When the final plate of food was served at Audrey in Nashville, the kitchen broke into applause.
Chef Sam Jett, who took over the Appalachian-focused restaurant from founding Chef Sean Brock in 2025 after Southall Farm & Inn assumed operations, stood behind the line surrounded by current and former employees. A kitchen staff that normally numbers four grew to 13 for the last service on Aug. 16.
"Those were all guys and gals who just came back just to be there," Jett said. "They didn't have to be there. They just wanted to celebrate the last round."
The final menu included sour creamed corn with porky green beans; tomato pie with cheddar cheese and Duke's mayonnaise custard cradling tomatoes seasoned with lacto-fermented tomato syrup; and paper-thin
cucumbers brushed with a cucumber distillation made in the restaurant's lab.
By the end of the night, Jett said, the refrigerators were nearly empty. The last of the kitchen budget had been devoted to local farmers rather than imported luxury ingredients.
"I certainly felt the twinge to say, 'Hey, it's the last week. Let's just get some truffles. Who cares?'" Jett said. "But that would have taken all the work we went through and thrown it out the window. It would have made it meaningless and pointless."
Such intentionality with local ingredients is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. Rising costs have forced many independent restaurants to rethink labor-intensive cooking and local sourcing models.
While longtime local favorites like Audrey, 40-year-old Franklin eatery The Bunganut Pig and Burger Up in 12 South closed recently, a number of newcomers opened for service across the Nashville region. Those include an ambitious 14-seat restaurant at Neuhoff and a decades old, New York-based Ukranian restaurant in East Nashville.
Instead of following the trend in recent months of owners outside of Tennessee and concepts with corporate backing, most of the recent openings are local. But so are the closures.
Cauponor
Finding Cauponor, the new 14-seat restaurant from the Peninsula team, is part of the experience. Diners enter on a lower floor of the Neuhoff building and make their way through a candlelit hallway before reaching the dining room. That sense of discovery continues at the table.
Some of the most ambitious food Chef Jake Howell has put out to date lands on the menu, including squid ink pasta draped over lightly tempura-fried sweetbreads with toasted rice hollandaise, Calabrian chile, honey and fennel pollen. Escargot is paired with savory white chocolate, trout roe and a brûléed, coconut fat-glazed leek for a dish that is unexpected but cohesive.
Dishes range from $20 to $240 and are priced and plated for two. Cauponor began taking reservations Aug. 1, with bookings released on the first day of each month. The restaurant is at 1316 Adams St. in Neuhoff.
Veselka
Veselka, a 72-year-old Ukranian street food restaurant from New York City's East Village, opened its first location outside of the five boroughs on Aug. 19. In partnership with the owners of Attaboy, third-generation owner Jason Birchard launched Veselka East Nashville in a shared space with Lakeside Lounge at 921 Woodland St.
The menu includes cheesy pierogis, matzo ball soup, borscht and latkes.
Within a span of three days, the owners announced the opening to the public, received ingredients deliveries and started serving up schnitzel to customers.
Em & Me Cafe
Em & Me Cafe is now open in the former Buds & Brews space in Germantown, serving Vietnamese coffee, pastries and breakfast, lunch and dinner throughout the day.
Customers order by scanning a QR code at the table. The menu includes bánh mì sandwiches, cold noodle bowls and bánh mì chảo, a Vietnamese breakfast served in a skillet with eggs, steak, house-made vegetarian pâté and a tomato-based sauce, with bread for scooping it all up. Drinks include Vietnamese coffee and matcha lattes, while the pastry selection includes Vietnamese rice cakes, pandan coconut cookies and other sweets.
Inside, wicker light fixtures, flowers and antique furnishings give the naturally lit dining room a comfortable, homey feel.
Em & Me Cafe is at 1244 Third Ave. N.
Hattori Nori
Hattori Nori, a new handroll bar from local chef Art Stacks, is now open inside L&L Market in West Nashville. Stacks is also behind Ricey & Co.
The intimate counter-service restaurant specializes in Japanese handrolls made to order and served one at a time, combining warm seasoned rice and fresh fish with crisp nori. The counter puts diners close to the chefs as each roll is assembled and handed over immediately.
Hattori Nori opened July 8 at 3820 Charlotte Ave.
Cafe Alma Viva
Cafe Alma Viva, which held its grand opening in mid-August, brings Colombian coffee, pastries and an all-day Latin brunch menu to 19th Avenue North.
The brunch menu includes a cheesy cassava waffle with guava jam and panela crumble, Colombian-style omelets, breakfast bowls and grilled arepas topped with shredded beef or chicken and avocado.
The bakery case leans further into Latin American flavors with Colombian buñuelos and almojábanas, dulce de leche swirl bread, cheese-filled tequeños, empanadas and cachitos, alongside muffins and other pastries.
Cafe Alma Viva is at 130 19th Ave. N.
Sarabha's Creamery
Sarabha's Creamery has opened its second Nashville location, bringing the locally owned Indian ice cream shop to Lost & Found in East Nashville.
Owners Gursharan Singh and Manpreet Gill specialize in house-made ice cream with Indian flavors, including kesar pista, made with saffron and pistachio. The menu also includes kulfi, chai and Indian coffee.
The new shop joins the collection of food, drink and retail concepts at Lost & Found, at Gallatin and McGavock pikes.
Asian Co.
The owners of Smiley Thai and Sushi in Mt. Juliet and A-ROI in Nashville opened another restaurant serving up Asian food on Aug. 7. Also located in Mt. Juliet, Asian Co.'s menu ranges from ramen and rice dishes to boba and bubble egg waffles.
It's located at 1913 N Mount Juliet Rd. next to the new Sprouts grocery store.
Asian Cajun
From the same people behind Nashville's Tipsy Thai, the new Asian Cajun location in Donelson opened in July. Its menu includes spring rolls, coconut shrimp, gator bites, crab cakes, fried rice, noodles, Dippin' Dots and milk teas.
Asian Cajun is located at 3248 Blackwood Dr. where Rebar at the Dam was previously located.
Closings
The Bunganut Pig
A 40-year-old Franklin eatery, bar and live music spot closed its doors suddenly over the summer. Just two days before closing, owner Mark Rindermann posted to social media asking for donations to keep the restaurant open.
While some patrons contributed to a GoFundMe, it wasn't enough to delay the end. Rindermann returned all donations and finalized the closure in June. Still, some critics of the restaurant celebrated its closure.
"I want to apologize to my employees to my regulars for this sudden and unexpected shift," he said. "Thank you to those of you that had good and positive comments. I don't understand why some of you felt it was necessary to kick me while I’m down, but you obviously had an axe to grind and I hope it made you feel better."
Burger Up
The 12 South staple gave its loyal customers a two-month heads up in June that it would close its doors for good on Aug. 1. In that time, the shop sold thousands of final meals, welcomed in old friends and was thoroughly mourned by its neighbors.
"Our neighborhood has seen a lot of changes in that time, but since the very first day they opened their doors on what was once a quiet street, they’ve been a constant for us and our team," Imogene + Willie owners said in a statement on social media. "When it’s all said and done, it’s not the food, or the building, or the street that we’re going to fondly think back on; it’s the people who worked inside this little restaurant."
Audrey
The Aug. 16 dinner at Audrey felt more like a reunion than a farewell. The music was loud. Nice bottles of wine came out. The dining room was filled with friends, chefs, farmers and other members of Nashville's food community, who applauded along with the staff.
The food remained true to Audrey's ethos through the end, with seasonal produce, a deep commitment to local farmers and whole-animal butchery.
But Chef Sam Jett, who doesn't know what's next for him, said one of the biggest lessons he'll carry forward from Audrey is the importance of supporting local food systems.
"I'm a big believer in small communities and local economies," he said. "Your dollar is so much more impactful when you spend it with your neighbor instead of sending it somewhere else."
There's no word yet on what the building at 809 Meridian St. will become.
Mackensy Lunsford is the senior dining reporter for The Tennessean. Reach her at mlunsford@tennessean.com. Hadley Hitson covers business news for The Tennessean. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com. To support her work,subscribe to The Tennessean.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Audrey shutters as New York staple Veselka, others open in Nashville
