Monday, June 22, 2009

417 Union

Posted by Heather / no comments » / breakfast, downtown

We’ve got to be honest – 417 Union was not on our list of places to visit until we joined Twitter and the folks there posted a friendly challenge to us to try it out. Somehow we just didn’t know about the restaurant. So in a testament to the power of the microblogging service, we visited the restaurant on a weekday morning to try out their breakfast menu. (Note that 417 Union also offers lunch every day, and dinner by reservation.)

Heather’s view:
To be fair, I should note that I always compare breakfasts to my personal gold standard, Hell’s Kitchen in Minneapolis (it’s worth ordering their homemade peanut butter to be delivered to your home). I look for inventive breakfast offerings in a casual but efficient atmosphere – a place I can get in and out of quickly if needed but also can seek out for an above-and-beyond breakfast.
That said, the breakfast menu at 417 Union is pretty standard. There are combos of eggs, pancakes, grits, toast, sausage, bacon, and other breakfast standards. I decided to focus on these standards and got combo #2 ($6.29), which includes two eggs, bacon (but one could choose sausage), grits, and toast. It was a solid combo, and my eggs were cooked to my liking. The grits were a little thick but eatable. Nothing really wowed me, but I didn’t go away too disappointed. In fact, I was so full I wasn’t hungry by the time lunchtime arrived later in the day.

I don’t know if I would seek out 417 Union for breakfast unless I were already in the downtown area. For those who might be visiting Nashville, 417 Union is very close to many of the downtown hotels, like the Hermitage Hotel and the Sheraton, and its convenient location would make it a good place to get a local breakfast. The service was pretty efficient and friendly. However, it’s difficult to complete with the more inventive and fresh breakfast offerings of places like Marché.

Wes’s view:
The inside of the restaurant is decorated with antiques a la Cracker Barrel with an emphasis on Nashville businesses and war memorabilia. There is a lot of brick and it has a dusty old town bar feel to it. This doesn’t really lend to an up and at ‘em feel during breakfast.

There is really nothing out of the ordinary on the menu so I sprang for one of the “house specialties,” the caramelized banana pancakes. As you can see, three or four slices of banana are dropped into the pancakes which are topped with powdered sugar. The come on a plate with a combination of fresh fruit and potatoes. The pancakes came as a very large portion but were not that memorable. They were served with what the menu calls a “house vanilla maple blend” but the syrup looked like typical the typical corn syrup based stuff. The cantaloupe and red grapes were very flavorful. The potatoes are skin-on and appear pan-fried with onions and bell peppers. They were the real highlight of the meal, but I had to eat them first to separate the savory from the sweet.

I have to write for Megan in this section but let me suffice to say that she loved the potatoes. The veggie omelette was huge and made with at least three eggs. Unfortunately it was undercooked and runny in the middle.

On the website, there is currently a special of buy-one-get-one-free breakfast Monday through Thursday in June. The waitress didn’t volunteer the special. You actually have to ask for it when you pay your check. This was a bit annoying but the manager was happy to provide the discount.

417 Union
417 Union Street
Nashville, TN 37219
615.401.7241
Open 7am-3pm M-F, 8am-3pm, Sat/Sun
Breakfast until 11am weekdays, 1:30pm weekends

417 Union on Urbanspoon

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