Schermerhorn Symphony Center Cafe

Thursday, February 12 was my last day in Nashville for a work conference.  The conference ended sometime between 12:30 - 1:00 pm.  They elected to finish early rather than break for lunch and return in the afternoon.  The day before I had overheard some conference participants who were local mention that they went to the Schermerhorn for lunch and had quick pre-made meals.  I asked them about it and they said it was the Schermerhorn Symphony Center that was right across the street from the hotel.  Now I knew what they meant because I had walked by the building with signs for the Nashville symphony.  It was a nice building of light gray stone less than a block north of the hotel.  There were Greek-style columns on the north end and a golden statue of an angel near the southwest end.  Across the street to the south were these black boxes on the sidewalk that played classical music constantly.  Similar boxes in other parts of the city played country music and rock music.

After the conference ended most of the other participants left the hotel, some to catch their flights, others to do some last minute souvenir shopping.  I still had several hours before my flight so I walked over to the Schermerhorn building.  I wasn’t sure where to enter and I walked all the way to the north end with the columns.  It seemed like a main entrance.  I entered what seemed like a main lobby of the concert hall.  Through another door on the right I passed what looked like a group taking a tour.  I went through another door towards the southeast end of the building and found the café.  It’s really just a counter where they sell pre-made sandwiches and salads.  It’s similar to the Patina shop at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, only this is just a counter with some tables for customers to sit and eat their food.  In addition to the sandwiches and salads they also had a hot meal behind the counter.  I asked the man behind the counter what it was and he said, “Chicken in red wine sauce with asparagus.”  I asked if it had dairy and he took the time to call the chef on the phone to find out.  It was well past 1 pm and there was no one else there getting lunch.  It looked he had one serving of chicken and asparagus left.  He told me that it did not contain any diary so I ordered it and he put it in a plastic take-out container.

They had put away most of the napkins and utensils because the café was about to close.  I returned to the hotel lobby / dining area where my coworker and her husband were having take-out from Fiesta Mexicana.  My meal was pretty good with the chicken fully cooked but not dry, the sauce flavorful and just enough for the chicken.  The asparagus was also good.  It was an adequate amount of food but it may have too little if I had been very hungry; my stomach was still getting used to the two hour time change.  Soon after finishing lunch I caught the Gray Line shuttle to Nashville Airport.