Varallo’s restaurant, billed as the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Nashville, is giving up the title.
The Church Street eatery, which has been serving chili and other Southern comfort food since 1907, will shut its doors at the end of the year.
“We’ve had a wonderful time, but everything good has to come to an end,” says Eva Varallo, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Frank Varallo Jr.
“I’ve finally talked him into it,” Eva says, referring to her husband, who can still be found behind the counter, hat atop his head, working each weekday. “He’s 85 years old, and I think it’s time he gave it up.”
Although no official closing date has been set, Eva says the tentative closing day is Dec. 31.
Tucked away on the corner of Eighth Avenue and Church Street, Varallo’s has been a favorite lunchtime meeting place for prominent Nashville politicos and business leaders for many years. Founded by Frank Varallo Sr., the restaurant moved to its current location in the late 1940s from a nearby spot downtown. Topping the menu options: the highly popular three-way chili, which includes spaghetti noodles and tamales; and your basic meat-and-three chow-down.
Varallo mourners can take comfort that there is a second Varallo’s restaurant, on Fourth Avenue. Owned by two grandsons, it will remain open.
