The best pasta restaurant in Nashville — a converted 1885 Werthan Mills warehouse in Germantown with a handmade pasta and vegetable-forward menu that has been the city's celebrated restaurant by local chefs and food writers since it opened in 2012.
Why It Belongs on the List
Rolf and Daughters occupies a magnificent 1885 Werthan Mills cotton warehouse in Germantown — the neighborhood immediately north of downtown that is Nashville's most intact 19th-century district — with exposed brick, high ceilings, and candlelit tables. Chef Philip Krajeck's menu is organized around handmade pasta, wood-fire cooking, and the best vegetables available from Tennessee farms: the approach owes more to Italy via Northern California than to traditional Southern cooking, which is entirely the point. The pasta changes seasonally and is thoroughly excellent; the vegetable dishes are the finest in the city. The natural wine list is the best in Nashville. The Monday-night walk-in pasta special ($16, no reservations) is a Nashville institution and draws the city's food community. The restaurant that Nashvillians most reliably recommend to visiting food professionals.
What Stands Out
- Most praised restaurant in Nashville by local chefs and food writers
- Handmade pasta in a converted 1885 cotton warehouse in Germantown
- Natural wine list: the best in Nashville
- Monday-night pasta special $16 walk-in: draws Nashville's food community
- Philip Krajeck: the chef who put Nashville fine dining on the national map