The East Nashvillian Launches New Website
Thanks to countless hours of hard work by our editor-in-chief Chuck Allen and our web developer Greg Hallmark, we now have a new website! Over the next several weeks, we’ll continue to upload content from back issues and make small tweaks. With the new site, we’ve added several options for advertisers to take advantage of. If you’re interested in an ad package please contact Lisa McCauley (lisa@theeastnashvillian.com) for more information.
Chef Sean Brock to Open Two-Story Restaurant in East Nashville
Locally based and James Beard Award-winning chef, Sean Brock, known for his work with Husk, is set to open a restaurant in the McFerrin Park.
Although Brock originally made a name for himself Charleston food scene, he tells the WSJ Magazine he was “actually born and raised in Virginia’s Appalachian coal country, in a mountainous wedge near the borders of Tennessee and Kentucky.”
Growing up, Brock didn’t realize that the region’s staple dishes such as sour corn, greasy beans, and pawpaws qualified as a cuisine. He tells the WSJ Magazine, “It’s just what you ate.”
Work has begun on a 10,000-square-foot industrial building located at 809 Meridian St., which was once the home of Jack Ward & Sons Plumbing. The currently nameless, two-story restaurant will have a casual dining room on the ground floor and a 26-seat restaurant on the second floor.
Two Nashville firms are handling the design of the building: Pfeffer Torode on exteriors, and former East Nashvillian of the Year Powell Architecture and Building Studio on the interior spaces. The building will combine a modern Japanese aesthetic with elements of an old-fashioned Appalachian tobacco barn.
The ground-floor dining room, built around an open kitchen, will also serve as a Southern folk art museum, rotating through collections from the Appalachian region and featuring new work by up-and-coming artists.
The menu on the ground floor will be modestly priced, and according to the WSJ Magazine the menu will, “look both backwards and forwards, building on Appalachian cooking’s focus on fermentation and mix of Cherokee and German-immigrant traditions.”
The 26-seat restaurant upstairs will take on a different direction with the menu. Brock tells WSJ Magazine the goal is a “minimalistic approach to exploring what the future of Southern food is.” There will also be a stand-alone cocktail bar on the second floor featuring drinks with fresh-pressed produce.
A portion of all restaurant proceeds will be donated to the Heirloom Foundation, which is a nonprofit focused on improving quality of life for culinary professionals.
Brock tells the WSJ Magazine, “This is the restaurant I want to retire in. For me, it’s a clean slate, a new thing to obsess over, a new thing to dedicate the rest of my life to.”
The restaurant is slated to open in winter 2019-20. Read the whole WSJ Magazine article here.
Highly Anticipated Pelican & Pig Now Open
Slow Hand Coffee + Bakeshop owners/husband-and-wife duo Nick and Audra Guidry, relocated their popular café from downtown to a converted mid-century auto upholstery shop on Gallatin Avenue this past October. This converted shop is also home to East Nashville’s exotic tropical lounge The Pearl Diver, and now welcomes the Guidry’s highly anticipated first full-service restaurant, Pelican & Pig.
Pelican & Pig focuses on live, wood-fire cooking via a raised brick grill. The wood-burning hearth is used for everything from hearth-baking bread, to ash-roasting vegetables, to smoking and grilling meats over embers. While Nick leads the kitchen, Audra is the executive pastry chef and runs front-of-house.
According to their website Pelican & Pig draws, “inspiration from places they have lived and from their many travels” and, “in name and through the menu, the restaurant is a nod to the inspirations and influences from the past and present.”
Their menu is full of locally sourced produce and proteins, as well as baked goods made in house. The menu starts with a variety of snack offerings, then moves on to shareable plates that focus on vegetables along with creole barbecue shrimp and grits. The main dishes feature steak frites, lamb shank, rabbit ‘n’ dumplin’, and more, finished with desserts concocted by Audra, the pastry pro.
Their drink menu consists of 13 different cocktail offerings, along with a beer and wine selection.
The restaurant officially opened on Jan. 24, and is currently taking reservations online through their website and their social media pages (Facebook and Instagram). They have some special prizes in store for Valentine’s Day, so if you want to score major points with your date make a reservation now!
Pelican & Pig Hours:
Tuesday-Sunday
Happy hour: 4-5 p.m.
Dinner hours: 5-10 p.m.
Resolution Eye Care Coming to East Nashville
A new optometrist is coming to the area with forward-thinking ideas and a strong sense of community. Dr. Brian Rogers of Resolution Eye Care will be taking over the space on Woodland Street recently vacated by Rudy’s Barbershop.
Dr. Rogers was raised on a small farm in a southern Kentucky county, not far from the Tennessee state line. After completing externships in a private ophthalmology practice setting, Veterans Affairs hospital, and Fort Knox military base, Dr. Rogers graduated from Indiana University School of Optometry in 2014 and by 2015 had made his way to Nashville. After practicing in a few corporate settings, he discovered the challenges faced when trying to merge corporate interests with his passion for fair patient care.
In 2017, Dr. Rogers decided to leave the profit-driven corporate world behind, and focus on forging a new path where patients are prioritized over profits. This path led Rogers to form Resolution Eye Care. “I chose the name based on the idea of resolve. I resolve to put the good of the patient before profit. I resolve to listen to each patient and understand each patient is unique. It’s an ethical commitment, and it’s basically the heart of everything I’m doing. I resolve to do what most doctors do, try to treat patients fairly and without discrimination.”
When hunting for the perfect space to start seeing patients, Dr. Rogers was drawn to East Nashville. “I love the community, the ‘arts vibe’ it possesses, and the people it attracts. It’s an ideal community, a place you can afford to live and to work.”
Dr. Rogers continues, “The Rudy’s spot originally opened up in October 2017 and that November I thought the deal was a go, but by February 2018 they’d completely backed out. Then I was contacted last December and was told the space was officially available. I took possession and am currently doing the buildout. I’m doing the design myself with the architect, and I’d love it have it open by April.”
At Resolution Eye Care, Dr. Rogers intends on accepting the main vision insurance plans. “I want to take as many vision plans as I can. You have a large population in East Nashville full of blue-collar workers, artists, and all sorts of people. I aim to serve everybody in East Nashville, not just a handful, so I’m going to take insurance.”
Dr. Rogers also plans on carrying the most first-world country, or American made eyeglasses in Nashville, if not in the United States (insurance may require him to carry some from China).
“When I was growing up, I’d go to Bowling Green, KY and I couldn’t ever find any glasses that were made locally or in the United States. These eyeglasses will be more expensive, but that’s also because you’re employing someone within a first-world country or in America.”
“It’s all about having an eye towards the community. I believe in local economies and that we should support local communities. Society has become divorced from the idea that humans matter. We have to create a meaningful existence where people are able to live and support the people literally next door. The neighborliness is important,” says Dr. Rogers.
Resolution Eye Care is set to be open sometime this spring, and Dr. Rogers has emphasized how excited he is to serve the East Nashville community.
For updates follow Resolution Eye Care online at their website, Facebook, or Instagram.
Operation Shutdown Survivor Jam
Singer/entertainer Black Diamond joins forces with Café Roze owner, chef Julia Jaksic, to host the event Operation Shutdown Survivor Jam. The purpose of the event is to show support to federal workers affected by the ongoing partial government shutdown.
Black Diamond states, “I’ve tried to figure out a way to help federal workers, fellow Americans, who’ve been touched by this horrible shutdown.”
Black Diamond approached his friend chef Jaksic, and they decided to collaborate on a way to help. On Feb. 3, starting at 6 p.m., any government employee is invited to visit Café Roze and have a gourmet hamburger meal, along with some Black Diamond and friends’ tunes, all free of charge. Some of the guest artists appearing are Philip Creamer, Tim Carroll, The Smoking Flowers, and India Ramey.
“We hope this is an uplifting evening of joy, encouragement, and inspiration. Also, we hope to see you there!”
Quick Bits
― As Nashville continues to grow, homeowners and businesses are showing increased interest in the Dickerson Pike corridor. Read more at News Channel 5.
― Two Ten Jack is celebrating their five year anniversary with nightly specials this whole week. There’s still time to experience shishito peppers on Jan. 25 and poke on Jan. 26. The restaurant is also donating the proceeds from a special cocktail to the Martha O’Bryan Center in honor of Poverty Awareness Month. The cocktail features vodka donated from Cathead Vodka, Campari, grapefruit chamomile, and sparkling wine. Read more at the Nashville Scene.
― Metro Nashville Public Schools is proposing merging East Nashville high and middle schools together on the 110 Gallatin Ave. campus in the 2019-20 school year. Read more at the Tennessean.
― If you live on a street in East Nashville where construction is occurring and you’re not getting your mail, it could be someone is blocking your mailbox. Read more at WSMV.com.
― In the midst of the ongoing partial government shutdown, John Prine and his record label Oh Boy Records (check out our 2018 cover story on John Prine and Oh Boy Records) showed their gratitude for TSA workers at the Nashville airport by buying them lunch. Read more at the Boot.
― Micro-homes are being offered as a solution to Nashville’s affordable housing issues. If you’re curious what the tiny houses look like, there are three models on display in the Five Points neighborhood in a vacant lot next to Bongo East coffee shop. Read more at the Tennessean.
― If you’re a fan of The Dukes of Hazzard, look no further for your Saturday plans. This Saturday, Jan. 26, fans and cast members will celebrate the show’s debut, which occurred 40 years ago (to the exact day) right here in Nashville. The events will be centered around Cooter’s Place Nashville, located at 2613 McGavock Pike. Read more at CootersPlace.com.
― The Cleveland Park neighborhood has been nominated as one of Historic Nashville’s 2018 Nashville Nine. Read more at StyleBlueprint.
― The Treehouse (check out our feature story on The Treehouse in our 2018 Food & Drink Issue) now has an oyster happy hour Monday through Thursday from 6-7 p.m. Read more at Eater Nashville.
