Our Nashville Valentines

🍔 Dalts: Nashville's restaurant scene has blossomed in recent years with a never-ending fount of new offerings, each boasting a menu more sophisticated and scrumptious than the last.

• But we love a classic. Dalts has been a stalwart on White Bridge Road since 1980, hosting countless Tamburin family gatherings.
• There are no frills, but there is a wide variety of milkshake flavors. The classic diner remains a comforting touchstone amid decades of change.

☕️ Beck's Farmhouse Coffee: Coffee is a drink of convenience. That's why the line snakes around the parking lot at the Gallatin Pike Starbucks each morning, even with a cornucopia of amazing local coffee shops nearby.

• If there's one coffee shop worthy of an adventure outside your neighborhood, it's Beck's Farmhouse Coffee in Joelton.
• Nestled just inside the Davidson-Robertson county line, Beck's is family owned and operated. The roasting house is in a small shack behind the coffee shop, so on lucky mornings, you can smell the unequaled aromas of fresh beans over the flames.
• Nate swears they make the best frappuccino in Nashville.

📰 Tennessean executive editor Maria De Varenne: Maria announced her retirement on Friday following a 35-year career in journalism. She has been an unshakable leader in The Tennessean newsroom since late 2011 and was a mentor to both of us.

• Adam remembers racing to the newsroom in the middle of the night to cover a tornado only to find Maria already there, brewing coffee and offering to make calls.
• An impossibly long list of reporters have gone on to have impactful careers — both in journalism and other fields — after working for her.
• But her best quality extended beyond bylines and line edits: When her reporters had a health issue or family crisis, Maria was unrelenting in her support.