Pastis Gives Nashville a Taste of Paris, by Way of New York

The buzz about Pastis Nashville’s opening has been, well, buzzing for a long time. The Scene first reported on it in 2022, but the rumors began in 2021, when famed restaurateur Keith McNally posted a photo that appeared to have been taken in Wedgewood-Houston, suggesting that Pastis might be headed to Nashville.

In June of this year, the French bistro restaurant finally announced it would be opening later that month, and then opened reservations on Resy. In the first three hours of availability, Pastis Nashville had more than 8,000 reservations booked, and had some reservations on each of its first 90 days in business (the period for which spots were made available). That’s according to Pastis general manager Tyler St. Denis. “That is insane, and we are very thankful,” he says.

The original Pastis was opened in 1999 by McNally, a famous — and polarizing — restaurateur. It closed in 2014 and reopened in 2019, this time in combination with STARR Restaurants, helmed by Stephen Starr, another well-known restaurateur.

McNally, who was also behind famous restaurants including Odeon, Balthazar and Minetta Tavern and has won several James Beard Awards, is known for restaurants that offer the visual details of a stage set, with no aesthetic element overlooked.

Starr says McNally is not an owner of Pastis Nashville, but has licensed the restaurant name to his company, STARR Restaurants, and is consulting with Starr on the Nashville opening. AJ Capital Partners is the landlord for the 8,400-square-foot space, which is in the historic May Hosiery Mills complex on Houston Street.

McNally was not available for an interview with the Scene. But in his memoir I Regret Almost Everything, published in May of this year, McNally writes that while today there are several Pastis restaurants outside of New York — including in Miami and Washington, D.C. — he doesn’t believe that restaurants should create carbon copies of themselves in other cities. Both St. Denis and Starr subscribe to that philosophy. St. Denis worked at Pastis in Miami and D.C. and saw the ways those restaurants adapted to local markets, while keeping the Pastis vibe and reputation intact. For example, Pastis typically doesn’t have pasta on the menu, but when Miami diners asked for it, it was soon added.

But Pastis Nashville does look like the other Pastis restaurants, with its French bistro aesthetic, including a zinc bar, white subway tiles and tin ceiling. 

“The designers did an incredible job,” St. Denis says of the space. “It looks like it has been here forever, even though it is brand-new.”

The menu is chock-full of dishes that people expect from Pastis, or any good French bistro for that matter, including daily specials handwritten on vintage mirrors. Favorites include both steak frites and lobster frites, and boeuf bourguignon, which Starr says folks were ordering with abandon even when the outside temperatures were close to 100 degrees. “It’s not 98 degrees in the restaurant,” he says, “and part of what we do at the restaurant is transport you to a different world.”

The escargots and sardines, both classically French appetizers, have also sold very well, adds St. Denis. “Not everyone knows how to eat escargots, so we guide people in the experience and pair it with toasted baguette and some of the finest butter.” Desserts are more French favorites, including profiteroles, frozen citron with lemon sorbet, and selections of cheeses.

The menu is overseen by executive chef Mark Coleman, who worked at Bar Continental most recently before joining STARR Restaurants. Before that, Coleman spent three years in kitchens in Italy — from traditional osterias to Michelin-starred kitchens in Tuscany — and worked at a number of New York restaurants, including Rezdôra Osteria Emiliana and Forsythia Restaurant.

Coleman is developing relationships with local purveyors, adding more Tennessee ingredients to the classic menu. 

“We do not want to disrupt the neighborhood that is [already] there, but we want to be part of it,” St. Denis says.

In addition to their food, Pastis locations are known for being see-and-be-seen spots. The list of celebrities who have dined there and raved about it — from Demi Moore to Sarah Jessica Parker and Cyndi Lauper — is long. McNally is known for sharing photos of celebrities at tables of his restaurants.

The unwritten Nashville code is never to interrupt famous musicians when out and about. Bus tours of stars’ homes don’t have the same cachet as they do in other cities. And many of Nashville’s most famous names are songwriters and producers whose faces are not immediately recognizable to the general public. But Starr says Nashville celebrities don’t have to worry about discretion with their dinner at Pastis.

“Servers have been trained not to gloat or hover,” Starr says. “We are very good at this. We have dealt with presidents and rock stars. Nashville is no different from New York in that way.”

Ideally, St. Denis says, Pastis Nashville should be somewhere that welcomes tourists and locals both — somewhere you might take your parents for a birthday celebration and also somewhere to have a martini at the bar before heading elsewhere for the night.

Starr is particularly excited about the Nashville location of Pastis because he became enamored of the city during the years the project was in development. He likes the large population of young people who live in town and the emphasis on creativity that is part of the city’s ethos. “I love to be around creative people. I find business people and lawyers boring. It feels really good in Nashville.”

Starr also likes how passionate Nashvillians are about their city. “I talk to people who have been there for 15 years and fell in love,” he says. “I did not realize how special it was before I came here. Without making the other markets feel bad, I feel an energy that transcends all the others.” In fact, Starr is so star-struck by Nashville that he plans to open an outpost of St. Anselm, another one of his restaurants, in the near future.

Pastis Nashville is currently serving only dinner. Plans are to open for lunch and weekend brunch in the next few weeks, and a new patio for outdoor dining is currently under construction — the team hopes to open that in August, though recent rains have slowed outdoor construction. Starr says opening for breakfast is a possibility too.

While Pastis Nashville has been popular in its first weeks, it is possible to get a table for dinner without too much trouble. There are tables regularly available at the 170-plus-seat restaurant, particularly if you dine after 8 p.m. And that’s when things really get good. Dining later is cosmopolitan, yes. It’s also a point of difference for Pastis Nashville. While Lower Broadway is a late-night, almost-always-open destination, it can be tricky to find a restaurant open late in many parts of the city — particularly in Wedgewood-Houston.

On a recent Tuesday night, Starr says, the restaurant was “packed” near midnight. Elton John’s “Rocket Man” started playing. “The entire crowd started singing together,” Starr says. “It is truly a party. You step in a Pastis, and the night is a party. The energy makes you want to smile and have a good time.”