8 Things Tennesseans Do at a Meat-and-Three Without Being Told

The line keeps moving, your tray’s in hand, and the person ahead of you already knows exactly what to say.

Tennesseans who eat at meat-and-threes, especially around Nashville, seem to know the unwritten rules.

Here’s what the regulars do, so you can order like one too.

1. Picking Three Vegetables

Michael Stern wrote in Gourmet in 1994 that a meat-and-three plate gives you one meat from the day’s three to six choices, plus three vegetables.

At Hap Townes one day, your choices included butter beans, hominy, steamed cabbage and stewed tomatoes.

Many regulars walk up already knowing which three they want.

2. Matching the Day to the Meat

If you wanted oxtails at the Silver Sands Cafe meat-and-three in North Nashville, Nashville Scene reported in February 2023, you needed to go Thursday or Friday.

Stern wrote in 1994 that fried chicken was probably the most popular dish at Hap Townes, served every Tuesday for decades.

A staff member behind the stove tells you what’s on offer that day.

Some regulars learn which day goes with which plate without anyone spelling it out.

If one meat is the reason for your trip, ask what the kitchen is serving that day before you commit.

3. Skipping the Meat

Does a meat-and-three make you take the meat?

Not always.

According to Nashville Scene’s 2023 reporting, many of these restaurants let you order a meat-and-one, a meat-and-two or even all sides.

At those restaurants, you can build the whole plate from vegetables.

MacHenry’s has sides made to satisfy vegans, vegetarians and people who avoid gluten.

Sunflower Cafe is designed to look like a classic meat-and-three, and everything on its menu is plant-based.

4. Mac and Cheese as a Vegetable

Nashville Scene wrote in 2023 that a meat-and-three is one of few places in the world where mac and cheese counts as a vegetable.

At a place that counts it that way, mac and cheese may fill one of your three.

Tennessee Lookout’s January 2023 account of Arnold’s Country Kitchen’s closing listed macaroni and cheese, turnip greens and whipped potatoes among the plates that came out of its kitchen.

Stern’s 1994 write-up describes the Southern vegetables you pile on that plate as well cooked, heavily seasoned and sometimes enriched with cheese.

5. Cornbread, Biscuits, or Both

At the Silver Sands Cafe meat-and-three, Nashville Scene reported in 2023, you could pick hot-water cornbread or flat buttermilk cornbread.

Michael Stern wrote in 1994 that the plate comes with biscuits or corn bread, or both.

At Hap Townes, you could count on corn bread every day, griddle-cooked with the tang of buttermilk.

Some locals skip the choosing and take a biscuit and cornbread.

6. Ordering Sweet Tea

Carole Bucy, Metro Nashville’s Davidson County Historian, told Nashville Scene in 2023 that a meat-and-three meal calls for sweet tea and some kind of bread or biscuits.

Stern’s account pairs your plate with a tall glass of iced tea, presweetened or not.

Since the tea may or may not arrive presweetened, you can ask which kind you’re getting.

7. Going Back for Seconds

At a Nashville meat-and-three, Michael Stern wrote in 1994, someone dips your plate, and in Tennessee that means piling it high with food straight from the stockpot.

You take the plate to a table, and if you want seconds, you return to the counter for more.

When you finish, you tell the person at the cash register what you ate and pay accordingly.

Nashville Scene reported in 2023 that Swett’s was cafeteria-style, while the Elliston Place Soda Shop delivered plates through table service.

8. Saving Room for Dessert

Pie, pudding or cobbler comes after the plate, Michael Stern wrote of the Nashville meat-and-three in 1994.

At Hap Townes, the cherry cobbler arrived steaming hot, with ice cream melting on top.

Nashville Scene says many meat-and-threes serve classic Southern desserts such as chess pie, banana pudding and frosted cakes.

Banana pudding was also among the food that came out of Arnold’s Country Kitchen.

A full plate of meat and vegetables leaves you less room, so you may want to save some for dessert.

Where the Line Started

Michael Stern’s Roadfood write-up on the Nashville meat-and-three tells how Hap Townes started serving hot lunch from a pie wagon near the fairgrounds in 1921.

Hap and his son Little Hap opened a small cookshop in 1946.

Nashville Scene reported that Hap Townes’s restaurant was a lunch tradition, in one form or another, from 1921 to 1985.

Stern’s 1994 write-up adds that you can be in and out of a meat-and-three in fifteen minutes.

Closures and Holdouts

Nashville Scene's February 2023 cover story said in its headline that the city's meat-and-threes are thriving despite some high-profile closures.

Arnold's Country Kitchen and Rotier's were among the closures, while Swett's and the Elliston Place Soda Shop were still cooking.

Tennessee Lookout reported that Arnold's closed on January 7, 2023, after serving hundreds of diners who stood in line throughout the day.

NewsChannel 5 reported in November 2023 that Arnold's would reopen for a limited run ahead of Thanksgiving, with no promise of a permanent return.

If you're planning a visit, check hours first, since a restaurant's status can change before you arrive.