A number of new restaurants are popping up all over Nashville each day. For folks who are just moving to town, sifting through Yelp can be overwhelming, not to mention some of the best restaurants end up getting buried in the mix due to an extreme saturation of places to dine. Yes, filters help, but to help you get started, I thought I’d narrow down a list of three of my favorite fast-casual restaurants in the East Nashville area to help you get started. Sometimes our days can be pretty packed where we can barely even squeeze in a lunch, so it’s nice to have quick options that you can even take on the go without having to sacrifice quality.

1. Yeast Nashville

For those of you from Texas, you know all too well what a kolache is. For those of you who don’t, a kolache was originally a semisweet wedding dessert that originated in Central Europe. The Czech’s introduced them to Texas where a savory variation of kolaches were then created which contain sausage. Yeast Nashville offers “Tex-Czech” kolaches daily along with many other breakfast items. including breakfast tacos on certain days of the week. Serving great Drew’s Brew Coffee and High Garden Tea in a relaxed, cozy setting, Yeast Nashville is a great place to fuel your morning and start your day off right.

Sam’s Pick: Green Chile Cheeseburger, Brisket Taco and a Bourbon Banana Pudding Shake

2. Grillshack

No frills or gimmicks here. Located just off of Riverside Drive in East Nashville, Grillshack is home to one of my personal favorite cheeseburgers in Nashville. The thing I love about this place is that they aren’t trying to impress you with fancy décor or an “extra” ambiance. In fact, you forget very quickly that you are sitting on a wooden picnic bench on the side of a busy street as soon as you take your first bite of their burger.

Locally-sourced, grass-fed beef cooked medium with fresh ground pepper topped with muenster cheese on a Provence roll, Grillshack easily satisfies any burger craving. The fries are excellent and best eaten when dipped in Grillshack’s homemade horseradish ranch or spicy ketchup.

If you are located closer to the west-side of Nashville, Grillshack just recently opened their second location in Germantown on 5th Avenue North.

Sam’s Pick: Cheeseburger w/ grilled sweet onions, fries (with horseradish ranch) and a Mexican Coke

3. Red Headed Stranger

Red Headed Stranger is easily becoming one of the most popular breakfast/brunch spots in East Nashville. Named after Willie Nelson’s famous album, this neighborhood taco shop serves breakfast and lunch 7 days a week and has just recently opened up for dinner service on Fridays and Saturdays.

RHS sets themselves apart from other taco places in town by making fresh flour tortillas every morning filled with brisket, green chiles and other southwestern inspired foods, pulling out your inner disco cowboy/cowgirl and making you feel like the Red Headed Stranger himself might walk in and join you any minute.

My favorite parts about this place is that it’s one of the only places in town to get a really fantastic cheeseburger at 8am (and for only $6). No matter which area you settle in here in Nashville, this is one of those restaurants that’s worth the traffic heavy commute, and you’ll forget all about the perpetual roadwork on 440 as soon as you’re dipping fresh flour tortillas into mouth-watering queso and sipping on a warm cup of Stay Golden Coffee.