Coming back from Memphis, we had another night free for a dinner. Given our success with my pick of Husk the night before, I was given carte blanche to pick a different spot to try. Looking at all of the great restaurants that Nashville has to offer (which are quite a few), I decided to go with something outside of the ‘typical’ Southern fare but a current staple of the Nashville food scene, Chef Philip Krajeck’s Rolf and Daughters.
Located in a former boiling house at the Werthan Factory in the Germantown neighbourhood, Rolf and Daughters put Chef Krajeck on the map in Nashville and he has become a multiple winner of the James Beard award since. The restaurant is known for its mediterranean inspired cuisine using local Tennessee ingredients and producers. Chef Krajeck’s homemade pastas are particularly noteworthy apparently.
The space is a beautiful mix of industrial and modern touches. Being the late service on a weekday, the restaurant wasn’t too crowded. I will give tons of credit to our waiter – he was sharp, on-point and bitterly funny and dry with a sort of midwest/Minnesota nice accent that we throughly enjoyed all night. His cocktails choice were also excellent – I loved how all the house cocktails were named for school things. A quirky but fun detail.
Now, onto the food. We were quite hungry so we covered lots of ground menu wise. The house-made loaf of sourdough bread served with seaweed butter was excellent – great crust on the outside with a soft yeast interior.
The salad of red beet, kohlrabi, dill and smoked roe was great. The red beets were super sweet and tender. The dill and roe provided some freshness and bite to the dish as well.
The dry aged beef tartare mixed with black garlic and sprouted lentils was unique for us for the use of the lentils in the tartare. It provided an interesting textural component to the dish. The beef had a great deep rich flavour and the black garlic provided a nice kick as well.
Our final appetizer featured something I had never heard of before: agretti. This small Italian-in-origin herb tastes somewhat like spanish and was served to us slightly cooked down mixed with golden raisin, chili and anchovies. This dish was quite something – a wonderful mix of sweetness, spiciness, richness and freshness. Something I never would have considered simply by reading the menu but very happy that I got our waiter to explain it to us. My favourite dish of the first part of the meal.
Given Chef Krajeck is known for his pastas, of course, we ordered a couple of his staples within our main courses. First was the cecamariti served using cultured butter and black pepper like a cacio e pepe dish. The pasta was super tender but wow that sauce…. it tastes like one of the best cacio e pepe sauces I’ve ever had but there is zero cheese. It is all the cultured butter. It has the creamy richness with the bite of the pepper you want. So so good.
The second pasta we tried was the garganelli verde served with a heritage pork ragout and sarvecchio parmesan. Again, the pasta itself was excellent texture wise and the ragout was superb – very rich and hearty. It is funny that some of the best dishes I’ve had were in Nashville but hey props to them for nailing these dishes so well.
Our last main ventured away from pasta as we tried the pastured chicken served with preserved lemon and garlic confit. The chicken was super tender and moist. The combination of the lemon, garlic, butter and tarragon provided a nice bright and rich pairing with the chicken. Very well executed.
After all of that we still wanted some dessert so we split 3 of their 4 offerings. First up, the one that we enjoyed but that wasn’t as impacted as the others – the Japanese cheesecake with pine put, strawberries and sorrel. Beautiful presentation, the flavour was fine but we didn’t love the texture – a little too ‘dry’ for our liking.
The next two though….. first, the sourdough ice cream topped with huckleberries and chocolate. Yeah sourdough ice cream sounds weird but man it worked so well. Very cool yeast flavour came through within the ice cream. Chocolate and berry topping always works well with ice cream so that was a perfect adjunct to the dish.
The last dessert was even crazier – a rhubarb granita served with a sake mousse, mint sorbet and almond. The real star here was the mousse – so light and fluffy with the unmistakable notes of sake. Our waiter described it as a cloud and yeah that’s right. It complemented well the freshness of the mint sorbet and the sourness of the rhubarb. Excellent finish to our meal.
Rolf and Daughters has high praise around Nashville and I can see why. Excellent service, beautiful space and food that really surprises and delights whose are open to try some different stuff. The 3 of us left full and very happy to have made our way out to Germantown to experience something a little different than what we had planned for when we decided to visit Nashville. This was an excellent experience and definitely worth a stop. In the end, it is the meal I will remember most of our time in Nashville.
Cheers!
Rolf and Daughters
700 Taylor Street
Nashville, TN
615 866 9897
Ramblings from the Complex Mind of a 30 Something 