Loveless Cafe
Encyclopedia
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
on Highway 100
Tennessee State Route 100
State Route 100 is a west–east route that connects Whiteville, Tennessee with Belle Meade, Tennessee.- Route description :Once it leaves SR-15, State Route 100 passes south of Whiteville along with US-64. Then SR-100 passes through an interchange with US-64 and SR-15 and leaves Whiteville...
, just east of the northern terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway
Natchez Trace Parkway
The Natchez Trace Parkway is a National Park Service unit in the southeastern United States that commemorates the historic Old Natchez Trace and preserves sections of the original trail....
. It is known for its Southern cooking
Cuisine of the Southern United States
The cuisine of the Southern United States is defined as the historical regional culinary form of states generally south of the Mason Dixon Line dividing Pennsylvania from Maryland and Delaware as well as along the Ohio River, and extending west to Southern Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.The most...
, especially for its biscuits, country ham
Country ham
Country ham is a variety of cured ham, typically very salty, associated with the Southern United States. Country ham is first mentioned in print in 1944, referring to a method of curing and smoking done in the rural parts of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky and other nearby...
, and red-eye gravy
Red-eye gravy
Red-eye gravy is a thin sauce often seen in the cuisine of the Southern United States and associated with the country ham of that region. Other names for this sauce include poor man's gravy, bird-eye gravy, bottom sop and red ham gravy. The gravy is made from the drippings of pan-fried country ham,...
. The establishment has received acclaim from USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, Southern Living
Southern Living
Southern Living is a widely read lifestyle magazine aimed at readers in the Southern United States featuring recipes, house plans, and information about Southern culture and travel...
, Frommer's
Frommer's
Frommer's is a travel guidebook series and one of the bestselling travel guides in America. The series began in 1957 with the publication of Arthur Frommer's book, Europe on $5 a Day. Frommer's has expanded to include over 350 guidebooks across 14 series, as well as other media including the award...
, and a number of other prominent national publications.
History
In 1951, Lon and Anne Loveless purchased the “Harpeth Valley Tea Room” on Highway 100 and renamed it the Loveless Motel and Cafe. They originally served only chicken at picnic tables on their front porch, but eventually converted rooms in the house to accommodate a bigger menu and a need for more dining space. They owned the motel and cafe for eight years before selling it to Cordell and Stella Maynard in 1959. In 1973, the Maynards sold the business to Charles and Donna McCabe. Their 12-year-old son George became a full business partner at Loveless in 1982. He expanded the services of the Loveless by creating Loveless Motel and Cafe's "Hams & Jams" mail-order business and catalog.Motel operations ceased in 1985 and the 14 units were converted into rooms for mail orders, storage and a special dining room. In 2003, the Loveless Cafe was sold to a few committed Nashville natives. They closed the cafe in February of 2004 for restorations. The five-month project included a new kitchen, new restrooms and additional seating. The two buildings containing the old motel rooms were converted to Hams & Jams Country Market and the Loveless Motel Shops. The renovation was awarded the Critic’s Choice for Best Resurrection of an Institution by the Nashville Scene later that year.
Print publications
Examples of recognition for the Loveless Cafe by national publications include:-USA Today: The newspaper suggested that the “miraculously flaky and feathery biscuits” from Loveless Cafe, were “Nashville's second-most-important contribution to American culture.”
-People Magazine: The magazine declared the Loveless Country Ham "the best in America."
-Bon Appetit: Jefferson Morgan wrote that “On a scale of 1 to 10, my breakfast came in at about a 14."
-Southern Living: Told readers that the, “biscuits and gravy are good enough to sing about.”
Television
Carol Fay Ellison, locally known as "the biscuit lady," demonstrated Southern cooking on several television programs such as Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Martha, NBC's Today Show,, Throwdown! with Bobby Flay, CBS’s The Early Show, and The Ellen Show.Furthermore, the Loveless Cafe was named the "Best Country Restaurant in America” by The Home Show on ABC in 1993, and was awarded the “Best Biscuits” award by the Food Network in 2010.