Provence Breads and Cafe

Before I went to Nashville, TN for a conference for work I checked the website for Rachael Ray’s $40 a Day and Tasty Travels TV shows to see whether she recommended any places in Nashville.  She only recommended one place in one location: Provence Breads and Café in the Downtown Nashville public library.  They’re a local bakery that makes French-style breads and sandwiches.  I felt that place was too far away from my hotel for lunch and it wasn’t open for dinner.  I kind of knew it was a chain because there was one in a building near the hotel where I stayed when I went to Nashville for the first time back in November 2007 but I didn’t know all the locations.  They aren’t given on the website so I figured I wouldn’t get to eat at Provence.

On February 12 I was at Nashville Airport waiting to depart for Ontario, CA within a few hours.  I had gone through the long slow, line for security.  Right before the line an airport employee was giving away plastic Ziploc bags.  They were a bit larger than sandwich-size so they could hold all the 3-oz contains of liquids that were allowed.  I was looking for a place where I could pick up something to eat on the plane.  It wasn’t dinner time yet, but it would be during my nonstop flight home on Southwest Airlines and they do not serve in-flight meals.  They serve some free snacks but it’s mostly stuff I can’t eat such as Oreos, Chips Ahoy, and crackers with cheese.  At the airport there are many big chain eateries such as Quiznos and Burger King, along with some lesser-known sandwich and barbecue places.  Nothing caught my eye until I saw a Provence Breads and Café.  It was a counter with a large menu on the wall above listing a few sandwiches and many different types of coffees.  All the sandwiches had cheese in them and my experience is that most airport food is pre-made.  They had some pre-made sandwiches on the counter.  I asked the person behind the counter if I could get the roast beef sandwich without cheese and she said, “Sure, we can make it that way for you.”  “Wow,” I thought to myself, “they actually make sandwiches to order in the airport.”  I ordered the roast beef sandwich that came on a toasted baguette.  It came warm and the meat looked juicy and tender.  Included with it was a small disposable plastic container of au jus.  I had to wait a few minutes for it and while I waited the customer behind me expressed surprise at the size of his coffee.  He said, “This is a small?  It looks more like a large.”

My order came in a square Styrofoam container.  I put it in a plastic bag and made sure to carry it so it wouldn’t spill.  I waited in the area near my gate.  There were other flights leaving from nearby gates.  One was overbooked and they were offering people free tickets, stays a nice hotel, and spending money if they volunteered to get bumped.  Another flight (or maybe it was the same one) was bound for New Orleans and the airline employee announcing the flight played some silly-sounding New Orleans jazz music over the PA system in honor of it.  She said she was from New Orleans.  Finally it was time for my flight to board and it was full, as all flights seem to be these days.  Even thought I had checked in online around 24 hours prior to departure I was still in one of the mid to later groups.  Southwest Airlines does not have assigned seating and passengers board in order of group number.  When I boarded it seemed all the seats were full.  I got about halfway down the aisle when a passenger moved from the aisle to the middle seat and asked if I wanted the aisle seat.  It was like he was saving it for me.  I found some space in the overhead bin for my suitcase and sat down.

During the flight I talked to that passenger a bit.  He asked me about the book I was reading (The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson, see later review).  The book has a drawing of a “Welcome to Iowa” sign and the passenger said he was originally from Iowa.  He attended Vanderbilt University and now lives in Nashville with his family.  He was flying to Socal with his teenage son to look at colleges: primarily USC and UCLA.  His son was interesting in studying film and/or music.  The passenger asked whether the area around USC was safe.  He also mentioned that he had read one of Bill Bryson’s books, A Walk Through the Woods.  That’s a book I’d like to read sometime.

There was no in-flight movie but the passenger in front of me was watching Into the Wild on his laptop and I sometimes stole a glance at it.  At around 6:30 pm central time I decided to have dinner.  Just before I unpacked the passenger asked me to retrieve his bag from the overhead bin because he decided to have dinner, too.  After helping him I unpacked my dinner.  My sandwich was no longer warm but, luckily, nothing had spilled.  It still tasted very good, though I had to be careful when I dipped it into the au jus sauce in such close quarters.  It made a good French dip sandwich.  I supplemented it with some peanut butter-filled pretzels that we bought at Trader Joes before I left for Nashville.

My long nonstop flight finally arrived at Ontario Airport.  I said good luck to the passenger and his son and we all deplaned.  When I got to the ground transport pickup area I called my wife who was waiting in the cell lot.  In all it had been a long trip to Nashville.  Later I heard from my coworker who flew to LAX that they hit bad turbulence and had a very bumpy flight.  My flight was smoother, but then I left an hour earlier.  During my trip I ate at seven different places that included all kinds of food: local barbecue and meat-and-three and the more surprising Mexican, Seafood, and French.  I don’t know when I’ll return to Nashville, it could be sooner than expected.  At least I know they have a good variety of places to eat.