At the Cock of the Walk Restaurant, hidden around the corner and alongside the highway behind the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, that finally changed.
It's worth the hunt to find this Nashville restaurant.
Cock of the Walk is a huge restaurant with winding, wood-paneled hallways leading to various eating nooks and dining rooms.
The spacious front lobby features walls of photos showing the southern celebrities who have dined there throughout the years. Rows of large, wooden rocking chairs seat guests who are waiting for a table to open up.
Once we were seated, the waitress explained how the family-style dining worked. We ordered the sampler meal so we could try southern-fried catfish, chicken and shrimp. They were each great, and depending on one's tastes, any one of the three might be a favorite.
What'll it be? Fried chicken? Fried shrimp? Fried catfish?
The main course was served with tin cups and small, cast-iron skillets of side dishes. We helped ourselves family-style to unlimited coleslaw, cornbread, hushpuppies, onions and beans.
The staff was friendly. We ate at Cock of the Walk twice, and they kept the food coming and the sweet tea filled both times, and they were also just generally polite and fun to talk to.
Courtesy of Pinterest, a typical meal at Cock of the Walk.
We got the sense that Cock of the Walk was a favorite destination for Nashville locals, and that's a bigger recommendation than anything I could write here.
Want to find one of Tennessee's best, authentic southern dining experiences? Grab a seat in one of the rocking chairs, and order some fried chicken at Nashville's Cock of the Walk.
All I'd heard of Nashville is what you might hear on the national country music stations: it's the heart of country music!
Navigating past the bars and crowds of Nashville
But, what we found in downtown Nashville was more like a giant, suburban house party that spilled out and took over a handful of city blocks.
Countless bachelorette parties were parading through the streets like drunken ducks in a row. Some pedaled open-air bars through the streets, others cheered from inside party buses, and others navigated through the crowded streets to hop from bar to bar the old-fashioned way.
Typical day in Nashville with Hot Wing Festival cameo
As you might expect, every bar along this cliched, pop-country version of Times Square offered a live musical act. From the street, all of this Music City noise blended together to create a cacophony of cymbals, guitar chords and people shouting over each other to be heard.
This was Tennessee as we'd never seen it before, and all the crowds, the noise, the drinking - it didn't appeal to us.
We ducked into a two-level souvenir shop, and I waited in line at a crowded coffee shop, but it wasn't long after we arrived in downtown Nashville that we walked ourselves back to our parking garage and got out of there.
Joe's Crab Shack in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville still had a few great surprises in store for us, including the Grand Ole Opry and our first homecooking-style southern meal, but those surprises wouldn't be found in this crowded downtown area.
The Tennessee Titans play just over the river from downtown Nashville
Later the next day, we popped in a second time, wandered around and checked out the bridge that led to the Tennessee Titans football stadium, but on the list of places we visited in Tennessee, downtown Nashville is at the bottom - and that part of the list is soaked in the tequila spilled from some bachelorette party's last round of shots.
Our journey took us next to Nashville, Tennessee, and our very first stop was the Johnny Cash Museum.
Actually, the absurdly expensive nearby parking lot was our first stop, and that offered our first true taste of downtown Nashville. More interesting than the jacked up parking rates, we also saw the first of many drunkenbachelorette parties. This one was climbing onto the stools of a mobile bar that they could power through the city by pedaling as they partied.
We later found it's better to hunt for an actual garage, since they can afford to offer a more reasonable rate thanks to the larger number of customers they can accommodate.
"Hello. I'm [the] Johnny Cash [Museum]."
As a fan of Johnny Cash, the museum was an experience I'd been anticipating. My wife isn't that much of a fan, and this contrast eventually helped shape my overall impression of the museum.
We picked up our tickets at a line between a cafe and the gift shop. Guests were shown into the museum in intervals to keep the small exhibit rooms from getting too crowded. While we waited, we looked around to see Johnny Cash pictured on all kinds of souvenirs and listened to some of his lesser-known songs over the speakers in the room.
This combination of listening and looking turned out to be an accurate prelude for what was to come.
Five decades of Johnny Cash.
Inside, the main hall featured exhibits along one wall, and listening stations along another.
It was crowded, so it took some patience to wait for headphones to become available, but I was able to listen to full Cash songs representing music from the 1960s through 2000s. In the space of that first hour, I enjoyed five decades of Johnny Cash.
The exhibits offered a lot of history, plus some really cool pieces such as a hand-written letter from Johnny Cash to his friend and former Air Force buddy Ted Freeman.
It began, "Friend, you've been cussin me for weeks now, but I've been on the road for weeks and I ain't had time to write.
"I've been to Beaumont, Galveston, San Antonio, Wichita Falls, Amarillo, Lubbock, Abilene and San Angelo, Texas..."
Through the rest of the museum, we found movie screenings; listening stations for artists Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins; audio comparing the quality of Cash tunes produced through the years on records, cassettes, discs and digital devices; and other cool exhibits, including the mixing board used to record Cash's final records.
The mixing board used for Cash's last albums under the American Recordings label.
Overall, there were hours of music to enjoy and lots of interesting things to learn. I mentioned earlier that my wife wasn't a big Johnny Cash fan, and that led to a lot of killing time for her while I listened to another song and tried to take in the whole experience.
Because of all the listening stations, the Johnny Cash Museum is better suited for one person than it is a pair of visitors. Had each audio exhibit offered a couple sets of headphones, it would've been a better overall experience for the two of us together.
As it was, though, I had a great time as a Johnny Cash fan, and would definitely recommend the museum to any fans who will take the time to really enjoy the music, for it's those decades of songs that are the museum's greatest treasure.
Maybe had we stopped in to visit the residents of Mountain City we could've had some authentic southern food, but through East Tennessee and Knoxville, we hadn't found much other than what Bush's Best Baked Beans was serving up in Chestnut Hill.
What it lacked in southern style homecooking, Knoxville made up for with the variety of restaurants and bars along Gay Street and Market Square.
While we were in Knoxville, we tried two of the Market Square restaurants.
Soccer Taco was set up like a Mexican sports bar. The food was good, but of course, it was the soccer-themed decor that left the biggest impression.
The televisions on the wall betrayed that soccer theme, however, by showing some collegiate American football during our meal. Between this and the food, Soccer Taco was a fun place to grab a bite, but it couldn't top our earlier experience at Ole's Guacamoles in Johnson City.
Flow serves beer and coffee drinks to to the residents and locals in Knoxville.
Elsewhere in Knoxville, we found the small, trendy Flow Brew Parlor with its coffee, beer and espresso offerings. We enjoyed a Memphis-brewed coffee milk stout by Wiseacre.
Back at Market Square, Not Watson's offered a comfortable experience with big booths, dark lighting and interesting artwork. It also served up an awesome alligator po' boy sandwich.
The food at Not Watson's is served with style, including the alligator po' boy.
Checking out the menu, we learned the story behind the restaurant's peculiar name. Watson's was a renowned department store on Knoxville's Market Square one or two generations ago.
Whenever the restaurant owner's mother wanted to take her family to town, she'd suggest Watson's. They went so often that the kids would always answer the question of, "Where should we go today?" the same way:
"Not Watson's!"
When one of those kids grew up to own this Market Square restaurant, naming it was easy, and Not Watson's stands as a subtle tribute to Mom.
We didn't try this Market Square bar, but we did spot the man pulling a keg through the wall.
Just one block from Market Square, on Gay Street, we tried the Irish pub called Clancy's Tavern and found some good, but pricey versions of pub staples such as fish and chips. What set this place apart was its unique drink offerings, called beer-tails.
The cocktail version of a glass of beer, the bartenders created beer-tails by mixing together two complimentary beers. This sounded to me like it'd be awful, but the one we tried - called Snakebite, it tempered a hard cider with Harp's lager - was delicious.
Our final Knoxville dining experience came on a whim a little further along on Gay Street.
It was early afternooon, and we were headed to a beautiful, historic movie theater now owned by Regal Cinemas when we saw the Parisian-styled French Market Creperie.
The French Market Creperie in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Inside, we ordered a sugary dessert crepe and a savory ham-and-cheese crepe to go along with a couple cappuccinos. For that long moment, my wife and I sat in Knoxville, Tennessee, and reminisced over our honeymoon in Paris, France, just a few years earlier.
We like to see as much of a new city as we can. One way to do that is to climb to the top of something like Knoxville's Sunsphere and take it all in at once. Another way to see Knoxville in a hurry is to hop on the free trolley and take a 15-minute lap around the downtown area.
A park between Gay Street and Market Square.
We spotted a couple waiting at a Gay Street station for one of Knoxville's free KAT (Knoxville Area Transit) trolleys, so we grabbed some shade on the edge of the adjacent park and waited there, too.
A few minutes later, the trolley arrived and we started down Gay Street. Around the first bend, we found ourselves overlooking the Tennessee River on one side, and passing the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame on the other.
The route eventually took us by the entrance of a downtown Hampton Inn & Suites hotel. More than anything, the free ride was perfect for tourists at this hotel who wanted a lift to Gay Street, Market Square or Knoxville's other downtown attractions.
The Rowing Man sculpture in Knoxville, Tennessee. Sculpted in 1988 by David L. Phelps.
A few minutes later, we were the only passengers left on board, and the friendly driver checked in with us and let us know the trolley wouldn't be running much longer.
This worked for us, though, because we soon turned the corner back onto Gay Street, passed the Knoxville Visitor's Center and arrived back at the station where our tour began.
The first thing we noticed as we drove up to the city of Knoxville was the iconic Sunsphere in its skyline.
Welcome to Knoxville, home of the Sunsphere.
We had plans to visit it, but as we walked around downtown, we were surprised to find out how close it was. We walked the handful of blocks to the Knoxville Convention Center, which stands watch over the Sunsphere and World's Fair Park.
The Tennessee Amphitheather sits in the shadow of the Sunsphere.
The Sunsphere has an observation deck that lets tourists look over all of Knoxville, and we were surprised to find out that we could check it out at no charge.
Overlooking part of World's Fair Park and beyond.
The view from inside was as cool as we expected on a clear day, and there were murals and information posted to provide more insight on the city.
We walked up to the angled windows and peered down to get the sensation of floating in place.
Lean over far enough and you feel like you're floating in air.
There were a handful of tourists in there with us when we arrived, but after a few minutes, we had the place to ourselves, and that's when I came up with the brilliant idea that almost got my wife sick.
We were about to head out when I suggested we walk really quickly around the observation deck and take in all of Knoxville in just a couple seconds. Off we went. It turned out to be a trippy experience where it felt like we were walking down a normal corridor as the city spun around us.
Successfully fending off motion sickness for all of our road trip, it was this 30-second lark that nearly put my wife over the edge.
Back on safe ground, a view of the park and its fountains.
Somehow, she kept it together, and we headed out to the nearby World's Fair Park where we played some Frisbee and checked out the beautiful East Tennessee Veterans Memorial, all with our feet firmly planted on solid ground.
The Veterans Memorial honors soldiers who gave their lives from World War I to the present.
Every weekday morning, Knoxville provides one of the best values in all of Tennessee. In a state that's so proud of its musical roots, the Knoxville visitor's center offers a free hour-long concert every day featuring two up-and-coming country acts.
The mural on the side of the Knoxville visitor's center.
The visitor's center doubles as the home of WDVX 89.9 FM, and we joined the regular crowd on hand for two live sets by new artists Brandy Zdan and Big Shoals.
The daily performance is part of the radio station's Blue Plate Special broadcast, and not every performer promises to be great, but the price is right, and it's a great way to discover new acts and original music.
Brandy Zdan impresses us at the Blue Plate Special.
On the day of our visit, Brandy Zdan opened. Speaking with a soft, almost raspy voice, Brandy Zdan surprised us by belting out a few of her original songs. Originally from Canada, Brandy now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and she impressed us with her look, her voice and her talent on guitar.
Not to be outdone, Big Shoals left a big impression on us, too.
Big Shoals added a drummer, a bassist and a little harmonica to the small stage. Compared to Brandy Zdan, this band's material was darker (listen to "12 Steps" on the Big Shoals website), and we were impressed by the singer's confidence and emotion.
If Brandy Zdan or Big Shoals are ever pushed to the national stage, we won't be surprised, and we'll remember the time we saw them at the WDVX Blue Plate Special in Knoxville, Tennessee.
