The East Nashvillian 9.2 Nov-Dec 2018

K N O W Y O U R N E I G H B O R : Melissa Corbin

A R T I S T I N P R O F I L E : Summer Triangle Pottery

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER VOL. IX ISSUE 2

I DREAM OF WEENIE • LYRA NASHVILLE CRAFT DISTILLERY ROSEPEPPER CANTINA • THE TREEHOUSE

MARGOT CAFÉ & BAR EDESIA • SHUGGA HI BAKERY & CAFE S W E E T 16T H B A K E R Y • L O C K E L A N D T A B L E

FOOD & DRINK RECIPES FROM SOME OF EAST NASHVILLE’S FAVORITE SPOTS

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©2018 Kitchen Table Media P.O. Box 60157 Nashville, TN 37206 The East Nashvillian is a bimonthly

magazine published by Kitchen Table Media. This publication is offered freely, limited to one per reader. The removal of more than one copy by an individual from any of our distribution points constitutes theft and will be subject to prosecution.

All editorial and photographic materials contained herein are “works for hire” and are the exclusive property of Kitchen Table Media, LLC unless otherwise noted.

Reprints or any other usage without the express written permission of the publisher is a violation of copyright.

FOUNDER & PUBLISHER Lisa McCauley

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Chuck Allen

MANAGING EDITOR Nicole Keiper

PHOTO DIRECTOR Travis Commeau

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Chuck Allen

COPY EDITOR Randy Fox

ILLUSTRATIONS Benjamin Rumble, Dean Tomasek

ONLINE EDITOR Nicole Keiper

ADVERTISING SALES Lisa McCauley lisa@theeastnashvillian.com 615.582.4187

PROOFING EDITOR Samantha Baize Creamer

CALENDAR EDITOR Emma Alford Kitchen

Table Media Company Est.2010

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DESIGN DIRECTOR Benjamin Rumble

ADVERTISING DESIGN Benjamin Rumble

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ellen Mallernee Barnes, Samantha Baize Creamer, Timothy Charles Davis, Dana Delworth, Randy Fox, Jon Gugala, James Haggerty, Joelle Herr, Jennifer Justus, Theresa Laurence, Ellen Margulies, Brittney McKenna, Tommy Womack

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FEATURES

30 THE PIONEER WOMAN

East Nashville food pioneer Margot McCormack on her namesake restaurant’s past and future

By Jon Gugala

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COOKING A CULTURE OF COMMUNIT Y

In Lockeland Table, East Nashville has a friendly neighborhood hang with fine-dining sensibilities

By Jennifer Justus

WEENIE 46 TEENIE EAST SIDE DREAMIE

The little bus that could, I Dream of Weenie, is still the top dog of 5 Points

By Brittney McKenna

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OF THE TIMES 49 SIGN (AND TEQUILA!)

Andrea Chaires guards her family legacy with wit and wisdom

By Randy Fox

55 ‘EAT DESSERT FIRST’

Sandra Austin and Kathy Leslie keep their mother’s memory, food, and philosophy alive at Shugga Hi Bakery & Café

By Ellen Mallernee Barnes

58 MAKING THE LIGHT GROW The secret ingredient at Indian-Italian restaurant eDESIa? Love.

By Theresa Laurence

FEATURES

61 THE SCIENCE OF SPIRITS

East Sider Bruce Boeko made the leap from forensics to fermentation with Nashville Craft Distillery

By Randy Fox

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BRINGING THE MIDDLE EAST TO EAST NASHVILLE

Hrant Arakelian and Liz Endicott bring deep Nashville roots and Middle Eastern flavors to Lyra

75 SIMPLY SWEET

Almost 15 years in, Sweet 16th Bakery is a Lockeland Springs institution

By Ellen Margulies

EAST NASHVILLE 79 THE COOKBOOK Curated by Samantha Baize Creamer

By Ellen Margulies

COVER SHOT

68 FAMILY TREEHOUSE

Rosepepper’s mirthful marquee

A longtime landmark in 5 Points, Treehouse remains a center of creativity

Photographed by Travis Commeau

By Timothy Charles Davis

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

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COMMENTARY

EAST SIDE BUZZ

By Nicole Keiper

10 Editor’s Letter

IN THE KNOW

18 Astute Observations

13 Matters of Development your Neighbor: 36 Know Melissa Corbin

By Tommy Womack

By Chuck Allen

By James “Hags” Haggerty

Channeled 21 History Edgefield Grill: Pop a Top Again

By Randy Fox

in Profile: 97 Artist Summer Triangle Pottery

By Dana Delworth

87 Bookish

104 East of Normal

By Tommy Womack

PARTING SHOT

By Joelle Herr

91 East Side Calendar

By Emma Alford

“Montana” Ben Steel

Photographed by Travis Commeau

Visit theeastnashvillian.com for updates, news, events, and more!

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EDITOR’S LETTER The East Side food renaissance

O

ne popular subject of conjecture on the East Side revolves around determining the watershed moment that marks the start of the area’s renaissance. Most of the “old-timers” would agree that the renovation boom began in the aftermath of the ’98 tornado. The local music scene started shifting eastward with the opening of Slow Bar and Radio Cafe. But when it comes to the cornerstone of all things cultural — food — the renaissance really began with the opening of Margot Café & Bar in 2001.

Margot McCormack proved that great restaurants inhabit a rarified sphere of being, one that exists outside of (or above) political winds and geography. East Nashville was a far different place in 2001, with a much-maligned reputation, but that didn’t deter seekers of fine dining from across Middle Tennessee from making the trek to 5 Points in their pursuit of a world-class dining experience.

Rearranging perceptions while simultaneously shattering the misconceptions that had dogged the East Side for decades were byproducts of McCormack’s success. Her efforts also led to what would be the first of many nods by the national press about an area that has since become a cultural destination.

Indie restaurants have always tended to pop up where rents are cheap and the livin’ is easy. In the ’80s, areas like NYC’s SoHo and Nashville’s Hillsboro Village were the places for off-the-beaten-path dining experiences.

Jody Faison and (current East Nashville resident) Randy Rayburn — with Faison’s and Sunset Grill, respectively — were early independent-restaurant pioneers in Music City. Their establishments, which sat across the street from one another on Belcourt Avenue in Hillsboro Village, set the tone for bistro-style eateries that would follow, including Margot.

It’s hard to imagine now, what with foursquares on Belmont Boulevard regularly fetching prices in the seven-figure range, but during the ’80s, the Hillsboro-Belmont area was fairly affordable. By the late ’90s the area was

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all but gentrified; it was time for the cultural trendsetters to move along.

Hiding in plain sight was an area that, prior to the tornado, had been in decline since the Interstate System effectively severed it from the rest of the city in the early ’60s: the decidedly not-sexy locale now known as 5 Points. Here McCormack staked her claim. Others soon followed; Matt Charette with Batter’d & Fried; the Alley Cat (now Drifters BBQ , also owned by Charette); and 3 Crow Bar. Elsewhere in 37206, places like Ernie Chaires’ Rosepepper Cantina (the marquee of which inspired the cover for this issue), The Family Wash, Sasso (now The Lipstick Lounge), Lockeland Table, and Holland House (now Lyra) continued building upon the idea that the East Side had become a destination.

All this deliciousness comes with a price, however. It seems that if there’s one thing developers love more than anything else, it’s jumping on the bandwagon and cashing in. They let local folks like March Egerton (the original developer of the former gas station that became Margot, among many others) and Dan Heller (the mastermind behind Riverside Village) take the early risk, and then hop on the gravy train once it looks like a sure bet. One could argue that a structural flaw of capitalism is to kill the goose that laid the golden egg: artists, musicians, and restaurateurs create a happening scene; it blows up; developers enter the fray and drive up the price of housing stock; artists, musicians, and indie restaurants are priced out of the area and go find somewhere else to play. Rinse, repeat.

East Nashville may still weather the most egregious long-term affects of the gentrification cycle. The scene is still thriving. The area differs, structurally and geographically, from Hillsboro Village and the greater Belmont-Hillsboro neighborhood. It’s more contiguous.

Affordable housing stock remains, although it’s nothing like the days of old (the ’90s and before).

No matter what the future brings — or recent-past gentrification has wrought — we have plenty of fabulous food destinations in which we can grouse about the unfairness of it all over a great meal.

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FOR UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ON EVENTS, AS WELL AS LINKS, PLEASE VISIT US AT: THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

East Side BUZZ Matters of Development

It’s been a busy season for fashion and music around East Nashville, with lots of sweet/savory food openings on the horizon.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY In September, The Wabash building on Woodland (where coworking big guns WeWork live) welcomed Consider the Wldflwrs, a jewelry brand that comes our way from North Nashville.

Wldflwrs offerings range from classically inspired pieces designed by owner Emily Eggebrecht to creations from other designers she loves, many of whom she’s connected with through local craft fairs and trade shows. Specifically: rings, earrings, necklaces, and more, for women and men, including wedding and engagement rings.

“It’s really fun to have a collaborative space

where we can showcase many different styles,” Eggebrecht told us, “since so many of our customers are looking for something unique.”

The shop’s open now at 901 Woodland St., Ste. 102, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and online at considerthewldflwrs.com.

Another new way to accessorize locally: “casually elegant handbag” brand Lilyan James, whose first brick-and-mortar shop is now open at 711 Porter Rd. (the former home of jewelry shop Doxahlogy).

Nashvillian Lindsey Stewart Sherrod is the woman behind the bags, and she pulled the name and a slew of inspiration from her grandmother, who has East Side roots.

“In the 1960s, Lilyan lived on Eastland Avenue,” Sherrod told us. “She left East Nashville for Japan with my grandfather who was a journalist there. It seemed fitting for the story to come full circle as I start this journey and I am excited to be in a neighborhood that formed so

much of who Lilyan is now.”

Sherrod stocks a mix of her personally designed, U.S.-made bags, plus picks from other makers she loves. Shop’s open from noon to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.

For more, or to order online, visit lilyanjames.com.

Also new on the East Nashville style scene: Surreal Blow Out Bar, open at 414 Woodland St., Ste. D, in the mixed-use Eastside Heights development.

Those folks do blowouts, styling, color, and more, and they came our way from Green Hills, where the first full-service salon under the Surreal name was launched.

Salon hours are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to Saturday, and you can learn more/book an appointment online at surrealhairstudio.com.

As of mid-August, Hawaii-inspired restaurant Kawai Poké Co. is also open in the Wabash building, at 901 Woodland St., Ste. 105.

Along with their titular poké bowls (built on

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EAST SIDE BUZZEAST SIDE BUZZ marinated seafood with rice/greens/veggies/ sauces), Kawai offers a range of tropically tilted breakfast bowls and smoothies, plus craft beer and more.

They’re currently open 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday through Saturday, 11 to 4 on Sunday. For more, visit kawaipoke.com.

Also newly opened: Boombozz Craft Pizza & Taphouse, at 1003 Russell St., the former Crystal Fountain Church of God in Christ.

Boombozz is a Kentucky-bred chain, offering both familiar and more crafty pizza options, plus pub-food-style options like wings and nachos.

They’re digging into Tennessee pretty determinedly, too — the East Nashville store is one of several Volunteer State additions, and one that Nashville market COO Bryan Beach told us the team was really stoked about.

“There is so much culture and pride wrapped up in this area,” he said. “It gave us what felt like a new opportunity with our concept, by looking a bit outside of the box from our normal brand with items like custom murals and a full-size playground. The demographics in the area also screamed pizza, sports, and beer to us.”

Hours are 11 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Friday, 10-1 a.m. on Saturday, 10 a.m. to midnight on Sunday. For more: facebook.com/ BoombozzEastNashville.

At the Shops at Porter East, the brioche-focused Brightside Bakeshop is now open at 713 Porter Rd., with shelves stocked with all kinds of sweet and savory pastries, including croissants and cinnamon rolls with a mix of different flavors.

This is Brightside’s first physical location, but owners Andrea and Brad Borchers have been busily spreading the good Brightside word for about two years, at markets, cafes, and popups across Nashville (including stocking stuff at the newer Retrograde Coffee right here in East Nashville).

The Porter location is on the small side, and thus a retail-only location, but it has a large pastry counter and indoor and outdoor seating.

“It is entirely designed by us, so we’re pouring a lot of love into it,” Borchers said.

To get to know their wares and keep up with the latest news, visit brightsidebakeshop.com.

Wasn’t so long ago that the East Nashville music shop landscape was relatively sparse. But with Fanny’s House of Music, The Groove, Fond Object, Vinyl Tap, Eastside Music Supply, Drum Supply House/Nelson Drum Shop, and more, we’ve been getting pretty flush. As of late 2018 though, we might officially be the city’s hottest music-shopping hotbed.

As of late September, Grimey’s New and

Preloved Music is an official East Nashville business: They’re now open seven days a week at 1060 E. Trinity Lane, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Monday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

The new location (the former Point of Mercy church) is much bigger than their longtime Eighth Avenue spot, with more parking and a proper stage, which the Grimey’s folks have already been taking steady advantage of, hosting events with the likes of John Hiatt and Snow Patrol. For more: grimeys.com.

Add in another big Nashville music name, too: Also in September, instrument sales/ repairs shop Corner Music moved over to 3048 Dickerson Pike (right by Prince’s), after their longtime home in 12 South sold.

Their East Side location is also a lot bigger, at 10,000 square feet, offering plenty of extra space for more guitars and amps and keys and repairs and on and on.

Visit those folks in the new shop from 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday through Friday, 10 to 5 on Saturday, or online at cornermusic.com.

Fun: At least temporarily, East Nashville is home to the first BarkPark — a members-only dog park stocked with amenities for both pups and pup parents, including a coffee bar, fancy seating, restrooms, weekly events programming, and lots of toys/treats for purchase, with membership fees ranging from $19 day passes to $78 season passes.

Less fun: The park, brought to us by the folks behind pet toy/treat subscription service BarkBox, opened at 800 Meridian St. on Sept.

8, but was set to close for the winter just a little bit after this new issue hits stands, on Sunday, Nov. 18.

Their East Nashville debut was always intended to be a three-month pop-up — the BarkPark folks tell us they haven’t made a decision yet about whether that Meridian Street location will reopen come the warmer months, but if you’re crossing fingers it will, best place to keep an eye out: park.bark.co.

CLOSINGS & MOVES After six years of sharing vintage, handmade and otherwise cool and quirky clothes and home goods, East Side shop Pony Show closed its doors at 723 Porter Rd. in September.

“Thank you to all the wonderful folks who have helped my little Pony Show become the magical dream shop that it is,” owner Pippin Chapman wrote in a social-media goodbye note to supporters and shoppers. “…It’s been such an amazing [six] years and the lessons learned and friendships made are far too numerous to list.”

Although the physical shop is gone, the Pony Show brand isn’t — Chapman is keeping it alive online at ponyshownashville.com, where you

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EAST SIDE BUZZEAST SIDE BUZZ can still find cheeky cards, tank tops, and baby bibs, among other items.

Another loss to East Side vintage-hunters: the Goodwill store at 613 Gallatin Rd. Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee PR & communications director Chris Fletcher told us that the decision to shutter had to do with broad improvements the organization was making.

“Goodwill is making upgrades to the donation processing areas of all its stores, to allow us to put more merchandise and better quality merchandise on our store shelves,” he said. “…After an extensive review, it has been determined that the Gallatin Road facility is configured in a way that prevents us from making these necessary upgrades.”

And while there weren’t any plans in the works at the moment, he said it wasn’t totally out of the question that another East Nashville shop would open down the line.

“We are always on the lookout for properties in the 48 counties we serve that would add value to our organization and our mission,” Fletcher said.

Former Pony Show neighbors Lucaya Clothing Co. had some big recent news too: a move. But a small one: They shifted two doors down at the Shops at Porter East, to a larger space, at 723 Porter Rd. They’re already up and going there, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, 11-5 Saturday and Sunday. Porter East has been that brand’s home since early 2016.

More/to shop online: shoplucaya.com.

Trailblazers on the East Nashville CBD landscape, Music City Hemp Store, made a move too, but they picked up from the East Side, relocating to 708 N. Fourth Ave. near the Capitol.

The shop, which stocks all kinds of cannabidiol products (oils, creams, edibles, and more), opened in April on N. 16th St., and in the months since, our area’s added (or soon will welcome) other shops sharing these products, which tout a blend of health benefits. Among them: CBD American Shaman, now open at 925 Gallatin Ave., Ste. 103, and LabCanna, which was prepping to open at 1006 Gallatin Ave. at press time.

Music City Hemp Store owner Dave Duncan said it wasn’t a busier crop of competition that prompted the move, though — just the sale of the building he was parked in. He’s open now at the new location noon to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday. More: musiccityhempstore.com.

around Main Street and N. 10th St. Another one to get excited about: Locally launched, fast-casual Vietnamese restaurant Vui’s Kitchen is working on a Hunters Station location too, which’ll join larger Vui’s restaurants in Berry Hill and Germantown.

“It’ll be neat for us to be with sister restaurants and expand and grow and do something different,” Vui’s area supervisor Stephanie Gilmore told us.

Also in the Hunters mix, Fresh Hospitality operating partner Mollie Murphree told us: another Grilled Cheeserie (joining their much-praised food truck and Belcourt Avenue restaurant), and another Hugh-Baby’s burger joint (which has restaurants operating on Charlotte and West End Avenues).

We’re still waiting on a confirmed opening date for Hunters and all its included eateries (in total, it should include as many as nine restaurant tenants with individual kitchens, shared seating, and other amenities, like a dog walk), but it could be as soon as November 2018.

Joining them all in 37206: The Cake Project, baker JP Smith’s cheesecake-focused bakery, which was also shooting for a late-October opening, at 1006 Fatherland St., Ste. 207, in the Shoppes on Fatherland.

Smith’s original brick-and-mortar Cake Project location was in Lenox Village, but he told us he’s been itching to get over our way for a while.

“I almost rented the space next to The Pied Piper Creamery,” he said. “I still kick myself for not taking advantage of that opportunity.”

He made good on the aim, though, snatching up that Fatherland spot and readying a mix of almost 40 different cheesecake flavors, from fruit-based basics to maple bacon. His cheesecakes come in a range of sizes, too, from single-serving jars to 10-inch cakes.

For the latest Cake Project news, swing by facebook.com/TCP12.

Also getting ready for an opening around this issue’s street date: Solstice Intimates, a lingerie and underwear shop joining the Wabash building in East Nashville.

Solstice comes our way from Tempe, Arizona, where it launched its collection of bodysuits, underwear, bralettes, and more, aimed at “the smart, sexy, free-spirited, always curious, adventure seeker,” spanning genders and body types.

A lot of their pieces have a distinct, high-style, ’70s-influenced vibe (bright patterns and high waists and velvet and so on), and they’ve already made fans of stylish music names Margo Price and Nikki Lane, which is a pretty good East Nashville start.

COMING SOON One of the most-anticipated projects for East Nashville food fans, the Hunters Station food hall, is really starting to come together, and thus, more confirmed restaurant names have been getting dropped.

A few months back, we got confirmation that California-style taco-slingers Tacos Aurora were planning to set up inside that food hub, November | December 2018 theeastnashvillian.com

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NOW SERVING DELI SANDWICHES

24 CRAFT BEERS ON TAP NEW AND USED RECORDS FULL BAR & CUSTOM COCKTAILS 2038 GREENWOOD AVE | AT THE CORNER OF PORTER AND GREENWOOD | 615.454.3995

Visit Us in the Shoppes at 10th and Fatherland New Clients Enjoy 5 Classes for $35 Studio51stNashville.com/East

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EAST SIDE BUZZ Their new shop is located at 9 S. Ninth St., Unit 7, and you can learn more/order online at solsticeintimates.com.

One more coming-soon pick that might be here by the time this issue hits your hands: a new studio/retail space from fashion brand Artaya Loka — their grand opening, at press time, was set for Nov. 1 at 1006 Fatherland St., Ste. 205, in the Shoppes on Fatherland.

Led by local designer Dana Greaves, the brand’s about a year old, and built a foundation by sharing clothing, accessories, and more through pop-ups and makers markets.

Greaves’ general aesthetic approach: “producing ‘Borderless Designs’ that cross cultural and gender borders with a mix of prints with genderless shapes.”

This’ll be the first Artaya Loka brick-andmortar space, and planned hours were 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Thursday to Saturday, noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, and noon to 6 p.m. Monday. For more, visit artayaloka.com.

Our juicery stash is getting built back up: A season or so after the closure of Lynne Lorraine’s juicery, that hole’s due to get filled by the certified-organic Clean Juice bar, working on opening at 962 Woodland St. in the fall.

Clean Juice is a growing chain, with stores spread from the West to East Coasts, delivering cold-pressed juices, along with smoothies, acai bowls, coffee, and more.

Those folks hadn’t announced a solid grand-opening date for the East Nashville location at press time, but they were busy prepping the space (which was formerly home to pet food shop Pet Wants). The East Side Clean Juice Instagram (@cleanjuicefivepoints) is a good place to keep up with the latest.

Congrats are due to East Nashville-launched sweets-slingers KOKOS Plant Based Ice Cream — less than a year after opening the doors at their flagship to-go shop on the East Side, they’re already working on a second location.

That new place will be larger and more involved: It’s set to be a “Skoop Shop” that’ll offer fresh-scooped KOKOS in cones and cups, plus soft-serve and more. (At the current location, 729 Porter Rd., the menu’s built on to-go cups and packaged pops.)

Down side, at least for us: The debut KOKOS Skoop Shop won’t be here in the neighborhood. We haven’t seen a confirmed location from those folks yet, or a grand-opening date, but we know it’ll be in West Nashville, and plans are to open this fall.

Meantime, we still have our KOKOS to-go at the ready: They’re open 1-8 p.m., Thursday to Sunday. For more: kokosicecream.com.

Another local brand branching out, but this time from outside East Nashville in: The Nashville Business Journal reported in late September

that downtown coffee name Crema was planning on relocating its roasting and fulfillment operations to East Nashville.

Their new property is at 226 Duke St., off Trinity Lane, and the Journal said that the intent was to create a takeaway-only cafe with no seating. We haven’t seen a set opening date yet.

—Nicole Keiper

Get deeper info

on these happenings and more on our blog at

theeastnashvillian.com.

Have East Side development news to share? Reach out to

nicole@theeastnashvillian.com.

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Astute OBSERVATIONS by

�ᚒᚔᚒ�

A sentimental journey of East Side eating

h, yes. The food and drink issue‌ Greetings, my fellow epicureans, discerning gourmands, and unique flavor fans. I am currently lounging on my divan, my sofa, my settee at the Inglewood chateau, enjoying a Bombay martini, as finely prepared by my companion, Melody. I don’t know how I would survive life’s perils without her. As it is 2 p.m., I am attired in the typical daywear of silk robe and slippers and of course a natty ascot.

It is Monday after all, and the week must be approached with discretion and circumspection.

Please, join me on a sentimental journey, won’t you? I’m thinking back 20 years now and remembering so many reluctant dinners at J. Alexander’s. Seemingly, this was the only restaurant in town. It’s where one went to celebrate special occasions, to rendezvous, to dine on mundane dishes prepared in bland style with ingredients purchased from the only food supplier in town, Robert Orr-Sysco. Their motto: “What, you don’t like it?�

It is with wonder and awe that I recall those bygone days of uninspired meals and the constant upsell of artichoke dip served in a “casually elegant� atmosphere. All over town, we were drowning in sweet tea and two-for-one entrees. Oh, Oh, Oh my god, save us from this peril!

Great Bacchus and Dionysus! My friends, I must tell you that it was these culinarily dark days that made me the cook I am today. Thank the good lord for cookbooks because the path to something other than fast food or the same ingredients from the same supplier at every joint in town was one a man had to walk on his own. If you want something cooked, you have to cook it yourself ! That was my mantra. Thankfully, with the help of Julia Child and Jacques Pepin, I burned, over-seasoned, singed, and scorched my way to some decent kitchen skills. In every cloud, there is a silver lining. In every obstacle lies an opportunity.

Have a hankering for more Hags?

We suggest visiting theeastnashvillian.com for all of his previous observations.

áš?áš’áš?

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Here in present day East Nashville, those distant memories from decades past seem like something from a dark dream, a fairy tale parents tell their children to traumatize them into appreciation and obedience. These days I feel like I am years behind on keeping up with independent restaurant openings, pop-ups, secret bars with passwords, authentic international cuisine, and let’s be honest, the occasional mediocre Asian bistro no longer residing in Riverside Village‌ Margot. Bravo! Folks from Green Hills braved the journey.

I saw them as I sat at the Slow Bar. The fancy SUV traffic was conspicuous on Woodland Street at the time. Jamie Rubin and the Family Wash, thank you for bringing tasty, affordable food and drink to a hungry neighborhood and supporting music and starving musicians with your delicious shepherd’s pies at every gig. To me, these establishments set the scene for the food and drink revolution that is happening in our neighborhood today.

The Inglewood Lounge, Mickey’s, Duke’s, the Edgefield, Fran’s, The Fox, Rosemary & Beauty Queen, Urban Cowboy.

So many intoxicating choices!

Fort Louise, Cafe Roze, Nomzilla, Mas Tacos, Butcher & Bee, Pharmacy, Rudie’s, Eastland Cafe, Lockeland Table, the Biscuit House. I’ve enjoyed delicious meals in every one.

Thank you!

Options. What?! It was not so long ago that the Inglewood Kroger was the only option for the evening’s meal. These days, world-class chefs compete for our neighborhood’s masticating loyalty.

Bailey & Cato’s ribs‌ They get a paragraph. Fall off the bone, smoky and delicious right down to the marrow (and still available up in Madison).

Prince’s Hot Chicken‌ Thank you. You started a national and international revolution. You were the first and are the best.

I could go on listing and reminiscing over all the wonderful bars and restaurants in our beloved East Nashville, but my martini is dry and my thirst is long. SlĂĄinte!

�

Hags is a part-time bon vivant, man-about-town, and resolute goodwill ambassador for The East Nashvillian.

He earns his keep as a full-time bassist extraordinaire.

�

illustration :

A

J ames “Hags� Haggerty

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HISTORY

Channeled

By Randy Fox

Pop a Top Again Edgefield Sports Bar & Grill’s kept the drinks flowing and burgers sizzling for a long, long time

“F

or a lot of our regulars, we start making their drink when they walk in the door,” Edgefield Sports Bar & Grill manager Patience Schwering says. “It’s like Brian — Four Roses, two ice cubes in it. Dean wants Yazoo Dos Perros — in the summer he likes a lime with it and in the winter he doesn’t like a lime.”

Schwering is sitting at a table by Edgefield’s long and amply stocked bar with owner Charlie “Buzz” Edens and his significant other — both personally and in business — Patty Singer. On a Thursday morning, a few hours before Edgefield opens, the trio chats about the history of one of East Nashville’s favorite neighborhood watering holes.

For over two decades, Edgefield has been greeting regulars with their favorite libations, serving up burgers from their well-seasoned grill, and playing host to a constant parade of old friends, local politicians, musicians, celebrities, and curious visitors to the Music City.

First opening in February 1995, Edgefield was the fulfillment of a dream for Edens.

“I’ve lived in East Nashville all my life and went to East High School,” Edens says. “So this was my area. I wanted to open something that was a little better than just a beer tavern.”

After securing a lease on a former bank processing center building, Edens began remaking the over 5,000-foot space into a massive, but ultimately welcoming neighborhood hangout.

“The building hadn’t been anything in years, so it was a total wreck,” he says. “But it was available, it was large, and it was cheap at the time. I had a business partner at the start, and we invested a couple hundred thousand dollars to just open the doors — and that was almost 25 years ago. When we opened, there was us and the Corner Tavern, which is now 3 Crow Bar. That was it in this area.”

‘LEARN FAST OR YOU’RE GONE’

Although some Nashvillians regarded East Nashville as “no man’s land” in the mid-1990s, it was home to a thriving middle-class population, and was attracting a growing number of urban pioneers who were purchasing old, historic, and very affordable homes for renovation. In that atmosphere, many locals eagerly welcomed the arrival of a source for cold beer and great burgers.

“Despite my experience in the bar business, I did not know what I was tackling when I opened Edgefield,” Edens says. “But you have to learn fast or you’re gone.”

That education received a significant boost with the arrival of bar manager and now “boss,” Patty Singer.

“I had worked for corporate chain bars and been a trainer, so he was lucky to get me,” Singer says with a smile, as Edens laughs and nods in agreement. “I came in about six months after the place opened, and I had to teach Buzz how to do a lot of stuff. I came in one day to work and they had not stocked the bar from the night before. I wasn’t going for that. Another time I came in the morning and there’s two people still sitting at the bar from the night before!”

“That was probably me,” Edens says.

“No, you were in the office asleep,” Singer replies, while Edens and Schwering enjoy a laugh.

THE NEXT EDGEFIELD GENERATION

Although Edens and Singer still oversee all aspects of Edgefield, they’re now happy to turn over the nightly operations to a younger generation of workers, led by the recently promoted Schwering.

Although Edgefield has run through a “greatest hits” of bar attractions over the last two decades — live bands, karaoke, trivia, dart leagues, and more — the good drinks and tasty cheeseburgers (named “Nashville’s Best” multiple times by various outlets, and once enjoyed by the late Anthony Bourdain), along with the welcoming vibe for both regulars and the occasional wandering group of tourists, have remained constants.

“I’ve gotten to meet so many different types of people,” Schwering says, “young people and old people and everything in between. I’ve watched them all over the years. I’ve seen people come in here, meet each other and end up getting married. Now they come in and show me pictures of their baby. I might not have ever met them if it wasn’t for this place.”

“Over the time that we’ve been here, we’ve kept it a nice place,” Edens says. “You don’t come in here thinking, ‘Well, is there going to be a fight?’ You don’t come in here wondering if it’s going to be a lot of rude people. It’s just a local, friendly neighborhood bar that’s been here a long, long time.”

CHEERS: Visit The Edgefield Sports Bar & Grill at 921 Woodland St., 2 p.m.-3 a.m. daily. For more, find the Edgefield on Facebook.

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KNOW your NEIGHBOR

PH O TO GR A PH B Y TR AVI S C O MM E AU

“I

Melissa CORBIN

Her coverage of fun stuff is far from constrained to Nashville either. The current top stories at corbininthedell.com

By Tommy Womack are the Legends & Lanterns Halloween festival in St. Charles, Missouri, and Texas-based master brewer Peter McFarlane going for the gold at the Denver Great American Beer Festival.

But to show she also cleaves close to home, there’s a piece on the Music City Food + Wine Festival, featuring Preston Van Winkle rhapsodizing over the family bourbon, Pappy Van Winkle. Scroll down a little further and you’ll see an article on East Nashville musician Bonnie Whitmore at the Miles of Music festival in Appleton, Wisconsin.

The gal gets around, in other words. But wherever she is and whatever she writes about, music worms its way into the subject matter. She does live in Nashville, after all.

“I write for publications such as AAA Traveler, Craft Beer magazine, I just finished my first story with Lonely Planet, you know, just a variety of publications.” She says, “I also podcast.”

Inside of an October week, Corbin starts out going to Lexington, Kentucky, to write about a restaurant, and winds up in El Salvador, which is not exactly a milk run, but it shows her enthusiasm to go where the story takes her. And if you’re a travel writer, hey, you travel.

And if you’re a food lover…

Indeed. A horse’s patoot is one thing “I love to cook — cooking helps me that Melissa Corbin is not. Convivial, unwind — and especially for somebespectacled, free to chat and with a one,” Corbin says. “I think there’s ready laugh and smile, she runs Corbin in the Dell, a website somewhere in what was the dearly departed nothing more loving than to prepare a meal for someone you Anthony Bourdain’s wheelhouse. She eats, she drinks, she writes, care about, then watch them enjoy that meal.”

It may not be the Life of Reilly, but it’s the life of one of his she digs music, and she’s hungry for more. cousins, at least.

’m a freelance food and travel journalist, and podcaster, but I’m real connected to agriculture as well. I grew up on a farm in Clarksville, went to school at Belmont, and the first part of my adult life I was a social worker.

I along with Adrian Newman opened the senior citizen center at Madison back in the ’90s. I worked with the homebound elderly for a while. I was also an adoption counselor, worked with several families in the East Nashville area. This was prior to my even living in East Nashville.

I moved to Inglewood in 1998. I ended up in the marketing and sales world — I went to HealthSpring working as their events manager, so still kind of working in that realm of social work but teetering the line of marketing and sales.

And I ended up, when they went public my little department got dissolved and I went to work for Graffiti. And that’s where I started getting my feet wet with the restaurant business. I mean I waited tables before — who hasn’t? — and I believe that if it was mandatory for everyone to have some sort of experience in the service industry, whether it was in hospitality or in the restaurant industry, I believe there would be far less assholes in this world.” — Melissa Corbin

“

There’s nothing more loving than to prepare a meal for someone you care about.

Melissa Corbin is doing what she can to make the planet a better (and better-tasting) place. Check out Corbin in the Dell at corbininthedell.com.

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Artist in Profile

SUMMER

TRIANGLE

POTTERY Co-writing the hits with Nashville’s chefs

BY DANA DELWORTH

PHOTOGRAPHED BY TRAVIS COMMEAU

W

hen dining with Lockeland Table in the heart of East Nashville, you’ll likely find yourself impressed with the menu, the atmosphere, and the plating. Food presentation can elevate a menu item, but here, you’ll discover an added element, too: Lockeland Table is one of the few restaurants in the area that features serving pottery made especially for it.

Sometimes a signature dish needs, well, a signature dish. Those custom Lockeland Table pieces, from dinner plates to coffee mugs, come from the hands of Paul and Dorothy Craig, professors with Middle Tennessee State University who operate Summer Triangle Pottery in a two-story studio behind their home in Lockeland Springs. Alongside the chefs at Lockeland Table and other eateries, the Craigs create custom dinnerware in a refreshingly collaborative way, resulting in plating that is distinctly unique.

Dorothy started working with clay when she was just 10 years old, growing up on the East Coast.

“I come from a big Italian-Hispanic family, lots of kids,” she says. “And I would go in our neighborhood in Queens and this woman did stuff at her house. And she knew that I was really interested in it, so she taught me all kinds of stuff, like how to load kilns.” →

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Artist in Profile

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Artist in Profile

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LOCKELAND DESIGN CENTER

Lots of bookish gifts for gals, guys & kiddos!

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a nook for people who love beautiful books 1043 West Eastland Avenue thebookshopnashville.com @thebookshopnashville

theeastnashvillian.com November | December 2018

www.lockelandpto.org

Artist in Profile Years later, while she and Nashville-native Paul were living in Murfreesboro, Dorothy stumbled onto some pottery at a parade of homes, and found her interest renewed.“Paul bought me a gift card for a 10-week session [at Studio S Pottery in Murfreesboro], and he came with me,” she says. “So that’s how he got into pottery.”

Today, Paul’s Summer Triangle specialty — which aligns perfectly with his profession, as an aerospace professor — is their Space & Time collection, which includes sundials, calendars, and star charts.

He also works with Dorothy on their dinnerware collaborations, and, fittingly, the couple happened on that part of their business by way of their stomachs. As the couple was exploring new restaurants in their then-new neighborhood, Dorothy, who has a fairly long list of allergies, found Chef Hal Holden-Bache and the staff of Lockeland Table to be particularly welcoming and accommodating.

“Anywhere I go, I have to tell the chef or the server what [allergies] I have, and they’re like, life-threatening — soy, peanuts, all kinds of fish. So we went to Lockeland about the year they opened, maybe three months into their opening. We told the server, and chef Hal came out and he was so nice, and he said, ‘I know of these allergies. We have people that have these allergies. Let me make you something that you can feel confident about.’”

In appreciation, the Craigs started bringing the staff desserts, and eventually brought some of their pottery as thank-you gifts. The persistent durability of the dinnerware caught the Lockeland team’s attention, and soon, they began working with the Craigs on specific pieces for their menu items, Summer Triangle creating a series of perfect canvases for their culinary art.

Although there are other bespoke pottery options for restaurants, Dorothy and Paul Craig pride themselves in creating color palettes and shapes through coordination with the venues, rather than simply giving a restaurant a limited choice of predetermined styles.

“That’s what we concentrate on,” Dorothy says. “And I love doing it. When you’re in any kind of administrative work, nothing happens fast, and at the end of the day, you don’t know what you accomplished. At the end of the day here, when there’s a plate there that didn’t exist before, it’s a feeling of accomplishment.”

Given their customized work, the studio contains designated sections for all the restaurants they serve, with one of each dish, along with patterns and glaze combinations.

It’s these specific recipes — the extra steps taken with each piece — that differentiate their work from supply stores and other mass-production sources.

“People thought we were totally crazy,”

Dorothy says. “There are people that do pottery for other restaurants, and when they saw my process they said, ‘I can’t believe you’re doing that.’ When we worked with Hal [at Lockeland Table], he came and told me what he wanted. He told me the idea he had — and I know what it’s like in there, so I kind of had an idea of what I thought would match. But it was his decision, not mine. In other words, it doesn’t start with me.”

For example, the Lockeland Table dishes include ash from the restaurant’s pizza oven, washed multiple times and included in the mix — recycling writ large, with permission.

In addition to custom dinnerware for Lockeland Table, Nicoletto’s Italian Kitchen, and the Farm House, as well as flagship tableware for upcoming East Nashville spot Pelican & Pig, the Craigs are producing pottery for chefs beyond Tennessee too.

“We were at the studio one Sunday afternoon, and there was a knock at the door,” Paul says. “It was a guy from Birmingham, Alabama, who was a catering chef who had heard about the place. And so we brought him in, we showed him all around and sent him on his way with things that he was going to use to photograph with his food. And he went back to Birmingham.”

Two years later, Paul says, that pop-in visitor took a job as the executive chef at South Main Kitchen in Alpharetta, Georgia, and that restaurant’s best now perches on Summer Triangle’s wares.

The most challenging piece Summer Triangle has produced, Dorothy says, wasn’t necessarily intended to be food-related.

After she gifted a clay replica of the Ryman Auditorium for a holiday show, the Country Music Hall of Fame commissioned her to create one of the museum. Although she was told there was no need to make it functional, Dorothy created a Hall that was not only challengingly similar to the multifaceted building, but a useable candy jar.

“Oh my god, nothing cracked,” she says, laughing. “I was lucky.”

Hard work and honed skill might have more to do with it than luck, and the Craigs are building on the former, toward a legacy that one might call intrinsically Southern.

“I would just like there to be a bowl of biscuits on everybody’s table,” Dorothy says, “and I made the bowl.”

For more on Summer Triangle Pottery, visit summertrianglepottery.com.

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THE

Pioneer

Woman East Nashville food pioneer Margot McCormack on her namesake restaurant’s past and future

By Jon Gugala Photographed by Travis Commeau

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“I

t’s a nice, sunny day,” Margot McCormack says, reading glasses pulled down to the tip of her nose as she scans the list. “Y’all can work on those Italian whites.”

You can feel the Southern seasons changing on this Saturday evening in late September. McCormack, lit in maize sunlight streaming through the windows of her 17-year-old 5 Points restaurant, knows it’s time to sell through the summer wines to make room for the new. It’s an ethos she’s held since even before her groundbreaking East Nashville eatery opened. Its menu changes nightly, in part because it’s dependent on what is freshest from local farms and butchers, and in part because her restaurant lacks the space for a walk-in cooler. Before every night, Margot is made anew.

But even as the first couple of the night sits at the bar, McCormack holds a campfire meeting with her wait staff, poring over the menu, listing ingredients and their backstories. The ribeye beefsteak tonight comes from a nearby farm, which grows its own grain, processes its own meat, and delivers it to the doorstep. “An exquisite business, right there,” she says. There are Joelton apples in the salad and Gorgonzola in the onion bisque. On the other side of the divider, a diner leans over eavesdropping, taking notes for his upcoming meal.

Later, to the woman with him, he will say, “Well, it all sounds good, but when Margot says the ribeye is the thing…”

“All right, let’s have a great night, then,” McCormack says.

The staff leaves their seats. Another new night at Margot Café & Bar begins.

‘THIS IS IT’

McCormack, 54, grew up in West Meade to a middle-class family.

Her father was in advertising; her mother, a homemaker. The fare was decidedly non-foodie, and yet Mom was intentional about the ingredients that went into the family’s all-American cuisine. McCormack remembers her traveling between five different markets.

“She was very farm-to-table before that was ever a movement,” McCormack says.

Over coffee at her sister restaurant, Marché, on Main — which itself has been around since 2006 — McCormack says it was never her plan to go into food. She went to UT in the ’80s for literature, set on being a writer. Restaurant work was something she fell into during school to pay the bills, a job that was active: “Sitting at a desk is not attractive to me,” she says. It was at the national chain Bennigan’s, in which she started in the pantry chopping salads, where she learned the basics — both of food and of the food business, the latter of which she would take with her into her first head chef position years later.

What you need to know about McCormack is that she is not normal. She talks with the same lack of emotion associated with mathematicians and philosophy. While at UT, she says she worked 40 hours a week and took 20 credit hours a semester for four years, forgoing summer breaks. She graduated with multiple minors and 70 extra credits. “I just loved learning,” she says, as if to explain everything.

Within three months at Bennigan’s, McCormack, with no previous food service experience, was running the kitchen, a position in which she would remain through the entirety of her undergrad.

But even then, McCormack says, it was just a job: “I just wanted to write books.” After school, she returned home intent on finding work in the field of her formal education, but when the only offer was as a stringer with the late Nashville Banner newspaper, she

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returned to restaurant work. And the best place to do it at the time was at Faison’s.

Jody Faison, the restaurant’s eponymous proprietor and, as McCormack describes him, “God,” was a Nashville institution in his own right. His house-cum-restaurant was frequented by both Nashville celebrities and drunk Vandy alums. It was into this environment that she was hired on and, after two weeks, given the head chef position.

If there is a significant moment in McCormack’s life, a moment that set her on the path that she continues to this very day, this is it. Faison, a chef who trained at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), turned her on to American epicurean luminaries like Alice Waters and, with his restaurant’s proximity to Music Row, the people who frequented that world. Rosanne Cash and Steve Winwood would pop by for dinner.

“My whole world went from corporate chain restaurants to these independent restaurants,” she says.

“This is it,” she remembers thinking. “This is what I want to do.”

With Faison’s encouragement and blessing, McCormack again left Nashville, heading to the CIA in Upstate New York, where she would study traditional French cooking for the next 21 months.

BECOMING PART OF THE SOLUTION

Margot McCormack says she knew she’d always end up in New York City. After the CIA, she found a cheap apartment in Brooklyn’s Park Slope and took a fancy job at a Manhattan restaurant where, →

Margot Café’s menu changes daily, working in what’s fresh, seasonal, and locally available. Dishes can vary from light, seared tuna to red wine-braised short ribs.

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once again, she started at the bottom.

When she wasn’t working, she was exploring, and one day, she stumbled onto a charming Bohemian garden restaurant called Danal.

When her mother visited, she took her there.

As moms are wont to do, McCormack’s couldn’t help but talk her daughter up to the owner and restaurant namesake. And it’s lucky she did: Its head chef position was open, and McCormack, following a strong interview, slid in with the restaurant’s cozy staff.

It was at Danal where McCormack had a canvas on which to work with her own vision.

Marché’s now-famous croissant French toast?

Introduced first as a Danal signature. But it was the administrative side of the restaurant business that offered her greatest lesson. “[Bennigan’s] doesn’t have great food, but they have great practices and procedures,” she says. “There’s so much more to being a chef and running a restaurant than just cooking.”

As a head chef, she married great food with great business acumen. Did Christmas do well despite the restaurant’s Jewish ownership?

L’chaim, there were the holiday decorations.

Demand grew to such a point that the establishment opened for dinner with a menu entirely of McCormack’s creation. It would change by the night because — a harbinger of things to come — the space had no walk-in. Of her three years at the helm, “It was absolutely pivotal,” she says.

But by 1995, McCormack was ready to return home. In Nashville, little had changed in the five-odd years she was away. High-end dining was still a steakhouse. The only bastion, it seemed, was in the Green Hills restaurant F. Scott’s, where she took a job and mulled over a return to New York. One day, while bitching to a dishwasher about the bleakness of the town, she got her comeuppance: “‘If you leave, you’ll just be part of the problem,’” she remembers “Tree” telling her. “From then on, I changed my brain and committed to being here.”

A RESPONSIBILITY TO A COMMUNITY

From this point, every bit of McCormack’s energy was put toward opening Margot. The relationships she cultivated all pointed toward it.

The after-hours searches for properties centered around it. With partner and now-wife Heather, the two spent the next five years searching for a building until, in 2000, her then-sous chef, Etienne Janco, found a spot in East Nashville.

East Nashville, at that point, still had a “danger element,” McCormack says, but a core group of artists and musicians were already living in the neighborhood. “They just didn’t have any places to go,” she says. The building, at 1017 Woodland St., was abandoned, and despite its having been a café 10 years before, it needed the next nine months to rehab. McCormack and Heather did it all, and when the license came through early, they hurriedly called friends and family for Margot’s grand opening.

On June 5, 2001, mere minutes after liquor

was delivered via sales reps’ trunks, McCormack served a meal for 120. At its end, she received a standing ovation.

“It was amazing,” she says. “While we were building the restaurant, we made a lot of friends in the neighborhood, and I realized that it wasn’t just my dream anymore. I had a responsibility to a community that didn’t have a place.”

Rather than a slow build, Margot took off like a rocket. It didn’t hurt that longtime Nashville Scene food critic Kay West — a contact

McCormack cultivated at F. Scott’s — couldn’t stop writing about the place.

“She was telling everybody that I was coming,” McCormack says. With dispatch-like regularity, nascent Nashville foodies received updates from the acquisition of the building forward. “Nowadays, that doesn’t happen, because there is so much going on,” McCormack says. Overnight it became the place to eat, and for the first two years, Margot was booked solid every night. →

Nashville’s Japanese-style pub and social house twotenjack.com

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‘FOOD IS ABOUT EVERYBODY’

At the moment of Margot’s opening, McCormack says it was the only restaurant of note to open in the preceding three years. Those times are long gone. In February, the James Beard Foundation, one of the most important food organizations in the U.S., announced its Awards semifinalists. McCormack for Margot got the nod, but so did five other restaurants, chefs, and hospitality groups from the city. In May, Food & Wine named Julia Sullivan of Germantown’s Henrietta Red as one of its Best New Chefs. McCormack herself has even contributed to the trend.

With the restaurant’s history has emerged a legacy of fine chefs that have grown under McCormack’s tutelage. Ryan Bernhardt, proprietor of Inglewood’s TKO apprenticed under her.

Matt Davidson, who moved on to Mas Tacos Por Favor, is a former pupil. “I respect [her] tremendously,” says Tandy Wilson, founder of City House and another Margot alumnus.

“Food is about everybody, and she helped me understand that.”

There’s no question McCormack is an exacting boss, but she has nevertheless bred a fierce loyalty among those who can hack it. Her employees, if they survive, stay. Both of her current sous chefs have been with her for the past six years, and general manager Destin Weishaar has been with her for 14. “I really believe in what we do,” he says. “I believe in supporting local farmers, which we’ve done since day one, and I believe in serving a product that you can stand behind. She instills that in us.”

NOTHING IS CERTAIN

By 6:30 p.m. Saturday, the restaurant is humming at half capacity. The rock shrimp appetizer is especially popular, as is, unsurprisingly, the ribeye. In the kitchen, McCormack rolls out pizza dough with quick, hard strokes before smearing a blend of ricotta and broccoli and sprinkling on cheese, then sending it into a waiting oven. There are a few terse words to staff in correction. “Y’all did a really nice job last night,” she says to another.

McCormack says that, as a restaurateur in Nashville, you can’t rest on your laurels — ostensibly meaning now, in these days of million-dollar concepts that are launched by the week, laziness can bring an end to any institution.

Nothing is certain, now, in the scene in which she pioneered. Her hallmark restaurant’s traffic ebbs and flows to unknown forces in the food community, and Marché’s future is uncertain after 2020, when its lease expires. McCormack herself doesn’t want to do this forever, and she says that she’ll retire after her son, Jacob, graduates from high school. She’ll be 65 at that point.

“I’m a worker. I don’t see myself just sitting on a chair, taking up knitting anytime soon,” she says. “But there are other things I think I could do, like write a book.”

It won’t be a novel, she says. Rather, it will be a cookbook, long overdue, that McCormack would pour into while living in a home, recently purchased, on Cape Cod, where she and Heather will retire. But first, as a long Saturday night is just beginning, she’s making food at the six-burner stove as another pizza is pulled from the oven. Only when she’s sold through her stock, whenever that is, will she take a breath, go to bed, and plan out the next night’s menu.

DIG IN: Margot Café & Bar serves seasonal French and Italian cuisine at 1017 Woodland St. The bar is open from 5-10 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday; dinner service starts at 5:30. Sunday dinners run 5-9 p.m.

More info: margotcafe.com.

CL E A N J U I C E FI V E P O I N TS

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Cooking a CULTURE OF COMMUNITY In Lockeland Table, East Nashville has a friendly neighborhood hang with fine-dining sensibilities

By Jennifer Justus | Photographed by Travis Commeau

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A

t just after 4 p.m. on a Thursday, a couple of tourists from Pennsylvania arrive at the Lockeland Table Community Kitchen & Bar with some questions about hot chicken.

Bartender and manager Jim Popp — who has been at the restaurant since day one — obliges, pouring them a Yazoo Dos Perros while offering the CliffsNotes origin story, and pointing out that Bolton’s is just about a mile away.

The tourists, Diane and Pete Borchet, have the bar mostly to themselves, having arrived right on time for Community Hour, Lockeland Table’s version of happy hour, with a portion of proceeds going back to local schools. Someone at Black Dog Beads in 5 Points suggested they come here, so they order a plate of three Korean beef tacos, one of Lockeland’s Community Hour specials, at the affordable price of $6.

But soon, the Borchets are outnumbered — in the best possible way.

Lockeland Table, which opened six years ago on Tomato Art Fest weekend, has aimed to be a community hang from the getgo. Owners Cara Graham and chef Hal Holden-Bache worked together as a front-and-back of the house duo at Eastland Café, before teaming up to open their own place. Then in 2014, two years after opening, Graham launched Community Hour, which has grown into a powerful fundraising force and way to connect neighbors — both the grown-up and tiny human varieties. Meanwhile, community has permeated every aspect of Lockeland Table — starting with the name, of course, but extending from the architecture to the farms and down to the plates and décor.

WHAT THE TABLE WAS DESIGNED FOR

By 4:30 p.m., Susannah Felts arrives for Community Hour with her daughter Thalia. Felts, who runs a nonprofit called The Porch Writers’ Collective, digs into a New Yorker while also enjoying tacos and a cocktail. Her 10-year-old daughter reads a book while munching on a cheese pizza and fries.

“It has very good food,” Thalia offers, as an official review.

Then she relays a story about the time she came in during a busy Community Hour. Her family couldn’t find a seat, so a friend from her school shared space with them at the community table at the front of the restaurant.

That’s what the table was designed for, Graham says.

Graham’s artist mother, Debbie, built the table, which seats 10, out of wood from an old barn on their family land. She designed other aspects of the restaurant as well, including a copper tree that hangs against an exposed brick wall. Graham and Holden-Bache also turned to neighbors for construction help, building a portioning wall that separates the bar and dining room, and attaching pieces of reclaimed moulding to the back dining room wall.

“We put a post on social media,” Holden-Bache says of those early days. “Probably 20 of us showed up that night.”

They worked to know their neighborhood during all phases of planning and construction. When the building still →

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Wood-fired plates — especially pizza — have remained a Lockeland Table specialty since the beginning, and diners are invited to sit at the restaurant’s pizza bar to watch chefs work with the flames.

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functioned as an art gallery (and artist John Guider’s studio), Graham and Holden-Bache asked to cook at the space’s final art opening, as a way to meet neighbors. And before they attended a Lockeland Springs Neighborhood Association meeting, a third generation East Nashville farmer named Kevin Baggett brought them a family photo of the space, from back when it operated as an H.G. Hill grocery store along the trolley line that ran through the neighborhood.

“Kevin got it from his grandmother,” Holden-Bache says. “They think it was opening day. It was organic in the timing because we were about to approach our architects. It made us excited … and then we obviously took it to the meeting.”

A blown-up version of that photo hangs on the wall, along with several other iterations of the building. For many years it served as a beauty parlor, so Graham and Holden-Bache left the shop’s mural on the side of the building and kept the phone number (which means they occasionally get calls for a color and cut).

As a grocery, baskets of potatoes and apples perched out front, near signs on the windows for vinegars and coffee. They loved the idea of restoring the building to that early façade that shared a passion for food and welcoming community. Restoring the façade to its original design won them a Historic Preservation Award from the Metropolitan Historical Commission in 2013.

before heading to middle school). He arrives at Community Hour with his mother Annie and sits at the pizza bar, playing with an Etch A Sketch while she attaches patches to his Cub Scout shirt. Tonight’s Community Hour serves as their spot between work and school and Teddy’s scout meet.

“We’ve been known to come three times a week,” Annie says. “The staff is long-lasting, and you actually make relationships.”

Hostess Dana Radford, for example, has

known Teddy since birth, and he knows lots of staff by name (“KK,” or Kris Koon, is his favorite, he says). Haley Hagwood, a woman Annie met as a server, has even had Thanksgivings with Annie and Teddy’s family.

Teddy also knows Katie Struzick, a manager at Lockeland Table. “Look at Teddy with that thing,” she says from across the room, watching him work the Etch A Sketch.

“Future architect.”

Struzick says eight out of 10 kids who →

GROWING THE PROGRAM

As for Community Hour, Graham has been growing the program. Best Brands, the local wine and spirits distribution company, donated to the cause from the beginning, allowing the restaurant to serve $6 glasses of wine while also raising thousands of dollars for Lockeland Elementary Design Center around the corner. But she’s also recently added Butternut Rosé as sponsors, and Pickers Vodka.

Graham and Popp recently brewed a beer with locals New Heights Brewing, too, launched in late October, with a flavor profile that Holden-Bache helped design. Called Community Brown Ale, it has notes of sorghum, sea salt, and cardamom. The beer will be kegged and canned, to be sold in restaurants around town, expanding the program’s reach.

Graham has also added Isaac Litton Middle Prep’s PTO to the program, and plans to host a kickoff event bringing parents and students of both participating schools together.

“It goes 100 percent to teacher needs,” she says of money raised from Community Hour, which could mean iPads for student use in the classroom or other supplies.

MAKING RELATIONSHIPS

Teddy Balicki, 7, is a student at Lockeland Elementary (just as Thalia was a student November | December 2018 theeastnashvillian.com

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come to Lockeland know where they keep the bag of toys and will march back to get them on their own. None of the toys have batteries or a power switch.

“The kids are putting down the phone,” she says.

Sometimes, though, if they’ve never used an Etch A Sketch, she’ll see them try to turn it on by pressing the white knob. “We show them,” she says, “and then they’re mesmerized.”

an extra container of lamb gravy with bread, packaged in a ziplock bag to go. Bartender and pastry chef Jaime Miller arrives to help hold down the bar, and Jim Popp puts 13 cocktail glasses on ice to chill, ready for an onslaught of orders for gimlets and bourbon cocktails.

And Talley, sipping on a Bradhattan, puts down the Kindle to make friends with the tourists.

DIG IN: Lockeland Table serves seasonal, Southern-inspired American fare at 1520 Woodland St. Dinner is 5-10 p.m., Monday through Saturday, with Community Hour running Monday through Saturday, 4-6 p.m.

For more: lockelandtable.com.

AN EXTENSION OF HOME

Back at the bar, Roderick Trestrail, owner of East Nashville’s Welcome Home shop, arrives to meet his friend Danny Bua, a former sous chef at Lockeland Table who now runs That Awesome Taco Truck.

“We met at Welcome Home,” Trestrail says.

Lockeland Table also served as a special place for Trestrail and his wife, Jessica Reguli, when they were just starting their store in 2014.

“We found a great refuge in [seats] seven and eight at the pizza bar,” he says. “It was a joy to watch them work.”

Chef Hal spots Bua and Trestrail at the bar and slips them some snacks: arancini, or fried rice balls with sauce. “It’s your fault we have them,” he jokes with Bua, who first suggested them for the menu. Accompanying the arancini is lamb ragu with crusty bread.

Holden-Bache also supports community with the choices he makes in sourcing local farms, including a favorite, White Squirrel Farm in Bethpage, Tennessee. He changes the menu occasionally to reflect the seasons and what’s growing on local farms, switching out summer melon and corn for fall produce like greens and winter squashes. But he also plates the food on pottery made in the restaurant’s backyard, at Summer Triangle Pottery, where ash from the oven goes into the pottery’s glaze.

As the time inches toward 6 p.m., when Community Hour ends, kids and families start to head out as the dinner reservations roll in. Brad Talley, who lives in the area, arrives with his Kindle to sit at the bar and read. He’s such a regular he even has a cocktail on the menu named for him: the Bradhattan.

“It’s an extension of my home,” he says of Lockeland Table. “It’s comfort. I feel at home here.”

As happy hour turns to dinner, Community Hour menus are replaced with dinner menus, and Lockeland Table takes on the warm glow of a busy restaurant, its golden wood tones and hum of activity creating a comforting vibe.

Every bar seat is taken as diners sitting elbow to elbow dig into wood-fired pizzas with house-smoked sausage, or steaks in tangy chimichurri. Most seats in the dining room are occupied too.

A trio of bachelorettes even drop in for a quick bite, coming and going without incident. Holden-Bache slips Bua and Trestrail

OUR VOLUNTEERS GET TO SHARE THE BEST STORIES:

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Museum programs are funded in part by the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission and Tennessee Arts Commission.

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W TEENIE WEENIE

East Side dreamie

The little bus that could, I Dream of Weenie, is still the top dog of 5 Points

By Brittney McKenna

Photographed by Travis Commeau 46

theeastnashvillian.com November | December 2018

ho doesn’t love a good hot dog?

Even for the vegetarians among us, the siren song of a good veggie dog, dressed with fresh toppings and served up on a sunny day, is a tough one to resist. It’s particularly tough to resist in East Nashville, as local favorite I Dream of Weenie has raised the bar on what it means to craft a delicious dog.

Parked on South 11th Street, right in the thick of 5 Points, I Dream of Weenie’s converted VW bus lures locals and tourists alike to check out today’s special — anything from a Pizza Weenie, slathered in mozzarella and sauce, to a Truffle-Mushroom Mac Weenie, piled high with mac and cheese. The bus served its first weenies in 2007, and has since changed hands a couple of times, with current owner Leslie Allen at the helm since April 2011.

Allen is a Birmingham, Alabama, native who moved to Nashville in 2001 and has called East Nashville home since 2003.

Before taking over at “the weenie hut,” as she calls it, she worked among the support personnel at Nashville’s now-defunct regional Habitat for Humanity office, and in fundraising at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Community involvement has always been a priority for Allen, who sees her day-to-day work at I Dream of Weenie as another avenue through which she can be an active contributor to her beloved neighborhood.

Though Allen was a lifelong lover of cooking, when she first got the itch to take over I Dream of Weenie, she had very little knowledge of or experience in the restaurant industry. She was working part-time at the nearby Art and Invention Gallery when the weenie hut went up for sale. The hut stayed on the market for a couple of months before it dawned on Allen that I Dream of Weenie could be the creative, community-oriented undertaking she’d been hoping to find.

“I had never worked in a restaurant or done anything food related,” she says, laughing. “I grew up in the kitchen. I love to cook. I love to entertain. I’d catered a couple of friends’ weddings, but I had never actually had a job working in food service at all. So this was just a pipe dream... There’s some horrifying statistic about half of food businesses failing

From neighborhood hang to nationally heralded tourist destination, I Dream of Weenie’s become a big, homegrown success story, with a tiny footprint.

within their first year. So that was kind of terrifying. But it was small-scale and already a well-known business, in the neighborhood that I love. So maybe I won’t mess this up.”

Seven years later, it’s clear that Allen has done anything but “mess up” at I Dream of Weenie. The hut has appeared on major television shows like HGTV’s House Hunters and the Travel Channel’s Food Paradise. And more importantly, it’s managed to ride out, survive, and thrive through the tidal wave of growth and development that has swallowed so many other beloved local businesses in the last few years. That, along with the hut’s beloved Pimento Cheese Dog, counts among Allen’s most meaningful achievements.

“We continue to expand our local customer base,” she says. “People always ask whether we have more local customers or more tourists, and I guess that varies on the day of the week, but we absolutely love our regulars that live in the neighborhood. Since it’s now been seven years since I’ve owned it, we’ve gotten to see children as they’ve grown up. Some of them are in college now and they’re starting to drive. It’s been amazing to watch.”

DIG IN: I Dream of Weenie serves hot dogs, brats, mac and cheese, and more at 113 S. 11th St., 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 11 to 5 on Friday, and 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on weekends.

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Sign of the times (AND TEQUILA!) Andrea Chaires guards her family legacy with wit and wisdom

By Randy Fox | Photographed by Travis Commeau November | December 2018 theeastnashvillian.com

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The Rosepepper Cantina’s Sonoran-style menu jumps from spinach enchiladas to tempura-fried white fish tacos, but keeps the appropriate carne emphasis too.

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We would visit him here occasionally, so my parents stayed happily married and he was always super present in our lives.”

‘IT’S GOING TO WORK OUT’

W

hen Andrea Chaires took charge of the Rosepepper Cantina, following the death of her father in 2014, it was not an easy transition.

“I spent the first two years just being terrified,” she says. “I walked into a place and was the boss of 50 employees, having never served a table in my life. I didn’t know anybody’s name or what was on the menu.”

Despite lacking experience, Chaires did have a deep family connection to the restaurant business. Her grandfather, Vincente Chaires, was a partner in El Taco, Nashville’s first Mexican fast-food restaurant chain. In 1970, he went solo with Es Fernandos, at the corner of Gallatin Pike and Haysboro Avenue in Inglewood, personally overseeing the beloved neighborhood taqueria until his son, Ernie Chaires, purchased it in 1994.

“My dad was relentlessly ambitious,” Andrea Chaires says. “He learned the restaurant business from my grandfather and then moved our family to Los Angeles to become the operations manager of a Taco Bell franchise. When he bought Es Fernandos, we stayed in California and he moved back to Nashville. He had an apartment in the attic of Es Fernandos with a tub and sink, but no toilet, so he had to go downstairs to use the restaurant bathroom. He would commute between Nashville and L.A. every few weeks.

In 2001, Ernie Chaires opened his dream restaurant, the Rosepepper Cantina, in the former Joe’s Diner building that was severely damaged by the 1998 tornado. Even though most of the structural damage had been repaired, Chaires threw himself into reshaping the location to fit his long-held personal culinary vision. The Rosepepper quickly became an anchor business in the revitalization and transformation of the East Side dining scene.

“My mother was in real estate in California,” Andrea Chaires says. “Dad financed the Rosepepper with his credit cards and some money he borrowed from my mom’s business partner — that was it. My mom always had faith. She’d say, ‘Whatever your father’s doing, I’m sure it’s going to work out.’”

Ernie Chaires personally managed Rosepepper, along with Es Fernandos, until its closure in 2007. Around the same time, he launched the popular neighborhood watering hole and music venue Foobar (now Cobra), which he sold in 2012.

Even a 2010 fight with lymphoma failed to deter Chaires’ ambitions, but when the cancer returned in February 2014, it proved to be his last battle. Ernie Chaires passed away on March 23, 2014, at the age of 62.

That’s when Andrea Chaires left her career as an in-house attorney for a Los Angeles marketing firm to become the guardian of her family’s business and her father’s dream.

“I’ve always been super independent, and without a doubt the most like my father — definitely ambitious and driven,” she says. “We butted heads like nobody’s business, but when he got sick the second time, that changed. I was sitting with him at the hospital one night, and he looked at me and said, ‘If this doesn’t work out, you’ve got to promise me you’re going to take care of the family and the business.’

I said, ‘Yeah, I got it. I’ll figure it out.’”

‘THIS, I CAN DO’

Moving to Nashville, Chaires leapt into her father’s business. Taking shifts as a food runner, hostess, waitress, and bartender, in addition to managing the finances, she learned every aspect of the restaurant business from the ground up. While the learning curve was steep and sometimes overwhelming, she soon discovered a way to utilize her wit, creativity, and marketing experience.

“When our social media manager had her second child and needed more time to herself, I took over some of the social media channels,” Chaires says. “That’s when I asked where the letters for the sign were kept. Someone →

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Historic Preservation

Fighting Hunger Childcare Support

Mentoring Children

Supporting the Arts

Disaster Relief

Animal Welfare

Digital HumanInclusion Services

CONNECTING GENEROSITY WITH NEED The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee works with people who have great hearts, whether or not they have great wealth. We have served as a leader in philanthropy for more than 25 years, bringing good people and good causes together in Middle Tennessee.

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Scholarship & Education

brought me a dusty old box of letters and I thought, ‘This, I can do.’”

In short order, the Rosepepper’s front marquee made the jump from drink specials and holiday wishes to an ever-changing parade of quips and topical humor. “I didn’t text you, tequila texted you.” “Tequila — because election 2016.” “We love margaritas as much as Kanye loves Kanye.”

“I started cracking jokes on the sign and it resonated really quickly,” Chaires says.

“We went from 1,500 Instagram followers, to 5,000, then 10,000, and now we’re over 30,000. It was just me on that ladder, between food running and hosting, putting up jokes as I thought of them. It was a way to escape from being terrified all the time.”

Chaires’ witticisms gained extra traction online when native Nashvillian and Oscarwinning actress Reese Witherspoon shared a photo of the sign, leading to shares and comments from other celebrities, including LeBron James, Octavia Spencer, and Halle Barry. Four years after Chaires took command of that box of dusty letters, Rosepepper’s sign has spread around the world, been emblazoned on T-shirts, and transformed a favorite neighborhood restaurant into a destination for visitors to the Music City.

“You never can tell for sure if the sign directly increases business,” Chaires says.

“But the first time the sign went viral, within one to two days we saw a spike in business.

And that’s continued every time someone with a million followers or more shares it, without fail.”

In addition to increasing sales, Chaires implemented small improvements to the restaurant — adding more lights to the back parking lot, enlarging the restrooms, and improving the kitchen. She’s also overcome a large portion of her initial fear, while keeping her father’s dream alive and thriving.

“I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel,” Chaires says. “My dad invented the wheel here, and it works, and it’s great. I’m in business to take care of my family and keep my promise to my father, and this is the most important work I’ve ever done. I take a lot of pride in that, but the sign is the fun part for me. The sign is just me, out of the shadow of my father. I love my dad, and I love this business, but it’s really nice to have a part of it that’s just me.”

attle

Fannie B

g n i l o Car for Kids se for A Cau

A holiday tradition since 1916

tion

Celebra

December 1st - 24th Looking for a worthy cause to volunteer for over the holidays?

Since 1916, volunteers have caroled throughout the Nashville community for the benefit of Fannie Battle Day Home for Children. Today, that tradition continues through both caroling door-to-door as well as a variety of creative endeavors.

• Organize a Caroling group with friends & family • Host a “Party with a Purpose” • Short on time? Hold a virtual fundraiser

615.228.6745 • www.fanniebattle.org/caroling

DIG IN: Sonoran-style Mexican restaurant Rosepepper Cantina is located at 1907 Eastland Ave., and open for lunch and dinner Monday to Thursday (11 a.m.-2 p.m., and 4-9:30 p.m.), and all day Friday, Saturday (11 a.m.-10:30 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.).

For more: rosepepper.com.

November | December 2018 theeastnashvillian.com

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BEARD CONTEST

SUN. DEC 9 11AM-1PM AGES 21+

SAT. DEC 8 10AM-11:30AM

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‘EAT

Dessert FIRST’ Sandra Austin and Kathy Leslie keep their mother’s memory, food, and philosophy alive at Shugga Hi Bakery & Café

By Ellen Mallernee Barnes Photographed by Travis Commeau

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G The folks behind East Nashville eatery Shugga Hi offer plenty of old-school favorites — chicken fingers, catfish sandwiches — but they specialize in adding sweet twists, like burgers sandwiched between cake-batter waffles.

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rowing up in East Nashville in the ’60s and ’70s, Shugga Hi Bakery & Café owners Sandra Austin and Kathy Leslie recall that they often came home from school ravenous. As teenagers do, they searched the cupboards and fridge of their Hart Avenue home only to declare there to be nothing to eat. But when their mother Catherine returned each day from her full-time job as a nurse, the kitchen that had seemed so empty would become a smorgasbord of colors and scents. As if by magic, a roast chicken would appear on the table, with corn and green beans and cucumber and — always — a frosted cake.

“We may not have had a dime to our name, but we ate like we were kings and queens every day,” says Leslie, the younger sibling by two years. “Every. Day. She prepared a full meal and always a dessert, which she would sometimes let us eat first. My mother’s cooking was about love. We started Shugga Hi because of our love for our mother and in memory of our mother.”

The sisters went to Meigs and graduated from East High School. Austin became a mortgage lender and Leslie an attorney. In 1992, they lost their mother. Before she died, she asked her daughters to promise that they would always remember her. More than 25 years later, they’ve kept her memory alive and well by opening Shugga Hi Bakery & Café at the southern end of Dickerson Pike. Its grand opening last summer followed a full renovation of the building, which previously served as a Burger Boy. From the front door, the Nashville skyline looms large.

“We wanted to be in the heart of the neighborhood where we grew up,” Austin says. “We remember when it was not so nice over here. But I’m glad to see that people are beginning to invest in Dickerson Pike and the surrounding neighborhoods. I never would have thought in my lifetime that I would be able to drive through my neighborhood and see a half-million-dollar house.”

The two decided to open the business together after Austin

retired in 2016. Leslie encouraged Austin to put her skills as a master baker to use by opening a bakery, a concept that later expanded into a bakery and café with a full bar.

“What I contribute is I taste everything,” Leslie says with a laugh. “I’m a master eater.”

The Shugga Hi menu reflects the sisters’ warmth and sentimentality. Their most popular dish: chicken and waffles, made from Austin’s cake batter, as is the bun of their cake-waffle burger. Austin also has a line of made-to-order alcoholic cakes called Sip of Cake, in flavors ranging from Jack and Coke, to gin and tonic, to rum cake to piña colada. A basic breakfast on the menu is named — what else? — The Catherine.

“It’s named after our mother because our mother’s favorite meal of the day was breakfast,” says Austin. “It’s heartwarming when we hear a server say, ‘We need two Catherines,’ because that keeps her name alive.”

Shugga Hi’s calendar of events is as rich as its menu. Sundays are for Jazz-N-Eggs Brunch.

Thursdays are for Wine, Women and Wings — a ladies’ night where karaoke provides the entertainment, and the sisters often participate.

“We all think we’re Whitney Houston or something,” says Leslie.

“Of course, you know I think I’m Bonnie Raitt,” corrects Austin, pursing her lips.

“We believe in music,” says Leslie, an ordained minister. “Music’s next to God. And when you sit down and eat with people, that’s intimacy. So we tried to create an intimate atmosphere with house concerts, and we sit down and sup with each other.

“We always talk about some of the things that our mother taught us and instilled in us.

When you enter here, there’s no judgement.

You’re at home. You’re with family. It’s all about the love of people.”

Austin adds, “She always wanted us to know that her girls could sup with anyone, from the lowest of the low to the president of the United States. She raised us that way. You don’t have to be a millionaire to show decency and respect to other people. I try to smile at everybody because you never know what that smile may mean to somebody who’s going through a rough time.”

What do the sisters want East Nashvillians to know?

“Tell them we appreciate their business,” says Austin. “Tell them to come on. And tell them to bring their people. And to bring their people’s people.”

NOVEMBER 21

MICHAEL MCDONALD

Season of Peace: Holiday & Hits Tour

DECEMBER 27

ROBERT EARL KEEN’S

COSMIC COWBOY CHRISTMAS

with Pat McLaughlin

DECEMBER 30 & 31

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW JANUARY 17, 2019

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AARON WATSON’S

A NIGHT OF TEXAS AT THE RYMAN

with Special Guests

FEBRUARY 5, 2019 DISNEY

DCAPPELLA

Disney’s Live A Cappella Concert Experience

FEBRUARY 9 & 10, 2019

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Passwords Tour

FEBRUARY 21, 2019

I’M WITH HER

with Mipso

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RAINBOW KITTEN SURPRISE

with Mt. Joy

APRIL 21 & 22, 2019

LORD HURON

MAY 5, 2019

MIDLAND

Cinco de Mayo Show

DIG IN: Shugga Hi Bakery & Café serves home-style American fare for breakfast, lunch, brunch, and dinner at 1000 Dickerson Pike. Hours are 8 a.m.-10 p.m., Thursday to Saturday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday for brunch. More info: shuggahibakeryandcafe.com.

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116 Fifth Avenue North Nashville, TN 37219

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T MAKING THE

light grow The secret ingredient at Indian-Italian restaurant eDESIa? Love.

By Theresa Laurence

Photographed by Travis Commeau 58

theeastnashvillian.com November | December 2018

he idea for Sathyan Gopalan’s Indian-Italian fusion restaurant, eDESIa, could be traced back over a decade, to when he traveled through Italy and Europe with his vegetarian sensibilities, limited fluency in the Italian language, and a jar of his mother’s spicy tomato chutney in hand.

No matter where he was, he could always order some pasta, mix it with the chutney, and have a tasty meal.

As Gopalan was seeking out his next venture in Nashville, he kept coming back to the idea of an Indian-Italian restaurant concept.

“We were pretty sure no one is doing this, so why not try it?” says the general manager, seasoned hospitality pro, businessman, and philanthropist.

Over the summer, Gopalan and his business partners, including Manan Jobalia, a first generation Indian-American raised in Nashville, transformed the former Rumours East space at 1112 Woodland St. into eDESIa, an “affordable high-end” restaurant serving shankara grits masala and pasta curry, where you can order an affordable bottle of wine, and kids eat free. And yes, his mother’s chutney is incorporated into several dishes.

AN EXTENDED FAMILY

The eDESIa (pronounced e-day-sia) team chose the restaurant’s name as an homage to the Roman goddess of food, who presided over banquets, ensuring the feast went well and the food was excellent.

“We try to offer love in our food,” Gopalan says, sipping on a Dr. Pepper with salt and lemon, as fluffy focaccia and creamy gnocchi

In 2018, the longtime Rumours East space was reborn as eDESIa, with an Indian/Italian fusion approach that’s caught the attention of diners across Nashville.

are served. And the staff he has built, “I see them as an extended family… we have an excellent team right now.” eDESIa may be a new endeavor for Gopalan, but his desire to be in East Nashville is not new. Ever since he landed in Nashville in 2007, he “always had an eye over here,” he says. He knew he wanted to invest in East Nashville, a neighborhood that was “open and welcoming to anyone.”

So far, eDESIa has had “beautiful support from neighbors in the community,” but Gopalan and his team are still building a regular clientele. “This takes time. We’re not in a hurry,” he says. Early Google and Yelp reviews are overwhelmingly positive, which has been a boost for business. If all goes well, Gopalan and company might expand the small kitchen and offer more Indian-centric dishes on the menu.

The back patio, which “we know is a goldmine,” Gopalan says, still needs some TLC to ensure it is completely safe and enjoyable for guests. Future plans also include adding a stage for music and additional landscaping.

SHARING WITH OTHERS

While growing eDESIa’s business, Gopalan is also keeping an eye on his endeavors in Tiruvannamalai, India, including boutique hotel Sunshine Guest House and the Global Watch Foundation Children’s Home, currently home to 19 young Indian orphans.

When he first encountered the orphans at the Children’s Home, they were living in a dark, dingy space that wasn’t allowing them to thrive. He and his ex-wife, Corrine Champigny, began volunteering, ultimately taking over the financial and legal responsibilities for the

orphanage by starting the foundation.

“What I didn’t get in life, I wanted to share with others,” says Gopalan, who grew up in nearby Chennai, India, the youngest of 10 children, raised in cramped quarters that weren’t “really a proper place to live.”

Now, with Gopalan’s support, the Children’s Home has moved to a three-acre farm where they have cows, chickens, an organic garden, clean water, access to computers and medical care. The children, who formerly slept on the concrete floor with straw mats as beds, now have bunk beds with real mattresses and pillows.

A team of caretakers, teachers, tutors, volunteers and donors from India and the U.S. supports this 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

“When we share what we have, it makes the light grow more inside you,” says Gopalan.

Wherever in the world Gopalan is offering hospitality, whether in East Nashville or rural India, he remains committed to his personal mantra: “Always, everyone’s happiness first and before mine, that is my happiness.”

DIG IN: Indian/Italian fusion restaurant eDESIa serves dinner 5-10 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, at 1112 Woodland St. More info: edesianashville.com.

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The science OF SPIRITS East Sider Bruce Boeko made the leap from forensics to fermentation with Nashville Craft Distillery

By Randy Fox | Photographed by Travis Commeau

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“

Among Nashville Craft Distillery’s creations: Naked Biscuit Sorghum Spirit, Nashville Honey Spiced Honey Liqueur, and the hand-crafted, seven botanicals-infused Crane City Gin, pictured here.

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“Y

ou don’t have to know all the science of fermentation and distillation to be a great distiller,” Bruce Boeko says as he walks between the gleaming stainless steel vats and tanks filling the production area of Nashville Craft Distillery.

The air is heavy with the yeasty smell of fermentation and the sharp, acidic tang of carbon dioxide as millions of tiny yeast cells convert grain sugars into alcohol.

“I talk about the science because I’m interested in it,” he continues, raising the volume of his voice over the massive industrial fans keeping the distillery floor temperature at a humid 80 degrees. “I like to give visitors a different experience. People who take our tour may be visiting three or four other distilleries. If you go to Nelson’s Green Brier, they’ll talk to you about their family history with distilling. At H Clark, they talk about the state laws that they helped change to allow craft distilleries, and Corsair is very creative with exotic ingredients like smoked malts and non-traditional grains

like buckwheat, quinoa, and oats. We all have different parts of the story to tell.”

AT A CROSSROADS

Boeko has another, more definite reason for focusing on science. As a forensic biologist, he spent two decades working in DNA testing laboratories before making the leap from identifying and classifying genetic material to the far older science of fermentation and distilling.

Born in Montreal, Canada, Boeko grew up in Louisiana and northern New Jersey before moving to North Carolina to attend college. After earning his degree in biology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, he began working in a local DNA testing laboratory.

In 1996, his career brought him to Nashville.

Settling on the East Side, Boeko spent the next 15 years rising steadily in his profession, but the stability of his career in corporate science came to an end in 2011.

“I found myself at a crossroads,” Boeko says.

“Our laboratory was consolidating its operations to Dallas, and I had to decide to stay with the company and move or quit and stay here. I had fallen in love with Nashville. I was at a point in my life where I had a great career but was still young enough to take a swing at entrepreneurship. I left the company with enough money to go back to school, get a business degree, and open my own business. I’d been an amateur brewer, cider maker, mead maker for 30 years, but I chose distilling over brewing because of the potential for growth and because I could learn a new skill set.”

While regional breweries had been a fixture across Tennessee for many years, the production of distilled spirits had been limited to only three Tennessee counties since the repeal of prohibition in the 1930s. A major revision to Tennessee’s alcohol statutes in 2009 opened a path for small, craft distilleries in counties where retail and liquor-by-the-drink sales were legal.

In the past nine years, the number of Tennessee distilleries has grown from three to over 30, with more on the way. This spectacular growth has not only created new jobs and tax revenues, but has dramatically expanded the market for specialized and unusual spirits in local markets.

“Bourbons and Tennessee whiskeys take a while,” Boeko says. “You have to barrel age them for several years. When Jack Daniel’s and George Dickel came back after prohibition, they were making fruit brandies, corn whiskeys, and other things that you could get to market faster.

With the growth of craft distilleries, the craft gin market has exploded. You can make it in a short period of time and be endlessly creative.”

THE WAVE OF TENNESSEE WHISKEYS

Introduced shortly after Nashville Craft Distillery fired up its still for the first time in

2016, Crane City Gin is a prime example of endless creativity in action. Distilled from locally sourced wheat and malted barley, it’s infused with seven botanicals, creating a light and tasty spirit with a very clean finish.

“We also make Naked Biscuit Sorghum Spirit,” Boeko says. “It’s similar to rum but different because it’s not made from sugar cane. I looked around for what was available in Tennessee to ferment, and sorghum was available. We’re focusing on using local ingredients. We use grain from Windy Acres organic farm in Orlinda, grain from Nicely Brothers Farms in Strawberry Plains, and sorghum from Muddy Pond Sorghum Mill outside of Monterey, Tennessee. Our Honey Spiced Honey Liqueur is made with honey from Johnson’s Honey Farm in Goodlettsville.

“And it’s not just us,” Boeko continues.

“There are many other small distilleries with creative products. Craft distilleries currently comprise about 2 1/2 percent of the spirits market and we have an opportunity to expand to 10 to 15 percent over the next few years.

We’re going to get more variety and more local spirits that you can’t get anywhere else.

The wave of Tennessee whiskeys and other Tennessee-based spirits is just beginning to crest. It’s an exciting time to be in this business.”

In addition to the excitement over new products and a growing market, Boeko finds simple satisfaction in the hands-on crafting of fine spirits. Nashville Craft Distillery’s 250-gallon copper pot runs six to seven days each week producing both their current and new products. Third Stage Absinthe Verte recently made its debut — the first green absinthe distilled in Nashville. Golden Biscuit Aged Sorghum Spirit will soon be taking its bow, and the distillery’s first wheated bourbon is expected to reach maturity in 2019.

“There’s something about coming in every morning filling the mash cooker, getting fermentation underway, running the still, and filling barrels,” Boeko says. “There’s a physical reward to working here, beyond the great smells. There’s a pride in making something you can see, smell, and taste each day. There’s just something about Nashville that speaks to a culture of making unique things — whether it’s music, art, food, or a really fine whiskey.”

CHEERS: Nashville Craft Distillery offers tours at 514 Hagan St., Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Sundays 1-5 p.m.

Reservations are requested for groups larger than five. More info: nashvillecraft.com.

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Bringing the MIDDLE EAST to EAST NASHVILLE Hrant Arakelian and Liz Endicott bring deep Nashville roots and Middle Eastern flavors to Lyra

By Ellen Margulies | Photographed by Travis Commeau

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One of East Nashville’s newest fine-dining players, Middle Eastern restaurant Lyra “marries flavors rich in history with elevated plating and an effortlessly modern feel.”

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L

yra isn’t the first Middle Eastern restaurant in Nashville, or even in East Nashville. But the elegant, rustic-modern restaurant led by hospitality vets Hrant Arakelian and Liz Endicott may be the most Nashville Middle Eastern restaurant in Nashville.

A quick check of the couple’s background reads like a Music City must-dine list, past and present. The Arakelian family moved to Nashville in 1986, and Hrant grew up in Green Hills. He worked in restaurants while attending college at UT Knoxville, and after moving back to Nashville, he did stints at Sunset Grill, Midtown Cafe, Flyte, Zola’s, Rumours East, Adele’s, Holland House, and others. Endicott opened Blackstone Brewery and worked in a smattering of corporate restaurants before moving on to gigs at Midtown Cafe, F. Scott’s, and Lockeland Table.

“All we’ve ever done is work in restaurants,” says Endicott. “Hrant’s food is so amazing.

Finding someone to showcase what he did was virtually impossible. It is so unique. Opening a restaurant was the only way to let him shine.”

The two recall their earliest dating days when the idea for Lyra was first taking shape.

Arakelian and Endicott would drive by the pre-Holland House building at the intersection of West Eastland and McFerrin Avenues, and peer inside the darkened windows, dreaming.

But it was still too soon then, just a month or two into the relationship that eventually led to marriage.

They opened Lyra in that post-Holland House space in June, spotlighting their deep local roots alongside Arakelian’s Middle Eastern heritage through both the decor and menu.

Endicott, who grew up in Hermitage, painted the interior herself. She and Arakelian made the dining room tables. And the teal chairs were a bargain from the set of the now-cancelled TV show Nashville.

At the bar, Endicott developed a creative menu of cocktails that reflects her impressive resume in Nashville’s bar scene. Executive chef Arakelian crafted the food menu, reflecting the food he grew up eating: the cuisine of his father’s Armenian homeland.

Arakelian and his sister were born in Lebanon — the country in the Middle East, not the city just east of Nashville. They lived there for a few years, and cooking became the language that bonded Arakelian’s mother, who hails from East Tennessee, and his paternal grandmother.

“My mom just took to the cuisine really well and learned how to cook all this stuff from my grandmother,” Arakelian says. “At the time [my mother] didn’t speak Armenian and Arabic, and my grandmother didn’t speak English. All they could do was just kind of cook together, and they

learned a lot of stuff that way.”

Although they draw heavily on various Middle Eastern regions for their flavor-profile inspiration, Arakelian and Endicott aren’t necessarily going by the book. While the Middle East is predominantly Muslim, for instance, their drink program definitely includes alcohol.

“Muslims don’t necessarily drink alcohol, but they are very creative in making different types of nonalcoholic drinks — lemonades and many different things,” Endicott says. “So, I took a lot of different drink recipes that we’ve found and then incorporated alcohol into that.”

Her bartending background also lends itself to the creation of mocktails. One example: a mint shrub with a Persian syrup that doubles as both a happy-hour cocktail and a tasty, nonalcoholic drink.

The food doesn’t skew to any one particular region, Arakelian says. “For the most part it’s very fresh tasting, very vegetable-heavy and grain-heavy — legumes, hummus — things like that. But then there are also the spices, a really nice combo of earthy and savory and sweet and pungent and aromatic.”

Their sources range from local farmers, for things like microgreens and mushrooms, to Michigan, which, with its large Middle Eastern population provides sources for specialty items like a za’atar spice blend or date molasses.“People have been generally super happy,” Endicott says of the response to their young restaurant.

Arakelian adds, “We’ve already got a really good core group of regulars, mostly from the neighborhood. A lot of them walk here. We see the same families come in with their babies and strollers for happy hour.”

Arakelian and Endicott take Sundays off to enjoy time with Emin, their 3-year-old son (his name means “honest” in Armenian). They’re excited about being part of a new East Nashville restaurant group that’s formed, and are making plans for another East Nashville Restaurant Week, and other events.

Even though there’s more competition than ever in Nashville’s dining scene, and even though crime in the area has been a concern as of late, the two are confident their timing is right.

“We have really good — good local support,” Arakelian says. “We always thought this could be a cool place for a restaurant. I love the building, I love this corner, and I think East Nashville is very receptive to different and unique things.

And that fits us.”

DIG IN: Lyra offers modern Middle Eastern cuisine for dinner only, 5-10 p.m., Monday through Saturday, at 935 West Eastland Ave. More info: lyranashville.com.

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Family TREEHOUSE A longtime landmark in 5 Points, Treehouse remains a center of creativity

By Timothy Charles Davis | Photographed by Travis Commeau

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Delgado Guitars is excited to announce the production of our first ever electric guitar model.

3764 "HIGHWAY 51"

This model will feature a gold Bigsby tailpiece, gold fret wire and hardware, a single custom humbucker pickup, 25.5 scale on ebony fingerboard, and a chambered body.

Every top will have a story to tell. The original was made from the famous home in Memphis, TN located at 3764 Highway 51.

Contact us today to get on the pre-order list!

(615) 227-4578 www.delgadoguitars.com "Does your guitar have a story?"

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T

he same outlaw spirit that imbues Southern music certainly exists in Southern food — arguably the most storied regional cuisine in America. And over the years, Nashville’s boasted quite a few chefs that push the boundaries of what’s expected.

Jason Zygmont, now leading the kitchen at East Nashville’s Treehouse, fits the part, though he doesn’t seem as intent on breaking the laws of tradition as expanding on them, with playful, even challenging (but still suitably Southern) food.

“I don’t know that my cooking necessarily says anything about me,” he says.

“At least, there’s no conscious ‘statement’ that I’m going for. My mother came to eat here a few months ago. Her assessment was that we did things in a classic style, but maybe with a newer, elevated methodology, for lack of a better word.”

The 33-year-old chef ’s resume is impressive — stints under Southern food icon Linton Hopkins, Hugh Acheson, and national and international names like Thomas Keller and Rene Redzepi — but his real education, he says, came from learning to listen to his ingredients.

“When you’re young, it’s so often ‘add, add, add’ to a dish,” Zygmont says. “There’s a great

The titular treehouse out back at East Nashville restaurant Treehouse was built by co-owner Matthew Spicher’s dad, fiddle great Buddy Spicher.

chef I staged with, Dan Barber, who used to say a dish was done when there was nothing left to take away.”

Zygmont’s not afraid to trust the diner, either, which is something of a rare attribute in the more conservative culinary climes of 2018.

Some chefs will try and pack an umami punch in every plate, hoping a safe, sated diner equals a happy one. Zygmont says his time with Redzepi at that chef ’s legendary Noma (including time in a test kitchen with the master himself ) taught him three important lessons.

“First, don’t be afraid to adjust and augment,”

says Zygmont. “Second, don’t be afraid to throw shit against the wall and see what sticks.

And don’t be afraid to stop doing something that’s not working. There is nothing worse than going to a restaurant and experiencing very forced food, like the chef had an idea, and instead of going with the flow, they tried to force their will on the food. I’ve certainly fallen into that trap myself.”

A self-proclaimed fan of jazz and other improvisational musics, Zygmont says he sometimes sees elements of that same creative drive in his kitchen work. →

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“Baking is more like classical music,” he says.

“There’s scales and measurements and times that you have to follow, or the whole thing will just break down. With savory food, as long as you have the fundamentals down, and as long as it’s cooked properly and the flavors work, you can make something tasty.”

NEW LIFE IN AN OLD FAMILY HOME

Co-owner Matthew Spicher — who, along with nephew Corey Ladd, launched both Treehouse and East Nashville newcomer Pearl Diver — sees Zygmont as a “game changer” for the restaurant.

“He has elevated the entire program,” Spicher says. “Bringing him on as a partner was the single best decision we have ever made.”

He and Ladd launched the restaurant in 2013, by remixing a piece of family history: a little house in the middle of 5 Points that was long home to Spicher’s dad (and Ladd’s grandfather), fiddle great Buddy Spicher. Two years later, original chef Todd Alan Martin left to move back to Seattle.

“We were as nervous as nuns in a cucumber patch about what to do,” Spicher says. “…Luckily, Jason was looking to move to Nashville, so the timing was perfect.”

Spicher and Ladd say the Clearview Avenue house has always been a small but significant neighborhood nexus, whether it’s been food or music being created.

“Dad had a recording studio next door, so I spent a lot of time there making records in the ’90s,” Spicher says. “We would occasionally go over to Shirley’s place [now 3 Crow Bar] and get beers after a session. Back in the late 1950s, Dad lived on Boscobel street at ‘Mom Upchurch’s Place,’ which is where a lot of musicians stayed while getting on their feet. Dad would walk to 5 Points to eat and hang out.

There was a restaurant called Johnnie’s Place next to the Marathon gas station, and of course the Woodland Theatre. Little did Dad know he would circle back around some 30 years later and buy a house there that would one day become a restaurant. He just always thought the neighborhood was cool. He says it was hipster even back in the ’50s when rolled-up jeans and white T-shirts were the look. Which, incidentally, is what I wear now.”

Ladd and Spicher say that despite an overhaul, many of the original parts of the home still exist, if you know where to look.

“The idea of an open kitchen was great for Treehouse, because when you are at your family’s house, you walk through the kitchen and see what’s going on,” says Ladd. “[There are] little pieces of the house we wanted to salvage and reuse. There are places on the front of the bar that have doors with scratch marks on it from the dog that used to live in the house. The wood beams were salvaged and turned into the tables and chairs, as well as the bar top. The fire mantels were saved and placed in the bathrooms.”

Even the namesake treehouse remains.

“Dad built the treehouse for my niece, who lived with them through high school,” Spicher says. “It always made an awesome navigation tool as you were directing people to the studio. Treehouse was our attempt to immortalize part of my Dad’s work. He finds it amusing that his inept carpentry has made an indelible impression as a 5 Points landmark. We used to sneak up there in the treehouse and drink beers, and now folks sit

under the Treehouse and drink beers ... probably wearing the same rolled up jeans and white T-shirts.”

DIG IN: Treehouse serves dinner and late-night eats Monday through Saturday, 6 p.m.-1 a.m., at 1011 Clearview Ave. For more: treehousenashville.com.

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SIMPLY

sweet

Almost 15 years in, Sweet 16th Bakery is a Lockeland Springs institution

By Ellen Margulies | Photographed by Travis Commeau November | December 2018 theeastnashvillian.com

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Y

our average breakfast sandwich: greasy egg on dry English muffin, pieces sloppily sliding when you lift for a bite. The breakfast sandwich at East Nashville’s Sweet 16th, aka “one to go”: fluffy, perfectly seasoned egg souffle on a rich, split cheddar scone, masterfully composed, worth

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Ellen and Dan Einstein have been making magic at East Nashville bakery Sweet 16th for going on 15 years.

gripping like Kate Winslet holding onto a raft in an icy ocean.

That sandwich — and so many cakes, pastries, tarts, and more — has made Sweet 16th a Lockeland Springs institution for some 15 years now (as of next May). And the magic behind owners Ellen and Dan Einstein’s magic is, fittingly enough, simple but sweet.

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Before there was Sweet 16th, there was Ellen, styling food on TV for (the original) Mr. Food, aka Art Ginsburg, then catering, then baking goodies in her own kitchen for years, with Dan coming home at nights from his music executive job (Al Bunetta Management, Oh Boy Records, and others line his resume) to wash dishes.

The demand for Ellen’s baking outgrew her kitchen around the same time that Dan realized he was ready to leave the music business.

“I had no idea how I was going to fit into this whole scheme,” Dan says. “We’re both apron-string trained. I’ve worked in restaurants just on and off from the time I was a teenager in kitchens, so this all made sense, and it just kind of naturally fell into place.”

What’s naturally fallen into place over the years: a sparkling-clean little bakery that blends familiarity with sweet surprises. The same insanely good chocolate chip cookie that they baked on day one is still on the menu, sold from a glass jar on top of the counter. Others — like the coffee crack cookie, or the cornflake cookie, or whatever else someone’s feeling for that day’s bake — are piled up temptingly in other big jars that line the length of the countertop. Heavenly scones and their brothers, the cheddar scones, are sold on the daily too.

Sweet 16th’s entire pastry case is an ode to teamwork. “Everyone who works with us has to come with their own bag of tricks,” says Ellen, who makes sure everything fits together seamlessly. Their crew stays small — three full-timers plus Dan and Ellen — but intensely creative. One example is that famous breakfast sandwich, which has been featured in Food & Wine. It wouldn’t have happened, they say, without the bakery’s very first employee, Big Al, who now owns

his own restaurant in North Nashville’s Salemtown neighborhood.

Sweet 16th’s baking philosophy is European, fused with home-style. “We agreed we wanted small-batch, never a production thing,” says Ellen. “It was more about, ‘Yeah, we’re making it fresh every day.’ And we have the ability to change it up every day.”

To keep from going stale, they pull inspiration from family (“My father said to my sister, ‘I don’t know how she’s gonna make it just selling cookies, they’ve gotta do breakfast and lunch,’” says Ellen), from friends (she tweaked a recipe from food writer Debbie Puente for their much-loved blueberry muffin), and from traveling. The couple had an incredible quiche on one of their frequent trips to Paris, as Ellen recalls. “I said, ‘I’ve got to decode this and Americanize it.’ We always pick up something from travel.”

When the couple first opened the bakery, they planned and prepped for months figuring out what would go in the case, a selection of the bakery’s now-signature, simple but spectacular creations. They sold out by 11 on that first day, and when they closed, Dan says, “Ellen sat down and wept openly.” It was so overwhelming, how could they possibly do it all again — and in time for the next day?

Somehow, they managed. And they kept managing, even though some days were just “crickets and tumbleweeds,” Dan says. They added a lineup of savory items to the bakery stable. They spoiled little ones — and sometimes not-so-little ones — with a birthday cookie or cupcake, gratis. They greeted a steady, first-name-basis crew of regulars.

Now, almost 15 years in and such a fixture in the neighborhood… Can East Nashville count on another 15 years of Sweet 16th?

The Einsteins wordlessly exchange the kind of look that only a husband and wife can decipher, in that secret love language woven from days in, days out together in a cozy neighborhood bakery.

So 2033: still a mystery. But just in case, you should pop in tomorrow morning and order one to go.

DIG IN: Sweet 16th Bakery offers scones, muffins, cookies, cakes, coffee, tea, and more — baked fresh daily — at 311 N 16th St., 7 a.m.-2 p.m., Tuesday to Friday, 8 a.m.1 p.m. Saturday. More info: sweet16th.com.

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619 W DUE WEST AVE. MADISON, TN 37115

The East Nashville COOKBOOK

Things in East Nashville are getting tastier all the time. You’d be hardpressed to name a cuisine you can’t find within reach these days. Still, even the most committed East Nashville dining enthusiast needs a night in occasionally. A little help with that: We snagged recipes from some of East Nashville’s very best — folks who craft everything from the ramen you crave on a cloudy fall day to the cocktails you dream about at work — and collected them in a cookbook. This fall, invite your favorite people over for a multi-course feast, offering everybody’s favorite local fare, cooked by you.

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S O Y- B R A I S E D

Shiitake Maz & Cheese From POP To-Go/Otaku Ramen | Servings: 4 PREPARATION:

In a large sauté pan over high heat, combine the mushrooms, sauce, and mustard greens, and bring to a boil. Add the noodles and toss until coated and the sauce begins to bubble. There should be very little to no excess sauce left in the pan, as it should all be coating the noodles. Remove the pan from the heat and add the cheese. Stir until the cheese is evenly distributed. Divide the noodles among four bowls for serving. To each bowl, add a pinch of the sesame seeds, 1 teaspoon of the togarashi, 1 of the eggs, and a pinch of the scallions.

SOY-BRAISED MUSHROOMS PREPARATION:

In a large saucepan over high heat, heat the oil. When the oil begins to smoke, add the mushrooms and sauté until they’re caramelized, about 10 minutes. And don’t forget, as Julia Childs says, “don’t crowd the mushrooms.” Work in batches to ensure you can caramelize and do not sweat the mushrooms. Stir in the stock, soy sauce, sesame oil, sake, sugar, and pepper, and reduce the heat to medium.

Cook until most of the liquid has reduced. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the mixture to a sheet pan to allow the mushrooms to cool. Transfer the mushrooms to an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator.

MAZ SAUCE PREPARATION:

In a large saucepan over high heat, combine the stock, soy sauce, sake, sugar, and pepper and bring the mixture to a boil. In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and water to form a slurry. Add the cornstarch slurry in a slow stream to the boiling liquid, whisking constantly and vigorously until the liquid begins to thicken. Remove the pan from the heat, transfer the sauce to an airtight container, and store it in the refrigerator.

NOTE:

To make slow-cooked eggs, set up a sous vide bath at 149 degrees and slow-cook your eggs in the shell for 45 minutes. Keep them in their shells until you’re ready to serve — or cook poached eggs.

Courtesy of Ramen Otaku

RAMEN INGREDIENTS: • • • • • • • • •

2 cups soy-braised mushrooms (recipe here) 1 cup Maz Sauce 1/2 cup julienned pickled mustard greens 20 ounces thicker ramen noodles, cooked 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/4 cup toasted white sesame seeds, for garnish 4 teaspoons shichimi togarashi ( Japanese spice mixture), for garnish 4 slow-cooked (see note) or poached eggs 1/4 cup scallion threads (green part only), for garnish

SOY-BRAISED MUSHROOM INGREDIENTS: • • • • • • • •

2 tablespoons vegetable oil 10 cups shiitake mushrooms, roughly chopped 1 cup vegetable stock (recipe on page 98 in Ramen Otaku) 1/2 cup soy sauce 1 tablespoon sesame oil 2 tablespoons sake 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons dark brown sugar 1 teaspoon ground white pepper

MAZ SAUCE INGREDIENTS: • • • • • • •

3 cups vegetable stock (recipe on page 98 in Ramen Otaku) 1 1/2 cups soy sauce 6 tablespoons sake 1/4 cup dark brown sugar 1 tablespoon ground white pepper 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 tablespoon water

This recipe comes from chef Sarah Gavigan’s new cookbook, Ramen Otaku: Mastering Ramen at Home, releasing this fall. Gavigan is founder and chef of Otaku Ramen and POP Nashville. POP is located at 604 Gallatin, #203, and serves dinner from its to-go window 5-10 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 10 p.m. Sunday. For more: popnashville.com.

GLUTEN-FREE AND VEGAN

Udon Broth

From Nomzilla! | Makes about 2 1/2 quarts Nomzilla! Sushi Et Cetera serves sushi and other East and Southeast Asian dishes, at 1000 Gallatin Ave., Ste. A. Hours are 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday to Friday, 5-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more: nomzilla.com.

INGREDIENTS: • • • •

2 quarts water 1 pound sliced mushrooms 2 ounces tamari 2 1/2 tablespoons salt

• 1 1/2 tablespoons mushroom seasoning • 4 ounces mirin

PREPARATION:

Add mushrooms and other ingredients into a stock pot with 2 quarts of water. Simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes. Presto and enjoy.

NOTES:

Tamari can be replaced with regular soy sauce (not low sodium) if it doesn’t need to be gluten-free. Mushroom seasoning is available on amazon.com or at Fresh & Fresh International Market, 3905 Nolensville Pike.

Sunomono (“Vinegared Things”) Salad From Two Ten Jack

DRESSING INGREDIENTS: • • • •

PREPARATION:

4 ounces vinegar, rice or otherwise 1/2 ounce soy sauce 1 ounce mirin Salt to taste

In bowl, put salt in vinegar, stir to dissolve.

Add remaining dressing components, set aside. In separate bowl, toss seafood and vegetables. Drizzle dressing and mix to incorporate.

SALAD INGREDIENTS:

• 3 ounce crab, scallops, octopus (can also use tofu, shrimp, or fish) • 1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced • 1/4 head cabbage, shredded • 2-3 radishes, finely sliced

SIMPLE VINEGAR PREPARATION:

ADDITIONAL (OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS: • • • • •

Combine all ingredients in Mason jar. Cover open jar mouth with cheesecloth. Secure lid (middle insert removed so vinegar can breathe). Let sit in temperate spot, out of direct sunlight, for 6-8 weeks. Refrigerate indefinitely.

Photo by Andrea Behrends

Hard-boiled eggs Salad mix Chili peppers Tomatoes Squash and zucchini

PRO TIP:

Reserve some of your vinegar to start the next batch. Ratio is 25 percent (total volume) vinegar to 75 percent alcohol. Alcohol needs to be 17 percent ABV or lower so it doesn’t kill the vinegar. Most any wine works great!

SIMPLE VINEGAR INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 cup raw (not heated) vinegar (usually available at organic/health food grocery) • 3/4 cup wine • Herbs, flowers, spices, berries of choice

Two Ten Jack (1900 Eastland Ave., Ste. 205) offers Japanese-inspired comfort food for dinner only, 5-10 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 5-11 Friday and Saturday. The bar opens at 4 p.m. For more: twotenjack.com.

Courtesy of Audra Guidry

PREPARATION:

PERFECT

Pie Crust From Pelican & Pig/Slow Hand Coffee + Bakeshop INGREDIENTS: • • • • •

1 cup all-purpose flour 8 ounces butter, cold and cubed 2 1/2 ounces shortening or lard, cold 1 teaspoon salt 5 1/2 ounces iced water

In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour and salt together to distribute salt evenly. Add flour and shortening (or lard) to the flour mixture and begin to press the fats in between your fingers to create “sheets” of flour-coated fat. When the fats look evenly distributed, make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the iced water. Using your hands or a spatula, begin to fold the flour inward toward the water. Work the mixture gently, just until the ingredients come together into a shaggy dough. (If dough seems dry, add 1 more tablespoon of water at a time until your dough pulls together.) Press the dough into a 1-inch round disc, wrap tightly and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 30 minutes.When you’re ready to roll your pie crust, lightly dust your work surface with flour. Place your dough on the floured surface, and lightly flour the top of your dough to be able to roll more easily. Starting in the center of your dough circle, work your rolling pin toward the outer edges, rotating your dough frequently to avoid it sticking to your work surface. Continue to roll the dough until you have an even, 10-inch wide circle that’s 1/8-inch thick.

Brush away excess flour from the surface of your crust, and lightly fold it in half. Fold it in half again, to create a triangle. The dough can now easily be lifted into your pie tin. Placing the tip of the triangle in the center of your tin, gently unfold the crust. You should have a beautiful crust with edges that overlap. Fold the crust edges underneath (trim with scissors or a sharp knife where necessary), and either crimp edges with a fork or use your fingers to pinch into a lovely border.

Pastry chef Audra Guidry guides the sweet and savory treats for full-service restaurant Pelican & Pig (due to open this fall) and Slow Hand Coffee + Bakeshop (open as of October), both at 1012 Gallatin Ave. Follow @pelicanandpig and @slowhandcoffeebakeshop on Instagram for updates.

East Park Swizzle From Pearl Diver INGREDIENTS: • • • • • •

6-8 mint leaves 1 ounce Bahnez Mezcal 1 ounce Wisdom and Warter Cream Sherry 1 ounce Fee Brothers Velvet Falernum 3/4 ounce fresh lime Crushed ice

PREPARATION: In a tall glass, add mint leaves. Use a swizzle stick to mix all ingredients together. Add crushed ice. Top drink with 8 dashes of Peychuad’s bitters and garnish with a mint sprig.

Pearl Diver is an exotic lounge focused on tropical drinks and food, located at 1008 Gallatin Ave., and open 6 p.m.-2 a.m., Monday through Saturday. More: pearldivernashville.com. (Cocktail credit: Ben Clemons and Jamie White.)

Pink Pepper G&T From Walden

INGREDIENTS: • • • • •

1 1/2 ounce Old Dominick American Dry Gin 1/2 ounce lemon juice 1/4 ounce simple syrup (see recipe below) Tonic A pinch of pink peppercorns Courtesy of Hannah Schneider Creative

Garnish: pink peppercorns Glass: rocks

PREPARATION:

Muddle pink peppercorns in shaker. Add ice. Add gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup. Shake until chilled. Strain over ice in a rocks glass. Top with tonic and garnish with pink peppercorns. (For batching, we use a pink peppercorn tincture instead of muddling.)

SIMPLE SYRUP PREPARATION:

Take equal parts water and sugar and put them in a blender. Most people think you need to heat the mixture to make simple syrup, but blending is just as effective and less time-consuming.

Walden offers affordable drinks, creative bar bites, and a dog-friendly patio at 2909B Gallatin Pike. Hours are 4 p.m. to midnight Tuesday and Wednesday, 4 p.m.-1 a.m. Thursday, 4 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday, noon to 2 a.m. Saturday, and noon to 11 p.m. Sunday. For more: waldenbar.com.

Aging Beauty From Tenn Sixteen

Tenn Sixteen Food & Drink Co. dishes up “Southern bites and beers” at 1016 Woodland St., 11 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m.-1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to midnight Sunday. For more: tenn16.com.

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INGREDIENTS:

• 2 ounces Zaya Rum • 1/2 ounce simple syrup • 1 ounce lime juice

PREPARATION:

Shake, strain, and garnish with a lime wedge.

Serve in a chilled martini glass.

Photo by Gina Anderson

GREEN CHILE

Sweet Potatoes From Graze | Servings: 2 INGREDIENTS: • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

2 large sweet potatoes 1/2 cup organic green chiles (canned works well) 1/3 cup diced tomatoes and onions 2 tablespoons veggie oil 2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons pepper 2 teaspoons paprika 2 teaspoons garlic powder 1/2 tablespoon Earth Balance (a dairy-free “buttery” spread) 1/2 tablespoon chili powder 1 cup organic corn kernels avocado lime juice vegan sour cream (Follow Your Heart is a great brand)

SWEET POTATO PREPARATION:

Cube sweet potatoes and toss with oil, sprinkle of salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika. Spread evenly over baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees (or until soft, depending on your oven).

GREEN CHILE PREPARATION:

Add green chiles, corn kernels, salt, Earth Balance, chili powder, and a splash of lime juice in a pot. Simmer for 15 minutes on low heat.

Plate roasted potatoes. Top with green chile sauce, diced tomatoes and onions, vegan sour cream and avocado.

Plant-based bistro and bar Graze offers dinner, drinks, and weekend brunch at 1888 Eastland Ave. Hours are 4-11 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m.-11 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. For more info: grazenashville.com.

Maple Pumpkin Pie

WITH ORANGE MERINGUE From Juniper Green Photo by Justin Rearden

PIE CRUST INGREDIENTS: • • • • •

1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup unsalted butter, browned and cooled slightly

FILLING INGREDIENTS: • • • • • • • • • •

One 15-ounce can pumpkin purée 3 eggs 1/4 cup maple syrup 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon ginger 1/2 teaspoon allspice 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 cup heavy cream

• • • • • •

3 eggs 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar 2/3 cup sugar 3/4 cup brown rice syrup 2 teaspoons vanilla Zest of 1 orange

MERINGUE INGREDIENTS:

PIE CRUST PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown butter in a 2-quart saucepan. Pour and cool slightly in a glass bowl. Combine all ingredients with a fork and press into 9-inch pie pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes until edges are slightly browned. Let cool.

FILLING PREPARATION:

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, brown sugar, maple syrup, and pumpkin purée until smooth.

In a small, separate bowl, combine cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cornstarch. Sift into egg mixture and whisk together until combined.

In a separate bowl, using a hand mixer, whisk heavy cream until soft peaks form. Fold heavy cream into egg mixture until combined, careful not to over-mix or whipped cream will fall. Pour into cooled pie shell and bake in oven for 45-50 minutes, or until pie is set on the edges and jiggles slightly in the middle. Let cool in the fridge.

MERINGUE PREPARATION:

In a standing mixer (hand mixer optional, may require additional time for meringue to form), using the whisk attachment, beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and 2 tablespoons sugar until soft peaks form. In a 2-quart sauce pan, combine remaining sugar, 1/3 cup of water, and brown rice syrup in sauce pan until soft ball stage (235-245 degrees). Turn heat off immediately.

Turn mixer on low and pour hot sugar mixture in slowly, until combined. Beat on high for 5-6 minutes (7-10 minutes if using a hand mixer), stirring in vanilla and orange zest in the final minute. Pour as much as desired over cooled pie, and create peaks using the back of a spoon. Using a kitchen torch, brush heat over meringue until browning occurs. To brown meringue by broiling, preheat broiler first and put pie in for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Juniper Green is an East Nashville-based catering company offering seasonal menus for weddings, social gatherings, and corporate events. For more: junipergreen.kitchen.

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Lemongrass Tofu Poké Bowl WITH GARLIC MISO From Kawai Poké Co. MARINATED TOFU INGREDIENTS: • • • • • • •

1 lemongrass stalk 2 teaspoons minced garlic 1 cup soy sauce or tamari 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil 1 tablespoon honey 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes One 12-ounce pack extra-firm tofu, pressed and cut into 1-inch cubes

GARLIC MISO SAUCE INGREDIENTS: • • • • •

1/4 cup white miso 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar 4 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 cup grapeseed oil 1 tablespoon water

RICE INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup brown short grain rice • 1 1/2 cups water

TOPPINGS: • • • • • • • •

Cucumber Jalapeño Radish Pineapple Scallion Sweet onion Sesame seeds Toasted macadamia nuts

Courtesy of Kawai Poké Co.

MARINATED TOFU PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the lemongrass by smashing the stalks with the blunt edge of a knife and then peeling away the hard outer layers. Thinly slice the lemongrass stalk, utilizing the white and discarding the green parts, and mince. Combine lemongrass with garlic, soy sauce or tamari, toasted sesame oil, honey, and red pepper flakes. Whisk thoroughly to combine. Gently mix tofu cubes with marinade. Let tofu absorb liquid for 15 minutes, mixing every 5 minutes. Place marinated tofu onto oiled baking sheet and bake for 20-22 minutes, rotating the pan and flipping the tofu halfway through cooking. Allow tofu to cool on cooling rack.

GARLIC MISO SAUCE PREPARATION:

Combine white miso, rice wine vinegar, garlic, grapeseed oil, and water in a blender and blend on medium speed until smooth. Add 1/2 tablespoon of additional water and blend again until sauce is desired consistency.

RICE PREPARATION:

Rinse brown rice with cold water and drain, repeating until water is no longer cloudy. Combine brown rice and water in a rice cooker and follow rice cooker instructions or continue to stovetop method. If using stovetop method, place water and rice into a medium saucepan. Bring the water to a rapid boil, cover, turn down the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for approximately 20 minutes. Allow rice to cool before using.

BUILDING YOUR BOWL:

Prepare your toppings by thinly slicing cucumber, jalapeño, radish, scallion, and sweet onion. Cut the pineapple into 1-inch cubes. Place cooled rice into a bowl. Top with baked tofu and toppings. Drizzle with garlic miso sauce and finish with toasted sesame seeds and crushed macadamia. Or feel free to customize your bowl however you choose. Additional toppings can include edamame, sliced avocado, soy sauce, and crispy onions.

Kawai Poké Co. is a casual, Hawaiian-inspired restaurant serving poké and smoothie bowls for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday through Saturday, 11 to 4 Sunday, at 901 Woodland St., Ste. 105. For more: kawaipoke.com.

Chickpea Salad From The Wild Cow | Servings: 20

PREPARATION:

INGREDIENTS: • 1 large can chickpeas (6 pound, 14 ounces — if you can’t find the big one, 7 regular 15-ounce cans should do the trick) • Half a large bunch of celery, finely diced • Half a large red onion, minced • Half a large bunch of parsley, minced

• • • • • •

Half a large bunch of dill, minced 1 cup Vegenaise 1/2 cup brown mustard 1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar 1 tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon black pepper

Mash chickpeas well and add remainder of ingredients. Mix well and chill.

The Wild Cow serves vegetarian and vegan cuisine (with gluten-free options) for lunch and dinner, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. every day except Tuesday, at 1896 Eastland Ave. For more: thewildcow.com.

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WMOT, NPR MUSIC and WORLD CAFE PRESENTS

Day Stages at

AMERICANAFEST 2018 SM

Live radio broadcast and HD Video webcast via VuHaus.com "The Local" - 110 28th Ave N, Nashville, TN

*pending as of printing. check wmot.org for up to date lineup and info.

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SERVIN' UP TASTY TUNES FROM TALENT TO TABLE

FREE–RANGE RADIO 86

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B Y

J O E L L E

H E R R

O Come, All Ye Readers

A

h, the holidays. A time of gathering with friends and family for feasting and gift giving and more feasting (perhaps on a dish or two from recipes contributed by local chefs and artisans, elsewhere in this issue).

As for the gift-giving part, I’d venture to guess that, for even the most biblio-fanatical of you out there, your most memorable holiday gift was likely not a book. (Full disclosure: this unabashed book nerd’s is a tie between a Barbie DreamHouse when I was 7 years old and a Nintendo system when I was 13.)

Imagine, though, if the holidays were a more bookish time of year. If family members exchanged books on Christmas Eve and then settled in to read them as the eve turned into night.

If you lived in Iceland, you wouldn’t need to imagine.

I’m talking about Jolabokaflod, which, roughly translated, means “Christmas book flood.” That’s right: a flood of books.

Intrigued?

It all started during World War II, when, in Iceland, there were import restrictions on just about everything except for paper. As a result, lots of folks started giving books as gifts at the holidays, a tradition that caught on and continues today.

Each fall, the “flood” kicks off in quaint, 20th-century fashion with a book catalog that is snail-mailed to every household in the country. Rather than going straight into the recycling bin, this catalog is the means through which a large number of holiday gifts are researched, contemplated, and eventually ordered.

Icelandic family members exchange books on Christmas Eve and then read into the night. I repeat: They read on Christmas Eve. Picture it: no contentious political discussions, no curse-laden, pre-dawn bicycle assembly, no “oops, we forgot to get batteries” disappointment. Just pure,

bookish bliss … with perhaps some cocoa (spiked or not) and cookies and occasional discussion about particularly stirring or provocative, just-read passages.

OK, perhaps I’m romanticizing a bit. I’m sure many moody Icelandic teens tuck their phones between the pages and only pretend to read. And plenty of grandparents doze off after only a few sentences. And I don’t mean, of course, to suggest that we should dismiss our own traditions of pre-Santa excitement or caroling or other merry festivities.

In fact, one of the most unexpected and pleasant surprises of owning a bookstore has been witnessing first hand just how many Americans (or East Nashvillians, at least) do give books as gifts at the holidays. Naturally, the uptick in foot traffic this time of year can be found across all types of retail. But my heart seriously swells when people come into the shop, spend a good deal of time looking through the selections that I’ve handpicked, and then proceed to find something for every single person on their list. “One-stop shopping!” they proclaim, as I launch into a Tenenbaumesque imagining of their family full of bibliophiles.

It’s these customers who reinforce my belief that the shop is an appreciated addition to the community and that the sweat, tears, and uncertainty involved in running a brick-and-mortar shop in this digital age is all worth it.

And you never know — a carefully chosen book that you give this season just might replace a cherished childhood toy as its recipient’s most memorable gift.

What say you, book lovers? What do you think of Jolabokaflod? How would your friends and family respond if you suggested exchanging books this Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa? Swing by the shop — we’d love to hear your thoughts on this or any other bookish thing on your mind, and to wish you a warm, wonderful holiday season in person. →

“Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them.”

— Neil Gaiman November | December 2018 theeastnashvillian.com

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y a K h Po It’s

Y’all!

FRESH POKÉ BOWLS • SMOOTHIES • BREAKFAST BOWLS VEGAN & VEGETARIAN • BAKERY • HAWAIIAN SHAVED ICE

LEARN MORE www.KAWAIPOKE.com 901 WOODLAND STREET STE. 105 • NASHVILLE, TN 37206 88

theeastnashvillian.com November | December 2018

New & Notable

⟫

A Ladder to the Sky John Boyne

Critically acclaimed Boyne (The Heart’s Invisible Furies) offers up another sure-to-be-a-bestseller about literary ambition and fame, with a morality-challenged antihero at its center.

⟫ ⟫ ⟫ ⟫ ⟫ (Nov. 13)

An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good

Helene Tursten Translated by Marlaine Delargy

Move over Miss Marple. The star of this story collection is 88-yearold Maud, an irascible amateur sleuth investigating murders in her hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden.

(Nov. 6)

My Sister, the Serial Killer Oyinkan Braithwaite

A Nigeria-set tale of two sisters, one of whom is the family favorite … and also a sociopath.

If you like your humor dark, this super-buzzy debut novel might be right up your alley.

(Nov. 20)

Becoming

Michelle Obama

You Are a Badass Every Day

No explanation needed here. This memoir by our “when they go low, we go high” 44th FLOTUS is one of the biggest, most-anticipated books of the fall.

Jen Sincero

Sincero has sassily encouraged countless (read: millions of ) readers to tap into their inner badasses. Her latest book aims to help them focus on doing so in an interactive, everyday way.

(Nov. 13)

(Dec. 4)

Ramen Otaku Sarah Gavigan

Local chef and restaurateur Gavigan offers her expert noodle-wrangling guidance, honed at the helms of Otaku Ramen, Little Octopus, and POP Nashville.

(Nov. 13)

Dust Bunnies Tommy Womack

This memoir from the much-lauded musician (and “East of Normal” columnist) promises to be a “wildly irreverent, wickedly entertaining, and wonderfully witty tale about ADD, alcohol, Jesus, rehab, depression, life on the road, and life off the road.”

(Nov. 20)

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR EMMA ALFORD CALENDAR EDITOR

N O V E M B E R | D E C E M B E R 2018

FOR UP-TO -DATE INFORMATION ON EVENTS, AS WELL AS LINKS, PLEASE VISIT US AT: THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

UPCOMING

TALKIN’ TURKEY Boy Scout Troop 3 Annual Turkey Fry Fundraiser Nov. 1 - 22, pickups at East End United Methodist Church

One surefire way to end the debate over who’s cooking the turkey this year: Skip the hassle and enlist the East Nashville Boy Scout Troop 3 to fry your bird. Their annual turkey fry started taking orders on Nov. 1, and you can scoop the bird up the day before Thanksgiving. They’ve got you covered, Scout’s honor. Visit their website, nashvilletroop3.com, for more info.

To order, email turkey@nashvilletroop3.com.

MUSTACHE AND DASH

LUNGevity Foundation’s Breathe Deep Stache and Lash 5K 7 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 17, Shelby Park Head over to Shelby Park and put on your best stash, beard, or luscious lashes (natural or fake) for this timed run and untimed walk. Through it, organizers are hoping to raise $33,500 to go toward LUNGevity, an organization funding lung cancer research, education, and support.

1900 Davidson St.

SPINNING BLACK FRIDAY Vinyl Tap Black Friday and 2-Year Anniversary 10 a.m., Friday, Nov. 23, Vinyl Tap

The vinylphiles over at Vinyl Tap are doubling down on Black Friday this year, hosting their two-year birthday hurrah on the hallowed day of holiday shopping. They’ll be cracking open their doors two hours early, selling all the limitededition Record Store Day titles and offering 15 percent off all other records. Spin yourself on over if you have a record lover in your family, and you can cross them off the list early. vinyltapnashville.com 2038 Greenwood Ave.

SHOP YOUR BLOCK SATURDAY

Fa-La-La-Fatherland Time TBD, Saturday, Nov. 24, Shoppes on Fatherland

We’re all about ditching Black Friday for Small Business Saturday. Though the details weren’t fully hammered down at press time, The Shoppes on Fatherland is planning to host its fun twist on this shopping holiday yet again, with refreshments, games, and door prizes at participating businesses. With over 20 little shops inside this small-biz coven, you’re guaranteed to find something for everybody on your list.

1006 Fatherland St.

Small Business Saturday at 5 Points Till 7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 24, 5 Points

Shops around 5 Points are prepped for the holiday season, many with extended hours and oodles of holiday cheer. Keep an eye on our blog at theeastnashvillian.com for more updates on 5 Points plans for this small business celebration as the time nears.

1100 block of Woodland St.

Small Business Saturday at Porter East Extended hours TBD, Saturday, Nov. 24, Shops at Porter East

Another stop on your Small Business Saturday Shopping romp: Lots of businesses at Porter East traditionally keep their doors open a bit later and have treats, drinks, and tidings of joy. Search Shops at Porter East on Facebook for the latest.

700 Porter Road

CAROLING ALL THE WAY

Fannie Battle Caroling for Kids, greater Nashville area Dec. 1–24 Now in its 102nd year (wow), Fannie Battle Day Home for Children’s annual caroling tradition keeps on going, with families, churches, companies, schools, and other

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at the Schermerhorn with your NASHVILLE SYMPHONY

AN ELVIS CHRISTMAS WITH THE NASHVILLE SYMPHONY

Nov. 29 to Dec. 1

December 13 to 16 JAZ Z AT

December 19 & 20

MICHAEL W. SMITH

LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA

Christmas

WITH

WYNTON MARSALIS

IN CONCERT WITH THE NASHVILLE SYMPHONY

December 5 & 6

THE GRINCH CHRISTMAS & SING-A-LONG Dec. 1

December 7

A V E RY M E R RY C H R I ST M A S W I T H

DAVE BARNES DEC. 2

Treat Friends, Family & Yourself

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December 18

DEC. 17 & 22

DEC. 23

BUY 3+ CONCERTS & SAVE BIG

615.687.6400 NashvilleSymphony.org theeastnashvillian.com November | December 2018

WITH SUPPORT FROM

EAST SIDE CALENDAR organizations caroling their way around the city, collecting money to support the organization’s mission. If ever there were a reason to raise your voice, this is it: The effort helps sustain a neighborhood childcare center that’s provided support to at-risk families for more than 125 years. This musical tradition continues through both door-to-door caroling and a variety of creative endeavors. If you feel like deckin’ the halls, sign up your group now. To become a caroler, call 615-228-6745, email caroling@fanniebattle.org or visit fanniebattle.org/caroling.

the gravelly raconteur that is Tom Waits with a talent-stocked benefit show. At this 13th annual event, musicians from across the city will join in to cover his tunes in the name of Second Harvest Food Bank. The lineup features OGs like David Olney and Ballhog!, plus some faces who are new to the yearly tradition. While no one can hope to replicate his smoky bar swagger and one-ofa-kind… err… voice, they’ll try. As with past

MULEs, they’ll also have a live Waits portrait happening courtesy of artists Jeff Bertrand and David Noel. All proceeds from the show ($10 at the door) and paintings will go toward Second Harvest’s efforts to fight hunger in Middle and West Tennessee. the5spot.club 1006 Forrest Ave., 615.650.9333

A VERY MUTTY CHRISTMAS

East C.A.N. Holiday Open House 7-10 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 1, Location TBD

East C.A.N. has made it to Santa’s nice list once again, and it’s time to celebrate. These puppy lovers have been helping save, rescue, and adopt animals here for a decade now, and their annual open house offers a chance to thank them for all the hard work they do throughout the year. It’s a kid-friendly evening, with beverages and appetizers — just a laid-back celebration, to which everyone is invited. (However, leave the fur nuggets at home for this one.) Search/like East C.A.N. on Facebook to keep up with location details as they are finalized.

HOME, SWEET HOME

Lockeland Springs Tour of Homes 5-9 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 1, and 1-4 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 2, Lockeland Springs neighborhood

This East Nashville holiday-season staple is now in its 40th year, offering neighbors and visitors a chance to take a jaunt around the beautiful historic homes of Lockeland Springs. The tour is sponsored by a number of local businesses, and the Lockeland Springs Neighborhood Association’s only fundraiser throughout the year. Check the LSNA website to learn about the homes included, event sponsors, and ticket vendors. lockelandsprings.org

THE HEART OF SATURDAY NIGHT

GET Behind The MULE: The 13th Annual Tom Waits Tribute & Benefit 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 8, The 5 Spot Once every year, East Nashville celebrates

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR

WINTERY FUN FOR ALL

Music City Winterfest 10-11:30 a.m., Dec. 8, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Dec. 9, Centennial Park Centennial Park hosts “cheer for the whole family” in early December: Winterfest, a two-day event that includes a holiday market,

live music, food trucks, s’mores stations, a beard competition, breakfast with Santa, and a Sunday “Onesie Brunch” that’ll let you break out your best jammies, plus lots more. Tickets are available online for Saturday’s Breakfast ($40, $25 for attendees age 10 and under) and Sunday’s 21-and-up Brunch ($50, including drinks). musiccitywinterfest.com 2500 West End Ave.

Nashville Children’s Theatre Disney’s THE LITTLE MERMAID

FA LA LA FLORA

Holiday Hang 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Dec. 15-16, Flora Plant Shop

Local plant hub Flora is getting ready to deck the halls with boughs of holly, and probably mistletoe, maybe a few nice Norfolk Island pines. For their holiday celebration, they’ll have gift items and festive wares. Still lacking that perfect tannenbaum? Flora will be selling sustainable Christmas trees, too. They’ve also invited a few other women-owned businesses for the weekend: Honor Of, The Good Fill, and Scout Baby. Stop in for some refreshments and get your dose of holiday cheer. floraplantshop.com 305 E Trinity Lane, Ste. 103

RESIDENCIES

DEE’S COUNTRY COCKTAIL LOUNGE deeslounge.com 102 E. Palestine Ave., Madison

Worldclass Bluegrass Jam Hosted by East Nash Grass Mondays, 6-8 p.m.

Madison Guild

Hosted by various songwriters Wednesdays, 6-8 p.m.

Jon Byrd

Tuesdays, 6-8 p.m.

November 8-December 23, 2018

The One and Only Bill Davis Hump Day Happy Hour Tuesdays, 8-10 p.m.

Music by Alan Menken Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater Book by Doug Wright

Big Monti Acoustic Blues Happy Hour

Performance Times: Friday and Saturday at 7 pm Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm

Songwriter Showdown

Including during Thanksgiving Weekend!

615-252-4675 or NashvilleCT.org All performances take place at The Martin Center at 25 Middleton Street Nashville, TN 37210 FREE PARKING ON SITE

Wednesdays, 6-8 p.m.

Wednesdays, 8-10 p.m.

THE 5 SPOT

the5spot.club 1006 Forrest Ave., 615.650.9333

Freak of Nashville

First and third Sundays of the month, 8:30 p.m.

Sunday Night Soul

Hosted by Jason Eskridge Second and fourth Sundays of the month, 6 p.m.

Two Dollar Tuesday Hosted by Derek Hoke Tuesdays, 9 p.m. to close

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR

Tim Carroll’s Rock & Roll Happy Hour Fridays, 6-8:30 p.m.

Strictly ’80s Dance Party First Friday of the month 9 p.m. to close

The 5 Spotlight

RAVEN AND WHALE GALLERY

11 a.m.-6 p.m., Thursday through Saturday; noon to 5 p.m., Sunday

Holiday Art Show

Nov. 23 through Dec. 24 Opening reception Dec. 1 Extended holiday hours (beginning Nov. 23) Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

ravenandwhalegallery.com 1108 Woodland St. Unit G, 629.777.6965

Mike Bell: match maker

Noon to 5 p.m., Thursday through Sunday 6-10 p.m., second Saturday of every month

Artists vary First Saturday of the month 6-8:30 p.m.

Funky Good Time First Saturday of the month 9 p.m. to close

ATTENTION RESTAURANTS!

ART EXHIBITS East Side Art Stumble

6-10 p.m., second Saturday of every month multiple East Nashville galleries We don’t art crawl on the East Side, we art stumble. Every month, local galleries and studios open their doors after hours to showcase some of the fabulous work they have gracing their walls. You can expect to see a diverse, eclectic mix of art, and to get the opportunity to meet local artists and support their work. Local retail stores are stumbling as well, with some businesses participating in a “happy hour” from 5-7 p.m., offering discounted prices on their merchandise to Stumblers. Be sure to check out the happy hour deals in The Idea Hatchery, at 1108 Woodland St.

Since 2001, Nashville restaurants participating in Dining Out For Life have raised more than $1.3 million to support Nashville CARES mission to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Middle Tennessee.

We want YOU to be a part of the most recognizable fundraiser in the city!

RED ARROW GALLERY theredarrowgallery.com 919 Gallatin Ave., Ste. 4, 615.236.6575

Contemporary Art Nashville

Amelia Briggs, Matt Christy, Margie Criner, Georgeanna Greene, Jodi Hays, Shawn Hall, Dana Oldfather, Duncan McDaniel, Joe Karlovec, and Dax VanAalten Opening Reception 6 p.m., Nov. 12; through Dec. 3

Rick Borg

Opening Reception 6 p.m., Dec. 8; through Jan. 6

A Red Arrow Gallery art talk series

Every month — check the website for more details

ART & INVENTION GALLERY artandinvention.com 1106 Woodland St., 615.226.2070

For a list of participating restaurants from 2018 visit DiningOutForLife.com/Nashville

WILL YOU JOIN US? Contact DOFL@NashvilleCARES.org for interest or inquiries.

PRESENTED BY

BENEFITTING

PARTNERING WITH

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR

LANE MOTOR MUSEUM lanemotormuseum.org 702 Murfreesboro Pike

The Dan Auerbach Collection: Vintage Harley-Davidson Motorcycles from 1937-1950

NASHVILLE REPERTORY THEATRE presents

A Christmas Story

Nov. 24 through Dec. 22 nashvillerep.org 161 Rains Ave.

Iron & Wine

Monday, Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m.

The Beach Boys

Through May 6, 2019

FRIST CENTER FOR THE VISUAL ARTS Do Ho Suh: Specimens

Saturday, Nov. 24, 8 p.m.

Paris 1990: City of Entertainment

Michael McDonald

Wednesday, Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m.

EXIT/IN

exitin.com 2208 Elliston Place

Through Jan. 6

Nov. 14-15, 7:30 p.m.

CONCERTS

fristartmuseum.org 919 Broadway

Tuesday, Dec. 11, 7 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 14, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 15, 7 and 9:30 p.m Dec. 21-22, 7 p.m.

Dec. 28-29, 7 p.m.

Amy Grant & Vince Gill: Christmas at The Ryman

Nov. 28-29, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 5-6, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 12-13, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 16-20, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 24, 7:30 p.m

The Buttertones

WHY? Plays Alopecia

Friday, Dec. 7, 9 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 8, 9 p.m.

The Brian Setzer Orchestra: 15th Anniversary Christmas Rocks Tour

Dec. 28-29, 8 p.m.

Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker

Monday, Dec. 31, 9 p.m.

Robert Earl Keen’s Cosmic Cowboy Christmas

Life, Love & Marriage Chests in Renaissance Italy

MARATHON MUSIC WORKS

Sunday, Dec. 30, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 31, 9 p.m.

THEATER|OPERA

Friday, Nov. 16, 8 p.m.

Kamasi Washington

NASHVILLE SYMPHONY

Through Jan. 6

Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists Through Jan. 12

Through Feb. 18

NASHVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE presents

Disney’s The Little Mermaid

Nov. 8 through Dec. 23 Evenings and weekends are open to the public nashvillechildrenstheatre.org 25 Middleton St.

THE THEATER BUG presents

7th Annual Winter Concert Dec. 6-9 thetheaterbug.org 4809 Gallatin Pike

NASHVILLE OPERA presents

Three Decembers

Nov. 9-11 Season tickets on sale now nashvilleopera.org 505 Deaderick St.

Crystal Method

Sunday, Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m.

All Them Witches

Monday, Dec. 24, 3 p.m.

Unknown Hinson: NYE

Thursday, Dec. 27, 7:30 p.m.

marathonmusicworks.com 1402 Clinton St.

Old Crow Medicine Show

nashvillesymphony.org One Symphony Place

Mayday Parade

The Music of the Rolling Stones with the Nashville Symphony

Sunday, Nov. 18, 8 p.m.

MOE.

Sunday, Dec. 9, 8 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 11, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 14, 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 20, 7:30 p.m.

Jim James, solo acoustic

Cherub

The Rock and Roll Playhouse presents: Holiday Party Featuring the Music of The Beatles for Kids Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2:30 p.m.

RYMAN AUDITORIUM ryman.com 116 Fifth Ave. N.

Amy Schumer

Wednesday, Nov. 7, 7 p.m.

Opry at The Ryman

Friday, Nov. 9, 7 and 9:30 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 10, 7 and 9:30 p.m Friday, Nov. 16, 7 and 9:30 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 17, 7 and 9:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 20, 7 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 23, 7 and 9:30 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 24, 7 and 9:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 27 and 9:30 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 30, 7 and 9:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 1, 7:30 and 9 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 4, 3:30 and 7 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 7, 7 and 9:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 8, 7 and 9:30 p.m.

An Evening with Annie Leibovitz Tuesday, Nov. 27, 7:30 p.m.

Martina McBride: The Joy of Christmas with the Nashville Symphony Thursday, Nov. 29, 7 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 30, 8 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 1, 8 p.m.

The Grinch Christmas & Sing-Along Saturday, Dec. 1, 11 a.m.

Home Alone in Concert with the Nashville Symphony Dec. 5-6, 7 p.m.

Jerry Lee Lewis

Monday, Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m.

Drew and Ellie Holcomb’s Neighborly Christmas Monday, Dec. 17, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 22, 8 p.m.

COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME & MUSEUM countrymusichalloffame.org 222 Fifth Ave. S.

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR

Exhibits: Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ’70s

This major exhibition, slated for a minimum three-year run, explores the artistic and cultural exchange between Nashville, Tennessee, and Austin, Texas, during the 1970s.

Musician Spotlights: Dan Kelly and Mike Webb

FILM SCREENINGS AT THE CMA THEATER

cmatheater.com 224 5th Ave. S., 615.760.6556 Check website for latest event listings.

Program Pass (free with museum ticket or museum membership) required to guarantee admission. Admission is included with museum ticket or museum membership. Seating is limited.

Sunday, Nov. 4, 1 p.m.

SHELBY BOTTOMS NATURE CENTER

9 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Noon to 4 p.m., Wednesday and Friday Closed, Sunday and Monday The Nature Center offers a wide range of nature and environmental education programs and has a Nashville B-Cycle station where residents and visitors can rent a bike to explore Nashville’s greenways. For more information, as well as the online program registration portal, visit: nashville.gov 1900 Davidson St., 615.862.8539

EVENTS & CLASSES STORYTIME

2-3 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 14 All ages, registration required

IT’S THE BALM (NIGHT SERIES) 6-7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 15

21 and up, registration required

WINTER BIRDS 1-2 p.m., Friday, Nov. 16 All ages

GREAT GOURDS! 2-3 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 17 All ages

YOUNG BIRDER’S 4-H CLUB 9:30-11:30 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 17 Ages 10-18

BE A TURKEY!

2-3 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 21

Ages 4-10, registration required

RECURRING SHOP AROUND SUNDAY

Sundays at Porter East Noon to 4 p.m., First Sunday of every month, Shops at Porter East

The Shops at Porter East open their doors the first Sunday of every month for a special parking lot party. You can expect to enjoy a selection of rotating food trucks (and usually a flower truck), fix-ups from Ranger Stitch, and often some good tunes too.

700 Porter Road 98

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RINC, Y’ALL

Scott-Ellis School of Irish Dance

Sundays at DancEast

danceast.org 805 Woodland St., Ste. 314, 615.601.1897 2-2:30 p.m., Beginner Class 2-3 p.m., Intermediate/ Advanced Soft Shoe Class 3-4 p.m., Intermediate/ Advanced Hard Shoe Class

Mondays at Eastwood Christian Church

Fellowship Hall 1601 Eastland Ave., 615.300.4388 5-5:30 p.m., Beginner Class 5-6 p.m., Intermediate/Advanced Class You’re never too young — or too old — to kick out the Gaelic jams with some Irish Step dancing. No experience, or partner, required.

Just enthusiasm, a heart of gold, and Scott-Ellis School of Irish Dance classes, and you’ll be dancing in the clover in no time.

ANSWER ME THIS

Trivia Nights 8 p.m., each week, various locations

If you’re one of the sharper tools in the shed (or not), stop by one of these East Side locales to test your wits at trivia. They play a few rounds, with different categories for each question.

There might even be some prizes for top-scoring teams, but remember: Nobody likes a sore loser.

Monday: Drifters (8 p.m.)

Tuesday: Edley’s BBQ East, Lipstick Lounge (7:30 p.m.)

Wednesday: The Mainstay (7 p.m.)

Thursday: 3 Crow Bar (8 p.m.)

SHOUT! SHIMMY! SHAKE! Motown Mondays 9:30 p.m. until close, Mondays, The 5 Spot

For those looking to hit the dance floor on Monday nights, The 5 Spot’s Motown Mondays dance party is the place to be. This shindig, presented by Electric Western, keeps it real with old-school soul, funk, and R&B. If you have two left feet, then snag a seat at the bar. They have two-for-one drink specials, so you can use the money you save on a cover to fill your cup. Get up and get down and go see why their motto is “Monday is the new Friday.” electricwesternrecords.com 1006 Forrest Ave., 615.650.9333

TELL ME A STORY East Side Storytellin’ 7 p.m., first and third Tuesdays The Post East

Looking for something to get your creative juices flowing? East Side Story has partnered with WAMB radio to present regular book readings, musical performances, and author/musician interviews wrapped up in just one evening. Look for this event twice each month. If you want

some adult beverages, feel free to BYOB. Check the website to see who the guests of honor will be for each performance. The event is free, but you may want to reserve a spot by calling ahead of time. theposteast.com 1701 Fatherland St., Ste. A, 615.457.2920 East Side Story eastsidestorytn.com 615.915.1808

LADIES AND LAUGHS

Crying Laughing 9 p.m., first Wednesday of each month The Crying Wolf

At monthly comedy showcase Crying Laughing, two talented ladies — Chloe Stillwell and MK Gannon — lead the proceedings, with local and regional comedians serving up feisty, feminist jokes. Expect lighthearted ribbing on politics, LGBTQ rights, pop culture, and more.

The show donates a portion of proceeds to Everytown for Gun Safety, so your laughs go toward a worthy cause. Think wisecracking with a hint of activism. thecryingwolf.com 823 Woodland St., 615.953.6715

BRING IT TO THE TABLE

Community Hour at Lockeland Table 4-6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, Lockeland Table

Lockeland Table is cooking up family-friendly afternoons to help you break out of the house or away from that desk for a couple of hours.

Throughout the week, they host a community happy hour that includes a special snack and drink menu, as well as a menu just for the kiddies. A portion of all proceeds benefits Lockeland Design Center PTO, so you can feel good about giving back to your neighborhood while schmoozing with your fellow East Nashvillians. lockelandtable.com 1520 Woodland St., 615.228.4864

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR

TRANSFORMING AT THE POST

Free Conscious Transformation Groups 7-8:30 p.m., second Wednesday of every month The Post East

Looking for a supportive environment to focus on your professional and personal development?

These monthly meetings, led by energy healer Ben Dulaney, offer an opportunity to focus on conscious transformation teaching, tools, and meditation practices to promote and home in on a plan of action to support your transformation.

Think of it as conscious coupling with other like-minded folks. theposteast.com 1701 Fatherland St., Ste. A, 615.457.2920

WALK, EAT, REPEAT

Walk Eat Nashville 1:30 p.m., Thursdays; 11 a.m., Fridays 5 Points

What better way to indulge in the plethora of East Nashville eateries than a walking tour through the tastiest stops? Walk Eat Nashville

tours stroll through East Nashville, kicking off in 5 Points, with six tasting stops over three hours.

You’ll walk about a mile and a half, so you’ll burn some of those calories you’re consuming in the process. This tour offers the chance to interact with the people and places crafting Nashville’s culinary scene. You even get a little history lesson along the way, learning about landmarks and lore on the East Side. Sign up for your tour online. walkeatnashville.com Corner of 11th and Woodland Streets 615.587.6138

HONESTLY, OFFICER...

East Nashville Crime Prevention Meeting 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Thursdays Noble’s Kitchen & Beer Hall

Join your neighbors to talk about crime stats, trends, and various other issues with East Precinct’s Commander David Imhof and others. If you’re new to the East Side, it’s a great opportunity to get up to speed on criminal activity in the area.

974 Main St., 629.800.2050

WINE ABOUT IT

The Sidebar Comedy Hour 8 p.m., first Friday of every month, Nashville Urban Winery

Few things in life are as fine as a good laugh and a tall glass of wine. You can snag both at Nashville Urban Winery’s stand-up nights — laid-back evenings of laughs brought to us by local comedians Ben Sawyer and Lucas Davidson. Each month the shows will offer sets from some of Nashville’s funniest folk, kicking off at 8:30 p.m. Just $10 at the door.

715 Main St., 615.619.0202

A DANCE PARTY WITH STYLE

Queer Dance Party 9 p.m.-3 a.m., third Friday of every month The Basement East

On any given month, the QDP is a mixed bag of fashionably clad attendees (some in the occasional costume) dancing till they can’t dance no mo’. The dance party has migrated over to the Beast, which gives shakers and movers even more space to cut up. Shake a leg, slurp down some of the drink specials, and let your true rainbow colors show. thebasementnashville.com 917 Woodland St., 615.645.9174

PICKIN’ YOUR BRUNCH Bluegrass Brunch 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Saturdays The Post East

What could make brunch even better, you might ask? Bluegrass. For a pickin’ and grinnin’ kind of meal, join the folks at The Post East every Saturday. They’ll have a few jammers there to complement the toast (and jam). P.S.: For those just focused on snacking, brunch runs from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. theposteast.com 1701 Fatherland St., Ste. A, 615.457.2920

ONCE UPON A TIME… Weekly Storytime 10 a.m., Saturdays The Bookshop

The Bookshop has a story to tell to us each and every weekend. On Saturdays, they sit down for a good old-fashioned storytime for young East Side bookworms, occasionally welcoming special guests (learn more about that on the shop’s website). One thing is certain: These are 100

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR

solid Saturday plans for wee bibliophiles. thebookshopnashville.com 1043 W. Eastland Ave., 615.484.5420

NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGS & EVENTS

HISTORIC EDGEFIELD NEIGHBORS Neighborhood Meeting

East Park Community Center 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 27

Holiday Party

900 Fatherland St. 5 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 9 historicedgefieldneighbors.com 700 Woodland St.

LOCKELAND SPRINGS N.A. General Meeting

6:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 15 The Post East lockelandsprings.org 1701 Fatherland St.

MOMS CLUB OF EAST NASHVILLE

facebook.com/groups/ClevelandPark 610 N. Sixth St.

Monthly business meetings at 10 a.m., first Friday of every month location varies by group MOMS (Moms Offering Moms Support) Club is an international organization of mothers with four branches in the East Nashville area.

It provides a support network for mothers to connect with other EN mothers. The meetings are open to all mothers in the designated area.

Meetings host speakers, cover regular business items (including upcoming service initiatives and activities), and also allow women to discuss the ins and outs, ups and downs of being a mother.

Check their website for the MOMS group in your area. momsclubeast.blogspot.com

INGLEWOOD N.A.

7 p.m., first Thursday of every month Isaac Litton Alumni Center inglewood37216.org 4500 Gallatin Pike

MCFERRIN N.A.

6:30 p.m., first Thursday of every month McFerrin Park Community Center (Location may vary) 301 Berry St.

ROSEBANK NEIGHBORS 6:30 p.m., third Thursday of every month Memorial Lutheran Church 1211 Riverside Drive

HENMA

Dates and locations vary Historic East Nashville Merchant’s Association (HENMA) is a cooperative formed among East Nashville business owners to promote collaboration with neighborhood associations and city government. Check the association’s website to learn about the organization and where meetings will be held each quarter. eastnashville.org

Would you like to have something included in our East Side Calendar?

Please let us know — we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us at:

calendar@theeastnashvillian.com

SHELBY HILLS N.A.

6:30 p.m., third Monday of every month Shelby Community Center shelbyhills.org 401 S. 20th St.

MAXWELL HEIGHTS N.A. 6 p.m., second Monday of every month Metro Police East Precinct 936 E. Trinity Lane

ROLLING ACRES NEIGHBORS

Smiles without the miles.

East Nashville’s orthodontist!

Straighten your smile without crossing the river.

6:30 p.m., second Tuesday of every other month Eastwood Christian Church (Sanctuary) 1601 Eastland Ave.

EASTWOOD NEIGHBORS Odd Month Social

5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 13

Tailgate Brewing Business Meeting 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 11 Eastwood Christian Church eastwoodneighbors.org 1601 Eastland Ave.

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS N.A. 6 p.m., third Thursday of every month Trinity Community Commons 204 E. Trinity Lane

CLEVELAND PARK N.A.

6:30 p.m., second Thursday of every month Cleveland Park Community Center

East Nashville 7 North 10th St.

NOW OPEN! Hendersonville 711 East Main St., Ste. 110

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East of NORMAL ⟿ by Tommy Womack ⟿

I

A Godzilla of eateries, worthy of outsized love though I only really enjoy early Tom Waits. He lost me when he started banging on pots and pans.) Who else could we be talking about but one of the coolest places on the planet: The Second Harvest Food Bank.

I’d mailed them checks before, and played benefits, and been there once for a hot second delivering stuff, but I’d never really seen the place. So, I just went out there. I found them in that nowheresville office park and warehouse hell they call MetroCenter I guess, although I think they could come up with a better name, but I guess no one thinks it’s needed. Anyway, I walked in the lobby and this nice lady named Nancy showed me a warehouse that could body-slam Costco.

We’re talking shelves to the ceiling and the ceiling ain’t for a while! On all the shelves are boxes full of food, and Nancy told me that this behemoth repository would run out in 21 days if not replenished. There were trucks backed up, some bringing in, many taking out.

You know what I like about a place that served 28 million meals last year, and is celebrating its 40th year in existence? It’s blessedly bipartisan. Jesus said to feed the hungry, so we’ve got that ideological demographic covered, and who among us can ever countenance a hungry child? It’s never the kids’ fault if the parent or parents are struggling to make it by while some talk-radio-loving douche says well if they would just work hard enough you wouldn’t be hungry would ya?! It’s a tough road being hungry. I know what it feels like — the light-headedness, the fatigue. I did it to myself. But I had issues I was fortunate to have access to help for.

Right now, in some county I can’t spell, is a kid starting right down that road, and he needs to eat, so he can learn, so he can get the energy to move ahead in pockets of our beautiful world where people don’t really have Christmas dinner.

Christmas doesn’t always come. But thanks to Second Harvest, Fish Stick Day always can!

don’t eat very much, or very well, for days at a time. What saves me is that my wife is an excellent cook and a broken record.

(Ludvig! You must eat!) Eventually my bloodsugar ship rights itself. It’s not bad like the old days. I’ve gained 40 pounds since the old days. I have a new book out about the old days. It’s called dust bunnies: a memoir.

And how’s that for a plug in the first paragraph.

So, what I’m saying is that I can’t wax poetic about the baked brie available at such and such. And I forget a lot of the great places where somebody picked up the check, like where I got the savory crepe in that yellow building in 5 Points, or the great pizza up the hill from the 5 Spot. My favorite eatery on the East Side? The Family by God Wash. The bucatini ruled and the breakfast was really good too. God rest its musico-gastronomical soul.

But this issue is about food, so food I shall write about, in florid prose that sexualizes yellow cling peaches and elevates fish sticks to talismans of glory. I choose to point every gourmand’s finger to an eatery that eats other eateries for breakfast. They’re such an eatery, they aren’t even an eatery! But in 40-odd Middle Tennessee counties they feed just this side of 400,000 people who aren’t so much “hankerin’ for some ribs” hungry, but more like, “I’m too weak to think” hungry.

It’s not always just poverty that afflicts access to the right kind of meal; it’s special needs in communities that maybe don’t cater to the working poor, or the elderly who need special diets they can’t afford. And yes, if this Godzilla of eateries hears from a support agency that a senior citizen can’t get a special food, this eatery will find it and get it there. That’s a foodie with hair on it! It’s one of my fave places and is always the beneficiary of the great Christmastime Tom Waits Get Behind the Mule tribute concert every December, where I’ve played often. (Even

Tommy Womack is a Nashville singer-songwriter and author. His new memoir, dust bunnies, is out Nov. 20, and makes an excellent stocking stuffer.

☕

tommywomack.com

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PARTING SHOT

BEN STEEL AND BRITT RONSTADT “Montana” Ben Steel, friend to many an East Nashville bartender and musician, poses at Mickey’s Tavern, as Britt Ronstadt (Linda’s niece) mans the bar.

PHOTOGRAPHED BY TRAVIS COMMEAU

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totally love the shadows

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