Cafes I Have Known: Tennessee Edition

When I land in a new town, the first things I look for are a great cafe and a great used bookstore. 

Here are two of my picks to take the guesswork out of cafe hopping on your next visit to Nashville or Knoxville.

Visiting the Ryman Auditorium in Tennessee was a dream come true. 

Frothy Monkey - Nashville

A pleasant bike ride from downtown, the Frothy Monkey is the go-to hangout for Belmont University students and organic food connoisseurs from the nearby Hillsboro and Melrose neighborhoods.

I chanced there when I was couch surfing around the block, near Dolly Parton’s motor coach livery.

I achieved total brain freeze from the strong iced coffee and achieved total aesthetic piety from their locally sourced salads.

My songwriter hosts were giddy to receive a bag of FM’s espresso roast as a parting gift.

Yours Truly preparing for another day of scaring the natives.

Best feature: a variety of micro-areas within the two adjoined ranch-style structures allows for sunny, shady, booth, and bistro style table hopping. 

Old City Java – Knoxville

Old City Java's Direct Trade coffee is widely regarded as the best coffee in Knox. They are located in a nostalgic part of town near the railroad tracks. 

The wow-inducing environment includes reclaimed windows and doors for wall paneling, exposed brick bearing walls, and an inverted bay window façade.

They don’t even have to try.

This is probably the reason their “coming-soon” website is so laughably bad. On the home page, the designer takes name credit for its non-existent proprietary content with a copyright date that has been auto-updating since 2010.

 

Is that an angel in my cup or is Knoxville just glad to see me?

Over several visits, I had the satisfying hummus plate.  When I got stuck in my work on the Great American Novel,  the painted ceiling, inspired by Van Gogh’s “Stary Night, ” kick-started my daydreaming again.