Photo courtesy of Wil Foster
The requisite autumn trip to Brown County will be a little more enticing this year with the gourmet reboot of Nashville stalwart Big Woods as The Original.
The former smokehouse-and-pizza menu morphed into a slate of handcrafted dishes with regional flair, like braised short-rib meatloaf topped with smoked-tomato gravy and Tabasco fried onions; wild-mushroom strudel; and a hunk of sweet, sticky cornbread that is really just a conveyance for smoked corn butter and peppery buckwheat honey.
The tiny timber-framed restaurant gained zero square footage, with the same rustic stick chairs and patio tables perfect for microbrew-sipping on a crisp day. Except now, the Quaff On! brand’s Six Foot Blonde ale and Busted Knuckle porter are joined by cocktails, some with locally made spirits from sibling Hard Truth Distilling Co.
The Indiana Jamma’s combination of Hard Truth cinnamon vodka, Aperol, Amaretto, and orange juice might be just what you need to survive high tourist season. 60 Molly’s Ln., Nashville, 812-988-6000, bigwoodsrestaurants.com/nashville
