More than two decades ago, Margot McCormack and her business partner settled on a scruffy-looking building in Five Points. Her eponymous restaurant would become not only one of the best places to eat in the city, but also a vanguard for the East Nashville dining scene.
By the standards of today’s restaurant openings, Margot Cafe & Bar is fascinating for what it wasn’t. There was no multimillion-dollar build-out. There were no super fancy kitchen appliances, specially made chairs or luminous pieces of stemware. This was a bootstrapped operation done on the thinnest of margins.
“I mean, I had literally dimes in my pocket when we opened the door,” McCormack says. “And we did it all from our own money. We didn’t have investors, we didn’t have a bank, you know, screaming at us, and I mean, I went to garage sales to find kitchen equipment and decor and you know, we recycled glass jars and bottles and plastic buckets.”
Some absolute palaces have opened in Nashville in the past couple of years. Just within Sean Brock’s empire, the velvety Continental and his flagship Audrey have arguably jumped to the front of the luxurious dining queue. Celebrity chefs have planted gleaming restaurants in almost all of the city’s new hotel towers. The cost of entering the market downtown, in the Gulch and down West End has become astronomical. Germantown? Not without serious cash. 12South? Forget about it.
Which brings us back to Margot. For whatever accolades the restaurant has earned over the years and as large as its fan base has become, Margot is still essentially a chef-driven neighborhood restaurant. And it made us wonder: Where will the next Margot land? Where will the next great bootstrapped restaurant be planted, if it’s even still possible to bootstrap a restaurant in Nashville anymore? Where’s the next neighborhood place that makes us hop in our cars and drive across town to enjoy the work of a great chef striking out on their own? What areas have the right mix of need, real estate and built-in diners to be successful?
The Scene reached out to a number of experts, and here’s what we found.
Donelson
For anyone who might have snickered at efforts to brand Donelson as “Hip Donelson” over the past few years … well, the joke’s on us. After East Nashville became largely unaffordable, many kept migrating east and landed there.
“I’d probably put it in Donelson right now, personally, as much as anything, because my friends Edgar Pendley and his group have had tremendous success with Tennfold [Brewing],” says Randy Rayburn. “And I think it’s a thriving, growing area. You know, there are a lot of growing areas in Nashville. But I think that it’s underserved.”
Rayburn would know. After helping make Hillsboro Village a destination three decades ago with Sunset Grill and later Cabana, Rayburn splits his time between his Midtown Cafe and consulting on other restaurants.
Bruce Fields is one of Tennfold’s owners, and also co-owns Donelson’s Nectar Urban Cantina. He says the area is perfect for someone wanting to put in a creative spot. One reason his places have thrived? They’re some of the closest quality choices to the airport.
“There’s a lack of options in that location,” Fields says. “Nashville is 15 minutes to everywhere, and we get a huge segment of our regulars from Hermitage and Mt. Juliet. We see that there aren’t a lot of options in those areas except chain restaurants.”
Jefferson Street
The heart of historic North Nashville is ripe for the right kind of spot.
“Why on Jefferson?” says Eric Brown, who until recently was in charge of economic and community development in North Nashville for Mayor John Cooper. “Because it was the historic corridor for North Nashville. I mean, if I go historically, of course, I would have said downtown. But that’s a different downtown after urban renewal, where, you know, there’s a lot of Black businesses. But now for me, it’s more North Nashville because it can be the gateway into many of the other Black businesses that are there.”
Riddim N Spice has built a big following for its Caribbean dishes just a block to the south, but on Jefferson Street proper, it’s largely a mix of fast-casual, fast food and takeaway.
“We know that North Nashville does have small lots within that area,” Brown says, noting that there are some house-conversion options that might work. “But I think that [the area] could still be shaped up — knowing that, you know, Citizens Bank headquarters is about to be on Jefferson Street, you’re seeing a lot of different things about to take place there.”
Kingston Springs
As we polled people, the top answer was Bellevue. With its built-in population and comparative dearth of options, the West Side ’burb has tantalized restaurant owners for years. But one respondent gave a surprising answer for that side of the city.
“Well, OK, I’ll give you some off the beaten path,” says Doug Hogrefe, whose 4Top Hospitality was an early entrant in places like downtown and West End that are almost too pricey now for a startup. “I have a lot of managers that are now moving to Kingston Springs. They can get a house with land. Good views. You know, it’s somewhat rural, but with easy access to an interstate. And they would love more thoughtful restaurants that still can be used as an everyday kind of place. Yeah. You know, the next evolution of the bar and grill, to utilize a podcast tagline. What they’re looking for is basically a chef-driven hangout.”
Madison
Hogrefe also notes that anyone looking to open a place should pay attention to where people are migrating as they move forward in their careers.
“You know, maybe moving up from the hourly world into the salary world and maybe even starting to move into the upper middle class,” he says. “These are the older, older millennials. They’re moving to Madison and Donelson.”
Cara Graham, who opened Lockeland Table a decade ago with chef Hal Holden-Bache, has the kind of place that any type of neighborhood concept should emulate. From “community hours” that pack the bar in the early evening to a dinner menu respected across the city, Lockeland Table has built a reputation for excellence.
And her staff and clientele began moving north to Madison years ago.
“I think Madison is, if it’s not already, it’s definitely the next spot,” Graham says. “I mean, employees of mine that live there and bought [homes]. You know, I mean, [my manager] bought there six years ago, and it’s already appreciated in value. The money is there. I just think it’s like the next place. You know, I feel like there’s a lot of good things going on with Yazoo [Brewing Company] moving there.”
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