Long time Five Points favorite, Batter’d & Fried (1008A Woodland St.) is making a few changes including cosmetic improvements to the building, a new menu, and new name. Say hello to “Boston Commons.” But to paraphrase the Bard, “fish & chips by any other name will still taste as crispy.”
“We’re taking the best of Batter’d & Fried and continuing to do those things, but we’re also trying to be more efficient with our menu,” restaurant owner Matt Charette says. “At one point we had 160 choices on our menu, right now we have 123, which is huge. When we were the only neighborhood restaurant we tried to be all things to all people. Now there are so many places specializing in burgers, pizza, or pasta, we want to be focused on what we do best.”
The tighter focus includes such neighborhood favorites as the eatery’s beloved Chef’s Fish & Chips, which Charette says constitutes about 20 percent of sales, but it also allows room for the new.
“We’ll still have a huge menu with over 50 choices,” he says, “but making things more efficient for our kitchen crew means they’ll have the time to focus on new specials.”
Opening in February 2006, Batter’d & Fried Boston Seafood House brought a taste of Charette’s native Massachusetts to East Nashville. One of the first restaurants to open in the just barely beginning to be renovated Five Points neighborhood, Batter’d & Fried quickly gathered a loyal following among locals hungry for more East Side dining choices. The new name reflects both changes in the neighborhood and in the restaurant’s clientele.
“Part of the name change is the result of so many tourists now visiting East Nashville,” Charette says. “They see the name, Batter’d & Fried and they walk on by, because they don’t want fried food, not knowing that we do so much more.”
The changes will be phased in over the coming months according to Charette. “I’m pretty excited,” he says. “We think we still have something unique to offer the neighborhood and Nashville with our fried favorites, grilled seafood, fish & chips, and American classics, but we also have some pretty cool new items we’ll be announcing in the coming weeks.”
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