Nashville's restaurant community was jolted this morning by the news that the prominent chef-owner of
Germantown Café and Germantown Café Eastwas found dead in the cooler at the east side location.
The investigation is continuing, but police theorize that Jay Luther, 47, may have become trapped in the cooler accidentally and suffered carbon dioxide suffocation.
Luther and his business partner Chris Lowry were pioneers in the revitalization of the Germantown neighborhood when they opened the original Germantown Café in 2003. In late 2008, they opened a second restaurant, the French-bistro-influenced Allium, in another evolving part of town, the ground floor of the 5th and Main condo and retail development in East Nashville.
The team reworked that restaurant and reopened it as Germantown Café East last year.
At the time, Scene restaurant critic Carrington Fox raved about Luther and Lowry's savvy in relaunching the new restaurant using feedback from local food bloggers. "The resulting strategy incorporates the best of both Germantown Café and Allium, adding hints of French flair to the comfortable contemporary cuisine that has made the original eatery so beloved," Fox said.
Co-owners Luther and Lowry were a very successful restaurant duo, with Luther serving as executive chef and Lowry working the front of the house as general manager.
My colleague Pierce Greenberg talked to police investigating the death this morning. Here's his report in The City Paper:
