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As Nashville's dining scene continues to come into its own, more and more holes are starting to be filledwe now have plenty of casual, Southern, and ethnic options to choose from. Add to the list another high-caliber, big city space, which arrived last fall in the form of Prima in The Gulch. Owned by Community Hospitality restaurant group (Burger Up, Josephine), this glittery and glamorous new perch inside the Terrazzo building was designed by architect Nick Dryden.
What to Order: What to Order:
Grilled Spicy Lobster with Semolina Gnocchetti, $15Grilled Broccoli Salad, $10Braised Rabbit, $27BBQ Duck Breast, $27Bone-In Rib Eye, $52
The vast, 8,000-square-foot space feels modern, urbane, and decidedly un-Nashvilleit wouldn't be out of place in New York or Vegas, in fact. The centerpiece is a 1,800-piece chandelier designed by Bruce Munroit sits eye level with a second-story 3,000-bottle wine cave that overlooks the room. In the open kitchen, you'll find up-and-coming chef Salvador Avila, a 33-year-old who's cut his teeth in restaurants across town and around the worldfrom the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay to Hotel Monaco in San Francisco. In Nashville, he's worked at City House, 360 Bistro, and even Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint in Nolensville for a spell.
Avila and his team fondly refer to the concept as 'a steakhouse with a vegetable problem”the server presents you with three different steak knives to choose fromyet the food is presented as a family-style feast. The menu is arranged by starters and share plates, soups and salads, meat, seafood, poultry, and sides. Most dishes are meant to be shared and served à la carte, including big, luscious cuts of beef, whole grilled fish, barbecue poultry, and housemade sausage. Avila draws from his own Latin American heritage, infusing citrus, chiles, char, and heat in unexpected ways.
Like any good splurge-worthy restaurant, Prima also has plenty to offer in the over-the-top department. Take the foie gras home fries, which are slathered in garlic mayo, or the sinfully creamy Yukon mashed potatoes. Oyster mushrooms are as hearty as a main dish and laced with a beef fat vinaigrette. Oh, and did we mention the 22-ounce bone-in rib eye? The wine selection, meanwhile, is built for this type of dining, with big, bold California reds sitting alongside gentle Italian nebbiolosand not a single bottle to be had for less than $40.
For dessert, pastry chef Dean Gallagher, most recently of the Capitol Grille, introduces a few molecular techniques to dishes like a decadent chocolate ingot, which involves a Nestlé Crunch–like combination of toffee and butterscotch. Gallagher also makes all of Prima's bread in-house.
If all of these dishes, themes, and styles of cuisine sound like a mélange, that's because it isfor now. Avila admits that he's just starting to settle in. 'I'm being very controlled, doing everything for a reason,” he says. 'The menu is safe right now, with food that isn't hard [for the team] to pull off every night. As we get to know each other and cook more, I'll add more Latin influence and really make it mine.”
Consider dining at Prima a culinary journey. You can stick to the main drag of steaks and sides, which will make you feel safe and spoiled inside this gorgeous, upscale room. But should you decide to take a detour, you can sit beneath that sparkling chandelier and imagine you're somewhere else in the world, far away from Nashville where the dishes are more rustic, the flavors are big and memorable, and the menu is your only road map. Either way, with Avila at the wheel, it's sure to be an adventurous trip.
700 12th Ave S, 615-873-4232; primanashville.com