A whirlwind of wonderful restaurant visits

I'm way behind on posting all of our outings over the past month or so. Apparently, we've had a lot of reasons to celebrate. Valentine's Day, Mr. Eats's birthday, got a babysitter day...we've had some wonderful meals. There is truly some great vegetarian (fine) food to be had in Nashville.

First up is Miel. We live nearby but have never been. The kind hostess was able to squeeze us in for a last-minute reservation the Saturday before Valentine's Day. We were excited because Deb Paquette, formerly of Zola is helping out in the kitchen.

I started with a favorite from Zola, the bowl of mixed olives, followed by the seasonal vegetable plate. It was a lovely plate with red carrots, roasted parsnips, a mixed salad, some broccolini and a lentil concoction. It was a pretty hefty plate of food--good and filling. Except I discovered I'm not much a fan of parsnips.

And we just had to get dessert and I opted for the trio of pots de creme, which I assume were prepared by pastry chef Angela Reynolds (who has celebrity fans). Even the capuccino flavor--not really a favorite of mine--was delicious. It just feels good to eat a good pot de creme. And I like Miel--it's a surprisingly quiet-but-not-too-quiet space and is very comfortable.

We also finally made it to Watermark. And in keeping with the Zola theme, we remembered our server from Zola. It was nice because he was understanding and helpful with my "dietary restrictions." Not that he needed to do much--my eye immediately went to the vegetarian special, a saffron risotto. There were some wilted greens and some spaghetti squash and roasted beets accompanying the risotto, but it was just about all I was interested in. It was as good as it sounds. Yum.

A note about Watermark--if you're looking for a really nice fine-dining option, this is the place. It's a wonderful place and the service is really fantastic.

And we (again--finally) made it to Holland House in East Nashville. I'd heard a lot about it--good things about the cocktails as well as the food. Definitely splurge on one of the specialty cocktails (the Warsaw Mule is fantastic). And were able to squeeze in during happy hour, so we got a few of the small plates to start off. I really enjoyed the fries, but the edamame-ponzu dip was a little off in context--I think it would work better in the summer with a beer. For dinner, I had the risotto with foraged mushrooms (I really like risotto) and it was delicious. The lighting is not great for food photography, but it was lovely to look at, too.

Though the dessert menu at Holland House was not really our thing, so we drove down the street to Allium, which I know will always have a great dessert selection. For Mr. Eats's birthday, he enjoyed a wonderful pistachio and chocolate mousse (um), tarte? I can't remember. I'd had several cocktails by then. But it was wonderful and exactly what he wanted. Interestingly, while at Allium, we noticed two other tables (including a large table) that we'd seen earlier at Holland House. I think they were doing drinks at Holland House and dinner at Allium. Huh. Maybe those guys need to partner up!