Lou Nashville, the Inglewood all-day cafe, has become as known for its epic annual bake sales — which benefit organizations such as Planned Parenthood and the ACLU — as it is for its food and wine list. We even gave them a Best of Nashville award last year.
On Memorial Day (this Monday, May 30), they’ll be back at it, but with some twists. This year, the sale will benefit efforts in Ukraine from José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen.
As in recent years, the bake sale will feature goods not just from the lou kitchen, but from other chefs around town, including Crumb, Dozen Bakery, Peninsula, City House, Electric Jane and Frothy Monkey.
“We wanted to draw attention to a more global issue, and to spread the support to other charities,” says Sierra Cody, lou pastry chef and one of three partners in the restaurant. “We have raised nearly $40,000 to date for hyper-local nonprofits. We had previously done the spring bake sale in June during Pride, but once we chose Memorial Day as the date for the event it felt right to shift to an organization that lined up with that and gave us a chance to spread the wealth.”
In the past, the bake sales have taken place during the day, which presented a few challenges. So the event was switched to the evening. That means you’ll be able to get some smashburgers and fries in true Memorial Day style, and hang out on the grass and play lawn games.
The switch also should alleviate some stress on the bakers. “It’s really tough to prep for an event like this while prepping for weekend services, and we always have people dropping and running back to their own kitchens to get set for brunch service,” Cody says.
“It was also to beat the summer heat!” adds owner Mailea Weger. “We were all melting last year, and I mean us and the pastries!”
The Lou bake sale for Ukrainian support starts at 4 p.m. on Monday and will run until the goodies sell out. Lou is located at 1305 McGavock Pike.
