The Loveless Café has earned its famous reputation as home of Nashville’s best biscuits over the past 60 plus years since Lon and Annie Loveless first purchased the property in the 1950’s and Annie started making and selling her special biscuit recipe (which was thankfully passed on when they eventually sold the business). Although best known for their biscuits and country ham, the café’s extensive menu gives out-of-town and local guests a variety of options to enjoy the full flare of Southern cuisine while satisfying the heartiest of appetites, including sausage and gravy, grits and omelets, fried chicken or catfish, and their popular barbecue smoked on-site over Tennessee hickory wood.
Although the Loveless motel was closed down in 1985, the original, neon-lit sign advertising both the café and motel still stands out front and has become the trademark for this legendary diner. But the old white buildings once used for room and board for tired travelers on the Natchez Trace have now been converted into different shops to be explored either while waiting on your table, or afterwards while walking off a full stomach! Lil’ Biscuits Gift Store and Hams & Jams Country Market round out the tourist experience by offering souvenirs and pre-packaged, portable tastes of the café to enjoy back in the comfort of one’s own home. And a number of painted rocking chairs and corn hole boards are also set up outdoors providing either rest or diversion while waiting your turn to be seated inside. The grounds expanded back in 2009 when they added the Loveless Barn, a beautiful venue for hosting events or live music in an atmosphere offering the distinguished, down-home charm of the South.
And just in case you have a morning at home and a craving for freshly baked biscuits before you get a chance to make it down Highway 100 out to Loveless, I’ll share a family favorite recipe for buttermilk biscuits that has proved faithful over the years!
2 cups all-purpose flour (chilled)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
2 tsps. sugar
½ tsp. cream of tartar
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ cup chilled butter (real butter)
1 cup buttermilk
Mix dry ingredients and finely cut in butter (very finely—until mixture resembles a powder). Add buttermilk and toss with a fork until a ball of dough forms. Put on a floured surface and knead very gently until smooth. Pat to about ¾” (the thicker the better!) and place with sides touching on un-greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 for about 12-15 minutes until golden on top and bottom (and not doughy in the middle).
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