Avocado toast
When the Hutton Hotel and its restaurant 1808 Grille first opened less than a decade ago, they were on the cutting edge of "new Nashville": an independent, hip hotel with a restaurant at which locals would want to eat. Times change. Nashville changed. And, now, the Hutton, too, has changed … sort of.
This month the Hutton completes a major renovation, which included shuttering 1808 Grille in August and reopening as WestEnd Kitchen & Bar. The remodel and the new restaurant, with a new chef, are designed keep it at the top of the city's growing hotel dining scene, while keeping the boutique feel that has served it so well.
The restaurant, which opened this week for its first full week of service, is helmed by executive chef Chris Anderson, who worked at several Michelin-starred spots in Chicago (including Alinea, L20 and Moto) before returning to his native South this summer. Our First Bite suggests it may become as popular as its predecessor.
Anderson's vision for the space is one that appeals to the hotel's well-heeled artistic guests, as well as locals looking for a Midtown eatery that doesn't have that nearby-university-vibe. The menu has its promised Southern inspiration, certainly. Hushpuppies are served on a bed of pimento cheese, and fried okra makes an appearance, albeit with cotija cheese and a spicy pepper sauce. But Anderson has made the menu his own. The beer-can chicken, served with succotash, sounds old-school. But when it arrived with two different treatments for the bird on the same plate, it was clear it was anything but. In one presentation, he essentially makes chicken sausage and stuffs in back into the fried chicken skin, and serves it with an ale-brined beer sauce.
Spiny lobster is paired with coconut curry. Fettuccine is topped with crispy black kale. Beautiful, delicate house-smoked tomatoes spice up a non-traditional wedge salad (made with Romaine instead of iceberg) and show up again at breakfast on an avocado-and-egg sandwich. It wouldn't be a hip Nashville hangout without avocado toast; this version is spicy and topped with radish. Also simple, beautiful and delicious is the grapefruit, cubed and served with ginger and a mint granita.
Executive pastry chef Vincent Griffith shares Anderson's sense of play on the traditional. A modern chess pie, for example, is dotted with meringue, buttermilk sherbet and edible flowers. Beverage manager Megan Cross came to WestEnd from Old Lightning in Los Angeles, and developed a drink list with a few classics, lots of creative combinations, and a healthy wine and beer list.
The space, with large windows that look out onto West End, is both open and cozy, with high ceilings and lots of mirrors that reflect light but not people. Tables are a mix of marble, brass and wood, with chairs and orange and blue booths. A new two-sided marble bar divides the lobby and the restaurant, making for easy flow from one space to another. (Upstairs, the new 300-seat Analog bar and music venue is going to be another draw for locals not staying at the hotel.)
The kitchen serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as room service for both the hotel and the new private writers' rooms/recording spaces that are part of the renovation.
If you visit before we get back to Anderson's kitchen for a full review, feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.
1808 West End Ave.
Dining room: 7 to 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., 5 to 10 p.m.
