Allium

Wow. Morgan and I have been Groupon-happy the last few days. I doubt we'll be able to keep up with this pace for much longer. Okay, on to my review...

I went to Allium for Sunday brunch with my brother and my mom. For those of you who are unaware, Allium is in the 5th and Main building in East Nashville (right over the James Robertson bridge). First off, I'd like to say that I'm really sad about what happened to that building. It obviously is set up to be an amazing hip urban living situation, but somehow with the economy that didn't work out. They have underground parking, which is great, but when we surfaced on the main level it was very apparent that there isn't much going on up there. Currently, 5th and Main houses Otter's and Allium, and that's pretty much it. The condos (so cute and modern) appear to be abandoned for the most part. I really hope that they manage to bring in some more businesses and residents because it's a great location.

Despite the rest of the complex being a ghost town, Allium was decently busy at 1:30 on a Sunday. Due to the unnaturally warm weather we're having (I guess global warming is back on), there were several people sitting out on the patio. We chose to sit inside since both me and my mom are cold-natured. The inside of the restaurant is lovely. They have floor to ceiling windows, which let in tons of light. I imagine at night the view of downtown would be really nice. The decor is modern and simple, and the dining area is quite large.

On to the food! I ordered the regular french toast, which was nothing special. Thankfully, they used lots of eggs (it was even listed on the "egg" portion of the menu), which is the way I like my french toast. My brother ordered the blueberry/blackberry french toast, which he said was in the middle of the rankings for all the french toast he has ever eaten. But the rest of the food definitely made up for the unexceptional french toast. I ordered the pepper jack grits, and they were a-MA-zing. They were creamy spicy cheesy deliciousness. I ate every single bite of my HUGE side order even though I was already full. My mom ordered the mushroom and spinach cheesecake, which she said was incredibly rich. We also ordered the popovers, which are kind of like a crusty breadier version of donuts. They were definitely worth the mess they took to eat as they were covered in powdered sugar. I think the best thing we ordered was the goat cheese and red onion tart. I'm a total sucker for goat cheese.

I definitely want to come back for dinner sometime so I can try the potato gnocchi that's on the dinner menu and check out the skyline view. Also, I'd really like to try their croque madame as it appears on all three of their menus (lunch, dinner, and brunch). The prices are very reasonable for such a high end looking place, so I think I'll have to do a girls' night out at Allium sometime in the future.

Finally, I got the thin mint cheesecake to go. I tried one bite at the restaurant, and it tasted pretty damn delicious to me. But really, anything involving thin mints is bound to be good.