At the corner of Highway 431 (Lewisburg Pike) and Henpeck Lane sits a sweet Victorian house with a wrap-around porch and a row of gas pumps out in front of it.  

Henpeck Market is one of those establishments I’ve driven by for years but never stopped to see what was inside.  I assumed that, since it was a gas station, there would be a small convenience store inside and nothing more.  

Finally, a couple weeks ago while looking for property for some clients, I decided to pull into the parking lot.  It was noon, and there was literally nowhere to park… the place was packed!  So I found an empty space near the road and headed to the front door. 

As soon as I walked in, I was surprised to see that it was much more than just a little market! 

Don and Jackie Gregory own the place and, yes, there’s a gas station outside and the typical convenience store type merchandise inside, but did you know there is also a café and restaurant?  Oh, and a little gift shop and organic produce section, too?! 

There’s more… soon they’ll even have a post office inside.

I had the pleasure of dining at the new Wild Ginger a few nights ago. 

Wild Ginger
101 Market Exchange Court
Franklin, TN 37067
(615) 778-0081

It’s been open just a few weeks now. The restaurant is located on Market Exchange Court (facing Bakers Bridge) in Cool Springs -- just across from Miles Auto Spa.

The building is a really cool modern structure made of a combination of brick and flat stone. 

There are lots of fun places to eat in Franklin, Tennessee.

Give the wheel a spin, and find a new restaurant to try for a change!

Okay, Mellow Mushroom finally has some competition in the pizza department. (They're still #1 for calzones though.)

We've been doing lots of drive-by's past the Garlic Jim's pizza place lately -- because we've been so eager for Franklin's newest pizza joint to open their doors. That day was officially March 4, 2008.

We went for the first time last night (March 14th).

Garlic Jim's pizza ROCKS!!! Here's why...

Sound appetizing to you?

I'm just checking...

Meredith asked about the best Chinese restaurants in the Brentwood / Cool Springs / Franklin area.

I've been meaning to write about this for awhile, so Meredith, this one's for you...

As stated earlier, in this list of Franklin's best restaurants, our longtime favorite pizza place in Franklin has been the Mellow Mushroom.

But we decided to take the advice of some of the people from that first article who had recommended Mineo's pizza & wings. So we went there for the first time last night.

I'm just being honest when I say... NO WAY is theirs the best.

What we got:

• a medium white pizza


• a small calzone (with mushrooms, onions, pepperoni, sausage & extra cheese)


• a small order of hot wings

I think this is the same place that Martha Stewart raved about on her TV show a few months ago. Obviously, she was talking about the NYC location, but she sure got my hopes up when I saw they were building one right here in Cool Springs!

For the record, this is the only Tossed restaurant in Tennessee.

Unfortunately, I don't think Jim & I got the full experience or something. Based on our first visit to Tossed in Cool Springs, we'd rate their salads as only so-so. Here's why...

Penn Station is in the Bellevue area. While it's not all that close to Franklin, we've always felt it was worth the drive just to enjoy their Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches.

...That is, until we discovered Fat Mo's right here in Franklin and we discovered that their Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches are pretty good, too!

Listen to Bud Light's Real Men of Genius "Mr. Philly Cheese Steak Maker": [Thanks, Don!]

We went to the Cheesecake Factory in Green Hills (near Nashville) for the first time a few weeks ago.

It was sooooo good that both Jim and I were craving cheesecake for days! So much so, that we searched the local grocery stores for some decent pre-made cheesecakes.

Our Search For Good Cheesecake... Locally

We ended up getting one from Publix. It was very small, but very rich -- with a chocolate crumb crust (my favorite). It was a good substitute for "the real thing" from the Cheesecake Factory, and it satisfied our craving for cheesecake for about a week.

A couple weeks later, we found a delicious pre-made (not frozen) cheesecake from Costco. It had the chocolate crumb crust and a full-size Oreo cookie for each of the pre-cut slices in this 12-inch round cheesecake. It was $13.99 from Costco, and it lasted well over 2 weeks in our house!

Anyhoo...
We went back to the Cheesecake Factory to get a taste of "the real thing" again tonight. It was a Tuesday at 7PM, and Jim's parents were in town.

This time, there was only a 10-minute wait!

We've been to the Cheesecake Factory in Atlanta (Buckhead) a few times. And it's left a lasting impression each time.

So we were thrilled to see a Cheesecake Factory open up here in Nashville (Green Hills, to be exact, in the Green Hills Mall).

We went for the first time last weekend.

Here's our review (...and a tip that will get you faster service!).

I love, Love LOVE Royal Thai in Cool Springs!

I know there are several in the Nashville area, but I've only been to the one in Cool Springs.

Here's why we are "regulars" there...

We went to Basil's for the first time last night.

For the record, we kind of consider ourselves "experts" on Americanized Thai cuisine these days. We eat out at a Thai restaurant up to 3 times each week! (No joke.)

I'll post a review of the other Thai restaurants soon, but for now, Basil's is the only Thai food I can think about... it was soooooooo tasty!

If "Live" music in an intimate setting is what you're after, then you've gotta love the Franklin and Nashville Tennessee area!

Looking for somewhere to dine in Franklin, Tennessee?

Following are the best restaurants with the tastiest menus in town -- in our opinion.

(...includes the Cool Springs area.)

Got an e-mail from Andrew D. the other day:

"I was wondering if you all know of a few good places for Easter Sunday Brunch preferably a buffet type brunch with a fixed cost per person anywhere in Middle Tennessee. My parents are coming here from Chicago over Easter weekend and they want to go to brunch on Sunday."

I decided to explore Easter Sunday Brunch locations in and around Franklin, Tennessee.

Here's what I found...

It is widely known that the Loveless Cafe is one of Nashville's hottest attractions. What is NOT so widely known is the fact that the Loveless Cafe is actually in Franklin, Tennessee Bellevue, Tennessee. (...see comments below)

It's located about 15 miles south of Nashville on Highway 100 -- near the Natchez Trace bridge -- in Franklin Bellevue. And I bet the majority of the locals (like us) often forget about this little gem.

World-Famous Biscuits
The Loveless Cafe is best known for their made-from-scratch biscuits and down-home country charm.

They serve:

• hot biscuits
  
• steak biscuits
  
• biscuits 'n gravy
  
• biscuits with preserves
  
• country ham 'n biscuits
  
• sausage biscuits
  

Last weekend, our little Party on the Porch came to an abrupt halt around 9:30 p.m. when we got a late night hankerin' for some hot, tasty pizza... so we took the party inside.

We'd been sipping on cold adult beverages for most of the night, so we wanted more of a thin-crust light & crisp pizza, rather than your typical dinner-sized oh so filling thick-crust pizza.

Mike recalled -- from his days of living in Nashville -- that Sir Pizza might have just what we were craving.

Unfortunately, they didn't deliver.

Listen to Light's Real Men of Genius "Mr. Chinese Food Delivery Guy":

I've never been to a restaurant on its "opening night" before... until now.

One of the exciting new developments here in Franklin, Tennessee is the addition of a huge new shopping/dining area called Parkway Commons -- including a Target (opens in March), a Kroger (opens a few months after Target), and a Chili's (opening night: January 27, 2005).

We decided to take a chance on the crowds and check out the new Chili's off Columbia Avenue in Franklin.

Puckett's Grocery is a little country store that's located in the trendy suburb of Franklin, Tennessee called Leiper's Fork (20 miles southwest of Nashville). They sell a lot more than just groceries... try lobster, deli sandwiches, and music -- lots and lots of live music!

Attention Nashville residents (and especially Mark & Erin -- the only pseudo-professional restaurant reviewers we know), you'll be delighted to learn that our favorite all-u-can-eat Chinese restaurant (yes, the one that serves cockroaches on occasion) has officially closed its doors.

Bummer for us. Good news for you and yours who have steered clear of this "fine dining establishment", choosing foods of the pizza-pie formulation over oriental-seasoned crusty crustations.

Listen to Bud Light's Real American Heroes "Mr. Fortune Cookie Fortune Writer":