by Kelsey Durnin | Apr 8, 2011 | News Slider
Buying a sandwich from someone selling food out of their truck seems pretty shady to some people. But the mobile food industry is sweeping over Nashville, and the idea seems to be sticking. As of last Saturday the city has 13 food trucks, carts and vendors serving a variety of foods in many different locations. Barbie Burgers, The Grilled Cheeserie and other mobile food trucks have adapted a concept similar to that of an ice cream truck, and they use social networks to communicate with their customers. Every time a truck moves to a new location people are notified by status updates on each company’s Twitter and/or Facebook, along with an estimated time the truck will remain there. So far, this unity between mobile food trucks and social media has proved increasingly successful. Eden Luquire, a sophomore psychology major from Weaverville, N.C., can attest to their success as a loyal customer. “I follow The Grilled Cheeserie on Twitter and make it a point to stop by when they are close,” Luquire said. “It’s a really interesting concept, and very accessible.” The Grilled Cheeserie began running a truck in the Green Hills area on April 1, which began what the Cheeserie successfully deemed National Grilled Cheese Month. According to their Twitter, day three of Grilled Cheese Month resulted in over 300 grilled cheeses sold in three hours. Although The Grilled Cheeserie’s main menu item is obvious, customers will also find other types of melts and sandwiches sold at the truck. In addition, their daily Twitter updates announce what kind of pudding they will be serving that day as well as any other...
by Julie Shrewsbury | Apr 7, 2011 | Opinion
Variety is a must for some, while picky eaters just want simple food and still others declare bold taste and robust flavor choices a necessity. At Virago, those concerns are a thing of the past. Their entrees range from every roll combination you can image for sushi lovers to shrimp egg rolls, fried wontons, edamame, new-style sashimi and even Thai lobster shooters for those with slightly more exotic taste buds. For the manly men or less exotic eaters out there, they serve hearty filet mignon, pork in lemon butter sauce, Wagyu Sirloin and “angry chicken” (which is grilled chicken with a little kick over coconut rice). Seafood lovers, Virago hasn’t forgotten about you. They offer Scottish salmon, truffle sea bass, crab and shrimp dumplings, king crab legs, wild-caught prawn and blackened Ahi, just to name a few items. One of Virago’s signature dishes is a sushi roll entitled “The Bomb.” With a title like that, what should you expect? I’ll lay it out for you. “The Bomb” consists of tempura shrimp, avocado and asparagus on the inside, baked jumbo lump crab and spicy mayo on top and a touch of unagi sauce and scallions. Yum Yum! Although “The Bomb” did sound delicious, “Yum Yum” is actually the next roll I’m going to touch on. The “Yum Yum” is a crispy tempura roll with tuna, smoked salmon, cream cheese and ponzu. I could go on and on about Virago’s never-ending, delectable menu all day long. Virago’s has two locations in Nashville. One is located in the Gulch on McGavock Street and the other is downtown on Division Street. The atmosphere...
by Lacy Pack | Apr 4, 2011 | News Slider
Lipscomb students are prepared mentally for tornados, floods and fires — but perhaps only recently began wondering about earthquakes. The recent earthquakes in Japan have rattled many Tennesseans, especially in the western part of the state, which rests on the New Madrid fault line. Though disaster from a quake in West Tennessee is unlikely to reach Nashville, but Lipscomb is ready anyway. It has been around 200 years since Nashville’s last earthquake. Kathy Hargis, Lipscomb’s Director of Risk Management, said that “by all predictions, we are long overdue one.” Hargis said Lipscomb has an “all hazards approach” to handling any type of disaster, including an earthquake. This means that the university would be self-sufficient for a period of seven days if a natural disaster were to occur. “We are prepared to sustain around 1,500 students,” Hargis said. “We have bought bottled water, which would last about two days and large bulk water for the remainder of the week. We looked at Sodexo for food, along with purchasing dried fruit, oatmeal, peanut butter crackers and 2,400-calorie bars.” All of these emergency items are dispersed around campus in places like Allen Arena, the Student Center and in surrounding storage sites. That way if one building collapses, all is not lost. Allen Arena would be used as an emergency shelter where an assortment of medical supplies would be available. A medical clinic could also be set up in the Baptist Sports Clinic underneath the arena, so cuts and broken bones could be treated and IV bags could be administered. Lipscomb has partnered with Red Cross and has plans in place with a trauma doctor...
by Jeremy Keck | Mar 30, 2011 | News Slider
“I look forward to a time that I won’t get to experience, and you won’t either. But decades down the road where other people will look back and see that in this moment, this community did what it was called to do.” Those were Dr. Randy Lowry’s concluding words as he introduced the layout of Lipscomb 2016, his vision of what Lipscomb University will look like in five years, to the student body at The Gathering on Tuesday, March 29. “We’re going to call it Lipscomb Next: Vision for 2016,” Lowry said. “The essence of this entire plan is to invest $125 million into this institution by the time we get to our 125th anniversary, which is 2016.” Lipscomb invested about $54 million into their last plan, making the proposed $125 million dollar investment into their next plan “extraordinarily ambitious.” Notable additions to expect Lipscomb to make in their next plan include: three new colleges, fifty new full time faculty members and thirty new academic programs. Some of the changes that Lipscomb will be undergoing will take years to develop. However, Lowry stated a couple of significant changes are set to take place in the very near future. One change being the renovation of Fanning Hall. “As we think about residence halls, we realize that they are not at the standard that we would like,” Lowry said. “The city’s approval pending, Lipscomb is set to gut out and renovate Fanning Hall this summer. Thanks to a construction crew committing to working on the project 24 hours a day that summer, a renovation that would normally take nine months...
by Chris Walker | Mar 28, 2011 | News Slider
Spring is finally here, and more than flowers are in bloom this season. Nashville’s Fashion Week, sponsored in part by Lexus, begins this Sunday with pre-shows by Tidwell & Perryman, Betsy Johnson, and White Rabbit. The week has something to offer for everyone and you don’t have to be decked head-to-toe in Oscar de la Renta or a shrunken Thom Browne suit (both ranging between $1,200 & $5,000) to enjoy fashion in Nashville. Fashion can even be found on Lipscomb’s campus. Lipscomb will host all the Art, Craft and Business of Fashion: Fashion Industry Panels in the Ezell Center on Wednesday, March 30, and Thursday, March 31. One of the fashion festivities taking place on campus during the week is the display of selections from Lipscomb University’s collection of patterns, sketches, memorabilia and dresses designed by famed American design house Halston. The collection is on display in the Beaman Library all week, which is open Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Friday 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also, Monday night, March 28, Rho Xi Delta will host a ThriftSmart fashion show in Shamblin Theater at 7:30 p.m. (You can receive chapel credit if you bring three items of clothing or five canned goods to the show tonight.) Nashville has recently developed its own trend by locals supporting themselves locally: local food, local produce and now local fashion. Staying in touch with our “Nashvillian laid-back-ness,” smaller boutiques such as Levy’s, Billy Reid and The Cotton Mill are showing spring collections along side major, international brands like Ben Sherman, Robert Graham, Betsy Johnson, and Gustavo Cadile. Matthew Johns, one of Nashville’s up and coming stylists, sees...
