Dining
From November 1962 until June 19, 1976, Nero’s Cactus Canyon was one of Nashville’s most popular and beloved restaurants. The location at 2122 Hillsboro Drive has changed names several times in the years since: in rough succession, it became Ireland’s—for exactly one year, one month and 19 days—then the disco bar (!) Tempo’s at the height of Saturday night fever in 1978, before finding a long-term tenant in 1990 with Green Hills Grille. But Nashvillians of a certain age still think of the site as the place where Nero’s used to be.
By year’s end, history will come full circle with the opening of Nero’s Grill, the site’s latest occupant. And for the first time in 30 years, the building’s operation will be back in the hands of the Griswold family, who built the original Nero’s. “I’ve waited for this day for 30 years,” says John Griswold, son of founder Nelson “Nero” Griswold. “I grew up in that restaurant and always thought that I would take over the business from my father.”
John Griswold ain’t lying when he says he grew up at Nero’s Cactus Canyon. He was born the same year it opened, though his father’s restaurant experience preceded the birth of his son. Back in the early ’60s, there was an American Gas Station on the corner of Hobbs and Hillsboro. Inside the service station was a diner called the Top Hat; the tank ’n’ tummy combo serviced folks traveling what was then a major north-south corridor. Nelson Griswold purchased the enterprise and renamed it Nero’s Top Hat, adding the nickname he earned one summer at the Willow Plunge Swim Club in Franklin.
Not long afterward, American was bought out by Amoco, which wasn’t keen on operating a diner in their service station. Reading the 10-foot-high writing on the wall, Griswold bought a stretch of land on nearby Hillsboro Drive and built Nero’s Cactus Canyon. Nashville’s liquor laws prohibited him from selling any alcohol but beer there, so in 1968 he built and opened the adjoining Silver Slipper Club, a private club where members could bring and store their own bottles. When liquor-by-the-drink was passed the following year, that practice became illegal, so he simply combined the two under the Cactus Canyon name, and referred to the former club as the Silver Slipper Room. (The atrium out front was added by Tempo’s.)
Back then, the corner where Noshville now stands was a parking lot, and John Griswold remembers it as where he first rode his bike without training wheels. He began helping out in the restaurant even before he hit his teens. But in 1976, his father—who by then had investments in nearly a dozen places around town, including one in Printers Alley—decided he had too much on his plate, and at 14 John was too young to take over the restaurant. Nelson leased the property to Henry Hillenmyer and Wayne Oldham.
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Now, at age 44, John Griswold has the building back. No sooner had he taken possession of the keys for the first time in 30 years than he took a sledgehammer to the building, tearing off the atrium and gutting the interior.
“The new building will not look anything like it looked in any incarnation,” Griswold says. “It will have a homey, sort of country club feel to it. There will be three fireplaces: one in the small private dining room in the front, one in the larger private dining room in the back and another in the bar area, which will be to the left of the entrance, just like my dad’s was. The walls will be decorated with Green Hills memorabilia—this neighborhood has been very good to my family, and I really want to honor that. I have two chandeliers from Cactus Canyon that will be hung in the new place.”
Fans of Nero’s will be happy to know that John Griswold is bringing along two other things from his dad’s restaurant: the white bean soup and corn cakes. “Since the news got out that I am doing this,” he says, “there isn’t anywhere I can go that people don’t tell me that I have to have the white bean soup and corn cakes.”
Executive Chef Tom Allen echoes the experience. “When I went to vote a couple weeks ago, the volunteers there asked me what I was doing these days,” Allen said. “When I told them I was going to Nero’s with John, the only thing they wanted to know was whether I would make the white bean soup and corn cakes.”
Allen is not unfamiliar with how important tradition is to Nashville. The Pittsburgh native came here from Knoxville after the 1982 World’s Fair, worked briefly at the brand new Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel, then spent four years at Arthur’s. He went back to the Plaza as executive chef and remained there before taking over the kitchen at the Belle Meade Country Club; he remained there until 2003, when he began consulting and working private events.
When Griswold called him, he was so certain Allen would turn him down he was prepared to ask for recommendations for other chefs. Instead, intrigued by the idea of helping to re-create a local legend, Allen accepted. Since then, he’s been working on the menu while making sure he has the white bean soup and corn cakes just right. Expect classics with a twist, hearty steaks and chops, plenty of game and a good selection of seafood. Lunch and dinner will be served seven days a week.
Griswold originally planned to have Nero’s Grill open in early fall, but is now shooting for mid-December. “We need to be open by then,” he said. “I already have two Christmas parties booked.” It makes sense that a place called Nero’s is already catching on fire.
Ciao time
East Nashville added another new restaurant to its neighborhood dining guide with the opening of Ricci’s (pronounced Ree-cheese) two weeks ago at 700 Fatherland St. The historic building at the corner of Fatherland and Seventh has been home to a succession of restaurants—most recently The Place—and a bakery, but owners Michael Finney and Gary Hodge are hoping that a taste of Italy is just what people have been craving.
The menu covers the bases, from basics like spaghetti, lasagna and pizza (two sizes, 9-inch and 16-inch) to veal and seafood dishes. The full-service, family-friendly restaurant seats 48 at tables that are covered with white butcher paper between parties; crayons are disbursed to kids, who also have a three-item menu geared to their taste: spaghetti, chicken fingers or grilled cheese. There is currently no alcohol served, though customers may bring their own beer and wine; the restaurant hopes to be licensed within the next 60 days.
Ricci’s is open seven days a week, from 11 a.m to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Lunch specials are served daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Phone: 255-4406.