Turnip Truck Urban Fare

The Turnip Truck
311 12th Ave South
The Gulch
Nashville, TN
up the street from Ru Sans and Urban Outfitter

Never thought it would happen in Nashville. It is a dream come true! There is a decent grocery store exactly on my way to and from work where I can either buy ingredients for dinner, or buy some prepared foods if I am lazy. Not only that, the ingredients and some of the prepared foods are made with local and local organic ingredients, which fits into my chosen lifestyle of eating something local or local organic everyday. The Turnip Truck downtown is my favorite store now!

I have been everyday since I have gotten back from my biz trip. I was not in town for the grand opening, and I am sorry I missed the great event. I like the small but efficient meat counter, and the meat we have gotten has been good. I like the hot bar, the salad bar, the prepared foods, and the juice bar for goods that I can grab and go for breakfast, lunch or dinner. As I was taste testing some Hawaiian inspired octopus salad, I was thinking to myself, oh this reminds me of Poke on Maui, and it is some of the best octopus salad I have ever eaten from a grocery store prepared food counter in Nashville. This octopus salad ranks up there with the best octopus I have eaten. I ask who made it, and the counter guy said, our executive chef Laura Wilson. I was so excited because she is one of my favorite chefs in town, and my other favorites are Tyler Brown and Tandy Wilson. A little FYI, my favorite home chef in Pittsburgh also shares the last name Wilson. Perhaps I need to seek out locally owned Chef Wilson restaurants where ever I go. Anyway, Laura Wilson, chef and co-owner of Ombi, one of the best yet under appreciated restaurants in Nashville, is now creating really awesome chow for the Turnip Truck downtown. Yay for me, as I plan on buying fresh nearly daily from the Turnip Truck downtown. Yay for me that I get to eat food cooked by Laura!

Here are more thoughts on this store, and how it has changed my life as I know it in Nashville. It has been a challenge in the mornings, as I drive to work, I drive through a very densely populated area, yet it is an urban food desert. For 8 years, along this stretch of densely populated road, there was not one place along the way that I could pick up a banana, milk and maybe some yogurt for breakfast to eat at my desk. When I leave the house, I wanted to just quickly grab something at "the store" on the way into work, there wasn't anything, and I would get to work and end up eating junk from the vending machine. Now, there is easy in and easy out Turnip Truck with not only bananas, milk and yogurt, there are organic bananas, local organic milk and Greek yogurt with live active cultures. It is all the stuff I want to start my day.

When I lived in Phila, all the goods were just out my door on the way to work. I would stop into the bagel joint for a bagel, the news kiosk for the paper, and the local grocery store for a pint of milk. It was just part of morning routine, and all of it was just out my door and on the road to work. It was so convenient, and did not add to my morning commute. Many people walking to work in Phila pass by enough shops, dry cleaners, bagels, groceries, etc that they all just hop into the store and get what they need and hop and never lose a stride. When I moved to Nashville, it was a rude awakening because there are no shops along the way. It is an inconveniently set up city where there are bedroom communities, and then a traffic ridden inconvenient shopping area.

Anyway, The Turnip Truck Downtown is exactly what I wanted, I feel I needed, and will most likely frequent everyday. It will feed my need to buy and cook what I need, and not have to stock up in the pantry or freezer. It will feed my need for wholesome convenience when I don't have time to cook, and I can get some delicious Laura Wilson takeout. Rock on Turnip Truck!