Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Restaurant openings Restaurant Recap: Openings and Closings in 2011
Posted by Dana Kopp Franklin on Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 11:40 AM
- Photo: Eric England
- Hot dogs at Cori's on West End, one of the scores of new restaurants this year
My Food Biz column this week in the Nashville Post section of The City Paper looked back at the year in restaurants. There were too many openings to recap in detail, so I highlighted two restaurant ventures on opposite ends of the spectrum — The Catbird Seat and Cori's Dog House — both representing local business veterans using their smarts and experience to bring something special to Nashville.
Meanwhile, here's a compilation of restaurants that opened or closed in 2011. The list is very likely incomplete — closings, in particular, tend to happen with little fanfare. In the interest of brevity, I didn't include the explosion of mobile food vendors. I also added a peek at restaurants expected in 2012.
As always, feel free to use the comments to mention places we missed.
OPENINGS
Athens Family Restaurant, Bellevue
Au Bon Pain
AM@FM in Nashville Farmers’ Market
Amico’s New York Pizza
Back Alley Diner
Bagel Face Bakery, Main Street
Benchmark Sports Bar
Bombasha Brazilian Steakhouse
BrickTop’s Cool Springs
Bruster’s Ice Cream
Butter Cake Babe’s, Nashville Farmers’ Market
The Catbird Seat
Chago’s
Chick-fil-A on Charlotte Pike
Chipotle on 21st Avenue
Chuy’s on Broadway
Cori’s Dog House, West End
Dick’s Last Resort
Dooley’s
Drake’s
Edley’s Bar-B-Que
El Stuffed Pepper
Fleet Street Pub
Five Points Pizza
Fish & Co., 12South
Fish & Grits
Germantown East
Green Asia, Nashville Farmers’ Market
GoGo Sushi
Jackalope Brewing Co.
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream
The Jam Coffeehouse
Jim’s Coney Island
Joey’s House of Pizza, Elm Hill Pike
The Judge’s Vinegarroon
Kalamatas, Belmont Boulevard
Kay Bob’s
Kayne Prime
Louisiana Seafood Co., Nashville Farmers’ Market
Luna
Monell’s at the Manor
Mirko Pasta
The National Underground
Ninki
Neighbors
Newk’s Express Cafe
Noodles & Co., Green Hills and Cool Springs
Nothing Bundt Cakes
Pharmacy Burger Parlor & Beer Garden (opens today)
Pinkberry, Cool Springs
PortaVia, Cool Springs
Porter Road Butcher/The Bloomy Rind
Sixth & Pine, inside Nordstrom
Sloco
Stone House Q
Sweet CeCe’s, multiple new locations
Table 3 (reopened after fire)
Tavern
Taziki’s, Cool Springs and West End
Vito’s Ristorante & Wine Bar
The Wild Hare
Whole Foods McEwen
CLOSINGS
Acorn
Allium
The Almond Tree
Baja Fresh
Blind Pig No. 55
Peter Chinn’s Korean BBQ Tacos
Cooper’s on Porter
French Quarter Cafe
The Grilled Cheese and Crabcake Co.
LB's Market House
La Paz
McDonald’s at Vanderbilt Medical Center
Otter’s on Main Street
Pig and Pie
September’s
Shintomi
Southern Bred
Sparkle Cupcakes
Tossed
The Wine Loft
COMING IN 2012
Barista Parlor
Echo at Encore
Lockeland Table Community Kitchen and Bar
Silo
The Southern Steak & Oyster
Urban Grub
Comments (31)
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I saw that McLemore Auction House was auctioning off equipment from multiple Maggie Moo locations. Anybody know where in particular those might have been? I almost never eat ice cream or fro yo, so I'm not the best one to track all these openings and closings.
Speaking of which, the Sweet Cece's in Sewanee closed after six months which is pretty unusual for that franchise.
Also, add Bolton's on Murfreesboro Rd. to the newly opened list.
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Wow, a bunch more opennings than closings. That is awesome. Maybe we're starting to turn the corner.
Also, for the list, Jed's took the place of Acorn.
@Chris, I know the Maggie Moo's in Green Hills that was near the mall is now gone.
The items from Maggie Moo's will be in McLemore Auction Company's January auction. They came from the franchises in Green Hills and Cool Springs, both of which closed. The auction hasn't opened yet, but when it does you can find the inventory here: http://bid.mclemoreauction.com/cgi-bin/mndetails.cgi?mclemore134
Too many East Nashville closings. Especially Southern Bred. Especially.
Too late for them to reconsider and just hire some good people to share the workload?
I'm with Terence--I think Lucky Bamboo's owner is looking for a buyer, not renovating. So let's call Lucky Bamboo closed.
Aw, I'd forgtten about September's--such good food. The restaurant business is so hard.
I'm honestly not surprised by The Almond Tree or Coopers on Porter. I had no idea Acorn closed though, a lot people loved that place. La Paz was really good too, just overpriced.
The Pharmacy opened last week on the 22nd. It's awesome!
Lucky Bamboo is closed for now "for renovations". Don't know if they are going to reopen though.
The Old Dinner Bell is gone from Donelson, being replaced by Sylvan Park. Also, Rita's on Lebanon Road in Hermitage has a for sale sign in front of it.
@strizek, DaVinci's closed in late 2010, not in 2011, so it's not on the list. But I agree that it's sad.
I saw on twitter that Bravo Gelato is opening a new store in Maryland Farms right next to Pei Wei. I think that location used to be a Maggie Moo's.
You missed Marco's Pizza in Franklin. They opened in May. The pizza is awesome and is my new favorite pizza place.
I don't remember the name of the new Italian place that replace Da Vinci's, but I don't think I see it on the Openings list
That's Vito's, Yam. http://www.nashvillescene.com/bites/archiv… Give them a try.
Any news about Lucky Bamboo? It has been "closed for renovation" for a long time.
When Peter Chinn's closed, they were supposedly looking for a new location. Any Bites people heard an update on that?
I really need Peter Chinn's to re-open. NEED. And though I loved the food, my waistline (rather, what used to be a waistline) is does not lament the closing of Southern Bred.
A tougher list might include the new and departed food trucks. That's a difficult list to keep up with.
Chris: I have given them a try; two in fact -- the buffet is decent and if I had a GF I'd be there in a heartbeat for dinner. Silly me that I couldn't even recognize their name after scanning the list twice!...
Rachel, Leslie: I feel the Peter Chinn's void extra sharply. I work virtually right across the street from their most recent location; I and a dozen of my colleagues were filled with excitement by several visits. I certainly hope that the problem with the new landlords (a sub-let problem) did not run them through the reserves of cash that they had set asides to move from one location to another. If that snafu in itself killed it, that would be absolutely horrible. A wonderful business, with reasonable prices, driven by their desire to please the public with their unique fare. They loved their work, and you could taste it. I Want Them Back, Dangit, For Real!
Lesley, I'm sorry; I suck with names! So very sorry....
also obvious trailing-s typo....
RE: Peter Chinn's. If a yam what a yam is correct, someone needs to introduce them to Kickstarter; probably enough folks around here would be willing to help them out.
V & V Seafood on Nolensville Rd. closed. It was a small Vietnamese restaurant that had some of the best pho in Nashville. Hard to keep up with all of the comings and goings of ethnic restaurants on N'ville, but that is one that I'll miss.
Reagan, Southern Bred closed because the owners wanted to focus on their catering business.
