l o c a l f l av o r
Old Fashioned, New Nashville What’s cooking at The Patterson House and Gertie’s Bar by Carrington Fox
Gertie’s Bar at The 404 Kitchen 507 12th Ave. S. 615-712-8572 the404nashville.com
The Patterson House
photographS bY eric england
1711 Division St. 615-636-7724 thepattersonnashville.com
Named for Governor Malcolm R. Patterson, the teetotal executive who unexpectedly helped end Prohibition in Tennessee, The Patterson House celebrates and elevates the cocktail to an art form. On the ground floor of the low-profile building that houses the dining landmark The Catbird Seat, mixologists in subtle period wardrobe perform an elegant show of building drinks, from muddling fresh herbs and frothing egg whites to coaxing a friendly flame from a citrus peel. In an amber-lit bar stocked with endless possibilities of liquors, liqueurs, housemade bitters and infused syrups, The Patterson House bartenders prevent decision paralysis with a well-curated menu, arranged by choice of alcohol. On the bourbon page, for example, you might find the iconic bacon Old-Fashioned, made by pouring whiskey into a pan of sizzling bacon, extracting the meat and grease to leave a salt- and smokeinfused sipping whiskey that is then mixed with maple syrup and coffee-pecan bitters and served over a baseball of twice-filtered ice. With an ever-changing menu of craft cocktails and seasonal bar snacks — think deviled eggs, charcuterie, elevated doughnuts and tater tots, and creative panini and flatbreads — it’s no wonder owners Max and Benjamin Goldberg continue to draw quiet crowds to their latter-day speakeasy. And while there’s no secret password to sneak into this elegant library lounge, here’s a hint: go early. The cozy book-lined barroom fills up fast, and there’s no standing allowed in this sophisticated inner sanctum of creative cocktailing, so you’ll have to wait outside the velvet curtain until a booth or seat at the bar opens up. But if you do get there when the queue has already formed, be patient. It’s worth the wait.
You might recognize the Gulch address of Gertie’s Bar as the former wine room of Watermark Restaurant, but these days, the space has traded grape for grain. Named for a legendary bootlegger, Gertie’s Bar stocks an encyclopedic inventory of brown liquors from around the world. In fact, the number of whiskeys, ryes and bourbons sitting on the glowing shelves over the bar — approximately 400 — is just a coincidence, nothing to do with Gertie’s big sister upstairs, The 404 Kitchen, which recently relocated from a tiny shipping container across the street to the much larger space vacated when Watermark left for the Bridgestone Americas building. What’s not a coincidence is the meticulous attention to ingredients that go into cocktails at this establishment. Beverage director Christina Cabrera oversees a repertoire of craft cocktails on a par with chef Matt Bolus’ dinner menu upstairs. Tiny brown bottles of tinctures, bitters and syrups with labels such as Rose and Canned Heat line the counter of the large central bar where bartenders pipe them delicately into innovations such as The Man in Black (bourbon, Bruto Americano, vanilla and coriander), Minnie Pearl (vodka, prosecco, Dolin Blanc, Luxardo cherry, eucalyptus and lemon), and Fall to Pieces (vodka, Lillet Rosé, rose petal syrup, lemon and soda). To see the marriage of cocktails and cuisine, look no farther than Gertie’s 404 OldFashioned, made by steeping brown butter with bourbon and toasted pecan syrup. Meanwhile, Gertie’s serves an independent menu of bar snacks such as deviled eggs with handmade chowchow and chicken liver pâté served in a tiny canning jar. Bootlegging never looked so good.
44 >> february 2018 | nfocusnashville.com LocalFlavor.indd 44
1/25/18 3:39 PM
