I told my friend Tracey of TheBusyHedonist.com that she can challenge me to eat at whatever restaurant she picks for me along the way. If it were me, I would send her to a place that serves boiled snake with swamp rat gravy. Unlike me, Tracey is nice so she sent me to Pharmacy Burger and Beer Garden in East Nashville.
At first I thought my GPS was playing with me again because I was in a residential neighborhood. Then out of nowhere pops up a beautiful restaurant and beer garden. You walk inside and are transported immediately to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Young cute hipsters with twirly little mustaches and skinny jeans serving up bespoke burgers on bespoke buns. To bypass the huge wait I took a stool at the bar and ordered the classic pharmacy burger. It comes with yellow cheddar, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes and a secret sauce – I’m pretty sure that mayo is in on the secret. I asked for it medium rare and they cooked it perfectly. It’s a loosely packed burger with a very irregular shape and the meat just falls apart. The bun is more like chibata bread but they call it a Provence bun. It was absolutely delicious. The soft burger really does need that harder bun. I’m not a dainty eater but this burger was huge. And for $7.50 it comes with one side. I chose the sweet potato fries, which were actually crunchy. This was all washed down with a simple and light Moerlein Helles Lager from Cincinnati.
My big mistake was driving there. I should’ve taken the hotel’s shuttle or a taxi. The place was really hopping with hotties and there were so many beers to try. But I cannot be arrested this early in my road trip.