Chappy's on Church

Tonite, we were heading out for dinner because Mrs. WonderDawg's sister was in town from Atlanta. With Debbie having never been to J. Alexanders on West End, we made plans to go with our party of six. To our dismay, since we've had nothing but a great dining experience twice before, we just weren't in the mood for a 45 minute wait. Mrs. WonderDawg's other sister Judy, saw a clip on WSMV about Chappy's on Church.

The bit of history: "The original Chappy's Seafood Restaurant opened its doors in December of 1984 and remained one of the premier restaurants on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina completely demolished Chappy's restaurant and his home. In June of 2006, Chappy's Seafood Restaurant re-opened as: Chappy's on Church in Nashville, TN."

Located at 1721 Church Street -- the refurbished building formerly housed Carter Flooring Building, constructed in 1920 -- I was simply expecting the typical Louisiana Cajun home spun family restaurant. At 8 pm, our party of six were immediately seated in one of six separate semi private rooms after walking through an expansive dining room (seats 220) of stated elegance and white cloth covered table tops of four. Seeing original artwork on the walls and an upscale dining atmosphere, we knew we were in a great dining experience since the restaurant was "designed to exude New Orleans charm".

John "Chappy" Chapman, chef and owner stopped by our table and greeted us, seen here hugging Judy:



We started with an appetizer of Fried Green Tomatoes and Grilled Barbecue Spice Shrimp, both delicious. Entrees that we ordered included Grilled Tuna Steak (which was probably the best of the night) as it was sushi quality and ordered rare, was tender as a filet mignon. The blackened Chappy's Thick Cut Prime Rib was fair and came across as more of a rib eye. Other dishes included crab cakes, specials of mahi mahi and a lemon yellow fish which were pretty good, moist and of generous portions. Dinner salads with stuff baked potatoes and a vegetable mix of squash, cabbage, green pepper and onion served in a cole slaw fashion was ... different and not a table favorite.

Chappy's really shined on the fish dishes! I would highly recommend going back and sampling more of the fish offerings. Chappy's also offer other seafood, steaks, veal, chicken and game entrees. The menu is listed on Chappy's website. Total bill for six included two bottels of Sterling and Kenwood Merlot was a reasonable $240.00 plus tip.

With West End Avenue opening up more chain type restaurants, Chappy's was a welcomed change of pace to dine. Most likely, we'll head back Sunday or Monday night - it was that good.

Our service was great; David as our waiter was excellent, attentive and quite a character. He wrapped up my mommy-in-law's crab cake to go in an aluminum rabbit presentation that looked like... you decide!



David the good sport, accepting the OB-GYN Award for Best Service by a Waiter:



And our party of spring chickens:



L to R, sister Judy, Mrs. WonderDawg (Becky), our daughter Megan, sister Debbie, me and Mommy Helen