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Nashville, TN, United States (AHN) – The party continues in Nashville where the Gaylord Opryland Resort has returned after months of repair and renovation. Celebrations lasting all weekend continue as the Music City welcomes the grand reopening of one of its signature destinations.

Gaylord has been working non-stop to reopen the resort, which was only closed for an astonishing 195 days. Using an overwhelmingly local workforce (95% of subcontractors came from the Volunteer State), an average of 500 to 800 people were working each day to install a total of 21,400 sheets of drywall, 2,200 doors, and around 45,000 sq. ft. of tile, marble, granite and decorative glass.

“It’s still difficult to describe the emotions I felt at sunrise on May 3rd, when the first light revealed the water completely surrounding and breaching this magnificent hotel,” Gaylord Entertainment CEO Colin Reed explained during the grand reopening ceremony. “But despite the devastation we witnessed, I never had any doubt that our company, with the support of our [employees] and our community, would prove ourselves to be equal to this challenge.”

“The road to recovery certainly hasn’t been an easy one, but we’re proud to be here today celebrating what is not only a special day for the Gaylord brand, but also the city of Nashville,” Reed added.

Grammy Award-winning Country music star Keith Urban kicked off an emotional grand reopening ceremony on Friday night. Urban, who lives in Nashville with his wife, actress Nicole Kidman, played an emotional set for invited guests, many of which worked for companies involved in the reconstruction. Even Guy Fieri got emotional during his lunch and cooking demonstration on Saturday. Fieri, host of the Food Network’s ‘Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,’ admitted that he endured a red-eye flight from California in order to be a part of what he called the “historic” return of the Gaylord Opryland Resort.

Saturday night, Grammy Award-winning Country music star Sheryl Crow performed several of her hit songs during an exclusive concert. Crow, who lives on an 154-acre ranch near Nashville, only lost a small bridge in the May flood – but says the list of those who lost everything is endless. But just like thousands of other tourists, Crow is one of the stars glad to see the hotel’s return. While Crow was entertaining fans in a packed ballroom, her two adopted sons Wyatt Steven and Levi James toured the resort’s ‘ICE!’ attraction after spending a day at the Nashville Zoo.

‘ICE!’ is just one of the attractions the Gaylord Opryland has been reintroducing to the public. Gaylord spent millions to renovate much of the resort, including revamping guest rooms and putting in new restaurants. Guests during the grand reopening weekend filled the new Conservatory Bar, which sits between two new restaurants; the Italian-themed Ravello and the Mexican-themed Solario. Ravello’s menu Twin-sister bartenders (and Nashville-natives) Dana and Tara say the Conservatory Bar’s newly mixed “Lemoncello Collins” has been as popular with guests as it is strong.

The rebirth of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel comes pointedly at the start of the holiday/Christmas season. The hotel pushed hard to reopen in time to continue their annual ‘Country Christmas’ attraction. Each year, the Gaylord Opryland hangs over 2 million lights across the resort, lighting up 461 trees, 500 shrubs and hanging 15 miles of green garland and 10 miles of red ribbons. There’s a 40 ft. indoor Christmas tree and a 141-foot-tall ‘Southern Lights’ outdoor tree with more than 38,000 lights.

‘The Radio City Christmas Spectacular’ with the Rockettes is also making its return to the restored Grand Ole Opry House. The show brings Santa Claus and a cast and crew of more than 100 members, including the high-kicking Rockettes and live animals for the ‘Living Nativity.’ After the show, families have been lining up to walk-through ‘ICE!’ which pays tribute to the film ‘Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town’ as it celebrates its 40th anniversary. The attraction boasts 2 million lbs of hand-carved ice and is kept at a bone-chilling 9 degrees. Guests walk-through scenes from the movie and can enjoy a slide made entirely of ice.

Beyond fun and games, the Opryland Resort and Convention Center and the Grand Old Opry is one of Nashville’s economic cornerstones. Each year millions of locals, visitors and conventioneers visit the Gaylord Opryland Resort, which is the largest non-casino hotel in the United States. The Gaylord Opryland is also a major part of Nashville’s transition from a historic Country music town to an international convention destination that can handle serious business.

This week, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean announced that after fierce competition, the National Rifle Association (NRA) decided to bring its 144th annual convention to the Music City. The three-day convention will bring an estimated 50,000 guests and $25 million to Nashville.

“We’re coming out of a difficult economy and the flood and now there’s pent-up demand for the hospitality industry,” Loews Vanderbilt Hotel General Manager Tom Negri told the Tennessean newspaper. “Having that large of a group means so much for the city. And association business like this tends to follow one another.”

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Have you ever seen those shows on TV that make you hungry? You know, you’re sitting on the couch surfing the normal channel wave when all of a sudden you see some mouth watering dish at a random restaurant that you have never heard of.

There are two different channels that boast four shows in particular that scavenge the country for these diamond in the rough restaurants: Man vs. Food, Extreme, and Food Paradise on the Travel channel, and Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network.

These restaurants are not by any means fancy or expensive, but tasty nonetheless. As I slowly got addicted to watching these shows I thought to myself “I wish there was somewhere I could go where all of these restaurants were organized by state.” That way, anytime I was visiting a friend or in a big city I would have a list of the best reasonably priced restaurants in the area, the local favorites.

I decided to make one of these lists myself. Now, no matter where I am in America I will have the advantage of knowing the best restaurants names, cities, and websites.

How would you like to visit a friend in Chicago and take him to the best place he never has heard of? Now you can. And the best part about it is that our friends at the Food Network and Travel Channel did all the work for us.

If you think you know a really great, unique restaurant that is not on listed, I encourage you leave a post. These shows continue to come out with more restaurants they profile which I will continue to add, but there are thousands of restaurants to choose from.

I’m sure you will see a few franchised restaurants on the list that you may think don’t belong on it. The fact is, the locations of the franchised restaurants are their original locations, and therefore much better than any of the franchised ones. Pizzeria Uno’s in Chicago is an example, I have eaten there myself and it is far and away better than any of its franchised locations.

About half way through compiling the list I stopped listing the phone numbers of the restaurants. I figured if you are reading this blog and have access to the website, you are probably capable of finding the phone number if you need it.

Chris Carlton is a blogger and a graduating student at University at Wisconsin – Whitewater taking up double major in Management and Marketing. Next spring, he will be in Buenos Aires to conduct independent research on what the vibrant city has to offer.
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