Nashville for Free

Is there anything more glorious than waking up to a stack of fresh, warm pancakes? As it turns out, there is. Free pancakes from IHOP, and tomorrow is the day that warm, fluffy, sugary dream comes true.

Tomorrow, Feb. 28th, IHOP is celebrating National Pancake Day, a holiday that I’m pretty positive they made up for marketing purposes, but I don’t care. On that day only IHOP will give you a free short stack of pancakes when you ask for them. Absolutely free. All they ask is that you consider leaving a little donation for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and other designated local charities. Since 2006 IHOP has raised over $8 million on National Pancake Day and today they’re hoping to raise $2.7 million. They’ll be serving up the pancakes for free until 10pm, sorry night owls and college students pulling all-nighters.

So go forth, my friends, and feast on free pancakes! Perhaps donate a little bit of money to charity, and be mindful of the serving staff, for they may deserve a tip.

-Emily

They’ve given us free hot dogs, free pizza, and free baked good from some of the best, coolest restaurants in town, but now Scoutmob, you’ve really outdone yourself on this one. A free taco Mas Tacos from their brick and mortar storefront in East Nashville? As if my week couldn’t get any better!

All you have to do to get the free taco from Mas Tacos is go to the free Scoutmob app on your smart phone or visit their website, show the fine folks at Mas Tacos, and get your free grub. I’ve never had a Mas Taco item that I really haven’t liked, but I recommend the fish. Highly. And grab yourself some elote if they have it. The deal is only good until December 11th, so make sure you get on that!

Here’s a note on Scoutmob while I’m at it. It’s one of those daily deal sites, but it’s the only one that doesn’t take your money. You get a 50-100% coupon for a cool place, but you don’t buy it in advance. You just claim it on your smart phone, have Scoutmob send you a text or email with a special code, and give that to the vendor. Pretty snazzy. But if you’re wondering how it works, the vendor usually pays money for every deal claimed and every deal use, so please don’t claim the deal unless you really plan on using it so the business doesn’t get slammed.

Thanks again Scoutmob! I hope you continue to bring awesomness to Nashville.

-Emily

By now you’re probably aware that whenever Sweet Cece’s opens up a new location they give away free frozen yogurt, right? And let me tell you, people will drive weird distances to get some free froyo. But it kind of seems like it’s been awhile since Sweet Cece’s actually opened a new Nashville location. Are there really no more neighborhoods that deserve froyo nearby?

My friends, the wait is over. Sweet Cece’s is opening their Nipper’s Corner location TODAY!

Free frozen yogurt + this heat = music to my ears. Sweet Cece’s will be dishing out their famous soft-serve froyo tonight from 6-8pm at 5545 Edmondson Pike, and I recommend getting there early. Oh, and bring a book or something – the wait will surely be pretty long (but totally worth it)

P. F. Chang’s is one of those really popular chain restaurants that is ever-so-slightly out of my budget. In fact, I’ve never been, in part due to the price. Also, I don’t love Chinese food, but from what I understand I’m in the minority on that one.

It might, then, make many of you excited to learn that P. F. Chang’s is giving away free lettuce wraps through the end of July on their official Facebook page. if you’ve been looking for a reason to check out P. F. Chang’s then this might be it.

They’re giving away the popular dish to celebrate their 18th birthday. All you have to do is go to their Facebook page and click on their official app to get your coupon. Then, of course, enjoy your lettuce wraps!

-Emily

Food: Nashville has a lot of it. From meat & threes to hot chicken to fantastic burgers and beyond, Nashville has some good food going on. But sometimes that good food isn’t easy to find. My first year in Nashville I always complained because there wasn’t any awesome food in Nashville. Wah wah wah. I was so used to my Cincinnati delights (Skyline, Graeters, LaRosas) that I couldn’t see what was right in front of me! Of course, it didn’t help that I didn’t have a car that year, but I digress.

One of my favorite festivals back home is the Taste of Cincinnati. There were tons of booths of Cincinnati-centric food, there was music, and it was located right downtown. I could eat Izzy’s until I exploded if I wanted to, and for an affordable price.

Taste of Music City, I am happy to report, promises the same kind of experience I’ve joyfully had my entire life, only instead of my once and former home it features my current and future home. There will be approximately 50 food vendors, which is far too much to eat in one sitting, so don’t even think about it! You’ll be buying the food with tickets that you have to buy first — either now or at the festival — and I think I read somewhere that none of the entrees will cost more than eight tickets.

In addition to the food stuffs there will be plenty of entertainment. Street performers, beer garden, kid zone, eating contests and live music. Performers will include Girl Talk (not that Girl Talk), Jason O’Toole, Ashlee Hewitt, Sarah Darling, Jeff Bates, San Rafael Band, and Mike Bauer.

Taste of Music City will take place this Saturday, June 4th from 11am-10pm in Public Square Park. Parking underneath the square is only $3, but will probably fill up, so get there early, eat much food, and be happy.

-Emily

This past Saturday brought the first fEASTival Nashville. As you may have guessed by the name, the festival was held in East Nash and promised all the best the neighborhood had to offer

There were food trucks galore and plenty of great music, that’s for sure. I mean, there was basically a food court and there were three different stages for music. For a festival in its first year fEASTival did a commendable job.

However, there were a few things that could be improved upon. Firstly, you have to purchase food tickets to get food from the vendors, and there was no standard entree price nor a menu up at the ticket counter that listed the vendors and their food prices. This typically meant that you’d either buy too many tickets and might waste money or you’d have to sheepishly return to the ticket counter to buy more. I understand that tickets serve their purpose for festivals, but I don’t like having to buy them blindly like that.

The biggest disappointment at fEASTival was the lack of artists. I was expecting more pretty and interesting works by local artisans to peruse while eating my Banging Taco. Maybe the threat of rain kept some people away, but next year I just hope that they get more booths of stuff to buy.

So basically there were two things I really hope fEASTival imrpoves upon next year. It’s obvious that a lot of work and went into it, and for a first year street fair it was pretty well-stocked with food and tunes. I take that back, the food and tunes rivaled any other fest in Nashville. Hope to see it come back and be even more rocking next year!

-Emily

If you can only say one thing about East Nashville then let it be this: that neighborhood loves festivals. Tomato Art, Hot Chicken, pub crawls, you can always count on East Nashville to be planning some big, good ol’ time for all. And wouldn’t you know it, another festival is about to hit the streets.

fEASTival Nashville is about to enter its very first year as a festival. Despite how you might pronounce its name it’s not just about feasting (though food is thankfully a part of it), instead it’s a celebration of everything East Nashville, music, art, food, and community. The different types of vendors are broken into different “villages.” There will be local foodsmiths selling food at a discounted price at the Food Village, the Art Village will be showcasing local artists and craftsman, and there will be a Kidzone for the young’ns.

But this is Nashville, so I assume what you’re really interested in is the music. There will be three stages: The Lightning 100 Main Stage, the 5 Spot Stage, and Bongo Java’s Kidzone Outdoor Stage. Bands performing include Cheer Up Charlie Daniels, Majestico, Knapsackheros, Tiffany, The Grayces, and more. For the full music lineup and schedule, check their website.

The festival (or should I say, fEASTival) will take place this Saturday, May 21st at Five Points from noon to 11pm. As you might have managed to guess, this event is free and open to the public, and the weather on Saturday should be nice nice nice. If you were looking for a great, cheap, fun way to spend your Saturday then this sounds like a pretty solid prospect.

You know what I’ve always hated? Traditional ketchup packets, the kind where  you have to tear the corner open and the ketchup splashes on your shirt, or you have to use your teeth or whatever sharp objects you have laying around to open the damn thing. A lot of people make fun of those commercials that have the woman fumbling around doing something that isn’t hard like chopping carrots, but when I have to deal with those stupid ketchup packets I look a lot like that lady. It’s always been a major source of shame for me.

When Heinz announced a new ketchup packet that looks more like a dipping sauce packed I rejoiced. Finally, someone who understands my pain has done something about it! But alas, they’ve been next to impossible to find. Fortunately, Chick-fil-a has recently become the first restaurant to start using the new packets nation-wide, and to celebrate they’re giving away their beloved waffle-fries.

That’s right, this Friday from 2-4 (really Chick-fil-a?) ask for the new Heinz Dip & Squeeze ketchup packets and you’ll get a free medium order of Chick-fil-a’s waffle fries. Yeah, all you have to do is ask for them. Sorry, people with jobs, I guess Chick-fil-a doesn’t really consider you to be a key demographic for their waffle fries.

-Emily

There are a lot of things I’d do for a free burrito. I’d wait in line for an extended period of time, I’d scrounge for coupons, I’d flirt with the guy in line in front of me, the list is basically endless. You’ll then understand why I’m so excited that NBC is giving the world a buy-one-get-one-free coupon for a Chipotle burrito, bowl, salad, or order of tacos.

And all you have to do is go to their Facebook page and watch a 90 second promo for their new TV show, America’s Next Great Restaurant. That’s it. You “like” their page, watch the video, and they give you a coupon for buy-one-get-one. The only catch is you have to use it within 7 days of getting the coupon, but I’m pretty sure you can find time out of your busy schedule to make it to Chipotle. A difficult task, I’m sure, but quite possible. Oh, and make sure you watch the video before March 6th, because that’s when this whole deal ends.

May you eat heartily, my friends.

-Emily

PS.

According to Mashable, anyone to texts ANGR at any Chipotle restaurant (I imagine that means texting to the store’s phone number unless technology has gotten amazing) you’ll be entered to win a catered burrito party, which I would obviously use on you, my amazing followers. Maybe. If my roommates let me. Yes.

My mother might not be pleased to hear that I, along with three friends, ventured out into the winter weather last night. But Burger Uptweeted last night that they had an event cancel on them, so they had 200 sliders that needed to be eaten that they would like to bestow upon the fine folks in the 12 South area. For free. Yes, a mere few blocks from my house there was free food from Burger Up to be had.

How could I resist?

Now, the roads were not great, this is a fact, but by the time 6 o’clock rolled around there was virtually no traffic, and this yankee basically learned how to drive in the snow. So I shifted into low gear and at 10 miles per hour we made the surprisingly un-treacherous drive to Burger Up.

We must have been some of the first few people who happened upon the free burgers, because the restaurant was still looking a little bare but the sliders were looking plentiful. We grabbed a table, ordered some drinks, and feasted (not in a greedy gimmie gimmie all that way) upon mini Woodstock and Quinoa burgers.

The place pretty quickly filled up, and the mood was great. Hell, what was there to be upset about? Everyone was getting free food from a mighty fine establishment! The burgers only lasted 33 minutes. That’s 200 burgers in 33 minutes. Gone. That’s 6 burgers eaten a minute.

I just want to give a big thanks to Burger Up. They didn’t have to give anyone that free food, and most restaurants probably would’ve trashed it to be honest. But Burger Up decided to give back to the community that fell in love with their amazing grass-fed beef burgers. Burger Up, I hereby grant you the N4F seal of approval, which doesn’t come with anything fancy, it’s just a written notice of the love the N4F feels for you.

Thanks Burger Up! We’ll see you again soon, without a doubt.

-Emily