When it’s time to get down, you’ve gotta go down! Downstairs, that is, because a new trio of top-shelf taverns are all bottom-floor. Close Company (this year’s writers’ choice for Best New Bar) offers hints of its former life as a slaughterhouse, with grooves cut in the cement floor that used to channel the blood from the killing floor. (It’s like drinking in a Bond villain’s lair.) Tucked beneath East Nashville barcade Up-Down, Ernie’s Boondock is a new bar that looks like it’s been there forever, with taxidermied animal heads keeping watch over some serious pool shooting, darts throwing and beer drinking. Lowbar is the answer to the age-old question, “Where should I hang out before, during or after a show at The Basement East?” Just head to the basement of The Basement.
Best New Bar Trend
Basement Bars
Inside Lowbar
