Three New Food and Drink Businesses Are Part of the Arcade’s Next Act

Downtown Nashville’s Arcade originally opened in 1902, modeled loosely after Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan, Italy. So it seems fitting that its three newest food-and-drink tenants have some connection to the Bel Paese.

Zio Matto Gelato opened in the Arcade downtown last week. (The soft opening was July 3, with a buy-one-get-one-day taking place July 8.) Co-owner and founder Matteo Servente hails from Torino, Italy, and is committed to bringing Italian gelato to Nashville. Servente moved to Memphis 15 years ago and started the company, using traditional, non-machine-based processes such as hand-mixing and whipping to make the frozen treat. 

Before Servente and Zio Matto co-owner Ryan Watt planned to open a business together, they knew each other through the film industry. Watt was headed to the annual international art event Venice Biennale, and in a bit of foreshadowing, Servente gave him travel tips — including finding the “non-tourist gelato.”

Zio Matto joins Julia Jaksic’s Bar Roza and East Nashville’s Frankies as the three newest food businesses to open in the light-filled, glass-ceilinged Arcade, contributing to a new collection of locally owned and chain businesses in the remodeled historic spot between Fourth and Fifth avenues.

The Arcade location is Zio Matto’s second gelateria, with the first in Memphis’ historic Central Station. With Watt, Servente opened that spot after running a food cart because of the foot traffic and the building’s historic nature. (Plus, it tugged at Servente’s heartstrings. He lived in Central Station back when it housed apartments.) When his wife got a job in Nashville, Watt moved here and began selling Zio Matto in area farmers markets as well as through shops like Cocorico, Little Hats Italian Market and New York Butcher Shop. The duo was looking for a brick-and-mortar location for expansion, and when the Arcade became a possibility, they realized it was a fit.

“I fell in love with the aesthetics,” Servente says. “We weren’t necessarily looking to be downtown, but when [Watt] looked at the projected foot traffic, it made for a good business decision. I’m certainly very happy that it’s the way it worked out because there’s a matching tie to the two locations.”

In addition to around a dozen gelato flavors (some regulars, some rotating), Zio Matto serves affogatos, gelato cakes and gelato pops from what was Nashville’s first shopping center. Watt notes that beverages — such as granita in summer and hot chocolate in winter — can be ordered with or without gelato.

Last month, Julia Jaksic opened her long (long) awaited Bar Roza just around the corner from Zio Matto. (Turn south on the alley that intersects the Arcade when you pass The Peanut Shop.) Under the direction of architect Dryden Studio, the space has been completely reconfigured; it’s unrecognizable from its former life as overflow seating for Manny’s House of Pizza, which closed in 2023. Jaksic leaned into an Italian Rationalism aesthetic with Italian marble — again appropriate for the Arcade’s roots — and rich, maximalist vibes.

It’s not just the decor that is superlative. Jaksic and business partner Owen Gibler (beverage manager at Roze Pony in Belle Meade) created an aperitivo (Italian happy hour) program with cocktails and snacks. Instead of garnishes, drinks feature aromatic spritzes and ice cut in-house. Emphasis is on the cocktails, but there are focaccia and other “girl dinner”-type snacks, Jaksic says.

Frankies opened its Arcade location in early April inside Urban Cowboy, taking over from Roberta’s. Frankies co-owner John Burns Paterson kept the majority of the staff from Roberta’s, trained by folks at Frankies in East Nashville. The Frankies team had not been thinking about opening a second location, but when Urban Cowboy’s Lyon Porter called, Paterson picked up the phone. Urban Cowboy is Frankies’ landlord, and Roberta’s equipment stayed put, so it was a fairly easy transition — the opening came just a couple of days after the contract was signed.

Frankies is open seven days a week. Paterson says that in all his hospitality career, this is the first time staff has asked to stay open later if there’s a good crowd and good vibes. (Official hours are until 10 p.m. during the week and 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.) So far, they’ve been selling whole pies and slices and salads, but Paterson plans to expand to sandwiches and other dishes in the next few weeks.

All three business owners came to the Arcade hoping to welcome locals and tourists alike, and that’s already been the case at Frankies. Paterson says customers who come to the East Side location at night are happy to go somewhere for lunch while working downtown. “There are a ton of office folks from businesses downtown,” he says, “and we’ve found so much overlap that we were not expecting.”

Creating a place where locals want to hang out downtown was important to Jaksic. “We want locals to feel 100 percent comfortable,” she says. “It would be an honor to serve the communities from East and West when they come to the Ryman or the symphony or TPAC. I hope we can be a refuge. We want it to be fun. There are no cocktail bar rules — just come and meet people.”

Over the years, the Arcade has seen lots of change, from the departure of the post office to renovation and introduction of new tenants including Savannah Bee and Ugly Bagel. This new trio is excited to be part of the next class of tenants, and to see what their colleagues are going to do.

“What Julia has built in that place is world-class,” Paterson says of Bar Roza.

“People are really investing in Nashville, not only the tourist side of Nashville,” Jaksic says, noting the work of Porter and Jamie White at Buddy’s Tiny Tonk, which is near Bar Roza. “It is amazing to be in a space downtown with people I know from the East Side.”

With the artists’ spaces upstairs in the Arcade and the monthly art crawls, folks like Jaksic note an energy for locals that has been missing downtown. 

“For me,” Jaksic adds, “the Arcade is such a special piece of architecture. I feel honored to be a part of it and built in it.”