On New Year’s Eve, the spot vacated by Bay 6 in The Wash in East Nashville quietly opened its doors. The new business is what owner Chad Newton calls an “all-day refresher,” meaning it will serve cocktails, beer, wine, food, coffee and juice. Like Bay 6 before it, Fly Pelican Fly will be the only place that serves alcoholic beverages in The Wash. Right now, the team is waiting for its liquor license, so all drinks are of the mocktail persuasion (good for those Dry January activities).
“FPF is not a Miami-, Cuban-, tiki- or rum-themed bar by any means,” says Newton, who co-owns You Are Here Hospitality and owns Fly Pelican Fly. “But [it] is definitely tropical-inspired, emitting vacation vibes, and an easy-breezy feel intended for people just to enjoy great food and cocktails in a cozy and relaxed space.”
The menu includes adobo-lime-dusted chicken nuggets, burgers and vegetarian breakfast burritos. Protein coffee, rooibos latte and hot buttered pineapple cider are among some of the less traditional nonalcoholic drinks. Come spring, there will be soft-serve ice cream with different toppings.
In the past, Bay 6 allowed guests of The Wash to eat in the small bar, even if they were not ordering drinks, because it was the only fully covered, weather-proof space at the car-wash-turned-food-court. Now the shared patio is covered and has heaters and fans, so it’s not as essential to find an indoor seat. However, anyone who wants to eat at FPF can bring food from other restaurants at The Wash, no purchase required. Or they can order food from participating Wash concepts to be delivered to their bar seat while they sip their drink.
“It was definitely not in our plans [to open a bar],” Newton says. “But when the space came available it just made a lot of sense for us.” You Are Here Hospitality is also affiliated with East Side Pho and Sweeza Super Quesadilla in The Wash.
The bar’s name — and the flamingo in the logo — is a reference to a line from 1983's Scarface. “It’s kind of an ‘IYKYK’ pop culture reference,” Newton says. “The people that know of the movie scene think that it is hilarious, and the people that get annoyed that there is a flamingo instead of a pelican in the logo will be funny to us.
“The one thing we have learned in doing this now for so long now is that we don’t need to take things so serious with every concept we do," he continues. "Of course, we take the hospitality, food and drink very, very serious, that’s a nonstarter in our organization, but the idea that we can’t have a little fun in creating a new concept seems a bit odd to me."
In this soft-open phase, until it gets beer and liquor licenses, Fly Pelican Fly will be open Thursday through Monday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Once it serves alcohol, it will be open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
