ChaatablePhoto: Jessica Sloan
In the restaurant biz, the old real-estate adage is often cited as the paramount reason why many businesses fail — “location, location, location.” Looking at last year’s list of restaurant closings, it would be easy to chalk up 2018’s failures to entrepreneurs simply choosing the wrong neighborhood in which to set up shop.
But some concepts appear to be immune to those factors. You could probably plug a Chipotle into the Germantown spot recently vacated by Little Donkey, build a Taco Bell in the bathroom, and both restaurants would be virtually recession-proof. And if location is the primary factor in restaurants failing, then why are restaurateurs so quick to back into the empty shells that remain? They pounce on old locations like hermit crabs, when new premium build-outs are available in developments rising up all over town.
Some spots just seem to be cursed. In The Nations, the former location of The Stone Fox and House: A Social Eatery has been filled by — cross your fingers — a new outpost of Red Bicycle Coffee and Crepes. The ground-floor dining space in the 5th and Main mixed-use development has been home to so many concepts that you’d have to put down your fork to count them on your fingers. The Mainstay is the latest resident — perhaps ownership hopes the restaurant name will be good luck in helping the venture to stick around for a while. The charming Cafe Roze at 1115 Porter Road is a beloved addition to its neighborhood in East Nashville, but there were also fond sentiments about Zavos Greek Restaurant, Cafe Fundamental and Porter House Bistro, all of which occupied that same address.
You might expect older restaurants to be the ones dropping like flies, in part because we Nashvillians love to experience what’s new, and also because some stalwart establishments have allowed their cuisine to grow stale. But that’s not necessarily the case. Here are just a few other closures from the past year: Salt & Vine, EiO and the Hive, Kuchnia & Keller, Prima, Lulu and Bajo Sexto Taco Lounge. What did they have in common? For one thing, none of them lasted more than a couple years after opening to public and media acclaim. A deeper analysis indicates these eateries just weren’t as approachable to local diners as their operators might have hoped.
Salt & Vine was a lovely space, but the combination of wine bar, coffeehouse, high-end deli and specialty grocery was confusing to some patrons, who wondered where they were supposed to place their order and which menu to use at different times of the day. Prima initially offered a menu of simple and soulful food that was delicious but didn’t seem to fit with the white tablecloths and opulent chandeliers that looked like modern art installations. Lulu and EiO and the Hive both preached healthy living, but some diners apparently got a little ill over the prospect of paying premium prices for salads and grain bowls. As delicious as chef Kaelin Ulrich’s food was at Bajo Sexto on Charlotte Avenue, maybe West Nashvillians weren’t quite ready to eat crickets as an appetizer. Chef Aaron Clemins and his staff were deeply passionate about the Eastern European cuisine and Wisconsin-inspired beer and cocktail menu they were serving at Kuchnia & Keller, but unfortunately, acceptance was just too limited to support such a huge dining space.
While rising rental prices are certainly factors in the demise of these restaurants, they apparently aren’t too daunting to prevent other developers from grabbing the opportunity to take a swing at turning these spots into successful restaurants. The difference is that the replacement restaurants seem to focus on more approachable menus, or at least food that has a more recognizable story. Tandy Wilson took almost no time to convert Kuchnia & Keller into Mop/Broom Mess Hall, replacing the würzfleisch, goulash and Ukrainian doughnuts with his own menu of homestyle barbecue chicken, pork chops and chicken wings. The pub Neighbors took its casual sports-bar vibe from Sylvan Park to Germantown and plugged right into Lulu’s old location, although the menu is intentionally and decidedly less healthy. While details of the replacement for Bajo Sexto are still unclear, and construction seems to be moving forward in fits and starts, we’re guessing that any place called Twilight Tavern will probably not be quite as challenging to the local palates.
Outliers in the trend toward simpler food include the high-end steakhouse chain STK moving into the former Prima space, as well as Maneet Chauhan’s Chaatable, which has taken over for Salt & Vine. STK might be the best option to fill that huge, elegant space (and to pay the accompanying rent prices). Chauhan’s take on the delectable Indian street food of her youth is a lot easier to explain, and the whimsical decor of the remodeled space should draw fans of the celebrity chef to her new venture.
You can be sure that more restaurants will close in 2019, and entrepreneurs will line up to take over those spaces with new ideas. It will be interesting to see whether the trend remains in favor of more approachable menus over precious, niche-based cuisines, and if the old reliables can continue to outlast some of the new upstarts. We promise we’ll be keeping score.
https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/cover-story/article/21040029/stories-to-watch-2019-restaurant-scene 2019-01-10 11:04:58Z
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