While Nashville’s food and drink scene has undeniably exploded, thanks in huge part to the Goldberg brothers (Catbird Seat, Pinewood Social), when in Music City, we can’t break away from The Patterson House, one of their first bars, which they opened in 2009. One of the reasons is the atmosphere and its very strict rules — don’t use your cell phone, and no seat… no drink — that lets us pretend we’re in an old-school gentlemen’s club, but one with less grandfatherly white dude and far better drinks. Oh, and those drinks: the list changes quarterly, but it always includes house-made syrups and tinctures and essences. And don’t sleep on its tater tots that come with a side of horseradish-dill-crème fraîche and have developed a following all their own.