Back 40 Settles in Off Broadway

“The Preds got their name from this site,” restaurateur Wayne Dice said during a late lunch at his new venture, Back 40. “They found the saber-tooth tiger in this building when they were constructing it the 1970s. That sense of history is important to me.” 

Occupying the long-vacant rear side of UBS Tower since its soft opening in January, Back 40 brings a much-needed dining spot to the intersection of Union and 3rd.  But, more importantly, it’s not the merely the latest in a long line of concepts from out of towners. It’s an attempt from Dice, who has long mired Nashville from afar, to pay tribute to the version of Music City he fell in love with in the first place. 

Even though he just moved full time to the Nashville area from Las Vegas a few months ago, Dice can regale his patrons with stories of Nashville’s past with the best of the city’s lifetimers. That’s because it has loomed large in his mind since he was a teenager. “When I was 18 years old and fresh out of boot camp, my parents came and got me, and we wanted to come to Nashville,” Dice said. “What I remember about Nashville that night that has stuck with me is The Stock-Yards, which was a Nashville staple at that time. I look back at The Stock-Yards and how it was run, just remembering that night there. I wanted people to have that experience here. I wanted to open something that was similar, that was not a honky tonk, but a place you can come and enjoy a good meal, have live music and have a great service and a great ambiance.”

Like Dice, many longtime Nashvillians have felt a gaping hole as the city has evolved into a destination for foodies. This lack was most recently apparent in last week’s New York Times feature on the city’s 25 best restaurants right now that—a shout out to Bolton’s and Sean Brock’s latest venture aside—is a mishmash of high concepts and a trendy global flex du jour (Laos today, Kurds tomorrow).

Those that call the city home and just want a good meal beyond Sperry’s and Jimmy Kelly’s are often out of luck because there are few other eateries that even attempt to reflect everyday Southern tastes. There’s the sea of country superstar-endorsed Broadway eateries spearheaded by cosplaying out-of-town developers; the local institutions like Prince’s and The Pharmacy brimming with an onslaught of tourists that even newer scaled-down locations at Assembly Food Hall cannot abate, and the sacrosanct urban posturing and international pastiche of spots adored by food writers who make martyrs of plebian critics like Brad Schmitt in the hallowed pages of the Scene. 

🚨 Meeting on Car Break-Ins Last night, Councilmember Sandy Ewing held a community meeting at the West Precinct where West Precinct Commander Steven Bowers gave a detailed presentation on the recent string of car break-ins plaguing the city. Over the last few weeks, a special “E-detail” of MNPD officers has been working overtime to combat the rise in vehicle theft. While Bowers emphasized the importance of parking smartly and reporting all incidents to the police, attendees were concerned with why so many of the break-ins involved repeat offenders and what they could do to advocate for the police. 

 When asked about the pattern of recidivism, Bowers explained how older criminals take advantage of the system by encouraging teenagers to commit certain crimes knowing that they won’t face the same consequences as adults. The presentation also included a clip from a WSMV 4 investigative report on the average time young offenders spend in custody after being arrested. Over the last two years, it’s been cut in half. Unsettled murmurs could be heard as attendees watched Judge Sheila Calloway explain to reporter Jeremy Finley that the reason for the relaxed treatment of criminal behavior is because it “actually serves as a negative effect to our youth.”

By the end of the night, several people were coordinating the organization of a group to attend a council meeting and voice their concerns. While Councilmember Ewing was uncertain when the topic of License Plate Readers would resurface, she explained that Fusus failed to get enough votes “mainly due to concerns about sort of the more vulnerable members of the population, the immigrant population, LGBTQ population, and some of the concerns over safety that hadn't been answered.” MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

🚬 Smoke 'em if you got 'em I was thinking about Jeff Yarbro's pot legalization bill I mentioned yesterday. One thing I neglected to bring up is that there’s another bill seeking the same ends sponsored by Rep. Aftyn Behn and Sen. Heidi Campbell. They’ve dubbed it the “Pot for Potholes Act” because revenue generated from weed (pot) sales will go towards fixing the roads (potholes).

Pot legalization is one of those things that, in theory, may seem attractive for either economic or ideological reasons. But one thing’s for sure: The smell of pot that follows on the heels of legalization will drive you mad—olfactory assault. I’ve lived in cities where citizens are free to consume the devil’s lettuce, and they constantly smell like someone picked up a roach (smoker’s parlance) off the ground, smoked it, and took a pissed on it when they were finished. Apologies for the vulgar reference, but this is a vulgar topic.

The potholes boondoggle reminds me of former NYC mayor Bill de Blasio eating that cheeseburger to encourage people to get the Covid shot. “If this is appealing to you, just think of this,” he said pointing at the cheeseburger in his hand, “when you think of vaccination." In that spirit, next you see a pothole, think of the putrid smell of marijuana wafting through the air and assaulting your senses at all hours of the day. DAVIS HUNT

🏃‍♂️ Stop that man Speaking of Yarbro, the man introduced a bill he's calling the “STOP ELON Act” or the “Shielding Tennesseans from Oligarchic Power & Eliminating Lawless Obstruction of Necessities Act.” The bill creates a new felony offense for anyone who "interferes with the receipt by an individual or entity of a loan, grant, or financial assistance that the individual or entity is lawfully entitled to."

"If Elon Musk illegally hurts Tennesseans, he should go to jail regardless of being a trillionaire or whatever and regardless of whether he’s got a permission slip from the president," Yarbro said in a release.

DEVELOPMENT-ish

• 9-Acre West Trinity Property Listed For Sale In North Nashville (Now Next)
• Chef Edgar Victoria opens Alebrije to change the 'mentality about Mexican food' (NBJ)
• Antioch-based Bargain Hunt files for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (NBJ)

✹ WEEKLY FILM RUNDOWN: February 7th-13th

I’m Still Here (Dir. Walter Salles; Starring Fernanda Torres) The Best Picture nominee about a woman’s decades-long search for her husband after his arrest and torture as a dissident in 70s Brazil more than earns its keep as one of the year’s best and most beautiful movies. Now playing at AMC Thoroughbred 20, AMC Murfreesboro 16, and The Belcourt. 

Heart Eyes (Dir. Josh Ruben; Starring Jordana Brewster and Devon Sawa) The slasher meets police procedural as two detectives investigate a serial killer who goes after couples on Valentine’s Day. By all accounts, a worthy successor to Scream. Now playing in theaters.

Love Hurts (Dir. Jojo Eusebio; Starring Ke Huy Quan and Ariana DeBose) A Midwest realtor gets pulled back into his past life as an assassin as the guy from Indiana Jones and Everything Everywhere follows in the footsteps of John Wick and Nobody. Now playing in theaters.   

Becoming Led Zeppelin (Dir. Bernard MacMahan) Plant, Page, and the rest get their first documentary, which opens wide (and in IMAX) on Valentine’s Day. Now playing at AMC Thoroughbred 20. 

THINGS TO DO

View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown here.

📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.

🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.

👨🏻‍🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.

TONIGHT

🎻 Beethoven's Ninth: Ode to Joy @ Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7:30p, $62+, Info

🎸 Morgan Wade @ Ryman Auditorium, 8p, $30, Info

🎸 Willow Avalon @ Exit/In, 8p, $30.92, Info

🪕 Retro 78 @ Station Inn, 9p, $25, Info

🎸 Whole Lotta Zeppelin @ Dee's Lounge, 9p, $10, Info

🎸 First Fridays @ The Underdog, 6p, $10, Info

🪕 The Cowpokes @ Acme Feed & Seed, 12p, Free, Info

🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info

🎸 Kelley’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info

📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.