Lou Nashville
A few years ago, some friends flew in from Chicago to visit me and attend a music festival. One couple arrived early, while I was still on deadline finishing a story, so I suggested they head to Lou Nashville for lunch. A few hours later, they came back. “How was lunch?” I asked. “We loved it so much we made dinner reservations for all of us tomorrow.” And six of us headed to dinner the next night, where we ordered almost the entire menu.
They — and I, and everyone else — are going to be incredibly sad about what I have to write today. Mailea Weger is closing Lou Nashville. The European-style restaurant and natural wine bar has been a favorite of everyone — not just my friends, but also Scene restaurant reviewer Kay West. It was a Best of Nashville pick, too.
While the food and wine that Weger and her team served at Lou was different, their story isn’t. Inflation and costs of food have skyrocketed. The sustainably raised Pure Pasture Farms chicken Weger serves as a roast chicken on Sundays now costs her $28. Weger’s not comfortable passing on those increases to her loyal diners (and no one wants to spend $80 for a roasted chicken entree, no matter how sustainable and delicious). At the same time, the number of diners has dropped about 40 percent in the past year. That includes weekend brunch, an event where it used to be hard to nab a table.
Mailea Weger’s East Side restaurant combines easy-breezy California contemporary and classic Parisian poise
Weger and operating partner Campbell Moore reworked some of the operational logistics. Front-of-house and back-of-house share tips and are paid more hourly than they were before. But still, the staff isn’t bringing home what they did two years ago. Weger doesn’t want them to be underpaid any more than she wants to charge $80 for roasted chicken.
“I don’t think everything great has to last forever, but it’s sad,” Weger says. “We don’t have a choice. It is a loss for us, for our team and the community.”
Summer is typically Lou’s strongest season, thanks to its big porch, which is perfect for cool date nights and long friend brunches. The revenue the restaurant typically makes in the summer gets socked away to help cover bills in winter. So if things are slow now, it seems hard to imagine what will happen in winter. Independent restaurants, without the backing of private equity or revenue from a second location, don’t have a safety net in these kinds of situations. Weger wanted to make sure she closed when staff and all the small farms Lou works with could get paid and folks had advance notice. The staff has been aware for about a week that the restaurant will close.
Before closing, however, Weger wants to “celebrate what we accomplished.” That means a few more nights of dinners with French-inspired dishes made with quality ingredients eaten in a dining room bedecked in floral wallpaper, all paired with natural wine. Saturday, Sept. 14, will be the last Lou brunch. Sunday, Sept. 15, will be the last lawn party. In addition to the natural wine and the crispy rice, Lou is known and beloved for its philanthropic bake sales in the adjoining yard, organizing other kitchens in town to participate in a good cause. This last lawn party will feature food trucks and a bartender (albeit not one currently on staff, so that staff can celebrate too). Show up in a Lou T-shirt and Weger will give you a free glass of wine.
“We are going to make these last two weeks the best weeks,” Weger says.
Make final reservations at Lou Nashville on Resy. The restaurant is located at 1304 McGavock Pike.
