Peninsula Is a Phenomenal New Iberian-Inspired Restaurant

However you feel about Nashville’s building boom, it’s a fact that the onslaught of new mixed-use developments has created innumerable vacant retail spots for new restaurants to inhabit.

Many of the newcomers are undistinguished chain restaurants delivering flash rather than substance. Happily, that’s not the case at Peninsula, a delightful and ambitious East Nashville restaurant inspired by the cuisine of the Iberian peninsula — more specifically, “Spanish and Portuguese fare accented with French techniques,” as the website explains.

A trio of restaurateurs from Seattle — the husband-and-wife team of Craig Schoen and Yuriko Say and chef-partner Jake Howell — moved to Nashville specifically to open Peninsula, which launched in October. All three owners are veterans of Seattle’s highly regarded oyster bar The Walrus and the Carpenter. The spot they secured is a ground-level corner space in the new residential/retail edifice The Eastland, situated on West Eastland Avenue just a block off the busy Gallatin corridor. Peninsula is, by design, a cozily small establishment, but it has a wide-open kitchen and lively bistro vibe. And despite the bustle, it manages to also be a pretty serene place to share dinner with friends. 

The food at Peninsula is both sophisticated yet comforting, a rare trick. Howell’s cuisine is complemented by beverage manager Schoen’s tightly curated wine list and an extensive slate of multifarious gin-and-tonics, the latter inspired by a beverage phenomenon popular in Spanish restaurants. I have never been a gin fan, but I’ve been converted by the creativity and novel ingredients that Schoen employs. Not only does he use a variety of gins and novel accent ingredients, even the tonic brands differ. 

With a couple of dining companions, I’ve visited Peninsula three times, and each time found the food and friendly service to be exceptional. Howell’s menu is seasonal and changes daily, so it’s tough to pin down any dishes as long-term fixtures. But word-of-mouth is so strong on a couple of offerings that I figure they will stick around for a while.

Say, who serves as the restaurant’s general manager, describes the braised rabbit as Peninsula’s signature dish, and it is extraordinary. It’s basically a stew, with chunks of rabbit meat luxuriating in a savory garlic broth, punctuated with croutons (made from Dozen Bakery’s excellent baguettes) and dollops of aioli infused with piment d’espelette, a smoky Basque pepper that’s similar to paprika. A secret of the dish is Howell’s broth. Say notes that it is prepared in a fashion almost like Japanese dashi, as it goes through numerous phases to create depth and intensity. The croutons, meanwhile, are deep-fried to hold up to the luscious broth without disintegrating.

Howell, who is assisted by sous chef Justin Fulps, delivers a similar stunner with the chicken thighs dish. It’s surprising in that when it comes to the table, the chicken isn’t even visible, thanks to a remarkable green-and-white broth. The dish is also like a stew, but with an exceptionally fresh and spring-like complement of ingredients. The tender chicken meat is served in a bowl atop grits from Anson Mills in South Carolina, covered with broth. You may think there’s cream in the broth, but Say assures me no cream or milk is used, just butter. “The secret is what the chef does to the grits,” she says cryptically.

The broth is topped with gorgeous green swirls of jalapeño aioli and herb oil. (Howell infuses his own oils.) The green theme continues with coins of freshly pickled cucumber, along with mild onions. It’s really one of the best dishes I’ve ever had, with the chicken thigh meat balanced by the grits and the creamy (not cream-y) broth, and brightened by the green aioli and cukes.

If you’re looking for a crispy dish to counter the stews, I recommend the oyster croquetas. Not a bit greasy, the deep-fried croquettes conceal moist oyster meat, a terrific combination.

As at an Iberian tapas bar, every dish on the menu is shareable. Prices for each item hover in the $12 to $18 range, though portion size tends to be smaller than a full-blown American-style entrée. That works out well for sharing with friends (or in an intimate tête-à-tête), especially since each dish delivers so much satisfaction.

As Nashville evolves, Peninsula is the kind of small independent business I like to support. Say and Schoen are restaurant veterans who have been working to open their own place for 14 years. They met in New York before moving to Seattle, hoping it would be cheaper place to start a restaurant, only to find Seattle rivaling New York in real estate prices. The couple met Howell when all three worked at The Walrus and the Carpenter under James Beard Award winner Renee Erickson. After hearing from a Nashville friend about our city’s scene, they visited and decided to relocate here to finally open their dream restaurant. They are going all-in on Nashville — Say says they’ve even gotten their parents to move here.

Part of the team’s plan was to find a small-but-workable space. Peninsula has just 38 seats (28 in the dining room and 10 at the bar), and the kitchen is about the size of a largish elevator car. Say notes that a health inspector told them their walk-in refrigerator is the smallest the inspector had ever seen. Again, the small quarters are by design. “We’re kind of control freaks,” Say says with a laugh. It’s not unusual to see all three owners running the show, with Schoen as bartender, Say as a server and front-of-house manager, and Howell, of course, cooking.

The decor is simple, with white walls and a high ceiling dressed with hanging plants. One wall of the restaurant is composed entirely of windows facing West Eastland Avenue. The bar is a little more ornate, with antique Spanish-style elements that Schoen and Howell secured by scouring antique stores. Say says she likens the bar decor to “your crazy uncle’s gothic Spanish wine cellar.” Howell says he and Schoen also did much of the actual building of the interior, with help from their dads.

Speaking of the bar, the wine-and-beer offerings are relatively small, with eight wines available by the glass and just a couple beers. (The space doesn’t really have room for a deep cellar.) But Schoen has carefully picked each item to complement the cuisine. 

And then there are those gin-and-tonics. It’s an array of around eight, all very different in flavor profile. My favorite was No. 7, with Bulldog Gin (a dry English spirit infused with 12 botanicals, including lotus leaves, longan fruit and Italian juniper) plus apple, tarragon and Fever Tree tonic water. The cocktail tastes pleasantly fresh and herbaceous (thanks to the tarragon) with a hint of sweetness from the apple. It’s definitely the best G-and-T I’ve ever had. The bar serves an assortment of other interesting house cocktails that I haven’t had the chance to explore.

Service is impeccably friendly and knowledgeable (not surprising with a small staff that’s dominated by the restaurant’s owners). Since service tends to be the weak link in Nashville’s booming restaurant scene, Peninsula’s excellent service is welcome.

Peninsula represents the better aspects of the new Nashville. Who would expect to find such an ambitious, well-crafted dining spot tucked behind the Gallatin Road Rite-Aid? It’s almost surreal. Directly across the street is The Cleo, a year-old apartment structure built on the site of a former rehabilitation hospital. Next to The Cleo is another brand-new residential development under construction. With three new multistory complexes, the corner is completely unrecognizable compared to its appearance just two years ago. As you dine at Peninsula, you can see Cleo residents across the street, pounding the treadmills in their building’s gym. 

I hope they’re working off calories to clear their consciences for dinner at Peninsula. I’d say it’s an early contender for best new restaurant of the year.