An entree served at Tin Angel in late 2017
Tin Angel on West End is probably one of the most venerable restaurants Nashville has left. Owners Rick and Vicki Bolsom opened it in April 1993, immediately gaining a devoted following drawn to its good food and comfortable neighborhood brasserie vibe.
And that’s only one restaurant the Bolsoms were involved in over the years: Cakewalk Cafe, which they opened in 1987, is fondly remembered. It helped launch the career of Deb Paquette, now one of Nashville’s most beloved chefs. The Bolsoms’ other former projects include Zola, Paquette’s original flagship on West End, and Mirror, which was a pioneering restaurant in 12South.
Over time, all of those places closed and Tin Angel remained. Until now. Rick Bolsom says he and Vicki are selling Tin Angel, both the property (that $1.3 million sale was announced last week) and the restaurant itself. The entities buying each are under the umbrella of Nashville-based Grace Development.
Tin Angel’s last night of service is March 23, Rick Bolsom tells the Scene, and he hopes the next two weeks will be a period for longtime customers and friends to come together for warm memories and excellent food.
The Bolsoms are officially retiring. “It’s time,” Bolsom says, “after 32 years of running a restaurant seven days a week.”
“Everyone here is skilled and talented,” Bolsom says of his employees. “We’re going to try to have a really nice two-week bow-out."
Bolsom says Tin Angel has weathered many storms, including the financial crisis of 2008 and more recently, the wave of new restaurants the “It City” has attracted.
“For a lot of restaurants like us, the established places, it was a major tsunami,” Bolsom adds. “But we worked through it. Business is improving.” He says diners have started coming back to old favorites like Tin Angel.
Bolsom knows a lot about Nashville, old and new. A native of Manhattan, he worked in the music business for many years and also did a long stint as a journalist. He first visited Nashville in the 1970s, when he worked in PR for Dot Records.
“I was just going to stay here for a few months, but I forgot to leave. I ended up staying in Nashville because it was a good place to be.” He cites Nashville’s affordable quality of life (“everybody lived simply and comfortably”) and the friendliness he found, even in the music business.
For more than a decade, he edited the popular erstwhile magazine Country Song Roundup.
In 1987, he and Vicki, who was then working in film in Nashville, decided to give the restaurant business a go by opening Cakewalk Cafe. They both had experience working in restaurants, and thought they could be successful. Thirty-two years later, it looks like that was a good call. He says people stop him to share memories of Cakewalk. “I’m thrilled we made that kind of impact,” he says.
Tin Angel was named after a long-gone restaurant in Greenwich Village, which appeared in a Joni Mitchell song. Nashville’s Tin Angel was an immediate success. Bolsom says he and Vicki, who recently celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary, are going to miss all the people they’ve met through the restaurant. “This business gives you a chance to form some really positive relationships,” he says.
The couple don’t have elaborate plans for their retirement yet. “I don’t have a list — we’re going to do some traveling, give more of our time to certain causes, see family and friends.”
Bolsom says the building and restaurant will have new owners, with the restaurant’s new ownership taking over April 1. He is optimistic about what the new team will do with the restaurant. Grace Development owns the Westboro Apartments next door, a vintage building. “They seem to really care about preservation, the history, thinking more long-term.”
He adds, “I fully expect to be here on the next opening night.” This time as a customer.
