Milkshake Concepts CEO Imran Sheikh
Dallas-based Milkshake Concepts will open Layer Cake and Cherry Lounge, a nearly 20,000-square-foot, four-story restaurant and bar next week. Each of the four floors has a different vibe, like, well, a layer cake. The restaurant-bar-entertainment venue is the first of at least four projects Milkshake Concepts has planned for downtown Nashville, CEO Imran Sheikh told the Scene.
The multihyphenate space will include casual dining, a more formal dining room, a rooftop with river views, and the lower-level Cherry Lounge, which Sheikh describes as “a venue within a venue.” (It’s a cheeky twist to put the cherry on the bottom, he says.) Initially, Cherry Lounge will be open Thursday through Saturday. It will have a speakeasy-style password necessary to enter, and Sheikh hopes word of mouth will help share the password and generate interest. The ground floor will host live music, while the rooftop will have DJs.
Of course, with the proximity to Broadway, Layer Cake and Cherry Lounge will attract visitors, and Sheikh hopes locals will also come to eat duck-fat tater tots, jalapeño potato chip chicken and smashburgers, or even enjoy a multicourse meal before heading to the symphony.
While Milkshake Concepts has several other brands it plans to bring to Nashville in the future—including The Finch Grill and Raw Bar and Harper’s—Layer Cake and Cherry Lounge are new ideas designed specifically for the 3rd Avenue South building and for Nashville.
“At first we intended to put a Stirr into the building on Third, but the more time we spent in Nashville, the more we had a feeling of fitting a square peg in a round hole,” Sheikh says.
Milkshake Concepts’ other new Nashville projects are planned for: Peabody Plaza on Lea Avenue; in the old Flying Saucer location on 10th Avenue South; and near Hume-Fogg High School on Broadway.
Layer Cake and Cherry Lounge will be located at 127 3rd Ave. S. and will open May 30.
