James Beck sees it all the time. People head to Germantown for a nice dinner at one of the neighborhood’s many (many) great restaurants. Then, if they want a crafted cocktail and to listen to music after dinner, they cross the river and go to East Nashville.
When Beck and his three business partners (and fellow bartenders) decided to open a neighborhood bar with a hi-fi sound, they were thrilled when they found the right space (a historic craftsman building) in Salemtown, next to Germantown.
“Nashville is becoming more of a stay-in-your-neighborhood kind of town,” Beck says. “And Salemtown is a culinary heavyweight but underserved in bars.”
Beck, Nic Berry, Vinny Maniscalo and Storm Sheler plan to open Cultivar at 1803 Fifth Ave. N. by the end of the year. In an exclusive interview with the Scene, they describe their vision for the place, augmented by renderings that show lush greenery throughout, 24-foot ceilings, stained glass, a variety of different kinds of seating, antique furniture, a cozy fireplace, and acoustic treatments developed in partnership with GIK Acoustics. There will be space where local artists can have their works on display.
“We know how a place should operate,” Beck says. “It is going to be different from all of the places I have ever worked at because it was started by people who wanted to open a business. We are opening a place that we want to see. We have 20 to 30 years of bartending experience between us.”
It's all-hands-on-deck for the opening, but they all have different areas of specialty. Maniscalo and Sheler have been working on menu design, and Berry has the green thumb.
From left: Vinny Maniscalo, Storm Sheler, Nic Berry and James Beck
“We are there every day and get to be as creative as we want to be," Berry says. "We plan on pushing that envelope."
They have developed a space with an emphasis on acoustics, somewhere that can offer an intentional listening experience, and have acoustic panels that are physically attractive wood panels and make it so the space won’t sound like a cavern.
“The space is very lush and botanical, and the menu will reflect that,” Sheler says. She says there will be eight to 10 signature cocktails at any given time, many made with herbal infusions. There will be house-made tonics and a robust nonalcoholic menu.
Everything takes cues from the world of botany, which fits with the bar’s name — a word for a plant variety produced by selective breeding. The food menu will be small but will fit the vibe, with a curated list of tinned fish, olives, cheeses and more.
The team doesn’t know precisely when Cultivar will open (that depends on inspections and construction and things outside of their control), but they plan to offer some pop-ups starting this summer so the public can get the idea of what they have planned before the doors open.
