Where To Find The Best Street Food In Nashville
In the country music capital of the world, you won't be short of entertainment. Nashville, Tennessee, has so much to offer holidaymakers, the challenge will be fitting everything in. One thing you definitely shouldn't miss while in town is the Nashville food truck scene.
As the capital of a southern state, Music City has plenty of Southern delicacies to choose from. Fried chicken, fried green plantains, biscuits and gravy, barbecue, and other soul food are all well represented here. But that's not all Nashville's food trucks have to offer. Thanks to generations of immigration and cross-cultural pollination, Nashville has a food scene that can rival any city in the US. Whether you're in the mood for a classic pad Thai, authentic tacos, delicious sandwiches, or authentic Southern BBQ, you'll find all of it readily available from a food truck parked on the streets of Nashville.
Best of all, the city's food trucks are all over the place, meaning that you're bound to encounter at least one or two as you explore the best neighborhoods in Nashville. But before you head out on a culinary adventure, don't forget to leave your bags behind at a Bounce luggage storage in Nashville. Traveling light will free you up to enjoy the best of what the city has to offer.
The best street food vendors in Nashville
Music City Brisket
Tennessee is very much a Southern state, and you can't say you've truly been to the South unless you tried some slow-cooked barbecue. Local favorite Music City Brisket offers a range of menu items that will scratch your itch for barbecue food. As you'd expect, the brisket here is the star, slow-smoked for maximum flavor, slathered with barbecue sauce or Russian dressing, and served in a provolone cheese-topped bun for the perfect food to eat on the go. They also serve burgers, tacos, and ribs, and you can get any of their sandwiches or burgers served with French fries to make a meal of it. This food truck is a great place to get comfort food in the city, so it's well worth tracking down.
Taste of Aloha
Maybe you didn't expect to find Hawaiian fusion cuisine on the streets of Nashville. But this innovative food truck brings a little taste of the Aloha state to Tennessee. Operated by a Hawaiian husband-and-wife team, this food truck offers island favorites like spam fried rice, huli huli chicken, and the Kalua pork sandwich. In true Hawaiian style, they also offer a range of Asian fusion family recipes, such as crispy gaugee and Korean kalbi with white rice. On a warm day Nashville, there's nothing better than tucking into the delicious food served from this truck.
Cheap Charlie's Taco Shop
No prizes for guessing what kind of food you'll get at this Nashville food truck. Authentic street tacos are what bring locals flocking to whatever location this food truck chooses to serve at on any given day, and you can expect a long line that's testament to how good the food here is. Grab the mariscos taco or a Cali burrito from this iconic truck, and you'll be enjoying some of the best Tex-Mex cuisine you'll find in Nashville. Plus, Cheap Charlie's lives up to its name in more ways than one. A breakfast egg taco costs a measly two dollars, and the regular tacos are less than two dollars each, meaning you can fill up on this delicious food without blowing your budget.
Funk Seoul Brother
This whimsically named Nashville food truck brings Korean and other Asian fusion food to the streets of Tennessee's capital. Feast on delicious Korean fried chicken, poke, and ramen. The owner of this food truck made a big splash in the city with sushi burritos that quickly became a huge local favorite. After taking them off the menu at Funk Seoul Brother, he opened a trailer called Boom Pop Burrito, devoted to serving this unique fusion item. But whether you go for the burritos or the more classic Korean food on offer, you'll be in for a real culinary treat at this inventive truck. After all those calories, you'll probably need to get a little exercise, so combine a visit to this truck with some of the best hikes in Nashville.
Deg Thai
Thai food has become more and more popular in recent years, and you'll find plenty of outlets and restaurants serving this exciting cuisine in Nashville. One of the best is the food truck Deg Thai, which also operates a brick-and-mortar restaurant on Nolensville Pike. At the truck, you can expect popular Thai food options like street dumplings made with shrimp and chicken, green and red curries, and Tiew Tom Yung Goong. This is also a great option for those who don't eat meat, as the truck often has several vegetarian and even vegan options.
Grilled Cheeserie
Nothing says comfort food like a grilled cheese sandwich. Like many others in Nashville, this food truck has become so popular that they have been able to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant too, but they still provide street food from their food truck. You can expect inventive takes on a childhood staple, such as a grilled cheese with pulled chicken and buffalo source or a spinach and artichoke melt. You can even make your own grilled cheese, choosing from a list of toppings to create the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich. They also serve tater tots, chips and dip, and salads for those who looking for something a little lighter. But with such creative takes on grilled cheese on offer, it's hard to concentrate on anything else.
Il Forno
Italian cuisine is one of the most popular in the world, and for good reason. Il Forno food truck is devoted to taking Italian cuisine to the street, with an authentic Italian pizza oven adapted for use in a mobile trailer. Pizza was first created in Italy as a street food, and so this food truck is as authentic as it gets. The woodfired oven cooks pizzas in as little as 90 seconds, and you'll get authentic Neapolitan pizza with gooey cheese and a deliciously charred crust in no time at all. The menu often changes, the classic pizzas like the Margarita and the Diavola are usually on offer. And if you get the chance to try their popular nutella pizza, you should definitely take advantage.
Blue Monkey Shaved Ice
Nothing beats the heat of a Tennessee summer quite like shaved ice. This sweet treat is the perfect way to cool off while you enjoy an evening stroll through the city, and Blue Monkey offers a range of flavors to keep everyone happy. The shaved ice is flavored with real fruit, and you can choose from toppings like snow cream, shredded coconut, ice cream, or a sour spray. The flavors available rotate through the season, so you can visit this popular food truck many times and still not exhaust all the options they have.
Where to find the best Nashville street food spots
Downtown Nashville
So many of Nashville's top attractions and best restaurants are located downtown, and it's also where you'll find most of the city's visitors, so it's no surprise that it's a popular place for food trucks to operate. Wander the downtown streets, and you'll be practically inundated with options for great things to eat. The Grilled Cheeserie is just one of the many food trucks that often operate downtown. Check out Deaderick Street between 4th and 5th Avenues, and the chances are good you'll find something great to eat. Plus, there are lots of city parks in this area where you can sit on a bench on the grass and enjoy some of the best food in Nashville.
Midtown
Located just outside downtown, Midtown also has plenty to offer visitors. Centennial Park and its famous Parthenon, a copy of the Greek original, is a fantastic place to take a stroll and enjoy the sunshine. And it's even better if you can bring some delicious food with you. On your way to the park, swing by Select Specialty Hospital on Hayes and 20th. You'll find an impressive selection of food trucks parked here every weekday, ready to serve locals and visitors alike with some of the most creative food in the city.
Woodland Street
Woodland Street is home to Nashville Farmers Market, making it a great destination for foodies in the Tennessee capital. You'll find several food trucks in and around the market during the day, but it's at night that Woodland Street really comes to life. Many of the city's best food trucks congregate here, serving late-night eats to hungry partiers and clubgoers, making this one of the best places to sample eclectic Nashville cuisine after the sun goes down.
Street food festivals in Nashville
Music City is a great place to have a good time, and the city hosts many special events throughout the year, often based around music and usually involving great food.
Check out Street Eats on Deaderick Street downtown. This regular food truck festival takes place every Thursday from 11am-2pm, making it the ideal place to try something new for lunch while you're exploring downtown. Yum! East takes place in east Nashville in May, and is devoted to celebrating the food and drink scene of this area of the city. Expect lots of food trucks along with plenty of live music and other entertainment to enjoy in the sunshine.
For something a little more offbeat, visit Brew at the Zoo in June. This beer festival takes place at Nashville zoo and it's certainly a unique experience trying all the different microbrews the city has to offer in the presence of animals from around the world. You'll also find plenty of food trucks at this festival, so it's a great place to try some of the best food in the city and enjoy one of Nashville's more unusual events at the same time.
August brings Nashville's Margarita Festival, where you can sample cocktails from the city's best Margarita makers. Of course, drinking on an empty stomach isn't the best idea, so you'll be glad to know that plenty of the city's top food trucks are also hosted at this event. Delicious street food and cooling cocktails — what's not to like?
Conclusion
Just as Nashville's musical heritage goes way beyond country music, its food scene has far more to offer than classic Southern staples. The food trucks of Nashville offer some of the most inventive food in the city and help to keep Nashville's culinary creativity high. In fact, the food trucks of Nashville are some of the best places to eat in the entire city. Plus, there are few better things to do in this Southern city than take a great meal to the park and enjoy incredible weather.
So if you find yourself hungry Nashville, don't worry. You're never far from an incredible food truck that will expand your culinary horizons. Just remember to drop off your unneeded bags at a Bounce luggage storage so that you have both hands free to tuck into some of the favorite dishes in Nashville. Whatever food truck you find in your search, chances are you won't regret bringing your appetite and enjoying some of the best street food the city has to offer.