Four years ago, the view of The Gulch from Nashville Urban Ventures’ sixth-floor offices on Demonbreun Street was pretty stark. It bore little resemblance to the full-color illustrations of the company’s vision for the 30-acre site, a mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly development populated with smartly dressed people engaged in the hustle and bustle of urban life. In reality, down below there was little action and even fewer people. Tenants in the recently completed Mercury Loft apartments were moving in, but if they wanted to go out to eat, they needed a ride. These days, residents of Mercury Loft and Laurel House apartments only have to walk out their front door to grab a drink or a bite to eat, not to mention hear live music. As frequently happens in evolving neighborhoods, restaurants are leading the way in bringing Nashville Urban Ventures’ pictures to life. The newest dining destination on 12th Avenue South, tucked in between Sambuca and RuSan’s, is Watermark, which turned its lights on Friday night. While Watermark fits neatly into the overall plan for The Gulch, the restaurant itself is the realization of a vision long held by Jerry Brown, a Nashville native and healthcare executive. Brown, whose travel has taken him to many of the best chef-owned restaurants in the country, had long wanted to open a place of his own. A casual consultation with retired local industry veteran Jerry Baxter led to a meeting with one of the country’s most acclaimed contemporary chefs, Frank Stitt, whose three restaurants in Birmingham—Highlands Grill, Bottega and Chez Fonfon—revolutionized that city’s dining scene. Stitt set Brown up with his business partner, Dean Robb. The pieces began to fall into place as the two assembled a top-notch team, naming two veterans of the Stitt system as captains and filling in key positions with noteworthy Nashville names. Overseeing operations is Nathan Lindley, a Bottega veteran who sold his successful Chattanooga restaurant, St. John’s, prior to moving to Nashville. In the kitchen is executive chef Joe Shaw, who was Stitt’s chef du cuisine at Bottega, before a stint as executive chef at Birmingham’s top catering firm, Kathy G. & Co. Shaw’s style is faithful to the Stitt school—regional, seasonal, simple. “We’ll use the freshest local produce we can get, the best regional products available, and keep it simple. None of my dishes have a lot of components; we don’t do fusion, or confusion,” he says with a laugh. Indeed, the menu, which will change nightly, is straightforward, robust, earthy and unabashedly Southern accented: sweet potato ravioli with braised hock pot liquor and collard greens; roasted veal chop with Yukon gold purée; sorghum-glazed butternut squash and wilted escarole; braised rabbit with wood-fired sweet potatoes, wild mushrooms and black-eyed pea broth; grilled Atlantic halibut with sweet corn, crushed potatoes and red wine risotto. Shaw has named Jason Love, whose local résumé includes F. Scott’s and Wild Iris, as his sous chef. Steve Boyer, a key member of the Tayst team and last seen at Wine Shoppe of Green Hills, is running the front of the house. And a beautiful house it is, as designed by Polifilo’s Patrick Avice du Buisson, who enhances the solid bones of the former print shop with progressive urban style. The wine room on the first floor will host private gatherings; the dining room at the top of the staircase is twice as long as it is wide, washed in monochromatic hues, discriminately lit, with floor-to-ceiling windows at either end—the 12th Avenue side offering a panoramic view of the now bustling streetscape. But it was the view from outside on the patio, looking in at the curvaceous lounge and bar, that Brown was enjoying on Saturday night. “A lot of our objective was to create something that wasn’t already here in Nashville. The energy in The Gulch is vibrant, and the potential is enormous. It is really happening and we’re glad to be in the thick of it.”
