If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Since fire struck Bound’ry on Oct. 2, the popular 20th Ave. S. restaurant and bar has remained closed. According to managing partner Jay Pennington, it will remain closed until sometime around Thanksgiving.
When Bound’ry does reopen, there will be a new menu, some new front-of-house staff, new wine programs, and (drumroll, please) a new team in the kitchen. Michael Cribb, co-chef in the Bound’ry kitchen, will be joined by Willie Thomas, who was the creative force behind Capitol Grille when it opened in the Hermitage Hotel in late 1995. Thomas left the Grille this spring, soon after the hotel was purchased by Starwood Lodging Corporation. (Creative differences had arisen.)
Several months ago, he joined Pennington’s group of restaurants, which also includes South Street. Pennington also owns the properties formerly occupied by Club 106 and Danzo’s.
For the time being, the Danzo’s site is being used as home base for the group’s catering operations and for temporary office space. Until Bound’ry reopens, plans for a new restaurant on the Club 106 site are on hold. When the new supper club does open, it will feature New South cuisine, steered by Thomas.
All that transition, however, raises another question: What will happen to Debra Paquette, the super-talented chef who helped open the Bound’ry kitchen nearly three years ago? Well-placed sources say she has a deal cooking with Rick and Vicki Bolsam at Cakewalk. If that happens, the three of them will revive a remarkable partnership that started 10 years ago this November, lasted for seven glorious years, and helped establish Cakewalk as one of Nashville’s most popular upscale restaurants.
When Paquette departed Cakewalk three years ago, her immediate successor was Corey Griffith. Michael Martin is currently in charge of the Cakewalk kitchen, but he has plans to return to Czechoslovakia, where he lived immediately before coming to Nashville.
Look for Paquette to return to the Cakewalk kitchen before long. The Bolsams will still be around, but reliable sources say Paquette will have part ownership in the restaurant.
Already, the Bolsams are making changes, having relocated their Sunday brunch from Cakewalk to Tin Angel, their other West End eatery. The addition of brunch was a natural evolution for Tin Angel, which has seen its weekday lunch business increase dramatically since Cakewalk closed for lunch in April
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