Fancypants - Review - East Nashville - Nashville - The Infatuation

"Fancypants, a vegetarian-forward restaurant from the chef behind Butcher & Bee and Redheaded Stranger, sure has a sense of humor. One that serves hors d'oeuvres cones of parsnip foam in tiny plastic toy ice cream trucks and has pepper grinders the size of Morgan Wallen’s ego. The whimsy is just a prequel to the food that’s seriously good and can stand on its own, though. Ingredients are often reimagined—turnips turned into lasagna noodles, for example—and the results are almost always revelatory. And sometimes polarizing. This isn’t the place to take somebody who wants to stay in their comfort zone. They serve a couple of different menus: a $75 three-course, vegetarian tasting, a $125 prix fixe that includes steak, and an all a la carte option on Sundays. You also always have the option to add on that 32-ounce porterhouse, you know, on the side. photo credit: Andrew Cebulka photo credit: Emily Dorio photo credit: Emily Dorio photo credit: Emily Dorio Pause Unmute We have tried out nearly every menu option, but our favorite is to go all out with one other person, each getting the three-course option, and sharing everything. You can basically try the whole menu that way. And whatever you do, add at least one bonus item like the tartare sunchoke mayo and bone marrow shortbread. Polarizing tea leaf caesars and smoked beet au poivres aside, every time we’ve left Fancypants, it’s a meal we’ve thought about for weeks. We’ve even called people we haven’t talked to in years, just to tell them about the onion noodle cacio e pepe. Food Rundown Steak Tartare Tartare doesn’t get more delicious than this. It's wrapped in a rich, umami driven sauce and topped with crispy flakes of feuilletine-like shortbread and fried sunchoke leaves. This one's an instant classic. Hamachi Crudo Soft curls of hamachi are swimming (literally) in a little pool of coconut water. It’s a welcome, clean and refreshing lift to a meal here. Just don’t underestimate the clear liquid in the dish. There’s layers of acidity, spice, and fruitiness ready to pounce. Miso Butter Malfadine Unlike the cacio e pepe, this is actual pasta. If you ask your server for some recommendations when this is on the menu, this will likely be one of them, the miso sauce and pops of vinegar making it easy to love and hard to forget. photo credit: Andrew Cebulka Chewy Rice Noodles Little chewy pillows bounce delightfully in your mouth. The sauce is velvety and complex with the perfect amount of spice. Herbs and crispy bits on top balance everything out. 32-Ounce Porterhouse Offered as a bonus item for $165 or as a final bow during the Chef’s Steak Dinner for $125, this steak arrives cooked to a perfect temperature, sliced for convenient sharing, and alongside grilled onions, smashed potatoes, and a too-lemony bernaise sauce. It’s a very good steak, but especially after multiple courses of exciting and creative things, it might earn a collective shrug. There are plenty of places for a great steak in the city, so this isn’t the reason we'll be coming back to Fancypants. Dessert It's all about the slab of festive cheesecake that's nearly drowning in sprinkles and topped with fun little dollops of torched meringue. The sour-style batter holds up to the sugar-coma inducing garnishes nicely. Cocktails The seasonal drinks here are good, but there’s something special about the classics at Fancypants. The Overalls, for example, brings beetroot and toasted pecan to an old fashioned in a way that actually adds something to the party, rather than dressing up just to look pretty. And their dirty martini called Tuxedo Pants accessorizes itself with a cocktail onion and a whipped feta stuffed olive that’ll have you ordering more than one." - Ann Walczak