Food

from October 2021 Murfreesboro Pulse

by The Murfreesboro Pulse

Reviews

Food  RESTAURANT

 Monte Cristo sandwich with hash brown cakes  Cinnamon roll crepe Caramel apple spice cider and chocolate muffi n 

Red Bicycle Bicycle

STORY BY BRACKEN MAYO Something sweet PHOTOS BY SARAH MAYO and something meat, coffee and mimosas, for breakfast, lunch and dinner

Murfreesboro Red Bicycle owner Jason Day will soon open another location of the popular coffee shop and restaurant on the Murfreesboro Public Square.

Currently, the St. Andrew’s location of the cafe (also with additional, independently operated locations in Nashville) bustles with patrons enjoying coffee and more.

Walk into the Red Bicycle—located in a fairly new shopping plaza tucked away in the sprawling St. Andrews residential area between Salem Highway and Old Fort Parkway—place an order, and take a table marker sign (probably displaying an image of a pop-culture character such as Beetlejuice, Weird Al, Indiana Jones or Chuck Norris) back to your seat to await your meal or beverage.

Red Bicycle offers a full menu all day—a very hearty, meaty, nourishing menu, tasty and packed with a wide assortment of protein-based options, unlike many coffee shops, which may offer only muffins or pastries as an accompaniment or afterthought to the coffee.

“We’re a full-on restaurant,” said Day of the Bicycle, which also happens to offer quality coffee, espresso, latte, cappuccino, cider and cold brew coffee among its large drink selection.

Protein-loaded choices include a big, eggheavy burrito. As packed full with toppings as the Red Bicycle breakfast burrito is, it remains portable, and holds together. All of the fillings—choose from bacon, sausage, ham, chorizo, turkey or chicken in addition to the eggs, cheese and potatoes—should not fall out of the neatly pressed burrito up until the last bite, making it even a possibility for a traveler in a car eating on the go.

Cooking the large burrito in the panini press helps hold everything together, gives the outside just a little crispiness, and makes everything inside melt and mingle all together.

For those who love a good Monte Cristo sandwich, one that is not dripping in grease, Red Bicycle has you covered. The Count of Monte Cristo places thinly sliced ham and melted Swiss cheese in between slices of the fluffy Red Bicycle French toast, served with syrup. Meat + sweet!

“The burgers are so good. You can tell they are fresh and handmade,” a pleased Red Bicycle customer, Elliott Tanner, said. “I go there probably once a week.”

For a truly ravenous carnivore, or as an option to split with a dining companion, the Boro Beast Burger contains a full pound of beef, American cheese, bacon, a fried egg, tomato, pickles, onions and avocado.

In addition to a traditional Mom’s Grilled Cheese, with melty American cheese, check out the Not Your Mom’s Grilled Cheese, with smoked pulled chicken and bacon added to the classic sandwich.

“The chicken and waffles and hot chicken crepes were both delicious,” another Red Bicycle customer, Guna Curtis, said following a meal.

A delicious, slightly spicy sauce accompanies the fries and some other items on the menu. When asking Day about the sauce, it turns out it is RB sauce.

“We really stretched ourselves with that name,” Day laughed. He said the Red Bicycle crew came up with the blend of ketchup, mustard and mayo when “we were messing around in the kitchen,” but as far as the other spices and seasonings in the RB sauce, “I can’t tell you,” he joked. The establishment also slaps some of this tasty condiment on its house club sandwich, along with ham, turkey, bacon, spinach, tomato and Swiss on garlic buttered sourdough. Even aside from the sauce, the fries get lots of compliments. Or, instead of fries, try some very crisp hash brown cakes to accompany a sandwich. Another diner appreciates the beautiful, fresh leaves of spinach used as a salad base, rather than the iceberg lettuce found in many salads. One Red Bicycle salad tops the spinach with strawberries, walnuts, a strawberry vinaigrette and feta cheese. And, although pickles on a salad can be a little strange for some, the hot chicken salad, with smoked, pulled Nashville hot chicken, mozzarella, diced pickles and ranch drizzle, makes an incredibly bold and flavorful creation.

The Dish RESTAURANT Red Bicycle LOCATION 1733 St. Andrews Dr. Coming Soon: 13 S. Public Square PHONE 615-900-3627 HOURS Mon.–Sat. 7 a.m.–9 p.m. Sun. 8 a.m.–4 p.m. PRICES Breakfast burrito: $11; Large hot or iced latte, any flavor: $4.75; Hot chicken tacos: $10; Two slices French toast: $4.50; Avocado toast: $7; 8-ounce cappuccino: $3.95; Strawberry walnut salad: $8 ONLINE rbmurfreesboro.com

Breakfast burrito  Hot chicken salad  Burger with fries and RB sauce 

“We try to give you your money’s worth,” Day said. “If you are going to pay $11 for a salad, or $11 for a burrito, I want you to get a salad that is worth $11, or a burrito that is worth $11.”

The restaurateur says he has been pleasantly surprised at how many customers have traveled to his St. Andrews location.

“I thought when we opened ‘we’ll be a good neighborhood spot,’ but we have people from all over—Smyrna, Mt. Juliet,” he said. “That was surprising.”

Perhaps the crepes, available in many different sweet and savory varieties, help keep the customers coming in.

“I am in love with their Nutella crepes,” one diner, Kelsey, said recently, while Veronica reported the spinach crepe had “an explosion of flavors.”

Other varieties of crepes—thin, eggy pancakes folded around various fillings—available at the RB include a caprese crepe, a chicken, bacon and ranch crepe, a cinnamon roll crepe and the Funky Monkey, drizzled with Nutella and peanut butter and topped with walnuts and powdered sugar.

Of course, many local coffee lovers have found a comfortable hangout and coffee stop at the Red Bicycle.

One customer, Rachel, said the Cuban, a coffee beverage with espresso, brown sugar and steamed half and half, made an excellent dessert.

“Everything was very tasty . . . totally lived up to the hype!” the Yelper posted.

Another online reviewer, Lindsay, reported that “the French toast latte is bomb.com!” while Kimberly Rhodes commented the place is “such a cute cafe . . . fantastic mimosas.”

Seating can sometimes be limited at the original location, but with a downtown location coming soon, Murfreesboro Red Bicycle can serve even more customers and will become more convenient for downtown Murfreesboro dwellers and workers.

Day said he was not necessarily looking for a second location, but restaurants have very limited windows of opportunities to open directly on the Murfreesboro Square, so he snagged a space in a building on South Public Square for another Red Bicycle when he had the chance.

The RB staff will roast coffee beans at this downtown location, and possibly host some live music and other entertainment there. The full menu will be the same as the St. Andrews location.

“The mimosas will be flowing,” Day said.