In Sunday’s episode of CNN travelogue Parts Unknown, chef Anthony Bourdain kicks off his exploration of Nashville, Tennessee, a country music capital home to the Grand Ole Opry that remains an iconic destination for musicians. "And there is indeed plenty of country music, both genuine and fake-ass," Bourdain explains, "but it’s way more than that." Nashville, says the host, "is in a state of perpetual, never-ending change." It’s one of the fastest growing metro areas in the U.S., with between 80 and 100 new residents moving to the city every day.
"The city is in a state of perpetual, never-ending change."
So, how best to explore this evolving southern landscape? With a backyard meal at the home of pitmaster Pat Martin (Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint), of course. Joining them is Husk’s Sean Brock, who also made an appearance during the Parts season-six finale in Charleston, Tandy Wilson of City House, and Tyler Brown of Southall. Together, the chefs feast on 90-day aged Bear Creek Farm ribeye steaks, bourbon soy oyster mushrooms, grits, greasy beans, and cold ricotta with roasted acorn squash in preparation. That's all in preparation for the evening event — a drunken food adventure to Nashville dive bar Dino’s.
When not bonding with culinarians over burgers and hot fries or trying out an omakase tasting menu, Bourdain indulges in a cafeteria-style lunch staple — the meat and three — with Grammy award-winning music producer Jesse Boyce. Ever the rock music groupie, the host also spends a good chunk of his Nashville trip touring with members of supergroup the Dead Weather. Together, they muse over muscle cars and get a few ill-advised tattoos during the world’s best house party. Here, now, are the 21 best lines from Anthony Bourdain’s rock music-fueled Nashville food and drink bender.
1. Sean Brock on drunken nights at Dino’s: "I can’t tell you how many burgers I had here that I can’t remember."
2. Bourdain’s reaction to hot fries: "It’s like country poutine." Sean Brock agrees: "Exactly, it’s like redneck poutine."
3. About the Kills singer Alison Mosshart’s car: "This is a custom made Dodge Challenger. If it hits you with speed, it will mess you up bad."
4. On Nashville hot chicken: "If you order it in its hottest iteration, it too will mess you up — as I came to find out."
5. After the first bite of hot chicken: "That’s really hot and it just keeps coming."
6. Onward to the second bite: "Alright, I’m going in. Do not resuscitate."
7. So apparently hot chicken is spicy: "Oh, that hurts. I think I’m hallucinating."
8. While sitting in a robe in a cryotherapy facility: "I just experienced like 12-hour payback from hot chicken, and this was an existentially awful experience that I really, there were moments when I didn't think I was going to make it. This has got to be so much better than that, and it’s only three minutes."
9. To the cryotherapy tech: "Do you serve snacks in there?"
10. Why would one ever do cryotherapy?: "Basically you step inside a big tube into which liquid nitrogen is pumped, chilling things down to a less-than-comfortable minus 300 degrees, to apparently convince your body that it’s dying on the permafrost causing it to kick loose all sorts of emergency, life-saving anti-inflammatory proteins, after which you are supposed to feel better."
11. It’s truly a miracle of modern science: "Your fingers and penis don’t shatter like Hummel figurines."
12. Post-cryotherapy: "I’m coming out with a Trump-sized dick now."
13. Bourdain can’t do a scene this episode without talking about penises: "I would never buy a muscle car because once I start, it’s like I would never be satisfied. You don’t want to be like Jay Leno with 30 muscle cars. You know, let’s face it: If you own 30 classic muscle cars, there comes a point where people are going to look at you and say, ‘Sorry about your penis.’"
14. On craft cocktail programs: "Sign of the apocalypse or the age of enlightenment? You decide."
15: On the pasta served him at the Catbird Seat: "I would face-plant in a big fuckin’ bowl of this."
16. How he’d prefer to eat the pasta: "Remember when Tony Soprano would come home? Like he’d come home from a big night of whoring and killing people and he’d go home and he’d open the refrigerator and there’d be a Tupperware container and there’d be some cold leftover ziti that Carmela had made him maybe the night before, maybe two nights ago, but the fact is it was there. As completely awesome as this is, I would wake up and eat this cold in a Tupperware container."
17. Fishing cookies out of a jar at the Catbird Seat: "I like rooting around in Gene Simmons's brain. ‘I do not approve of your right wing politics. Oh yeah, oh yeah!’"
18. On the menu for Alison Mosshart’s epic Disgraceland house party: "Deviled eggs, because it ain’t a party without deviled eggs."
19. On getting a tattoo at a house party: "I, on the other hand, gave this scorpion careful consideration after a less carefully considered number of tequilas."
20. Describing Nashville restaurant Pinewood Social: "Where natural allies alcohol, hangovers, and bowling coexist peacefully in an atmosphere of mutual respect."
21. On being allowed to bowl with a hangover in Nashville: "In a safer world, all of us here would be prohibited from hurling heavy objects in any direction given our sorry states and our general ineptness at this sport of kings. But that’s Nashville for you. A welcoming place, a forgiving one. I feel right at home."
· All Parts Unknown Coverage [E]
· All Anthony Bourdain Coverage [E]