Stories to Watch 2021: Returning to the Table

In preparation for my prognostications on Nashville’s restaurant scene in 2021, I reviewed what I wrote for last year’s “Stories to Watch” issue. And you know what? For as messed-up as 2020 has turned out to be, I didn’t miss the mark by all that much in my predictions. While I didn’t anticipate the specific pandemic-related reasons for the upheaval, I foresaw major alterations in business models and wholesale restaurant closings. I’ve never been more sorry to be correct about something.

Looking forward to 2021 in the hospitality industry, two major projects that grab our attention are holdovers from last year’s list. We’re anxiously anticipating Sean Brock’s shrine to Appalachia, Audrey, which seems to be in the final preparations for opening. Audrey will be located in the newest hot restaurant zone, East Nashville’s McFerrin Park, along with neighbors Folk and Redheaded Stranger. While waiting for his barnraising to be completed, Brock has kept busy opening two other projects — his ode to fast food at Joyland, and a nouveau American love letter to classic hotel dining at The Continental in the Grand Hyatt.

Atlanta-based chef/restaurateur Ford Fry did manage to open The Optimist in Germantown after years of construction, but our collective breath is still bated waiting for two other projects that are sitting on go in the same building. Le Loup will be a high-end cocktail lounge, while Star Rover Sound will be decidedly, and intentionally, a little more low-brow. Fry’s version of his perfect honky-tonk will feature live music, taqueria cuisine, cold beer and colder margaritas. Both Le Loup and Star Rover Sound are fully built out and ready to throw open their doors as soon as economic conditions and dining regulations are more advantageous.

Other announced projects that we’re chuffed about include: an expanded location for Proper Sake opening soon in East Nashville; E, G & Mc, a new cocktail bar and tapas restaurant coming soon to the Buchanan Street corridor courtesy of the brilliant minds behind Slim & Husky’s Pizza Beeria; an updated version of the Elliston Place Soda Shop in the building right next-door to the original fountain; and Bringle’s Smoking Oasis, a venture from pitmaster Carey Bringle where he plans to offer Hill Country Mission-style smoked meats to The Nations. Oh, and some folks are unreasonably excited about the impending return of Whataburger to Middle Tennessee.

That’s the good news. Unfortunately, all signs point to coming carnage among many existing independent restaurants — unless some sort of meaningful hospitality industry bailout comes from the government in the form of the RESTAURANTS Act. The bill is a bipartisan effort co-sponsored by dozens of members of both the Senate and the House, but it remains on the sidelines of any grand recovery plan.

Many restaurants earn a significant portion of their profits over the holidays, figuring that if they can break even up until Halloween, those last two months can represent all of their black ink for the entire year. Once the calendar turns to 2021, I suspect a great many proprietors will look at those statements and realize that the “December to Remember” they hoped for just didn’t materialize. I’ve heard through the grapevine that March will be a bloodbath as reserves will be exhausted and investors seek to cut their losses in advance of tax season.

As diners, we’re going to gain some, and we’re going to lose some. It’s inevitable. The best you can do is to continue to support your favorite local independent restaurants any way that you can — dine in when you’re comfortable doing so, carry out, buy gift cards, tip outrageously and most importantly, respect restaurateurs’ heroic efforts to keep their staffs and patrons as safe as possible.