Recent additions help, but why do dining options in Green Hills remain limited?
by Hollie Deese
When the latest list of “hottest places to eat” is posted online, or Food & Wine magazine touts their latest roundup of must-eat restaurants in Music City, chances are a spot in Green Hills won’t have made the cut.
“You don’t get a lot of writers who talk about the Green Hills dining scene,” says Wendy Burch, co-owner of Table 3 Restaurant and Market and the currently-closed F. Scott's Restaurant and Jazz Club. “They are more interested in the Gulch, East Nashville, Germantown.”
Deb Paquette has announced her newest venture, Etc., and Arnold's has opened a second location in Green Hills, but in general, there hasn’t been as much to write about in recent years, at least in comparison to the rest of Nashville. Aside from some notable closings (F. Scott’s, Macke’s, Ruby Tuesday) and openings (Green Hills Grille), there has been no new hot chicken joint, or farm-driven menu crafted by the latest culinary upstart. At least one that hasn’t already been there for a few years.
“Nashville has changed and the dining scene has definitely moved,” Burch says. “But Green Hills has not changed. People look at Green Hills as a shopping, neighborhood district - not all that interesting.”
The biggest reason for the lack of evolution and influx of new restaurants is that is Green Hills was already so developed when the recession receded and the city’s foodie boom hit.
“For the density of businesses and the mall, I don’t think there is a lot there. That is just my perception as a consumer,” says Tom Loventhal, owner of Noshville and founding member of the independent restaurant association, Nashville Originals.
The high cost of leasing space in Green Hills has been a deterrent for small, chef-driven restaurants to find their footing, sending them to less expensive neighborhoods like the Nations or Germantown where there is still room to grow.
“You have people coming in paying $40-$50 a square foot, so they are going to have to be small and they are going to have to be interesting,” Burch says.
Density a plus, and minus
For the restaurants that are worth the trip, it can be hard for diners to see them through all the traffic, reality or not. “There is no traffic at night but the perception is ‘I don’t want to go into Green Hills,” Burch says.
Loventhal agrees that people avoid the area just because of the congestion.
“The traffic in Green Hills affects everybody, whether you drive your own car or own your own business,” he says.
The traffic is a badge of honor for the people who live it though, and the restaurants that succeed recognize their core clientele are also their neighbors who will take the back roads to get to where they need to go.
“If you look at it from the air it is one of the most densely populated areas of Nashville,” says Steven Smithing, owner of Brentwood’s Mere Bulles and the recently reopened Green Hills Grille. “There are tons of people who live within three miles of Green Hills, and it is a good demographic as well.”
Standout spots still shine
Not everyone from outside the neighborhood is ignoring Green Hills though. Husk’s Sean Brock is a fan of the charcuterie made in-house at Table 3, along with their homemade bread, pickles, pastries and more. The French-style brasserie has been a true labor of love for Burch after she was forced to start over when a fire gutted the place just months after her August 2010 opening.
Table 3
“It was horrible. In life, it was the first time I think I was ever truly in shock, and knew I was in total shock,” she remembers. “I couldn’t snap out of it – just watching the firemen and the smoke billow out, knowing this is bad. This was not something we could do in a few days. We spent a year in there redoing it the way we wanted. That was painful.”
Five years on she and her business partner Elise Loehr have succeeded with Table 3 not only for their stellar food, but because they accommodate the very specific Green Hills diner – the movie goer in a hurry, quick business lunches. And it doesn’t hurt that Joe Shaw (Watermark, The Standard) is currently consulting in the kitchen.
Firefly has been holding strong on Bandywood Drive for more than a decade because of their read on the area too, evolving from the white-tablecloth Deer Park Grille in 2004 to the funky neighborhood spot it is today. Manager Andy Wilmoth says standing out from the nearby chains like Cheesecake Factory has helped secure those regulars.
“If anything there are more foodies in town and people who appreciate food, so when they find themselves over here we are their first choice,” he says. “We definitely have a nice establishment of regulars that have been coming here for a long time, and then we pick up new regulars. The newer generation is going out more and wanting to experience more taste.”
Catering to regulars
Having reliable places near the office is key to Green Hills workers and is one of the reasons the return of Green Hills Grille was so anticipated, especially in its location in the Greenbriar Village Shopping Center where Alegria Mexican Restaurant and Tequila Bar was located, with built-in parking (more than 450 spots) and a built-in office clientele.
Christopher and Steven Smithing of Green Hills Grille
“Green Hills has a long way to go to become a solid food presence, but there is hope, and I am fortunate to be on Bandywood next to some amazing places,” says Susanne Post, owner of Green Hills’ recently downsized Shine Salon. “The Food Co. is amazing for lunch, and I even use them for catering my Thanksgiving dinner. I also love Firefly. It is a little, hidden treasure in the middle of Green Hills, tucked away in the coner on Bandywood. There are places like Green Hills Grille coming back in with good, basic delicious food that you know what you are going to get.”
It’s the area’s workers and residents that will make a place last in Green Hills, not the rest of the city. It’s a strategy Smithing is counting on based on his previous experience as server, bartender and general manager at the original Grille back in the 1990s and 2000s.
“The food blogger in East Nashville can come over here and hate on me all day long and I could care less, because the people who live three blocks away are the ones I built the restaurant for and they are the ones who will eat here,” Smithing says. “When I left Green Hills Grille in 2004 there were seven people who ate there every day, twice a day. People do business lunches every day, so if I can get you once or twice a week then that will make me happy.”
As a Green Hills resident, Smithing knows his concept will work and never even considered opening the restaurant in any other neighborhood.
“I wasn’t looking anywhere else,” he says. “They need a good community restaurant. I knew there was a need here because there are a lot of people, and people eat out all the time. Go do your dining destination at the Gulch or 12South or downtown – I just want to feed them the other three times they eat out that week.”
Everywhere a gamble
Burch says she’ll never open another restaurant in Green Hills herself, but she isn’t sure where else works right now either. That’s why after an initial location chosen on West End fell through she and her partner have decided to wait out the current food boom before reopening F. Scott’s. Not to mention staffing is currently an issue, with all the area’s best servers, chefs and front-of-house workers already employed.
“This is a 20-year commitment so we want to see how everything plays out,” she says. “We decided to give it a little time, wait a while and see what the direction is. We don’t want to be in East Nashville, I am not sure we want to be downtown. Right now we are still in the West End, Midtown area, which I think it is slightly underserved compared to other places. What we are looking for is a high population area where you have a dense living population and hotels.”
Loventhal, who has invested in a number of independent restaurants over the years, is interested to see who survives the current food explosion and has the staying power to become the next Nashville institution.
“I think we’ll see some shake out in the next year or two or three,” he says. “After their honeymoon, some of the new ones will survive and some of them won’t. Right now everyone wants to be here and the ones who have built a following will survive for sure.
Additional updates by Bob Faricy
