Today’s Takeout Pick: Ghost Restaurants

Much of the restaurant industry has had to rapidly change its business model due to COVID-19, and we’re highlighting the Nashville places that are attempting to stay open. We will give you a critic’s pick for a restaurant and a dish, as well as a running list of restaurants still open that you can support. Today: Ghost Restaurants.

I’m gonna be honest with y’all … I didn’t get around to ordering any takeout last week. After the third potentially freezer-ruining power outage of the pandemic, I decided that we needed to do a little more cooking at home to help run through our inventory. Plus, after months of these takeout picks, I was feeling sort of exhausted at trying to find something new to share.

But I did not totally shirk my responsibilities to you, dear readers. I engaged in some serious research from the comfort of my couch. A little background: My credit card (which I pay waaay too much for in annual fees) does offer a nice little perk: $15 worth of monthly credits toward Uber charges. I haven’t gotten in a stranger’s car since March, but they’ve also been kind enough to extend that credit toward Uber Eats purchases, so I opened up the app and started to scroll through the possibilities.

And, whoo boy, did I learn some things. First of all, who knew that there was still an operating Rafferty’s in town? (There are actually two — one near 100 Oaks and another in Rivergate. The more you know ...) Secondly, I was shocked by the sheer number of restaurants listed that I had never heard of before.

I try to stay in the know when it comes to restaurant openings and closings, because it’s sorta my job. But dang if the pace of change isn’t nigh on impossible to keep up with. Some of the names were vaguely familiar — like Maple Street Biscuit Co., which I had forgotten replaced Holler & Dash, and Saladworks, a member of a chain of grazing eateries that, to be honest, I’ll probably never visit since I can make a pretty good salad at home.

Other unfamiliar names on the Uber Eats app included some tiny spots that piqued my interest. There’s Fame-Us Caribbean Soul Food Cafe, which I should have remembered from their inclusion in our “Cheap Eats” feature, and Belen Restaurant y Mercado, which I’m sure I have driven past on Nolensville Pike at least 20 times in the past year. So, yeah, I’m going to want to check those out.

But then the list started to reveal some really weird restaurants, most focusing on a single type of food that seemed like a difficult way to make a living, even during normal times. Places like Wings & Bites, Killer Wings, Venito’s Wings, Just Wing It, Till Five Wings and Music City Hot Wings. How could a wing aficionado like myself not know about these places? In the burger category, I discovered even more unfamiliar players: Super Subs and Burgers, Max Burgers, Hootie’s Burger Burger Bar, Bomb Burgers, Classic Burgers and American Eclectic Burgers. That's a lot of burgers!

Italian food lends itself to delivery, and the crowd-pleasing, expansive menus at chainlets like Roma Pizza & Pasta have scratched the red-sauce itch with locations all over town for years. But darned if there wasn’t a raft of other more specific Italian casual delivery joints that had escaped my previous attention. Spots like Pasta House, Mothership Pizza (not to be confused with the gone-but-not-forgotten Mothership BBQ), The Hot Italian, Express Pie Parlor, Pasta King, Pasta Amore, Ziti’s Cuisine and Classic Pasta.

Wait a minute ... Classic Pasta? Didn’t I just list a Classic Burgers? A quick search also revealed Classic Salad and Classic Sandwiches. It was then that I realized that Nashville had officially jumped into a trend which I saw sweeping the country at the turn of last year: ghost restaurants.

The restaurants have become quite popular as ways to run multiple virtual restaurants out of a central kitchen, sometimes attached to a traditional restaurant, but often just a standalone kitchen preparing multiple menus for delivery or carryout. Sometimes a restaurant will just focus on a few specific items on their regular menu and separate them out as a new entity to take advantage of people who are searching delivery services or Google for that item — like salads, burgers, pasta or sandwiches — instead of specifically “Mixed Grille Cafe,” the actual restaurant behind all those “Classic” restaurantlets.

They’re not trying to be duplicitous in offering their regular items under different restaurant names; they’re simply trying to improve the efficacy of your search. But if you scroll through food-delivery apps, you’ll discover that many of the restaurants share the same address and even cross-reference some of the same items on different menus.

Hootie’s Burger Bar? Hmm ... that address on Largo Drive looks familiar. Sure enough, it’s just Hooters separating out their burger menu with another section on the menu for their hot wings. So I guess some people really do go to Hooters just for the food, or at least order it for delivery. Good to know.

Other ghost restaurants are run out of restaurants that already concentrated on delivery and carryout pre-pandemic. Places like Roma’s now also operate shell restaurants like Pasta King, One Falafel, Wing Master, Pasta Amore, Ziti's Cuisine, Super Subs and Burgers and Hoagies and Sides. They’re not hiding anything. It says right there in the small print of the Uber Eats restaurant listing “Crafted by Roma’s Pizza & Pasta.” Another Italian chain, Sicilian Pizza & Pasta, has four locations around town, but they have multiplied their reach by creating many virtual storefronts for online ordering in addition to their own website. When you see Pasta House, Wings & Bites, Killer Wings, Express Pie Parlor, Kitchen at the Gulch, Express Pie Parlor, Sandwich Bistro or Venito’s Wings & Things, think Sicilian. (And I can’t wait to order a side of “Things” sometime.) They also operate a spot with one of my favorite names on the entire roster of ghost restaurants: Absurd Bird (although curiously Uber Eats lists Michelangelo’s Pizza as the “Crafted by” proprietor in another listing ... I’ll never keep these incestous relationships straight!)

A group called Future Foods operating out of Midtown seems to be responsible for a whole smorgasbord of concepts, ranging from Philly Fresh Cheesesteaks to Just Wing It to Mothership Pizza to The Hot Italian to International House of Sliders. Another group called Chopped Society is behind several concepts, including Music City Hot Wings, Nashville Street Tacos, Bomb Burger, O & Sheila’s BBQ and Unc’s Chicken & Fish. Based on their offering, I think I’d like those folks.

Other local ghost restaurants are just one-offs from your favorites with names that are more descriptive of their specific cuisines. Nashville’s Indian Vegan Kitchen? That’s Woodlands. Max Burger? That’s from the people behind Tasty and Delicious. Breakfast Lovers and Healthy Eats are an offshoot of Panini Bread and Cafe.

So again, I’m not saying there’s anything necessarily bad about this proliferation of virtual Ghost Restaurants. Just remember that when you order online delivery, your food may be coming from someplace completely different from what you expect, or from no place in particular at all.

#CarryOutandCarryOn

Below is a list of Nashville restaurants (with links) remaining open for takeout and delivery during the COVID-19 shutdown. While some may have had existing relationships with delivery providers, most of this list are offering the service for the first time. Most offer curbside pickup, but check when you order. As this list is a moving target, please leave any changes, suggestions or omissions in the comments.

Chris Chamberlain

Places with takeout or delivery as of Wednesday, Aug. 26

Chris Chamberlain

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