Anthem, the lavish nightclub in the Gulch just north of Broadway, will close Feb. 8 after two years in business, says Moni Advani, who owns the club and music venue with London Parfitt. Instead, their company — which recently opened chef Maneet Chauhan's hot new restaurant, Chauhan Ale & Masala House — plans to redo the cavernous Anthem space with a mind toward restaurant projects instead of music and revelry.
"We're currently looking at doing another restaurant concept there, if not two" Advani says, adding that he expects Chef Chauhan to be involved the restaurant planning in some way.
What he says we should NOT expect is another club or music venue: "We think that's not the best use of the real estate."
"We took the wrong route," Advani says of Anthem, which was styled as an upscale nightclub reminiscent of Miami or Las Vegas. "We were too formal, taking ourselves too seriously."
One new project the team is working on is a pizza restaurant, which the company will create with Stephanie Macca, daughter of Joey Macca, founder of the venerable Joey's House of Pizza. It could possibly take part of the Anthem space, or be located in a different site.
Advani and Parfitt's company is called North Gulch Hospitality. Until recently entrepreneur Austin Ratliff was also a partner, but sold his stake and left Nov. 1 to focus on his own projects.
Meanwhile, Advani says focusing on food and beverage is a more apt approach for a neighborhood that is increasingly filled with new condos and apartments constructed in mixed-use high-rises with restaurants and retail. "The way this neighborhood is going, within two years, this side of the Gulch [north of Broadway] is going to look like the other side of the Gulch," he adds.
Whatever the team's next restaurant projects turn out to be, you can expect a casual ambience. "One of the awesome parts about Nashville is it's casual," Advani says, noting that diners in popular restaurants like Husk tend to feel equally at home wearing slouchy jeans or a natty business suit.
Watch the Cream's sister blog, Bites, for updates on the new restaurant developments at Anthem, or rather at the site at 125 12th Ave. N. in the Gulch.
