For less than a ten spot, you can enjoy what is commonly considered to be the city's best meat-and-three. For those not familiar with the Southern concept, this is a choose-your-own-adventure style of eating in which you select one meat (such as barbecue pork or roast beef) and three veggies (from collard greens to mac and cheese). Located in a less-than-picturesque part of downtown in a red-and-yellow cinderblock building, Jack Arnold's restaurant welcomes a crowd that includes average working Joes, hipster kids, bums, and a bipartisan mix of local politicians (the mayor's a fan). Service is truly democratic: Everyone lines up together and files through, cafeteria-style. Jack is usually on hand, working alongside his wife and sons, carving up perfectly cooked roast beef or dishing out scoops of corn pudding or collard greens.

Open Mondays through Fridays 6 am to 2:30 pm.

Lime is more than just a pan-Latino bistro (a rare food hybrid in this city). Owned by the same people as sushi hot spot Virago, this midtown newcomer is the closest that Nashville gets to South Beach. Wooden slats curve up to the ceiling and glass-tiled walls glow blue in the multilevel restaurant. In warm weather, windows open garage door–style, connecting the outdoor deck to the bar area, where mix-masters whip up wild versions of classic drinks (jalapeño caipirinhas, anyone?). The food is meant for sharing: salsa samplers and dishes like the adobo tuna with large squares of sashimi-grade fish atop a bed of posole, cactus, peppers, and squash. Who's here? Vandy undergrads getting loopy on mojitos, the tragically hip music execs that hit on them, and the late-night party crowd clamoring for a table on the side patio.

Open Mondays through Fridays 4 pm to 1 am, Saturdays 5:30 pm to 3 am.

There's nowhere cooler to have a late lunch or working breakfast than this East Nashville joint. Housed in an old car showroom, Marche serves a simple, seasonal menu, with vegetarian-friendly options. It's a step down in price and formality from its big sister, Margot, just a block away, but no less tasty: The kitchens both rely on fresh local ingredients for their daily specials. Recent favorites include a butternut squash bread pudding with roasted fennel, and a BLT made on thick toasted Tuscan hearth bread and served with a salad of warm cabbage, farro, and raisins. The line for a table can be intimidating on Saturday and Sunday mornings after 9 am; the best times to come are early afternoon for a late lunch or at dinnertime, when the din (the floor is concrete and the ceiling metal) is diminished.

Open Tuesdays through Fridays 8 am to 9 pm, Saturdays 8 am to 4 pm, and Sundays 9 am to 4 pm.

With two bistro-style restaurants to her name, chef Margot McCormack is the Wolfgang Puck of East Nashville. She opened her namesake 80-seat eatery in East Nashville's Five Points shopping area in 2001, when few other chefs were willing to brave the rough-around-the-edges artist community. Now, Margot's rustic French- and Italian-inspired fare (braised spareribs with mashed potatoes at dinner, savory crêpes and frittatas at Sunday brunch) has an established foodie fan base. The atmosphere is warm and romantic with burnished rust-colored walls and simple wooden tables set with mismatched vintage china. It's perfect for a celebratory dinner (it's not necessarily cheap, with entrees hovering around $20). The seasonal menus are tweaked daily, incorporating the fresh produce McCormack sources locally. Her popular Slow Food dinners, which promote the use of regional foods and methods, sell out as soon as they're announced. Indeed, the restaurant fills up quickly at all meals: Make weekend reservations at least three days in advance.

Nashville restaurateur Randy Rayburn has rowdier restaurants than Midtown Café, but this is where the big kids in town get their kicks. City powerbrokers including politicians, athletic stars, and, of course, country-music types, reserve noontime tables in this close-quartered eatery (Midtown was featured in The Wall Street Journal's "Power Tables" column last year). The bi-level dining room allows big shots to literally sit a few feet higher than those in the front. At night, the 70-seat dining room, with its flattering low lights and unobtrusive service, becomes more romantic. Old favorites on the menu include lemon-artichoke soup and crab cakes with cayenne hollandaise sauce. Though Midtown offers free valet parking, visitors to the city should save the gas in their rental car and request the complimentary shuttle that offers round-trip transportation to Midtown from area hotels. Reservations are recommended; a two-day advance is a safe bet for lunch parties over four.

Open Mondays through Fridays 11 am to 2:30 pm and 5 to 10 pm, Saturdays 5:30 to 10 pm, and Sundays 5 to 10 pm.

Dinner at Monell's is like dropping in on a Tennessee family reunion. Everything is shared and served on long, well-worn tables amid cozy fireplaces and paintings of Southern panoramas. Guests are seated at a table with their party as well as those of two or three other groups (they don't take reservations, so you never know with whom you'll break bread). The menu is the same for everyone, so you'll be passing around Tupperware bowls filled with Southern staples like pinto beans, corn pudding, pulled pork, and skillet-fried chicken. There are two to three entrée choices daily, as well as four or five selections each of hot veggies and salads; dessert and sweet tea (a Southern tradition) are included, too. Weekend breakfasts are particularly satisfying, with a seemingly endless supply of sausage gravy, scrambled eggs, biscuits, and grits. There's one flat price per person at every meal, ensuring all the food they can eat.

Open Mondays 10:30 am to 2 pm, Tuesdays through Fridays 10:30 am to 2 pm and 5 to 8:30 pm, Saturdays 8:30 am to 1 pm and 5 to 8:30 pm, and Sundays 11 am to 4 pm.

Tucked into what was once a private home, this local favorite in Sylvan Park feels intimate and warm. This may have something to do with the arrangement of tables, which flow through the house, taking advantage of various nooks and crannies. (Try to ignore the garish paintings and concentrate on how lovely your date looks in the soft lighting.) The bistro fare references Italian, Southern, and Asian flavors: pork chops with sesame sweet potato hash and a hoisin barbecue sauce, grilled shrimp with saffron risotto. Don't get too distracted by the food or you'll miss the country stars that often populate the dining room (Dolly Parton drops in regularly for the green chile mac and cheese). Young music-business professionals fill the front bar during happy hour.

This Gulch restaurant succeeds in pulling off minimalist chic in a town where the style is more down-home than Met Home. The oval-shaped steel bar and white-washed dining room compete with the great views of the developing Gulch area outside the restaurant's huge picture windows. The design may come by way of L.A., but the menu, like so many in town, is full of new takes on Southern staples like grits (these are studded with black truffles) and Low-Country shrimp boil. Though the bar does plenty of business with the after-work crowd, the pretty people descend at lunchtime. Execs from nearby Music Row stop by for fish tacos or a pizza from the brick oven at the "chef's bar," a seated area where diners can watch food being prepared.

Open Mondays through Thursdays 11 am to 2 pm and 5 to 10 pm, Fridays 11 am to 2 pm and 5 to 11 pm, Saturdays 5 to 11 pm.

This tiny eight-table restaurant is a favorite among in-the-know locals for owner Yun Choo's imaginative rolls. One of the most popular is his namesake Choo Choo Roll: eel, crab, salmon, and avocado topped with sliced strawberries. It's across the street from the legendary rock club Exit/In, making it a favorite pre-concert nosh for the cool kids. Other regulars include the occasional celebrity looking to get their nigiri fix (Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman are fans). For years, the restaurant operated with a six-seat sushi bar and half a dozen tables. In mid-2007, it expanded into an adjacent (though relatively nondescript) space.

Open Mondays through Fridays 11:30 am to 2 pm and 5 to 10 pm, Saturdays 5 to 10 pm.

The first thing you see when you enter this downtown Gulch-area restaurant is the vast wine cellar, which holds more than 300 selections and doubles as a private dining room. Upstairs, the bar area and main dining room establish the style: modern, with clean lines, metal accents, and lots of glass. But the best seats in the house at Watermark are on the balcony, which overlooks the Nashville skyline. Serious diners don't let the view distract them from the menu, heavy on haute versions of Southern classics. Grits appear in a soufflé with local goat cheese, and corn bread gets smeared with foie gras and apple butter. The kitchen makes good use of its wood grill in dishes like lamb loin with red currant relish and sorghum glaze, and New York strip with "fried chicken" mushrooms and béarnaise sauce. Menus change according to what's fresh locally and many dishes incorporate snippings from the herb garden on the roof.