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Thursday, May 13, 2010
The Standard at the Smith House
As much as I love Nashville, it feels as though a certain type of architecture is missing – 1800′s townhouses. Cities around us (such as St. Louis) have a great number, but Nashville has just one: and it houses the restaurant The Standard at the Smith House. We dined there on a weekday evening recently.
I knew we were in for a very nice time when we called to make the reservation. The maître d’ was very polite and professional, and answered every request with “consider it done.”
We arrived at the hotel on a Friday evening and were seated next to the grand floor-to-ceiling windows. The townhouse is gorgeous, and lots of period architectural details have been preserved or added.
For our meal we chose, well, The Standard (pictured at the opening to this post) and the beef tenderloin. The Standard is comprised of seared beef, broccolini, smashed potatoes (more liked mashed – very smooth!) and chimichurri sauce. The chimichurri was incredibly flavorful, with some lemon zest and red pepper flakes. It’s also very garlicky – so take care who you’re with after eating this meal! The meat was a bit stringy, but as the dish is not the top cut of meat on the menu, you would expect it to be not quite as tender as the beef tenderloin, which Josh enjoyed, and pictured below.
This dish had a ragout of pearl onions and mushrooms, as well as fondant potatoes and a red wine reduction. Josh loved the dish.
The Standard was a happy find for us. If you park in just the right location, you could walk to The Standard before going to any downtown event, go to your event, and then back to your car.
The Standard at the Smith House
167 Rosa Parks Blvd (formerly 8th Ave North)
Nashville, TN
615-254-1277
Note: reservations required
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holly wynne — May 13, 2010 @ 8:36 am
So weird. I pass The Standard every morning, and every morning I tell myself I’m going to look it up online and never do. I told it to myself extra firmly this morning, and then this pops up in Google Reader
. Thanks for the review–it looks amazing.
Heather replied: — May 13th, 2010 @ 8:45 am
Holly,
We hope you get to try it! I too had been meaning to go for quite some time and was glad to finally get there.
EdKing — June 8, 2010 @ 1:20 am
I’ve eaten here quite a few times and I love everything about this place. Though it DOES get very DRAFTY in the Winter. The cold air just blows right through this old house. It’s a beautiful place.
Amanda — October 31, 2011 @ 12:29 pm
I had never heard of The Standard and it looked like a unique place, so I snagged a Groupon they were advertising and waited for a time when my husband and I could go have a nice meal and night out on the town. The architecture was extremely fascinating. It is the oldest standing townhouse in Nashville, dating back to the 1840s. It has changed hands many times throughout the years and apparently has been taken over by the owners’ son’s pet project, which is an exclusive gentleman’s club with a restaurant. The dinner was really good, we had the fried green tomatoes, quail and “The Standard” steak with macaroni and cheese and asparagus. The wine choices were fair and the mixed drinks potent. The dessert left more to be desired. We had cheesecake with Jack Daniel’s whiskey caramel glaze and sugared pecans. It sounded yummy and wasn’t bad but it was definitely from the freezer. They tried to heat it in the microwave and it was melted on the outside and cold in the middle. We were sitting there enjoying our wine and listening to the smoky blues singer when the owner sat down to talk to us. At first we thought it was a nice and intimate gesture and he asked if we would like a tour. We were introduced to his wife briefly and then we were lead around the house and the private club area rather quickly. The owner was polite and did make small talk, but suddenly we ended up at the front door and were lead out without another word. After getting over the personal touch we finally realized we had been dining for a few hours and we were kindly shown the door. I don’t know if it was because we had used a Groupon or if they were trying to get rid of any non-members before it got hopping, but it was rude to say the least. Though we used a Groupon, we spent $150.00 and tipped for the full cost of the meal before discount. I was about to go to the restroom when the owner came by and ended up having to go to a gas station because we were shown the door and not given any options to go back in to the restaurant. If they want an exclusive/private club, they should keep it private and not open to the public if they want the non-members to be out by a certain time. It wasn’t even 9:00. There were members in the dining area but there were plenty of empty tables. I don’t know why we could not sit and enjoy the evening instead of being treated like we were less than special and inferior to the rest of the people in the place. If that was not the owner’s intention, he needs to think twice about doing that to someone again. The whole thing seems like a facade and we saw the ugly truth…someone trying to start an elite club where the politicians and music stars can come and hob knob, but not making enough money without taking the common man’s money to fund it all.
Amanda — November 1, 2011 @ 3:14 pm
Follow up on my comments about the restaurant review. The owner read my review and remembered giving my husband and I the tour , so he called to apologize for the way the tour ended. Apparently our insecurities got carried away a little because the owner assured me that he did not mean to rush us out and actually thanked me for the review because he will try not to let that happen to someone again. I appreciated the fact that he took the time to A) read reviews of his business online and B) put aside any bad feelings he may have with the review in order to make amends. After a 15 minute conversation with him, I do feel that it was all a misunderstanding. Since I cannot delete the comment I posted 10/31/11, I hope that people will take the time to read the follow up.