South Street — a Midtown restaurant favorite known for its distinctive interior vibe and Southern regional and Cajun menu — is slated to make a comeback after having been closed for four years.
Local attorney Bryan Lewis and Tootsie’s owner Steve Smith plan to reinvent the business in a future three-story building to be located on the site, which offers an address of 911 20th Ave. S.
The property is also home to the building housing Giovanni Ristorante and a structure once accommodating The BOUND|RY. That building now houses restaurant Love Language Nashville and event space The Caldwell.
Lewis tells Scene sister publication the Nashville Post that Johnathan “Johnny” Scott will serve as both the daily operations manager and the managing partner of the business. The team will retain many of the original South Street fixtures, including the copper-dominated bar and the “the old corner booth everyone wanted on Friday afternoons,” Lewis says, adding the second and third floors of the future building will offer corner booths also. In addition, the future building will feature a rooftop space.
A demo permit will be applied for by August’s end, with construction to start thereafter.
“Our intent is to bring back South Street as everyone knew it in the 1990s,” Lewis says, adding that the ownership team intends to replicate the original menu highlighted by seafood, barbecue, ribs and two popular desserts: Jack Daniels bread pudding and Nutty Buddy Ice Cream.
The effort comes as Lewis and Smith created an LLC to acquire the property, for $4.5 million, from the Lewis family, according to a Davidson County Register of Deeds document. The late Jimmy Lewis, Bryan Lewis’ father, paid $600,000 for the property in 1993, Metro records note.
Bryan Lewis says the future South Street will offer several decor items to honor the memory of his father. He adds that the future building will not require the demolition of the Giovanni’s structure and that a rendering is forthcoming.
Lewis says the team is expecting the project to carry a price tag of between $4 million and $6 million.
Formally called South Street Original Smokehouse, Crab Shack, and Authentic Dive Bar, the restaurant and bar began operations in 1991 and closed in early 2018.
The building once home to The BOUND|RY
Smith owns Tootsie’s World Famous Orchid Lounge. He also owns and operates Honky Tonk Central, Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk & Rock ’n’ Roll Steakhouse, Rippy’s, Old Hickory Country Club, Pates Ford Marina and Sligo Marina (both in Smithville on Center Hill Lake) and The Diner.
Smith is a conservative lightning rod of sorts, known for his unapologetic persona and pro-Trump politics — particularly related to his response to COVID-19 shutdowns. Supporters, however, have praised him for reportedly paying his employees while they could not work during the pandemic. WKRN reported in April 2020 that Smith donated $100,000 to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee following the tornado that ripped through Nashville.
Similarly, Lewis garnered local headlines in 2017 for a controversial incident involving then-Judge Casey Moreland and for which he was professionally disciplined (read here). Of note, Lewis and local businessman Bobby Joslin spearheaded the campaign to raise an award fund that led to the capture and arrest of Devaunte Hill, who was later charged with the killing of nurse Caitlyn Kaufman as she commuted on Interstate 440 to her job at Saint Thomas West Hospital in late 2020.
“My family and I are looking forward to this venture with the Smith family and believe it is the beginning of a great partnership,” Lewis says.
This article first ran via our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
