Dinner with kids - Jennifer Justus

taste
chef
du jour
Spotlighting Middle
Tennessee chefs
section d | wednesday, september 26, 2012 | T E N N E S S E A N . C O M / T A S T E
Plane conversation
led Melissa Haynes
and her husband to
Pita Pit’s new Nashville presence. 4D
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burner
Events, news,
products
By Jen Todd,
The Tennessean
Sip some wine,
help children
Oliver Bliss, 2, and Ezra Urmy, 6, enjoy ice cream at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams in East Nashville. STEVEN S. HARMAN / THE TENNESSEAN
101 minutes
BAJA BURRITO
Dinner with kids
722 Thompson Lane
Nashville
615-383-2252
www.bajaburrito.com
What to eat: Regulars
tend to find their way to a
favorite. I go for a healthy
plate of greens and wellseasoned meat with
beans, pico de gallo and
homemade dressings like
my favorite, tomatillo
vinaigrette.
But owner Troy Smith says
his brisket torta has a cult
following. The meat is
inspired by his Texas
grandfather who prepared brisket every 4th of
July until he died in 1996.
Smith served it on a toasted bun with black bean
spread on one side and
guacamole spread on the
other and piled with
shredded lettuce and pico
de gallo.
What to drink: Sample
the horchata or bottled
Mexican sodas. Bottled
beers and fountain soft
drinks are available, too.
Where to sit: When
weather allows, I enjoy
the patio out front where
Smith has kept an old
Volkswagen Beetle parked
as part of decoration since
the store opened.
Baja Burrito, Jeni’s Splendid Ice
Creams rescue families from boring
chicken-fingers-and-fries formula
Jennifer Justus
The Tennessean
ABOUT THE
SERIES
It’s been said that a
proper chef’s hat has
101 folds representing the number
of ways you can
cook an egg. So
we’re choosing a
local restaurant to
visit each month —
just for 101 minutes.
ONLINE
t
o me, conversation with a
2-year-old is like talking
with Brad Pitt. The thought
of either makes me nervous.
I just haven’t had much
experience with children (or
movie stars).
So it’s with this anxiety
that I arrived early for our latest
installment of 101 Minutes. I would
be meeting two women I’ve joined at
restaurants many times in the past.
But for this meal, my friend Jaime
Miller would be bringing 6-year-old
Ezra Urmy and colleague Jessica
Bliss would have her 2-year-old son,
Oliver.
We decided on Baja Burrito, a
bright bastion of local independence
in Berry Hill with its speedy fiestaof-an-atmosphere, followed by Jeni’s
Splendid Ice Creams in East Nashville.
Go to Tennessean.
com/taste to see video
of Baja Burrito’s
Lyle Blanco as he
demonstrates how
to properly roll a
stuffed tortilla.
Subscribers, please go
to www.tennessean.
com/activate to access
additional digital
content.
When I arrived, the kid count at
Baja Burrito already clocked in at
three (plus two babies). On any given
day, the restaurant, which feels like
the inside of a piñata, hustles together a varied mob of families, scruffy
band members piling out of vans and
clean-cut co-eds on study break — all
in search of an inexpensive, quickbut-tasty meal.
I ordered a snack for the group —
chips, creamy queso and salsa made
from grilled tomatoes and onions that
add depth of flavor — and found a
table on the patio under umbrellas
and rows of drooping lights. Ezra and
Jaime showed up first.
“The last time I ate with you, you
were learning magic tricks,” I said to
Ezra. A friend at our table at East
Nashville’s Rosepepper Cantina
» 101 MINUTES, 5D
JENI’S SPLENDID
ICE CREAMS
Baja Burrito
has a lively,
colorful
atmosphere
that appeals
to families.
Taco salads at Baja Burrito can be customized with a host of fresh ingredients
such as chicken or steak, black beans, cheese, pico de gallo and homemade
dressings such as the chipotle honey-mustard. DIPTI VAIDYA / THE TENNESSEAN
1892 Eastland Ave.
Nashville
615-262-8611
www.jenis.com
What to eat: The flavors
here run the gamut from
simpler kid-friendly options like vanilla bean or
milk chocolate to more
challenging combinations
like goat cheese with wild
cherries or lime cardamom
frozen yogurt.
Where to sit: You can’t
go wrong in this tasteful
spot. Vases of flowers dot
the tables inside where
you’ll also find a curved
bar for taking a higher
perch. A patio out front
also makes for a popular
spot when the weather
allows.
Vino on the Veranda
offers two ways to warm
the heart — wine and
charity.
The wine tasting features 40 wines from various vineyards, including
Highlands Winery. Tasters
also can enjoy live music,
hors d’oeuvres, desserts
and an open bar. Proceeds
benefit First Steps, helping children with special
needs and medical conditions.
The event is Oct. 4,
beginning at 6:30 p.m. at
Flyte, 718 Division St..
Tickets are $100. Details:
615-690-3091.
Mad Platter has
TN wine feast
Mad Platter in Germantown is preparing a Tennessee wine dinner for
Tuesday.
The special menu
features summer squash
rissoles, smoked corn
chowder, squash salad,
braised beef short ribs
and pumpkin charlotte.
Each dish is paired with
wine from Beans Creek
Winery of Manchester.
Dinner is served beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Purchase the $65 tickets
at 615-242-2563. The
restaurant is located at
1239 6th Ave. N. For more
about Mad Platter:
www.themadplatterrestaurant.com
inside
FOOD BLOG
A sweet treat to break
Yom Kippur fast. 2D
WINE TASTING
Our experts share
three wines to try. 4D
JUST A PINCH
Home cook shares
asparagus quiche
recipe. 6D
taste editor Linda Zettler, 615-664-2271, lzettler@tennessean.com | event listings Tennessean.com/calendar
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cover story
x
THE TENNESSEAN
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2012
101 Minutes
■
5D
The meats at
Baja burrito
are cooked
slowly.
» CONTINUED FROM 1D
(another eclectic familyfriendly spot) had kept
him entertained with an
impressive routine.
“Oh, let’s see if I’m still
magnetic!” he said, reaching for my wallet. “Do you
have a quarter?” He
pressed the coin against
his forehead to see if it
would stick. And then he
pressed it against mine.
We were both magnetic
for, like, a second or two.
“Now you do the trick
where another quarter
appears in your fist after I
blow on it,” he said.
No, this isn’t easy, I was
thinking. But thankfully,
Jessica and Oliver arrived
and we went inside to eat,
where the order process
moves quickly — and the
cooking that happens
before stays slow.
All in the family
Owner Troy Smith said his
unofficial motto has been
“doing it the hard way
since Y2K.” It takes a big
kitchen staff to grill the
vegetables, slow-simmer
chicken with several kinds
of chilies for the tinga and
prepare beef brisket inspired by his grandfather’s recipe. But the volume of diners who visit
supports it.
“Customers reward the
choice,” he said.
And true, you’d hardly
know these things take
time as employees usher
us through the line. I
hadn’t even reached the
assembly process when a
guy in a trucker hat shouted over another customer
for my order.
I went with a salad —
topped with hunks of juicy
chicken, black beans and
cheese — mainly because
I love the homemade
dressings such as “Nan’s
lite ranch,” Smith’s mother’s recipe, and the slightly sweet tomatillo vinaigrette, a recipe Smith’s
wife tweaked from a Martha Stewart version. Jessica chose a burrito, Jaime
went with the economical
Peasant Plate piled with
The Tampico Pork Taco at Baja Burrito. In addition to pork
tacos, diners can opt for fillings that include the popular
fish, steak, chicken or veggie on either 6-inch corn or
flour torillias. DIPTI VAIDYA / THE TENNESSEAN
The Brisket Torta at Baja Burrito. The brisket is inspired
by owner Troy Smith’s grandfather’s recipe.
DIPTI VAIDYA / THE TENNESSEAN
beans and rice and Oliver
had a cheese quesadilla.
“Watch this,” Ezra said,
unwrapping the foil from
his tacos dramatically.
“Do you know what’s in
this?”
He peeled back a corner of tortilla to present
chicken and melted
cheese like pulling a rabbit from a hat. If only all
of us unwrapped our dinners with such wonder and
enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, Jaime and
Jessica slipped snippets of
adult conversation into
dinner with experienced
precision. Jaime spoke of
her new job as a personal
chef, for example, while
handling requests for
more magic tricks.
“I see suns,” Oliver
added, pointing out the
ceramic art around the
room. He noticed hanging
guitar murals, too.
“I think that’s why kids
like this place,” Jaime
said. “All the colors.”
Indeed, Smith said he
brought back much of the
bric-a-brac on the walls
from research trips to the
Baja. The father of three
opened the restaurant 12
years ago when he had
only one boy and another
on the way. He had operated a Calypso Cafe out of
the same space for about
five years until he decided
to strike out on his own
with the idea for Baja
Burrito.
“We were just trying to
feed the family,” he said.
He and his wife had
eaten many tacos during
their college days in Texas, so he drew on the experience, adding other Texas
favorites like barbacoa
made with local beef.
By manning just the
one shop, he gets to know
customers personally and
watches them grow. And
he looks to other independent businessmen such as
Norm Fox of the Donut
Den for inspiration. Smith
also recently took his
three sons to Di Fara Pizzeria in Brooklyn. He has
a photo of the 70-plusyear-old owner, Domenico
DeMarco, hanging in his
home office. He wanted
his sons to see the man
who keeps the independent pizza shop running.
“I want them to see the
way my road is,” he said.
“People like that are my
heroes.”
tween our table and another, where a man with dreadlocks ate a burrito half
the size of his head. Interest in the food here had
waned. It was time for ice
cream.
At Jeni’s, the bright,
cheery décor of the ice
cream parlor has cleaner
lines and more light, but
like Baja, it also draws a
varied passel of kids,
young couples on dates or
girlfriends gathering with
cones.
Ezra and Jaime ordered
a bowl of dark chocolate
and peanut ice cream.
Oliver and Jessica shared
a bowl of dark chocolate,
while I chose an ice cream
made with rosemary, nuts
and Yazoo Sue, a smoky
porter, The boys ate
98 percent of their dessert, leaving 2 percent on
their clothes, and then
took off to make masterpieces on a chalkboard
near the frozen cases.
When we all stood to go,
Jaime pointed at the bench
where we had been sitting,
“It’s part of a quesadilla!”
she said, laughing.
And then Oliver, the
culprit, sweetly gripped
his mother’s hand on the
way out the door.
“I colored,” he said,
looking up at her like it
was the most amazing
accomplishment of the
night.
Because in the end, it’s
the little guys who know
all the magic. They can
charm a 38-year-old childless woman and make a
quesadilla reappear clear
across the river.
Contact Jennifer Justus at
615-259-8072 or jjustus@
tennessean.com.
Just desserts
Tennessean writer Jessica Bliss and her 2 year-old son Oliver enjoy ice cream at Jeni's
Splendid Ice Creams in East Nashville. STEVEN S. HARMAN/THE TENNESSEAN
After the tacos, Ezra
pulled out another quarter.
He wanted to know if
Jessica and Oliver were
magnetic. And then he
performed a Michael
Jackson dance move be-
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