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Sitting at a back table inside Streetcar Taps & Garden, their newly opened neigh- borhood gastropub on Charlotte Pike, partners Carter Hach and Henry Beveridge reflect on the history of the space.
The circa 1897 building was in the heart of a commercial devel- opment originally called New Town, and in 1901 it housed Lovell’s, West Nashville’s first grocery store. For Carter, it also taps into his personal history, which in many ways parallels that of his grandmother, Phila Rawlings Hach.
Phila, as she was simply known, was the Grand Dame of Country Cooking. Hers was a rich and remarkable career spanning seven decades: She was an international flight attendant who wrote the first catering manual for the airline industry; a television personality and star of Kitchen Kollege, the South’s first cooking show, taped at WSM studios in 1950; cookbook author with 19 books to her credit; caterer, including the famous United Nations luncheon for 1700 guests in Centennial Park; and innkeeper/founder of Hachland Hill, which opened in 1956 in Clarksville.
Growing up in Nashville, Carter had his passion for cooking sparked at that inn. As a child he spent many hours in the kitchen with his grandmother. Now as chef, caterer, cookbook author, and restaurateur, Carter preserves Phila’s legacy while carrying it forward, imbued with vision and memory.
Nashville Lifestyles: Tell us about the dishes Phila taught you.
Carter Hatch: I cooked alongside her for many years; I loved being in the kitchen with her. She was a wonderful teacher. I think my first recipe was chocolate nut drop cookies. She schooled me well in how to make the best leg of lamb. And bread and biscuit making. No recipes! Understanding the touch.
NL: When did you realize that this would be your calling?
CH: As I got older I would help out at the inn, but I wanted to be a writer. I went to Ole Miss to study journalism. Being in Oxford, home of the Southern Foodways Alliance, I honed in on food writing. I wanted to get my MFA in creative writing, and I had the chance to travel and study abroad. About that time, Phila was diagnosed with cancer. I almost didn’t go, but she encouraged me to take that opportunity. In a way, it was following in Phila’s footsteps. She always loved travel, exploring other cultures and cuisines and finding ways to merge her Swiss- German heritage with Southern cooking. When she passed in 2015, the future of Hachland Hill was in peril. I returned to keep it running, starting at the front of the house. But I felt drawn to the kitchen; that’s where I belonged. Phila’s longtime cooking companion, Miss Ruth Williams, helped guide me. She retired at age 80 in 2018.
NL: How did Streetcar Taps come into being? CH: Henry, my good friend since sixth grade, contacted me about it.
Henry Beveridge: I was part of a real estate development group that had acquired the properties. We had the idea of putting in a grab-n-go sandwich shop and approached Carter about it.
CH: The concept didn’t appeal to me, but the location did. I wanted to create a gastropub. I had helped the folks reimagine the Elliston Soda Shop, which piqued my interest in having a restaurant. Even though the storefront was boarded up and the building was a wreck, the bones were there. We could envision this cool neighborhood spot for great food and beer.
HB: We’re both history buffs and delved into learning all we could about the buildings, which were right along the streetcar line. We searched through archives and found these great images of streetcars of the era. It was exciting to uncover the mural for R S Williams and Sons Grocers originally painted on the brick in 1915 preserved under layers of plaster.
CH: Once we settled on the direction in June 2022, everything came together fast. We were all physically involved with the project—from demolition to landscaping. Edgar Pendley built our 6500-pound smoker.
NL: The smoker is key to your menu, correct?
CH: Yes, our kitchen is small, so having a large outdoor smoker was crucial. With the exception of the sliders and the mushrooms, most everything is touched by it.
NL: Tell us about some of the menu highlights. CH: The Bratkartoffeln might be our most popular. It’s home fries topped with Welsh rarebit, bacon bits, caramelized onions, and peppers. Our smoked wings have gotten Pat Martin’s approval! I recommend our smoked trout cakes—I smoke Bucksnort trout for the recipe. I’m proud of our relationship with local producers. The guys at Bare Bones Butcher make knackwurst for our Berliner BBQ Plate. We get a lot of our produce from Bells Bend. Once tomatoes start coming in, I’ll be making our Fire and Ice Salad.
NL: You also offer a rotating Streetcar Special. What have been some favorites?
CH: This has been especially fun for me and the staff to create. We’ve done Red Fish Po’Boys and Smoked Brisket Banh Mi sandwiches. We’ve made our Ode to Rotier’s based on their signature French bread burger. It’s always worth checking out!
NL: What can folks look forward to at Streetcar Taps & Garden?
CH: Tuesday nights we’ll have a Pickin’ Party and Wednesday evenings after the dinner crowd will be Trivia Night. Really, our backyard biergarten has become a community gathering place. We have the adjoining space that will be open for additional dining or catering private events. It’s taken a village to get us here and we look forward to serving our neighbors.
(4916 Charlotte Pike, 615-622-6264; streetcartaps.com)