A meal at Andrea’s Home of Breaking Bread, a small eatery in downtown Smyrna, Tennessee, may feel like a bit like a homecoming for anyone who misses Grandmama’s cooking, or who has ever been in a small-town Southern lunchroom.
If you’ve been hankering for a wholesome, meat-and-three, country-style lunch spot, check out this modest, weekday-only establishment, serving home cooking, quick, that tastes like it came straight from Mema’s kitchen.
“Do you remember your grandmother’s food? And how nobody could make anything that tastes like it? Well, that’s what this is. Food that lets you revisit the days you thought were long gone,” Breaking Bread patron Joe Williams said. “I really like this place.”
Situated in one of the old buildings lining Smyrna’s Historic Depot District, the lunch destination welcomes customers with a cafeteria-style line. The setup is not fancy, but the food packs serious flavor and the hot, already prepared food makes a very quick lunch option ideal for those who don’t have a lot of time to waste during their lunch hour.
Breaking Bread builds its salty Southern lunches upon a proper foundation of classic “meat-and-three” tradition.
“The homemade cooking was real Southern authentic,” another pleased customer, Mark Coulter, posted following a meal. “The fresh greens were delicious and the country fried steak was cooked tender and not greasy.”
Every day, the menu at the 119 Front St. restaurant includes meatloaf, green beans, corn, macaroni & cheese, creamed potatoes, pinto beans, cornbread, rolls and tea.
“The meatloaf was awesome,” said Tanya Wells, appreciating the “home cooking and great service.”
“It’s a little place with big flavor!”
Find apples on the Breaking Bread menu every day other than Thursday, when it switches to sweet potatoes; similarly, it serves turnip greens four days a week, but spinach makes the menu on Mondays.
Just before patrons arrive at the hot food counter to place an order, a shelf displays the day’s assortment of ready-to-grab, boxed-up desserts, such as slices of a very moist Sun Drop cake covered with a rich and sugary frosting.
In addition to the famous Breaking Bread meatloaf every day—its large slices covered with a sticky, peppery sauce—it rotates through a selection of different soul food standards and desserts each day.
Chicken and dumplings with green beans, mashed potatoes and corn bread muffin
Hungry customers can find fried salmon patties, chicken & dressing, and kraut & sausage on Mondays; fried chicken, hamburger steak & onions, and BBQ pork on Tuesdays; liver & onions, roast beef, and chicken & dumplings on Wednesdays; chicken & dressing, hamburger steak & onions, and fried pork chops on Thursdays; and then catfish, baked ziti and baked chicken on Fridays.
“Fried chicken, mac and cheese, greens and apples were great for lunch,” Paul Ayers reported. “Southern style home cooking made for a great experience supporting local.”
Roast beef with mac and cheese mashed potatoes and roll
Many local fans of various vegetables say great things about the sides, the piping hot, salty turnip greens (some claiming them to be the best in Rutherford County) and the delicious, well-cooked green beans (“there’s definitely pork in there,” one diner reported).
The Breaking Bread lunchroom opens each weekday, 10:30 a.m.–6:30 p.m., and the meat-and-three plates, with roll or corn muffin, offer solid value in a world of rising food costs. The plates are about as quick and affordable as you can get for a good home-cooked lunch these days.
“The food is really good Southern meat-and-three,” another pleased customer stated. “It’s a great alternative to fast food when you want a meal to taste homemade.”
Breaking Bread definitely operates with some local heart and soul, not a chain-restaurant vibe.
“Our food is so good because the Lord is in every bite!” proclaims a sign hung at Breaking Bread.
The restaurant proudly exhibits a Christian flavor—contemporary Christian music plays over the sound system, a board of prayer requests hangs near the entranceway and other scripture passages decorate the walls; it’s not just about meat and vegetables, it’s about the bread of life.
Of course, no place is perfect. Some report finding the food at Breaking Bread overly salty; others suggest it reminds them a bit too much of the school cafeteria experience.
But for most who come through the doors, the local business strikes a tasty balance of Grandma’s kitchen, local soul, history and family mixed with a dash of classic cafeteria.
For Southern classics done right, a very quick meatloaf, dumplings, catfish, roast beef, mac and cheese, potatoes and beans, this is your spot.
Andrea’s Home of Breaking Bread
119 Front St., Smyrna
Mon.–Fri.: 10:30 a.m.–6:30 p.m.
615-220-1231
Meat-and-three plate: $13.50
