East Nashville has more serious restaurants per block than any other neighborhood in the city, and also more places that benefit from the neighborhood's identity without really earning it. The gap between the best and the rest is wider than it looks from the outside. Peninsula is doing the most ambitious cooking in East Nashville right now — one of the five best restaurants in the city, full stop. Kisser is the most exciting room in the neighborhood and getting better. Noko and Kase x Noko operate at a level that most of the city hasn't caught up to yet. Folk remains one of the most reliable dinners in Nashville regardless of where it's located. Cross town for these five. The rest can wait.