June 14, 2024
Food & Drink, Guides,
Lucky for those who crave crab, lobster, oysters and shrimp in landlocked Nashville, Music City’s seafood scene has seriously leveled up over the last few years. When you like celebrating shellfish-style, here are five great local options to feast on the ocean’s bounty with stacked-high seafood towers.
Mimo
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100 Demonbreun St. / Website
The Four Seasons Nashville’s ground-level restaurant, Mimo, leans Southern Italian and offers a seafood tower fit for a king. Here, it comes with a poached lobster tail, crab leg, a dozen oysters and six poached prawns--plus a whole lot of pomp and circumstance.
Bourbon Steak
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201 8th Ave. S., 34th Floor / Website
The JW Marriott Nashville’s rooftop restaurant, Bourbon Steak, offers a less tower, more platter-style display of succulent shellfish. It’s a choose-your-own-adventure experience here: Select from broiled platters of oysters, shrimp, lobster and King crab doused with red miso butter, charred lemon or espelette pepper, then sample sauces like gin-spiked cocktail sauce, green goddess dressing and Champagne mignonette.
Eddie V’s
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590 Broadway / Website
A beacon of seafood and sophistication on the honky-tonk highway, Eddie V’s opulent shellfish tower is a stunning icy display of wild Gulf shrimp, Blue Point oysters, jumbo lump crab and Maine lobster. It’s accompanied by Champagne mignonette, atomic horseradish and stone mustard sauce for dipping.
Carne Mare
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300 12th Ave. S. / Website
You might not see a seafood tower listed on the menu at this Italian Chophouse in the Gulch, but Carne Mare diners in the know can customize their own towers, brimming with their favorite seafood options. Choose from East and West Coast oysters, King crab legs, chilled lobster tails and spicy crab cubs. Then take your seafood experience to the next level with octopus carpaccio and tuna tartare.
The Optimist
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1400 Adams St. / Website
At The Optimist in Germantown, there are three different seafood display options, depending on the size of your party (or how hungry you are). The smallest option is The Opportunist with half a dozen oysters, shrimp, ceviche, tuna poke and smoked fish dip; The Refuge serves up 12 oysters, 12 shrimp, half lobster, ceviche, tuna poke and smoked fish dip; while the Starving Man rolls out the red carpet with 18 oysters, 18 shrimp, ceviche, tuna poke, a whole lobster and smoked fish dip.
See also: The 10 Best Nashville Chefs To Follow
Photography by: Kirsten Holliday Photography