Name: Pimento Cheese (Nashville style)
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 8
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 400g extra-sharp aged cheddar (preferably Tennessee Sweetwater Valley or aged Vermont cheddar), grated by hand on a box grater; 100g cream cheese, softened; 150g good-quality mayonnaise (Duke's is the Southern standard); 100g jarred pimentos (or roasted red peppers), drained and finely chopped; 1 tbsp Dijon mustard; 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce; 1/2 tsp smoked paprika (the Husk twist); 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper; 1/4 tsp ground black pepper; 1 tsp finely grated onion; 1 small garlic clove, finely grated; 1 tbsp pickled jalapeño brine (optional, for tang); Salt to taste; Saltine crackers, ritz, celery sticks, or thick white bread for spreading

The South's caviar: sharp cheddar, pimento peppers, mayonnaise, and a kick of cayenne, served as a dip with crackers or spread thick in a sandwich.

Pimento cheese emerged as a Southern staple in the 1930s when canned pimentos became widely available; by the 1950s it was the universal Southern lunch counter and church-potluck spread. Husk Nashville under Sean Brock made the chef-driven version a fine-dining starter; Arnold's Country Kitchen still serves the meat-and-three version with crackers, a daily staple.

6 editor picks for Pimento Cheese in Nashville, ranked by editorial score. All Nashville signature dishes · Pimento Cheese across every city.

Husk Nashville ★ 4.6

Southern

downtown · 37 Rutledge Street, Nashville, TN 37210

Sean Brock's Rutledge Hill institution in Nashville cooks ingredient-driven Southern food on a wood hearth, run today by chef de cuisine Brian Baxter.

Arnold's Country Kitchen ★ 4.6

Meat-and-three

the-gulch · 605 8th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203

The Arnold family's Gulch meat-and-three lunch counter in Nashville won the James Beard America's Classics Award in 2009. Located in The Gulch.

City House ★ 4.6

Italian Southern

germantown · 1222 4th Ave N, Nashville, TN 37208

Chef Tandy Wilson's Germantown room in Nashville serves blue-collar Italian and Southern cooking since 2007. Kitchen leans italian southern.

Folk ★ 4.5

Italian

east-nashville · 823 Meridian St, Nashville, TN 37207

Philip Krajeck's casual East Nashville sibling to Rolf and Daughters opened in 2018, running naturally leavened pizza and a vegetable-forward menu.

The Mockingbird ★ 4.3

New American

the-gulch · 121A 12th Ave North, Nashville, TN 37203

Maneet Chauhan's Gulch room in Nashville runs globally inflected American comfort food with strong cocktails, opened 2018 and steady at the top of the area.

Loveless Cafe ★ 4.0