Sundowner: Autumn/Winter 2019

East Nashville
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
THE BUZZ: While Nashville might be known as Music City,
across the Cumberland River, low-key residential area and once
rather rough-around-the-edges East Nashville has established
itself as a happening culinary hot spot. The boulevards here pay
homage to all-things artisan, lined with small-batch coffee shops,
cocktail joints, and neighbourhood restaurants.
THE CROWD: Artsy bean aficionados in plaid shirts sipping
locally roasted Drew’s Brews coffee at Ugly Mugs, and off-duty
tour managers on craft brewery pilgrimages, taste-testing Yazoo
Brewery’s latest tipples.
DON’T MISS: All the eating and drinking. Tucking in to
Nashville’s famous hot chicken is practically a rite of passage.
It can be sampled year-round (EN’s oldest dive bar Dino’s is a
good place to start), but visit in July and there’s an entire festival
dedicated to the stuff in East Park. Join the queue for 100-layer
doughnuts at cult family-run bakery Five Daughters; adventurous
eaters should try the King Kong (maple and bacon), and purists
the vanilla cream. At newly opened Folk, try chef Philip Krajeck’s
clam-chilli pizza and wildflower-strewn salads. Pick up vintage
cowboy boots and unique prints by local artists at eight-shop
wonder the Idea Hatchery.
BED DOWN: Thompson Nashville in the Gulch has
mid-century modern-look rooms with wonderful views
of downtown, and it’s a 10-minute drive to get out east.
Mission District
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
THE BUZZ: The Golden Gate City’s oldest neighbourhood,
founded in 1776 by Spanish missionaries, fondly known as the
Mission, sees Latino culture rub up against some of the city’s
oldest architecture, colour-popping street art, a toe-tapping live
music scene, and a host of gastropubs and dinky ice-cream joints.
THE CROWD: Bibliophiles thumbing through sci-fi novels
at Borderlands Books, tech-executives who shuttlebus in to
Silicon Valley, and hippie festival-lovers.
DON’T MISS: Picnicking in palm tree-lined Dolores Park
where locals play ultimate frisbee, and weighing in on a hotly
debated topic: where serves the best burrito in town? Papalote
Mexican Grill is famed for its tangy tomato salsa, while superchef
David Chang favours those at El Castillito. Round things off with
live bluegrass at The Chapel, which was once a mortuary. The
annual Day of the Dead celebrations in Garfield Park, which draw
a 15,000-strong crowd (many in skull facepaint) is an unmissable
spectacle, too.
BED DOWN: About 20 minutes from the centre of the
Mission is cool cat Hotel Zetta, which has urban loft-feel rooms;
some, curated by the folks at healthy travel guidebook Well +
Away, feature Peloton bikes and Muse meditation headbands.
18 | AUTUMN/WINTER 2019