants, but Chauhan Ale & Masala House is her flagship. From the inventive cocktail program to cheeky takes on a hybrid of Indian and Southern food, Chauhan exudes creativity and precision in the preparation of the cuisine.

You can almost smell the salt air while perusing the seafood-centric menu. (Okay, it’s really just the Cumberland River.) But Fry’s take on elevated “fish camp” fare features fresh shellfish and fish sourced from seas across the world plus some fun Southern accents. Start out with an order of whiskey-smoked salmon and one of the restaurant's signature “Plateaux” piled high with shrimp, oysters, smoked fish dip, and lobster.

After decades running kitchens in some of Nashville’s most beloved restaurants, chef Deb Paquette shows little sign of slowing down. She continues to tantalize the taste buds of local diners with multiple layers of exotic international flavors as part of a tight menu at lunch and dinner. A spot at the long chef’s bar watching the team at work is more entertaining than a front-row seat at a Titans game.

You can’t go wrong with any section of the tight menu which revolves around biscuit sandwiches, burgers and the Oxford, Mississippi Chevron station specialty of chicken-on-a-stick. Brock has exhaustively investigated these dishes to come up with his versions, including a bacon egg and cheese biscuit topped with local favorite Gifford’s bacon, a fantastic griddled Joyburger made using the same Bear Creek Farm that Brock used to serve at Husk, and delightful fried chicken on skewers.

It’s the law that all meals at Butcher & Bee must begin with an order of the cultishly-popular whipped feta dip with fermented honey and black pepper. Then move on to B&B’s avocado crispy rice, an umami bomb with delightful textural contrasts between the fried Carolina Gold rice, collards, and peanuts set off with a zing of serrano chiles. Don’t sleep on the burger topped with calabrian salsa and -- you guessed it -- more whipped feta.

Chef Philip Krajeck’s second Nashville restaurant continues to evolve as the talented kitchen staff experiments with local and regional seasonal ingredients to create innovative cuisine and wood-fired pizzas. Most of the menu demonstrates European influences, but Southern sensibilities shine through with the use of produce from Middle Tennessee farms. The popular bar is a gathering spot for neighbors who like creative cocktails, and the wine program offers a surprising emphasis on natural wines.

The legendary inventor of Nashville’s most iconic regional dish, hot chicken, is still the champion. The newest location in the Assembly Food Hall downtown makes it even more convenient to get your fix. Serving objectively fantastic fried chicken as a base, Prince’s has heat levels to please and punish any fan of the fiery fowl. Often described as a spiritual experience, eating the hottest levels of Prince’s chicken may actually make you feel like you have left your body.

Their great pizza and craft beer offerings would be enough to land them on this list, but long-time high school friends Clinton Gray, Derrick Moore and Emanuel Reed have made a huge impact by focusing on bringing people and opportunities to neighborhoods around HBCUs like their alma mater, Tennessee State University. The result is the restaurant they cleverly call a “pizza beeria” because of its focus on custom-made pies and craft beers.

Cleveland Park has turned into a dining destination thanks to the addition of this Middle Eastern eatery, where chef Hrant Arakelian draws on his Lebanese roots to present a seasonal menu of bold flavors featuring elevated versions of hummus, roasted vegetables and creative meat dishes. The chef is particularly adept with lamb and seafood, so put those at the top of your order and work backwards to the appetizers from there.

A roaring wood fire in the pizza oven further warms the ambiance, and the specialty pies that emerge from the infernal heat are ideal for splitting as an appetizer unless you’re too selfish to share. The rest of the menu features Southern fare with international accents like the mandatory app of chicken liver pâté on Tuscan bread or the rack of lamb with fava beans.

After his success at his first Nashville barbecue joint, Peg Leg Porker, pitmaster Carey Bringle takes diners deep in the heart of Texas with his new outpost. Leaning more toward brisket, beef ribs, and sirloin than his pork-centric original home, Bringle offers a rotating menu of fabulous smoked meats. You never know what will be on the menu, and when an item runs out, it’s gone for the day, because you can’t rush perfection. That’s exactly how it should be in a proper BBQ spot.

This opulent Italian steakhouse comes courtesy of acclaimed NYC-based chef Andrew Carmellini. With lots of dark woods and leather accents, Carne Mare exudes a clubby vibe. Showcasing impeccable service from food and wine professionals and a dramatic view into the kitchen where cooks work over open fire to create classic steakhouse fare, Carne Mare is both a throwback and something new and vibrant at the same time.

The Nashville foodie community was set abuzz when the Hermitage Hotel announced that world class chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten would be the culinary genius behind their revamp of the hotel’s main restaurant option. The restaurant is named after the hotel’s former general manager’s children who grew up playing in the dramatic Beaux Arts lobby of the property. Jean-Georges plays in the kitchen to create a globally inspired menu featuring the abundant agricultural bounty of Tennessee.

Don’t worry about your tongue tripping over the name of this restaurant or their signature pizza, because your tongue will be busy going to town on impossibly light and fluffy focaccia and pizzas topped with amazing ingredient combinations inspired by Sicily. Working out of the tiny kitchen at Van Dyke Bed and Beverage, Chef Michael Hanna has brought truly new food to a town that thought it has already seen everything.

There are few things more interesting than a really talented chef with an obsession. Trevor Moran fits both those criteria, and he’s turned his fascination with creating the perfect dumpling into a winner of a restaurant. You could write the menu on a matchbook, but every single item is worth your attention. Or go with a few friends and order everything for a meal of pork dumplings, shrimp pockets, beef tartare and vegetables with dipping salts.

After waiting more than a year to open, even though construction was already complete on his massive McFerrin Park restaurant, Chef Sean Brock clearly hit the ground running with his Audrey. Highlighting the ingredients and cooking techniques of his native Appalachia, Brock and his team have created a fascinating tasting menu of artfully prepared dishes showcasing regional ingredients like country ham and heirloom beans made even more remarkable with subtle Japanese culinary influences.

This shrine to Southern cooking has survived, nay thrived, during executive chef changes through the years. Experienced pro Ben Norton now helms the kitchen, and he is maintaining the continued excellence stemming from the restaurant’s puritanical dedication to the use of seasonal regional ingredients. The plate of seasonal vegetables is often overlooked on the menu, but the quartet of composed plates that arrive at the table aren’t just a combination of side dishes.

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to dine at a grand hotel during the height of mid-20th century fine dining? Wonder no more, because Chef Sean Brock has created an homage to fancy food, meticulously plated and artfully prepared. From pâté en croûte and prime rib served off of rolling carts to oysters with caviar, it’s like taking a trip in a time machine to the Waldorf in 1965. And it’s obviously a trip, because reservations are really tough to score.

Even though the popular 12South neighborhood is still sometimes overrun with gaggles of bachelorettes, Josephine remains an oasis of fine dining and refined service on the outskirts of Crazy Town. Chef Andy Little leads a talented kitchen staff as they prepare plates of innovative takes on Pennsylvania Dutch food prepared with classic techniques.

Bastion is back to its beloved model of offering either a multi-course family-style feast for parties of four to six or a chef’s table experience for smaller parties with plate after plate coming out of the kitchen and the genius minds of the culinary team. Either option is among the best in the city, so grab a friend or two to experience the fantastic seasonal food coming out of that uber-talented kitchen.