“Give the individuals what they need.” That’s the mantra of Chad Newton and Gracie Nguyen, co-owners of You Are Right here Hospitality, the corporate behind East Facet Pho in The Wash and East Facet Banh Mi close by.
When the 2 had been contemplating what to do for his or her subsequent restaurant, they leaned into their backgrounds, having lived and labored within the San Francisco Bay space. They leaned into their want to open quite a lot of Asian eating places in East Nashville. They leaned into Reddit.
“Nashville actually, actually, actually desires Chinese language takeout,” says Newton. “I learn it in all places, on Reddit, Instagram. We get suggestions from clients, from different cooks.”
In an unique interview with the Scene, Newton reveals that You Are Right here is opening Golden Prawn #3, a Chinese language American takeout joint within the small restaurant house in Inglewood’s Riverside Village previously dwelling to Castrillo’s Pizza. Golden Prawn #3 joins three different eating places opening on the intersection of Riverside Drive and McGavock Pike this yr, persevering with Riverside Village’s evolution into one of many metropolis’s extra attention-grabbing restaurant microneighborhoods, which now will provide sushi, espresso, Mediterranean meals, sandwiches, beer, breakfast tacos, ice cream, pizza and extra. This progress comes as some favorites, together with Lou and Castrillo’s, have closed their doorways.
Golden Prawn #3 (no, there should not two different areas) is a tongue-in-cheek naming conference meant to honor the traditional Chinese language American meals Newton ate two to 3 occasions per week rising up in Mountain View, Calif. The restaurant will provide takeout and supply dishes à la carte, plus a hot-table buffet for lunch and dinner seven days per week, with the opportunity of some late-night hours.
“Chinese language meals identical to Mother used to order,” Newton laughs.
Nguyen cooked at a number of Chinese language and Vietnamese eating places all through her profession, together with San Francisco’s well-known The Slanted Door. “It’s positively like we’re taking part in all of the hits. Something that you’d ever count on in a traditional Chinese language takeout goes to be accessible,” Newton says.
Because the neighborhood will get excited for the chance to order in Chinese language American meals, two different spots have just lately opened their doorways to search out strains ready to get into their eating rooms.
In March of final yr, Mary Carlisle Gambill (aka MC) and Ben Gambill had been in Tokyo on the finish of a trip. Their youngsters had eaten their fill of sushi and wished one thing totally different. Tokyo Neapolitan pizza has an unbelievable status, in order that they headed to a spot referred to as Savoy — it’s truthful to say that dinner modified their lives.
“We checked out one another and stated, ‘That’s the most effective pizza we have now ever had,’” says MC, including that the household lived in New York for a few years and thought they knew what good pizza was. “It was so easy, so excellent.” The couple — who collectively have expertise in actual property, structure, city planning and restaurant funding — was so blown away by the artistry, precision and style that they determined to open a neo-Neapolitan pizza place in Nashville.
Again dwelling, the Gambills had been launched to chef Sean Brock, who was on his personal Neapolitan pizza journey. (Keep in mind again when he’d fireplace up pizzas in a small pop-up oven on the East Nashville Farmers Market?) The three teamed as much as open the wood-fired Sho Pizza Bar collectively. Open each day for lunch and dinner, Sho has seating for 30 individuals in its light-filled eating room, the place reservations are accepted. Stroll-ins can be found for the surface patio, bar and chef’s counter.
Sho Pizza Bar
With chef Trey Tench, who labored with Brock at The Continental and Bar Continental, the workforce serves completely fashioned pizzas from dough that has fermented for 3 days within the restaurant’s proofing room. They’re gently formed to get the best air bubbles within the crust (there’s no exaggerated dough-tossing right here) after which topped with combos of meats, cheeses and produce from purveyors from Tennessee to Italy.
As with all mission Brock is concerned in, the eye to element is sort of fanatical. Diners are handed a pair of scissors to chop their pies, they usually’re proven how to take action with out crushing out these fastidiously crafted air bubbles within the crunchy — not soggy — crust. Choices embrace the Bianca, topped with Meyer lemon, and the Salumi, which makes use of beef pepperoni. Pies are priced between $18 and $24. There’s all the time a seasonal providing (the “Sho-Stopper”), plus salads, dipping sauces for that additional crust and desserts. The yuzu French dressing on the little gem salad packs a flavorful punch. Drinks from the total bar are equally creative. Ben Gambill sees the Sho Pizza Bar idea as one thing that’s replicable in different areas sooner or later.
Brock himself shall be behind the counter making pizzas a number of days per week. Some behind-the-scenes reorganizing at Brock’s signature restaurant, Audrey, has made Brock’s time accessible to concentrate on launching Sho and the growth of Joyland, his burger restaurant. Paul Mishkin, the founding father of Franklin’s Southall Farm and Inn, has all the time been Audrey’s majority proprietor. Mishkin is now Audrey’s sole proprietor, and the Southall workforce manages the operations. Audrey serves Brock’s recipes, created by cooks who skilled beneath him, and it’s nonetheless his private artwork that hangs on the partitions and his books on the cabinets. Brock can also be accessible to cook dinner personal dinners within the house, together with upstairs within the kitchen that was dwelling to restaurant June.
Curry Boys BBQ
Whereas crowds head to Sho Pizza Bar on the north aspect of McGavock Pike, strains are out the door and down the block at Curry Boys BBQ, which opened in March in the home that was as soon as dwelling to Lou (and Fort Louise earlier than that, and Perk & Cork nonetheless earlier).“It’s been going extremely effectively,” says Sean Wen, one in every of Curry Boys’ house owners. “We’re simply in shock at how insane it’s been.”
The Curry Boys workforce made the James Beard Award semifinalist checklist within the Greatest Chef: Texas class in each 2023 and 2024, and Nashvillians are studying why as they clamor for the brisket bowl paired with inexperienced curry, Thai inexperienced salad and pulled-pork nachos. The three unique Curry Boys teamed up with Nashville’s Adam Lathan (one of many house owners of The Gumbo Bros within the Gulch) to open the brand new location.
“Individuals are permitting us to develop their palate, and it’s actually cool,” Wen says of the restaurant’s uncommon taste combos. “It’s tremendous rewarding for us.”
Curry Boys is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday by means of Sunday. And when you stroll or bike up (or take the bus — each the No. 4 and No. 6 WeGo buses serve the intersection), it won’t look crowded. However appears to be like will be deceiving. Wen says the again patio has been an enormous draw.
“If the climate is midway respectable, individuals are hitting the patio,” he says. “Whenever you first stroll in, you may solely see a few of us in line, and then you definitely go within the again patio and it’s packed.” (The Curry Boys lease doesn’t embrace the triangular part of grass to the west of the constructing.)
Up to now, the shopper base has been about half individuals from the neighborhood and half of us from elsewhere, the workforce says. “It makes me so completely satisfied to listen to that individuals are popping out of their strategy to strive us,” Wen says. “However we additionally love that the Riverside Village vibe has been so welcoming. It’s actually cool to see how this neighborhood helps their native enterprise.”
And the Curry Boys have been doing their half to assist their neighbors. All of them have common orders at Mitchell Deli subsequent door and Sabell’s throughout the road. The employees’s post-shift dangle is Village Pub and Beer Backyard.
Hattie Jane’s Creamery
All these breakfast, lunch and dinner choices (which be part of Ladybird Taco and Chew-a-Bit Thai Sushi) want dessert. Dose Espresso’s baked items shouldn’t be ignored. The Tennessee Cobbler Co. serves fruit cobbler à la mode from its meals truck on the nook. Now Hattie Jane’s Creamery, the small-batch ice cream maker based mostly out of Columbia, plans to open its newest scoop store in Riverside Village in late summer time or early fall, relying on the allow and development course of.
“We wish to embody the Southern-ness and the Southern nostalgia of ice cream,” says Hattie Jane’s founder and CEO Claire Crowell. “It’s form of retro, form of trendy.” Which means providing a mixture of flavors, from the old-school Nana Puddin’ to the Goo Goo and Jack (which is just for clients ages 21 and older as a result of its inclusion of Jack Daniel’s No. 7). Seasonal flavors are supplied 5 occasions a yr (winter, spring, summer time, fall and holidays), together with year-round favorites like Mulekick espresso. Seasonal strawberry is so common that it’s the solely taste Hattie Jane’s gives in each dairy-free and common varieties. It’ll be accessible as quickly as Tennessee strawberries are ripe.
Like the comfortable ice cream-closet vibes of the Donelson store, the Riverside Village retailer — which shall be in the identical constructing as Sho Pizza Bar and Ladybird Taco — shall be small, with room for strains of parents ready for a candy deal with. In all of the Hattie Jane’s areas (apart from at Meeting Meals Corridor), there are specials and hours that match the neighborhood. If individuals in Riverside Village need an ice cream cone after dinner, the store will keep open later than the Donelson one, which Crowell says doesn’t have a nighttime viewers. In Murfreesboro, Mondays embrace an MTSU particular, and Crowell, who used to reside in Inglewood, sees spirit nights and different native faculty promotions sooner or later.
“East Nashville is underserved in ice cream,” Crowell says.
Provides Wen: “This road is changing into extra of a foodie vacation spot.”
