Jim Myers

USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee





Just six weeks into the new year and looking ahead to spring, it's time for Nashville diners to brace themselves for the next wave of the city's restaurant explosion.

While concerns remain about the pace of this growth, the dining public remains filled with gustatory anticipation. The variety of places lurking on the horizon also shows that there's a little something for (almost) everyone.

This year actually looks to be ahead of the pace of fine-dining openings compared to last year, which saw fewer than a dozen noteworthy places emerge. We should double that mark if all opens as planned.

After a quick survey of the more than two dozen places slated to open this year, I spoke with some of the ambitious entrepreneurs who remain in the throes of construction and staff training.

One of the most anticipated openings among the chef community is Henrietta Red, the Germantown restaurant and oyster bar dream of homegrown talent Julia Sullivan and her partner Allie Poindexter. Scheduled to open Friday, Feb. 24, it's been a steep learning curve even for an industry veteran like Sullivan.

Developing the project from initial concept to today has been almost a four-year process, including two years since partnering with Strategic Hospitality.

"I was naive," Sullivan said. "That's not really the right word, because I'm not new to this, but there were so many things that I didn't anticipate."

Like bedrock, for example, when it came time to prepare the foundation, adding an extra $20,000 to project costs.

"It's alarming how quickly budgets can get out of control," Sullivan said.

Feeling the pressure of her peers' expectations, she admits she's also a little scared.

"I feel rusty," she said of her absence from running a kitchen, but she's taking the advice gleaned along the way to start with what you know you can do well and build from there. "I was told it may take two years before I really feel that the kitchen is mine."

For now, Sullivan said she's content to borrow from her experience, including stints at Per Se under Thomas Keller and the Blue Hill at Stone Barns.

For the now-entrenched and beloved celebrity chef Maneet Chauhan, whose community involvement has earned her wide praise, her next venture after Chauhan's Ale & Masala House is in the space right next door. Called Tànsuŏ, it will be Chauhan's inspired take on authentic Chinese food, a void she immediately noticed in Nashville. If that weren't enough, a third concept, The Mockingbird, will follow right next door to Tànsuŏ later in the spring.

Chauhan said she wants her next restaurant to be "another unique part of the Nashville dining tapestry."

"We asked, 'what will make this place stand out?' and I think from the design to the food, we have blown it out of the park," Chauhan said.

She also made the smart play to hire an experienced Chinese chef, Chris Cheung, to oversee the Gulch property.

Like almost every place looking to open, she says they are months behind, mainly from the challenges of rehabbing an old building and having to stop and take care of structural issues along the way.

Across town in East Nashville, Bill Darsinos is in the furious homestretch of opening Greko, a fast-casual take on Greek street food. Darsinos is a local restaurant veteran whose family operates Darfon's, Gondola Pizza and the Southside Grill. They are finally getting around to the food of their heritage.

Darsinos estimates that he's about five months behind, mostly due to challenges from the gaps in the construction workforce. It's also driven up labor costs in an effort to find qualified people, he says.

Greko will be the flagship for what Darsinos hopes to be a nascent chain of fast-casual eateries as part of Fresh Hospitality.

"Don't look for blue and white columns, though," he said, referencing Greek restaurant stereotypes. "You won't find a painting of the Parthenon, either."

Instead, he's channeling the authentic street life of Athens and other urban centers of Greece. He's hired a graffiti artist to tag the exterior and will feature logos of Greek soccer clubs and other paraphernalia more typical of the tavernas of his homeland.

Darsinos has faced permit and import issues as he tried to import five Greek wines from his family village in the Peloponnesus for the restaurant. Darsinos can finally see some light now, and anticipates opening, along with his cousin, niece and brother, his modern temple to souvlaki by the end of March.

Sometimes, it takes forever to get a place open, and Gerard Craft says, in this case, it's a blessing. The James Beard Award-winning chef from St. Louis has planned a Pastaria outpost in Nashville for more than a year. Last May, in anticipation of a late summer 2016 opening, he even did a pop-up pizza service to remind people he was coming.

The restaurant, part of the OneCITY development just off of Charlotte Pike near Centennial Park, had some unanticipated delays. Craft says he was opening another restaurant in St. Louis on a similar timeline, so when delays occurred he was relieved.

In Nashville last week for meetings, Craft says the "coming soon" label is now in earnest and hopes to see business in the next few months. He's even planning on bringing his wife and two daughters down for the summer.

"I really like Nashville," said Craft in a way that people do after spending more than a weekend here and getting a feel for life in this place.

No doubt there's an attractive energy in Nashville and it will be interesting to see what bubbles up over the next couple years. Rumors abound of other high-profile chefs and concepts that have been seen sniffing around. We can only hope that, given the cost to join the fray these days, that there is as much homegrown talent sowing their dreams as there are suitcases of money from beyond the Nashville basin.

Reach Jim Myers atjtmyers@tennessean.comor 615-259-8367, on Instagram@culinarityand on Twitter@ReadJimMyers.

A partial list of restaurants and other food-related concepts slated to open

Henrietta Red

1200 4th Ave. N.

www.henriettared.com

February 24, 2017

Oak Steakhouse

801 Clark Place

oaksteakhousenashville.com

March/April 2017

Tànsuŏ

121B 12th Ave. N.

www.tansuonashville.com/

March/April 2017

EiO & The Hive

5304 Charlotte Ave.

www.eioandthehive.com

Spring 2017

Hopsmith Tavern

1903 Division St.

Spring 2017

51N Taproom

702 / 704 51st Ave. N.

Spring 2017

Henley

204 21st Ave. S.

henleynashville.com

Late Spring 2017

Black Rabbit

218 Third Ave. N.

Late spring 2017

Greko

702 Main St.

www.grekostreetfood.com

Late spring 2017

Lulu / Geist

Jefferson Street (Between 3rd and 4th Ave.)

Late spring 2017

Von Elrod’s

1000 4th Ave. N.

facebook.com/Von-Elrods-1195333520520614

Summer 2017

Kuchnia & Keller

1300 3rd Ave. N.

kuchniaandkeller.com

Summer 2017

The Mockingbird

121A 12th Ave. N.

mockingbirdnashville.com

Summer 2017

[Unnamed] Philip Krajeck concept

823 Meridian St

Hopdoddy (Boscos)

1805 21st Ave. S.





Pastaria

pastariastl.com

July 2017

Attaboy

8 McFerrin Ave.



Diskin Cider

1235 Martin Street

www.diskincider.com

Late summer 2017

St. Roch Market

431 Chestnut St.

strochnashville.com

strochmarket.com

Ford Fry

1400 Adams St.

Three concepts projected for 2018

Andiamo Italian Steakhouse

Cambria Hotels & Suites

118 8th Ave. S.

Sea Salt

209 Third Ave. N.

Late 2017

Babalu

2407 Franklin Pike

eatbabalu.com