I’ve spent a good part of the past two and a half years that I’ve been a Vanderbilt student exploring restaurants throughout Nashville. It isn’t hard for me to find a restaurant that I’ll end up loving (Edgehill Café, Pomodoro East, and Caviar + Bananas were all restaurants I came to love after just one visit!), but there’s one restaurant that I absolutely became obsessed with once I discovered it: Le Sel. It’s a quiet, luxe French restaurant tucked behind Aertson and Mellow Mushroom. The unassuming, small neon sign outside doesn’t prepare you for the beautiful works of art sprawled across the lobby area or the gorgeous, plush pink couches you can relax in while you dine.
They serve both brunch and dinner, and have a full range of wines and cocktails, of course. I’ve had their croque madame avec frites for brunch and their cauliflower and leek soup with baked oysters for dinner. Each time we ordered beignets (as an appetizer during brunch and as a dessert during dinner) and with brunch we got a plate of deviled eggs topped with caviar to share among the table.
A croque madame is a traditional French dish – think grilled ham and cheese sandwich with an egg on top – but their take on what could very well be a plain jane sandwich was so unique and tasted so good that I could have sworn it was made exactly the same way they’d make it in France. I am a soup fanatic so naturally my second time at Le Sel was specifically triggered by a luscious picture of their seasonal soup posted on their Instagram account. The cauliflower and leek soup is part of their exclusive Fall menu so if I were you I’d definitely make a reservation before spring comes around because it was one of the best cups of soup I’ve ever had. Like most millennial women, I am a major fan of truffle anything so the little crumbles on top made it taste 10x better than normal. As for the beignets, I couldn’t recommend them enough! They’re fluffy and soft, filled with warm apple butter, and lightly powdered in brown sugar aka practically heaven in dessert form.
If you’re ever in the mood for some amazing French food or want to have a dinner that’s a bit on the fancier side, I would 100% recommend you make your way over to Le Sel and just bask in the glory of their great food and beautiful aesthetic.