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Nolanfan34's last post in this thread (actually a PM from RunDownHouse) pretty much hit the nail on the head. I'll second Rotier's, a little joint on Elliston with the best burger I've ever had. Not mentioned in that thread is the best sushi restaurant in Nashville, Samurai, which is also on Elliston.
If you're looking for the tourist's Nashville experience, just wander around 2nd Ave and Broadway, as others have suggested. There are tons of local flavor bars, and everyone you meet wearing a cowboy hat will be from out of town as well. If you're younger, the local college crowd tends to hang out at a strip of bars on Demonbreun St.
Hillsboro village is another area of town that may interest you. Several great restaurants (Sunset Grill & Bosco's are two of my favorites) plus lots of small locally owned shops.
Also, it's probably worth your time to do a walk-through of the Opryland Hotel. It's one of the largest hotels in the country, and around Christmas they go all-out with the decorations. It has several large indoor conservatories, and while a walkthrough of a hotel may not sound interesting, I can pretty much guarantee you'll be impressed, though the crowds/traffic can be bad sometimes as it is adjacent to the largest shopping area in Nashville, Opry Mills. Definitely skip that, it's just a big mall, nothing special but it draws a lot of tourists.