Bella Nashville

Bella Nashville

Nashville Farmers Market

900 Rosa Parks Blvd

Nashville TN

615-457-3863

open for lunch 'til 3 pm every day of the week

Pizza with Benton's ham

 One thing that I have learned about trying new restaurants is to wait until the hub-bub settles, wait until the customer service hits their stride, and wait for all the kinks to be worked out.  All the snags that happen in the 1st few weeks of a new business is not really a reflection on the real business, so it is nice for me to wait for a restaurant to work things out and be at their best.  It did not take long for Bella Nashville to hit their stride and be at their best.

Pizza oven on the make

Back in March, of this year, I watched Bella Nashville's wood burning brick oven be created.  The builders built the oven over many nights.  I was hopeful for wood fired pizza, and I gotta say that this is the best wood fired pizza I have ever had.

Wood burning pizza oven up and running

First off,  a pizza is only as good as its oven, flour, and toppings.  This is a good wood burning pizza oven.  The flour is a really good 00 milled flour which is a very fine mill that is perfect for flatbread and pizza.  The toppings Bella Nashville uses are best local suppliers can provide  The bacon and ham are from Benton's, the beets and beet greens are from the Barefoot Farmer, some other ingredients are sourced by the owners visiting the farmers market and buying direct from the farmers.  There is no corn syrup, or fake food distributor ingredients here, only real foods, real ingredients.

Pizza dough getting ready for topping and cooking

We waited for the dust to settle (or should I say flour to settle) before trying Bella Nashville.  What a treat it was for me to finally get over to the Nashville Farmer's Market and try this wood oven pizza everyone has been raving about.  We went on the 1st Night Market of 2012.  I told "the Man" to get home early enough so we could get to the Nashville Farmer's Market right when the Night Market opens at 6:30, so we can park, and get in. Well, "the Man" did not listen and we got there a little after 7 pm and there was no parking, it was pouring rain, so we parked in the overflow parking lot and walked in the pouring rain just for this pizza.  We get in line for pizza, and the person in front of us was told they were getting the last pizza for the night.  I was so upset, no parking, pouring rain, and then being shut down as the next person in line.  As I was pouting, Emma, David and other staff has a little conference, and said that they had 2 extra pizza doughs for me and "the Man", and we are the absolute last customers.    It turns out, the extra dough was supposed to be dinner pizzas for the owners and staff after Night Market closed, but instead of feeding themselves dinner after closing, they fed us!  THANK YOU Bella Nashville!  You have a fan for life.

My pizza made my way (Instagram)

We have been back multiple times to Bella Nashville.  We've tried the margherita, the meat lovers, the Benton's bacon and beet special, and a custom pizza. The dough is nice and thin, with a puffier edge crust to hold onto the pizza.  The edges get a little charred from the wood burning in the oven.  The mozzarella is hand stretched at Bella Nashville and is always made fresh. The herbs are locally grown and fresh.   When I was there, they said they would make any pizza I wanted as long as they had the ingredients on hand.  I wanted to try a Benton's ham and Benton's bacon pizza with extra burned and charred pizza bread.  If I had my way, the outside edge would be completely blackened, with all the dough bubbles black charred, and the bottom be burnt as well.  I don't know why I like pizza burnt that way, but I do, and it was impossible to get pizza that way in Nashville until now.  Bella Nashville doesn't normally burn pizzas, but they will specially burn my pizza for me.  Yes, you can have your pizza your way, just let them know.  But, if you just ask them for a normal pizza, they will give you a very nice pizza like normal people like, unburnt.  I am just a little strange about burnt bread.   THANK YOU AGAIN Bella Nashville for making the pizza I have always wanted!