Rippy's

I had to fly to Nashville, Tennessee on Monday, February 9 to attend a conference for work that took place from February 10 to 12.  My Southwest Airlines flight left Ontario, CA at 12 Noon Pacific time and arrived in Nashville Airport after 5 pm Central time.  I deplaned with most of the other passengers from my full flight, took the escalator down to the baggage claim, and then went down one more escalator to catch ground transportation.  I purchased a round-trip ticket for the Grayline airport shuttle at the counter for $20.  The shuttle stopped at most of the hotels in Nashville every half hour.

At the Hampton Inn in downtown Nashville where I was to stay I met up with my coworker and her husband who had flown in from LAX.  After I had deposited my luggage in my room we walked north on 4th Street to Broadway, the main street in downtown with souvenir shops, bars, and restaurants, many with live music.  We had wanted to try this barbecue place call Jack’s Bar-B-Que but when we got there it was closed for a private party.  We walked west to the southeast corner of Broadway and 5th Street and noticed a large place called Rippy’s with a large bar and live music playing.  It was right across the street from the Sommet Center where the NHL team Nashville Predators play and where they held the Country Music Awards back when I visited Nashville in November 2007.  We walked to the east and noticed other places such as Merchant’s, the Hard Rock Café, and many other bars with live music but we decided Rippy’s was the best choice from outside impressions.

We entered Rippy’s through a door into the bar area.  A server said we could sit down anywhere.  We walked past the bar and the stage to a larger dining area and put a couple of tables together.  We could still hear and partially see the band of 2-3 on stage as well as a couple of large flatsceen TVs showing college basketball games.  The pace was very large with high ceilings and what looked like an upstairs area.  It was also full of customers.  A server came by and didn’t allow us much time to decide what to order though she waited for us patiently and answered our questions.  The menu had salads, sandwiches, barbecued items such as ribs, and dinner items.  After deliberating, we placed our orders.

They brought us our food quickly.  I had the pulled pork sandwich that came on a hamburger bun without barbecue sauce.  Sans sauce seems to be how they serve barbecue in Nashville.  It was still pretty good:  flavorful and the right consistency, not chewy or dry.  The onion rings I chose as a side were a bit greasy but they tasted good.  My coworker and her husband enjoyed their ribs and pulled pork sandwich.  Later I noticed there was a container of what appeared to be barbecue sauce on our table, though it wasn’t labeled.

The band played live music throughout our meal.  They mostly covered country standards such as “I Walk the Line”, most famously recorded by Johnny Cash.  They played the bluegrass standard “Man of Constant Sorrow” that was featured in the Movie O Brother Where Art Thou and “King of the Road” featured in Into the Wild.  They started playing “Sweet Home Alabama” but stopped and said, “Just kidding.”  When they learned a couple of people had a birthday that day, they sang a slightly countrified version of “Happy Birthday” to them.  They then sang the following words to the tune of “Happy Birthday”:

Hope you get some tonight
Hope you get some tonight
Hope you get some cake and ice cream
Hope you get some tonight

Many of the people at other table ordered beer and drinks from the bar.  They spoke loudly with their southern Tennessee accents.  We were exhausted from flying all afternoon and walked back to our hotel after finishing our meal.  On the way back, someone from another Broadway bar told us to come back in a few hours because he had a great band taking the stage.  But we had already gotten a taste of Nashville, its barbecue and music and our trip was just beginning.