I spent about $60 on one meal at Boundry a couple weeks ago. It may not seem like a lot (or it might, actually, during the current economic situation), but as a student, I can’t roam the town throwing down Benjamins for meals that often. So why did I spend so much money? Was Boundry OMGWTFantastic enough to warrant spending so much on one meal? No, not really. Drinks really add up on the tab. Vodka tonics help numb the pain of bad food and improve the taste of satisfactory food. But now that I look back, I could’ve just taken that $60 and gone to Deja Vu and made it rain dollar bills. It wouldn’t have been as filling, but seeing strippers getting rained on by bills would’ve been equally way more satisfying. (Note: I’m not a pig, I just like giving back to the community).
I’d heard of Boundry through the gastronomic grapevine in the past year or so while living in Nashville, and I live only a couple blocks away, but I’d never eaten there until a couple weeks ago. I had no idea what kind of food they served, and to be honest, I still don’t have a solid idea of their cuisine even after looking over their menu. It could probably be described as American Fusion, or trendy–two things that frankly aren’t on the top of my “To Eat” list. The menu has daily specials, which is an admirable endeavor; I can’t even dress differently every day, let alone think up of new dishes every day. However, they also had tapas, pizzas, and entrees, a confusing mishmash of items and cuisines ranging from Italian to Korean. Hm.
I could now go on a tangent about the qualities of fusion cuisine and pan-anything cuisine. But I won’t.
Anyways, after a vodka tonic and a good look-over, I chose the special fish of the day, whose name now escapes my memory (it’s what lots of drinking and lots of studying does to you). However, before I talk about the fish, I must talk about their complimentary bread and service.
Bread. They always serve bread before meals. This basket came with a variety of glutenous items, such as biscuits, sourdough, etc. Being in such close vicinity to Loveless Cafe–THE biscuit place–I expect Nashville to have some bomb biscuits (moist, buttery, soft). The biscuit I had was none of the aforementioned adjectives. It was the contrary. Biscuit fail.
However, we did enjoy the sourdough bread and the flavored butter. It was just too bad that every time we asked for more sourdough, the busboys/waiters brought out not-sourdough bread. Let’s take a step back and look at this: I ask for sourdough for my friends, and they bring out something else. Now, I know that my restaurant work experience is different than others, but if I was running a restaurant that served a somewhat nice clientele, and charged $30 entrees, I would have a lot of expectations of my employees. Sure, they can describe what’s on the menu, and even memorize what’s in the specials, but can they tell what different ingredients are? I don’t believe our waiter was the perpetrator, but even busboys should know this right? Or maybe I was just too demanding; two vodka tonics (one of which was made with the wrong vodka) could do this to a customer I guess. Eh. Rant mode off.
The fish was pretty good though. I think it was Red Snapper with cherry tomatoes, leeks, and potatoes(?) in a wine sauce. The fish tasted fresh and was cooked to flaky consistency, and all the veggies really mixed well together with the fish and sauce. Then again, I already had two drinks and I was feeling good (in my head). I probably would’ve preferred to try one of their regular entrees, just to see if the place warrants return visits. I can’t really describe more because my brain is muddled from reasons said previously. This positive note is probably a good place to end the post, so let’s just let it end here. Um. Yay?
Boundry
911 20th Ave S
Nashville, TN
(615) 321-3043
