Etc Opens in Green Hills

Sorry Sylvan Park, your loss is my gain. Well, really Green Hills’ gain. Not that I want to rub it in, but I’m pretty dang excited about it. Last year, Deb Paquette and partners walked away from their Truss restaurant concept in the Sylvan Park neighborhood after a development dispute. Months later, they announced they would be opening etc. in Green Hills. My neighborhood.

And it’s only a little over a mile from my house. Score!

Even better, etc. is tucked away in the Bedford Commons development back behind Green Hills mall, so I don’t even have to get on the nightmare that is Hillsboro Road- all back roads for me, baby! Oops, I’m sounding a bit selfish aren’t I? Seriously though, my happiness level with my neighborhood has increased tenfold with today’s opening of etc.

scallop crudo with roasted poblano pepper orange oil, black lava salt, orange segments, watermelon radish, red curry mustard seeds, watercress tempura

I’ve been a big fan of Deb Paquette’s for years….long before I even created this blog. But when I did start blogging, she was one of my first topics. I was devastated when she closed her restaurant Zola, and then ecstatic when she decided not to move away from Nashville and opened Etch. There’s just no one in town that creates dishes like she does. No one. Her style is fun and flavorful…and completely unique.

panko crusted fried duck gizzards with sambal peach jam, lavender beet smear, sesame onions, berries

I was super fortunate to be invited in to etc. over the weekend for an advance taste, and was happy to find that Deb is being as creative and quirky as ever with this menu. Gizzards and grasshoppers? Yes, please.

I’ve had a thing for gizzards since I was a young girl and ate them almost every Sunday afternoon at my grandmother’s house. Those were Southern fried chicken gizzards, but etc.‘s are confit and fried duck gizzards served with a peach jam and pickled onions. Different, but just as delicious as those I loved as a child.

Etc’s fowl trio: cinnamon sesame duck breast, ancho cherry jam, confit chicken, chili aderezo, date foie gras brûlée, grasshopper crumble, pumpkin seed masa grits

My favorite part of our meal was my entree though – the ‘fowl trio’. I ate every single bite, and it was a lot of food: Cinnamon sesame duck breast on pumpkin seed masa grits, confit chicken with pepitas, and a foie gras brulee topped with grasshopper pecan crumble. I will admit that much of the reason I settled on this particular dish was because of the grasshoppers. How could I not try it? I mean, I’ve eaten chocolate covered bugs (including grasshoppers) before, so I wasn’t scared, just intrigued.

My husband swears they tasted like grasshoppers to him (what does that even mean??) but I tasted the pecans more than anything. The grasshoppers just gave the topping a nice crunch.

Etc’s grilled tuna with raisin pasilla sweet potato, peanut pepper butter, pork black bean sauce, Caribbean spiced greens, poblano verde, okra

While we dined at dinner time, etc. will also offer lunch Monday – Friday and plan to add Sunday brunch in the future. You can peruse the lunch and dinner menus on their website.

As for drinks, there are lots of great wines and beers to choose from, including some high gravity. Named simply for the spirit they contain, we had the Vodka, Rum and Aged Gin cocktails from their short list of signature drinks, and enjoyed all of them.

Of course, no dinner is complete (at least in my book) without a little bite (or five in this case) of something sweet. Pastry Chef extraordinaire Megan Williams will be splitting her time now between Etch and etc., and believe me, that is a very good thing.

Chocolate Panna Cotta at Etc

etc. restaurant

3790 Bedford Avenue
Nashville, TN 37215