The Queso Connection

This Upper Cumberland queso stop came recommended by my friend Marty McFly, whose weekly radio show I joined for about half a year to talk Nashville restaurants. With two Cookeville locations and another in nearby Sparta, El Tapatío serves the kind of Mexican-American comfort food that reminds me of El Palacio, the restaurant I grew up loving. Think baskets of chips, cheese dip, toreados, combination dinners, and familiar favorites swimming in melted cheese. Upon parking outside the Jefferson St location, it was a taste of nostalgia before we even walked through the door.