Besides keeping us happily fed, the Nashville restaurant community does a lot to help neighbors in need. Month to month, we come across events that include eateries and bars across town, contributing proceeds to a worthy cause. There’s The Gulch Gives Back for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Yum!East for Fannie Battle Day Home for Children, Negroni Week for an array of local non-profits, and many, many others.

This Wednesday, Sept. 21, we’re looking at Eat Out Help Out, an event that benefits Nashville’s street paper The Contributor, which focuses its editorial eye on issues related to homelessness and poverty, and provides homeless and formerly homeless Nashvillians with a steady opportunity to earn income.

To get a sense of the good that organization does: After joining up with the paper, more than 35 percent of The Contributor’s vendors have subsequently found housing. And a Contributor job is akin to entrepreneurship — vendors are independent contractors, interviewed and trained and provided with the tools to launch and maintain their business.

So it’s fitting — and cool — to see a mix of other Nashville entrepreneurs taking a day to pitch in and support The Contributor’s efforts.

Restaurants across the city are taking part in Eat Out Help Out on Wednesday throughout the day, from East Nashville to downtown, from sushi to craft beer. The participant mix adds up to 16, but here are a few of our likely picks, depending on our Wednesday lunch/dinner cravings.

To contribute to The Contributor, all you need to do is drop by one (or several) of these restaurants — or other participating places, listed here — order, and eat.

Some participating Nashville Eat Out Help Out restaurants

Craft beer + food to go with it

East Nashville Beer Works
320 E. Trinity Lane, East Nashville
The latest addition to the craft beer scene in East Nashville, East Nashville Beer Works is giving us a mix of small-batch brews (an IPA, wheat beer and lots more), and making pizzas and salads in-house too, so you’re not drinking your lunch/dinner.

The Hop Stop
2909B Gallatin Pike, East Nashville
With a regularly changing mix of 36 craft beers on draught (lots of locals, lots of imports too), The Hop Stop is an East Nashville beer nerd’s Cheers. They also specialize in food that goes exceptionally well with beer: hot dogs. Coney Island chili dog, Chicago dog, beer-soaked Bratwurst and a lot more to complement a pint, like nachos and sliders. Hard to go wrong.

hot chicken

Hattie B’s Hot Chicken
5209 Charlotte Pike, West Nashville
White Hattie B’s isn’t the originator (that’d be Prince’s), their take on hot chicken has been massively popular — enough to turn the local eatery into a small but growing chain. And the West Nashville location is taking part in Eat Out Help Out, so you can add a little extra “good” to the “hurts so good” of hot chicken.

barbeque

Edley’s Bar-B-Que East
908 Main St., East Nashville
Looking for something stick-to-your-ribs-good for dinner? Edley’s is one of the best barbeque places in the city, and their East Nashville location is participating in Eat Out Help Out from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. You can’t go wrong with the pulled pork, and their turkey is amazing, but part of what makes Edley’s a cut above is their sides — everything is house-made, flavorful and fresh.

excellent Asian fare

Two Ten Jack
1900 Eastland Avenue, Suite 105, East Nashville
Feel like closing out your day with some of the city’s finest ramen and a masterful mixologist-made cocktail? East Nashville’s Two Ten Jack is a sure bet. The Japanese Izakaya-style restaurant takes their ramen craft seriously, and it shows in the end product.

Nomzilla! Sushi Et Cetera
1000 Gallatin Ave., East Nashville
One of the newer faces on the East Nashville dining scene, Nomzilla’s quickly become a neighborhood sushi go-to. They do well with menu items beyond sushi too, with fusion takes on stuff like Korean spicy pork and Burmese curry.

pizza

Two Boots Nashville
1925 Broadway, Midtown
We did a little rundown on Nashville pizza recently, and if we added another category — “creative” — we’d slot the Nashville-by-way-of-New York Two Boots at the top. Stuff like a Cajun Bacon Cheeseburger pie and The Kitty, topped with Hattie B’s Hot Chicken and blue cheese dressing, lands it there squarely.

Hope one or several of these make your Wednesday dining list. If your dining explorations make you find a neighborhood you’re determined to move to, give us a call — we’d love to help you find the perfect place!