On the stretch of Gallatin Avenue that runs past 1008, 1010 and 1012, three neighboring doors went quiet within the same week in March. Two of them stayed dark. Slow Hand Coffee + Bakeshop at 1012 and Pelican & Pig at 1010 served their last day on Saturday, March 14, and Pearl Diver at 1008 closed March 16 through 20 for a planned reset.
Most of what opened on Gallatin this year follows the same idea. Pearl Diver came back with a patio pool table. Hattie B's built a back lot with bocce and a putting green. Lost & Found, up at McGavock Pike, has its own weekly calendar. Each one gives people a reason to stay after the meal. Meanwhile, NDOT has spent the fall repaving the corridor and preparing three new mid-block crossings for people on foot.
The 1000 Block Kept Its Bar and Lost Its Kitchen Neighbors
Pelican & Pig opened at 1010 Gallatin Ave. in 2019 as a dinner-only restaurant built around live-fire cooking and local vegetables. Slow Hand's bakeshop opened next door at 1012 in 2018. The owners, Audra and Nick Guidry, closed both on March 14. Their Slow Hand Bakehouse and Olivia Craft Cocktail & Wine Bar in Lebanon stayed open, according to the Nashville Scene.
Pearl Diver went the other direction. Its March 11 announcement set a March 21 reopening with new weekend brunch, a "greatest hits" menu of about two dozen cocktails from its first eight years, dart boards, luaus, pig roasts and a free pool table on the patio. Owner Ben Clemons framed the reset around "giving people more things to do while they are here."
The ownership changed as well. The Nashville Post reported that Pearl Diver is now owned by Working Man Ventures, the Nashville group of Jacob Forth, Steve Perdue and Edward Lipnickas. The group also has stakes in Tiger Bar, plus Maggie's Place and Perfectly Fine in The Nations. The Post listed a tropical barbecue menu under new chef John Humphries. It gave the bar's opening times as 4 p.m. on weekdays and 2 p.m. on weekends, with the kitchen running until 10 p.m.
The 1200 Block Became a Two-Chain Intersection
A few blocks north, two national names landed across the street from each other within about two months.
| Address | Business | 2026 milestone |
|---|---|---|
| 1201 Gallatin Ave. | Whataburger, in the former Krispy Kreme | Announced in April with a May 5 opening date |
| 1206 Gallatin Ave. | Hattie B's, in a former laundromat | Opened Wednesday, June 24 |
The Tennessean called this "one of the city's most heavily trafficked corridors" when it announced the Whataburger. That is the kind of site a drive-through chain looks for.
Hattie B's planned for a different kind of visit. The 1206 location is the chain's 18th. Founders Nick Bishop Sr. and Nick Bishop Jr. told the Nashville Scene they chose it partly because a dense residential neighborhood surrounds it. The property also has a Quonset hut at the back. "When I saw that space in the back," Nick Jr. told the Scene, "it immediately felt like a place for families to hang." He described plans for a putting green, bocce, pinball and pool.
So the busiest intersection on Gallatin got two new chains this year, and one of them was designed around games in the back lot.
At McGavock Pike, a Food Truck Park That Added Lunch
The clearest example sits farther north in Inglewood. Lost & Found opened this spring at 3104 Gallatin Pike, on a corner the group bought about four years earlier. The owners are Steve Mabee, Nathan Weinberg, Davey Rowe-Mabee and Kelly Boutwell, the team behind Retrograde Coffee and Ugly Mugs Coffee & Tea, along with Jamie White of Pearl Diver and Tiger Bar.
It is part food truck park, part wine shop and part outdoor bar. The lineup includes:
- Pizza Lolo, the pop-up's first brick-and-mortar location
- Birdie's, Boutwell's small wine bar focused on organic, biodynamic and minimal-intervention wines
- Fortunate Sun, White's outdoor bar
- Chivanada empanadas, The Pepper Pott for Guyanese and Caribbean food, Katrin Taqueria and QBOP! Korean BBQ
- Retrograde Coffee, serving from 7 a.m.
- Sarabha's Creamery, the Hillsboro Village Indian ice cream shop, which added a Lost & Found location in August 2026
In the first months, most of the vendors served afternoons and evenings. The Nashville Scene reported that the neighborhood response was strong enough for every truck to start serving lunch. The trucks and Pizza Lolo now open at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and Fortunate Sun opens at 11 a.m.
Lost & Found also runs a weekly calendar, posted on its website:
- Monday: Monday Night Football, plus Max Monday at Birdie's, with select wines at retail prices and $10 pours
- Tuesday: two-for-one beer with a food purchase
- Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.: Birdie's wine tasting, three wines for $20
- Thursday, 5 to 8 p.m.: Golden Hour spritz menu
- Monday through Friday, 3 to 5 p.m.: Fortunate Sun happy hour with $8 classic cocktails
The Nashville Scene's opening feature described the place as part "neighborhood hang," and the lunch hours and weekly schedule have since given that description something to stand on.
The Road Under All of It Is Being Rebuilt for Crossing
The businesses can make Gallatin a place to linger. The road itself is Metro's job. Gallatin Pike is on the Vision Zero High Injury Network, and NDOT calls it one of the most dangerous roads in the city.
The Gallatin Pike and Main Street Safety Project began Sunday, September 27. Phase 1 covers the whole corridor from South 5th Street to Briley Parkway. NDOT expected about two months of lane closures for paving, striping and repairs, depending on weather, with crews working to keep through traffic moving. Phase 1 is scheduled to wrap by the end of the year.
NDOT's August 4 announcement put the budget at $3.1 million in State of Good Repair funds for maintenance and $3.9 million in Vision Zero funds for safety work. The added safety items are:
- New crosswalks with pedestrian hybrid beacons at three locations
- Leading pedestrian intervals at 14 locations, which give people on foot a head start before the light turns green for cars
- Lighting improvements at 15 locations
- Left-turn calming at 17 locations
- Better crosswalk visibility
Phase 2 installs the three beacon crossings, starting in early 2027, so people can cross mid-block at key spots. NDOT expects the full project to be finished by May 2027.
The plan grew out of neighbors' feedback. District 7 Council Member Emily Benedict said in NDOT's announcement:
"I look forward to the day when constituent feedback reflects how safe this corridor has become, rather than how dangerous it used to be."
District 5 Council Member Sean Parker added in the same release that "there is a lot more to come in the next few years."
What Arrives After the Beacons
The bigger plan is Metro's Choose How You Move Gallatin Pike All-Access Corridor. Its posted timeline lists design starting in Q3 2026, construction starting around 2029 and completion around 2032. This year's repaving is meant to lay the groundwork for it.
New businesses keep lining up along the corridor too. Black Dynasty Secret Ramen House has announced 604 Gallatin Ave. as its permanent East Nashville home. It is still listed as coming soon, as of Visit Nashville's late-October update.
For people who live along Gallatin, the schedule ahead is short. The repaving is set to finish by the end of December. The three beacon crossings begin going in early in 2027, and the full safety project is due in May.
If you own near Gallatin and want to understand how this year's openings and the coming crossings affect your home, Stutts Miller Properties can walk the corridor with you. Request a private consultation.
