Oops, Maybe There is Fine Italian Dining in the South

With relatives coming to town, the family grouped up and headed out to Volare's in the Opryland Hotel for dinner last evening.  Since it was an Italian restaurant and we ARE south of the Mason Dixon line, I had my concerns, but others made the arrangements and I was prepared for a "grin and bear it" dinner. Boy was Iwrong.  There was nothing to grin and bear---just grin and grin and grin.   Since we have three family members that work for the hotel, a private room was graciously arranged bu one of my BILs.  The staff was nothing short of perfect and the the sous chef sua sponte prepared a salume and formaggio plate along with an assortment of hand prepared condiments that were second to none.  The highlight, in my opinion, was the mozzeralla de bufula, topped with a ricotta curd suggested to be topped with an Hawaiian Black Lava Sea Salt.  Uncanny.  A special was the braised short ribs and ravioli di patata with white truffle oil.  Now, not really a fan of such oils (overrated, overused and over priced) I rarely pass up an offering of short ribs in the fall . Each bite was more succulent  than the previous one and the ravioli was dense, flavorful and matched the hearty short ribs perfectly.  Hmmm, maybe I have been too hard on the Nashvillians......