If we learned anything about next year’s Gay Faves, it’s that we need to widen the Dining category. But will more categories under the dining umbrella, widen the pool of Gay Faves nominees? From day one of nominations, we knew Margot McCormack and Arnold Myint would go head-to-head to see who would win Gay Faves Chef. And not only can you catch this year’s winner below but also on Out & About Today this month. Get your Gay Faves dining below.
It was a close category but in the finals days a push for Chef Margot McCormack, who covered our April 2013 issue with her wife and child, was all it took. And is it any wonder readers voted Margot McCormack 2013 Gay Faves Chef? They also voted Margot’s Gay Faves Fine Dining. But that’s not McCormack’s only restaurant: Marché, known for its breakfast/lunch/brunch menus, recently began to serve dinner as well.
Want to get inside some of Chef McCormack’s secrets in the kitchen? Tune into Out & About Today this month when she drops by the studios to whip up some of her holiday favorites.
Local celebrity chef Arnold Myint’s Suzy Wong’s is not just a house of yum for the O&AN readers who voted it Best Overall Restaurant, we’re thinking it’s also a house of YUM since readers also voted it Gay Faves First Date Restaurant. Not only is the food great, but if you didn’t know it’s named after Myint’s drag alter ego, Suzy Wong.
Whether in drag or out of drag, Myint continues to build his success. Wong placed in the Top 10 of Miss Gay America in October and Myint’s restaurants combined donated more than $16,000 to Nashville CARES for the 2013 Dining Out for Life.
O&AN readers are fiercely loyal to their coffee spots so it wasn’t clear at all who was going to win this category. With 3 locations (Belmont, Omni and East Nashville) Bongo Java surged ahead faster than a triple shot gets working to snap you out of a case of the Mondays. Maybe it’s their Milky Way that keeps people dropping by for a caffeine fix/sugar rush or their quick, sensible and delicious menu but if you haven’t checked out Bongo Java, stop in for some new creations as they announced the winners of their Winter Drink Competition in the middle of November.
Nom. Nom. Nom. Pizza is probably our favorite food and while Jon Stewart hilariously debated Chicago-style pizza versus NY Style on a recent episode, 5 Points Pizza was the clear winner for the 2013 Gay Faves Pizza category.
We’re not sure whether it's their East Nash ‘Beignets,’ their Crab Cake Benny or their Bloody Mary Bar we keep coming back for but on Saturdays and Sundays, Mad Donna’s is apparently the O&AN readers brunch hotspot. And we’re not surprised. Nashville Untucked columnist Paige Turner is one of the hosts of Drag Bingo held every Tuesday night.
Is it Sunday Funday or Showtunes Sunday without a stop at 3 Crow? We’ve never met a Nashville Grizzlies’ rugby player who thought so. It might be their token happy hour or just its damn, laid-back vibe but when the weather is right, 3 Crow is packed inside and out making its expansive patio the perfect place to pound a pint.