From left: Wes Taylor of Common Ground, Katie and Gep Nelson of The Yellow Porch and Common Ground's Matt Ramos
In early May, Gep and Katie Nelson, the owners of The Yellow Porch, announced that they would be closing the venerable restaurant that had been a neighborhood fixture in Berry Hill since 1998. In truth, the couple had been investigating that option as far back as 2018 and had made changes in service throughout the pandemic that they never undid, like serving lunch for example. While fans of the restaurant are understandably disappointed to see it go, the Nelsons have certainly been an important part of the dining scene in Nashville for a long time.
Their legacy will live on in some way as they have reached an arrangement to turn over the keys of their restaurant to the ownership group behind Common Ground, effective June 1. Industry veterans Matt Ramos and Wes Taylor lead operations of that group, and this expansion fits into exactly what they told me before they opened the first outpost of Common Ground late last year at 4001 Charlotte Ave. In that interview, Ramos mentioned that they were already seeking out a second potential location before their first restaurant even opened.
A key factor to them was to make sure that they could provide a need for the neighborhood they settled in. “The biggest thing was we wanted to be where it was a real neighborhood, where native Nashvillians are living or maybe working remotely,” Ramos said.
While the Berry Hill location probably doesn’t have the same population density as the original restaurant spot on the border between the Nations and Sylvan Park, Ramos sees the opportunity to draw from nearby neighborhoods like Woodbine and 12South.
“We had always planned to open two in the first year, and we developed a restaurant that was ready to plug and play,” he says. “We’d been talking to Gep and Katie for a few months and jumped at the opportunity to be a mile from the soccer stadium and all the potential business from the music studios in the neighborhood, which is kind of turning into the new Music Row.”
Ramos and Taylor are comfortable with multi-unit operations and expansion thanks to their experience working with the M Street and Red Pebbles hospitality groups in the past, and they believe that their concept of hospitality will align well with those of The Yellow Porch. They are also confident about being able to staff up, having retained about 90 percent of their original employees over their first year of operations on Charlotte.
Despite coming into the first restaurant with a clear vision that included a fast-casual cafe service and a strong commitment to their coffee program, they weren’t afraid to pivot early in the process.
“You have to let the guests dictate the evolution of the menu,” says Ramos. “We saw early on that there was a lot of cafe competition in the neighborhood ... so we did away with the cafe hours and focused on brunch, lunch and dinner.”
Another surprise was how popular their cocktail program became. “We use fresh juices for everything, and we’ve become much more of a cocktail bar and restaurant than a cafe like we thought,” he says. “I figured our wine, beer and cocktail sales would be about equal, but the majority of our beverage sales have been cocktails.”
Common Ground has also drawn tipplers in with special theme nights like an evening devoted to tiki drinks. The front bar is also activated during the restaurant’s popular weekend brunch service that will soon expand to include Fridays.
In an effort to attract former fans of The Yellow Porch, Common Ground plans to enhance their wine list to reflect how robust the Nelsons’ offering was, even if they won’t end up having quite as many bottles as the previous resident of the space.
Speaking of space, Ramos is excited about the new digs, saying, “We’ll have a two-tiered outdoor deck with 36 semi-enclosed seats. That will really enhance the experience over the small patio we have now.”
The menu in Berry Hill will reflect the offering in Sylvan Park with lots of small shareables along with larger plated entrees and their popular Black Hawk Farms wagyu smashburger. Some of the lunch items are also on the brunch menu alongside various toasts and salads. Ramos is particularly proud of Common Ground’s lox made using salmon cured in-house with gin, spiced with bagel seasoning from their neighbors at Savory Spice Shop in L&L Market, and served on bread from Charpier’s Bakery just a short drive away.
The staff is in the middle of a cosmetic flip of the Yellow Porch, aiming to accomplish the work in the same rapid two-month time frame that they took to convert Chaatable into Common Ground. They’ll begin taking reservations on Resy in mid-July with an eye on an early August opening. Like at Sylvan Park, the new Common Ground will always set aside some seating for walk-ins, a move that has encouraged repeat visits from loyal neighbors.
“I’m surprised by the number of regulars that are already coming here two or three times a week,” Ramos says, “and it’s great to see so many people walking here.”
Ramos and Taylor do plan to hit pause on further expansion for at least a little while after they move to the new location. “We want to create a place that can fit into anyone’s weekly routine, and we’re really enjoying this model,” says Ramos. “We just don’t want to expand the concept anymore yet until we get these two up and going.”
