West Siders regularly hear tales of a different kind of city. Street life bustles, and patios teem just across the river, where bars and restaurants dot East Nashville neighborhoods and patrons walk from porch to table.
One precious storefront, full of possibilities, taunted Sylvan Park passersby since it lost bakery Vegan Vee in 2021. The small commercial outpost on 46th Avenue North breaks up the gridded blocks between Murphy Road and Charlotte Pike, where constant construction has gradually triple-sized the area’s stock of 20th-century cottages. While streets have been transformed, commercial development — somewhat constrained by zoning regulations and limited lots — has lagged behind 15 years of house-flipping. Tantísimo opened in the former Vegan Vee building in the spring, and its all-day hours can take you from espresso to margarita — a model that has already started bringing the neighborhood together.
Ana Aguilar and Josh Cook are fixtures in the space, their first brick-and-mortar endeavor after a shared résumé that includes Husk, Maiz de la Vida and bar Henry James, as well as shared pop-up El Leon Dorado. Tidy circular business cards spell out their domains: founder and CEO Aguilar, executive chef Cook. Aguilar often oversees the busy dining area while Cook peeks out from the kitchen working on a line of finished plates. Years of restaurant experience and keen eyes for food and design have made the space feel seamless.
Breakfast tacos
Tantísimo bills itself as Latin American, stitching together stars from around South and Central America. Tender churrasco laced with salty-citrus leek chimichurri stars as a simple centerpiece on a warm evening; typically a way to celebrate fine local beef, this one slices Angus from Bear Creek Farm of Thompson Station. Ripe tomato chunks and creamy queso fresco come together naturally over a smoky red chile sauce, one of the seasonal choices rotating on for the weeks of high summer. Crusty bolillo bread is an easy opening order, especially for a group looking to savor each dish to the end. Corn, mole, garlic and peppers feature heavily on the constantly changing menu, blending favorites from the region’s vast cuisines. Drink pairings, an option added to each dish a few months after opening, make good use of Tantísimo’s deep well, highlighted by tropical rum drinks and a diversity of Central and South American beers.
Sylvan Park buzzed with hopes and dreams about the buildout as soon as work crews appeared on site in the spring. Beyond residents’ first debt to Aguilar and Cook, who took the significant risk of breathing new life into an otherwise shuttered lot, Tantísimo has proven its own appetite to maximize potential. A handsome bar anchors the airy main dining room, big enough to clear tables for weekly Teteo Tuesday dance nights. An adjoining back room offers more private tables suitable for the area’s many young families, while a patio and recently added streetside seating offer outdoor options for prime weather. Finished concrete, wooden furniture, ceramic dishes and adobe tones lend a calm and comfortable elegance that can span cafe and date night.
Bear Creek Farm churrasco
From its 7 a.m. open to 10 p.m. last call, Tantísimo is still finding its exact sweet spots. A midafternoon break separates the daytime cafe from happy hour, which leads into dinner service — meaning the painted metal shop door is nearly always open. There’s substantial carryover between menus anchored by recurring staples, like textured masa. Expect attentive service (and a built-in service charge) any hour of the day, partly due to an unpredictable dining room.
The early crowd hasn’t quite figured out Tantísimo (and vice versa). Blocks away, Star Bagel’s breakfast sandwiches and unremarkable coffee draw lines all morning. Just try fighting the parking lot for breakfast at Dose, where pastries meet a superb beverage selection. All of that is to say, the market exists, though it’s biased against menus and table service. Smoky chilaquiles and a hefty breakfast burrito headline Tantísimo’s morning options, which come alongside Pit Stop coffee, a fellow alum of the popular Richland Park Farmers Market. Breakfast tacos repackage the burrito into more efficient bites full of rich house-made chorizo.
When Tantísimo does find its cafe-side footing, it will be because of creative and delicious options like the creamy orange tonic that is the morir soñando and flaky empanadas de pollo. If it doesn’t, it will perhaps reflect a limited American tolerance for the leisurely cafe life that defines so many of the world’s great cities.
Root for Tantísimo with your wallet. Walk, or bike, if you have friends nearby. The neighborhood kids sometimes leave their scooters out front. Just down Charlotte Pike, at the corner of White Bridge Road, prime real estate emerged from its weeks-long construction cocoon as a retail Wells Fargo.
