Dining
You couldn’t meet two nicer people than Cathy and Billy Wilson, unless it was their daughter Genee and their daughter-in-law Dawn. You’ll find all four at The Cottage Gate, a winsome café and bakery that opened about a year ago in the dark-teal cinderblock building on 53rd Avenue North that for many years housed Johnson’s Meat Market—first as a butcher shop, then briefly as a sandwich place. Its most notable directional landmark is its next-door neighbor on Charlotte, Bobbie’s Dairy Dip. Now that the wildly popular burger-and-ice-cream drive-up is back open for the season, the Wilsons are hoping curiosity will lead Bobbie’s patrons in for a visit and that the two independently owned businesses can share a customer base.
While their menus are different, their approaches are the same: fresh ingredients, friendly faces and caring, sweet-natured service. The Cottage Gate’s emphasis is on luncheon fare: sandwiches, main and side salads, a couple of specialty plates and baked goods. The Wilsons are not newcomers to the food business or the neighborhood; their catering company, Candied Violet, operated for years out of the space that became Caffe Nonna in 1999. “We decided to take a little break from the food business,” says Cathy Wilson. “I did flowers for a while. But when I saw that the lease for this building was available, we decided to dive back in again. I knew Johnson’s since I was a kid and always liked the space. We love Bobbie’s, and couldn’t ask for a better neighbor. We don’t feel like competition, because we do different things. We feel like we complement each other, which is good for this part of the neighborhood. There’s a lot of fast food on Charlotte, and it’s nice to have places that are fresh and homegrown.”
Sixteen seats are pulled up to two-tops and four-tops; two round, high tables in the front window offer perches for singles or duos to observe the bustle either on Charlotte Avenue or in the kitchen behind the yellow-and-white checked curtains. Antique memorabilia hang on the pale blue wall that leads to the rear room, where black wrought iron tables stand against a charming mural of a garden gate. The ambience is as sweet and homey as an old-fashioned Southern tearoom, a regional dining institution that originated decades ago, traditionally owned by and catering to women.
But the 14 sandwiches that lead the Cottage Gate menu are friendly to both Venus and Mars. Pimiento cheese; classic chicken salad of breast meat, celery and mayonnaise; and a fruited version with grapes and pecans are time-honored traditions among lunching ladies, as are some very retro sides, most notably the rare appearance of a frozen cranberry-nut salad and an apricot-and-sour-cream aspic. Stouter selections include a grilled sandwich of roasted chicken breast and brie with red onion, spread with apple-rosemary mayo; flavorful roast turkey slices and a thick slice of gouda, with roasted red pepper, lettuce and tomato on grilled white or wheat sourdough; a Rueben on rye; a generous BLT; a savory Hot Brown; and an artichoke pancetta tart served with tomato basil soup. Sandwiches are served with kettle chips and a pickle spear; specialty plates come with fresh fruit and, in some cases, signature house-made cheese straws. Three fresh salads and a soup of the day round out the repertoire; desserts are baked on premises.
The Cottage Gate will soon offer grab-and-go meals, and café hours will extend on Thursday through Saturday until 7 p.m. The Cottage Gate opens at 11 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday and closes at 3 Tuesday and Wednesday.
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Location, location, location…and timing
Had everything gone according to plan, Kim Totzke would be in the kitchen of her own restaurant by now, rather than pulling a shift or two here and there in friends’ restaurants. Loyal followers of the locally acclaimed chef would be in her dining room, happily reacquainting themselves with her creative comfort cuisine, sorely missed during her one-year absence from the scene. When Totzke gave her notice in April 2005 to Katie and Gep Nelson, owners of Brentwood’s Wild Iris and Berry Hills’ Yellow Porch—two of the restaurants she guided and developed in her tenure as chef, then executive chef—it was to open her own place. After much internal soul-searching and discussion with family and friends, she had decided the time was right; serendipitously, an opportunity presented itself that seemed a perfect fit.
Totzke’s 4,700-square-foot restaurant was to be the centerpiece—the calling card in fact—of the redevelopment of one of Eighth Avenue South’s most visible retail strip centers, anchored on one end by Melrose Lanes and on the other by the large building that once housed the Melrose Theater. As announced in late spring 2005, property owners Marc Ball and Kitty Moon Emery—best known as CEO and founder, respectively, of Scene Three—were joining forces with shopping center developer Rick English to create The Melrose, envisioned as a “first-class, mixed-use retail, entertainment and residential complex.”
In order to do so, the beloved 60-plus-year-old, 30-lane landmark bowling alley would be torn down to make way for the construction of an addition that would house a new anchor tenant. Adding to that sad news for Nashville landmarks, it was also revealed that the lease on Johnny Potts’ Sutler—one of Nashville’s longest-tenured and most beloved live-music venues—would not be renewed when it expired at the end of 2005, marking the demise of a 30-year occupancy.
The Art Deco 1940s moviehouse would be Melrose Gallery and Events, with the gallery in the lobby and the theater converted to a special-events ballroom with a seating capacity for 500-600 people. At the south end of the development, a freestanding drive-through Starbucks would be constructed with the intent of luring commuters from heavily trafficked Eighth Avenue South into the development. A sign—“Starbucks Coming Soon”—was erected to mark the spot.
Now, almost exactly a year after the Scene speculated that The Melrose would spark the renewal of one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares, there is nothing to support the prediction. Melrose Lanes—where countless Nashvillians bowled with leagues, children’s birthday parties and school outings—is a sizable pit frequently bottomed with rainwater, bordered by orange construction netting and wooden barricades. The “Starbucks Coming Soon” sign is gone. The words “Enter Here” on the front door of what was The Sutler pose an ironic invitation, given that the club locked that door for the last time on Dec. 31, 2005. And the space that was to have opened in April 2006 as Kim Totzke’s professional dream come true remains vacant, its windows covered by cheap mini-blinds. The only signs of life at 2600 Franklin Road are the weeds growing through the cracked sidewalk and a sign posted over one door assuring passersby that the remaining tenant, Melrose Billiards, is still racking them up in the basement.
Though neither party involved in the development—Scene Three nor Boston English Properties—will reveal much of anything for the record on the advice of their separate attorneys, legal wrangling and stalled negotiations between the two have put the project on hold. While both say they are “hopeful that it will soon be resolved,” Totzke and her investors have finally pulled out of the project. Frustrated and disappointed, Totzke said, “We were supposed to take over that space in January. We have spent hours on the plan, on the design, on the menu, on the whole concept of the restaurant. At first, we were hopeful that they would work things out, but so much time has gone by and we have not received any idea of when we might be able to get in if they do work things out. I have been out of work for over a year, and that is so unlike me; I work as hard as anyone I know. Cooking is what I love and what I do; my friends and family have never eaten so well, but I want to be back in a restaurant kitchen.”
Totzke had her eye on a property in East Nashville, but it was pulled off the market before much progress was made. She is actively seeking another location for the restaurant that will fulfill her dream and a promise made to her father as she stayed by his side through his terminal illness. “Caring for my dad reminded me of how quickly life can change, and how things don’t always turn out the way you planned,” she said. “Before he died, he really encouraged me to do this. I will, just not where I thought I would.”
As Scene Three and Boston English tarry, a hole sprawls across the ground, a lock remains on a door, and a dream goes unfulfilled. Rumor has it that a national chain restaurant has its eye on the footprint that was to have been another step forward in the growth of Nashville’s independent restaurant scene.