It’s not easy to try and open a restaurant in Nashville right. High rent rates, challenging leases. What does an independent chef do while waiting to find that dream spot? They pop up.
Nick Bumgardner
During Jason Zygmont’s three-year stint as the chef at East Nashville’s Treehouse, he put himself through a rigorous crash course to understand wine, tasting with distributors every chance he could.
“It was a ridiculous amount of exposure in a short amount of time,” he says.
Along the way, he learned what he loved: lighter styles of red, softer whites, and rosés. Soon, he was diving into the world of natural and organic wines.
His dream, he realized, was to open a wine bar where he could put out pairing-friendly small plates alongside a list of natural, organic wines. This past spring he took the leap and left Treehouse to launch Setsun, a pop-up wine bar. An email and a phone call with the owner behind Sky Blue Café gave him nighttime access to the homey breakfast and lunch space. Now, his restaurant sets up shop there Friday through Monday for dinner.
Popping up comes with quirks and challenges. There’s a fully functioning kitchen, tables, chairs, and built-in décor. But Zygmont does all of his prep work at a commissary kitchen, showing up Friday with all of his food, pans, and supplies for the weekend.
“It’s a tremendous amount of work that wouldn’t be necessary if we had a space. But this is the only way to do what we want to do, all with a pretty light investment,” he says.
The short menu includes about 10 dishes, all meant to be shared. (Or you can order “A Bit of Everything,” which serves two for $90.) Start with simpler dishes. Raw oysters get a kick from black vinegar—it’s less about the oyster than the sauce but it’s a damn good sauce. There’s also peel-and-eat shrimp and shaved charcuterie.
Nick Bumgardner
Dishes that seem simple are layered with technique. Take an heirloom tomato dish, which is fat slices of red tomatoes sitting in a pool of green tomato purée. The flavors reveal more though. That crave-able green pool is fermented tomatoes blitzed with a base of veggies like onion and jalapeño and butter—you’ll be licking it off the plate, or sopping it up with crusty Dozen Bakery sourdough.
Zygmont loves making pasta, so there’s a spaghetti Pomodoro made with ramen noodles coated in a simple tomato sauce that sings with umami. There might be ricotta agnolotti, made in-house and topped with a spicy Calabrian chile salsa. He usually includes a main protein dish, like Korean pork ribs doused in a rich bulgogi sauce.
The wine list sticks to “hand-picked, organically grown” bottles, all available by the glass. They make it easy to try several by offering half glass pours—and you should since the wines move on and off the list regularly. Just be prepared with an open mind: Some of these wines are unfiltered, made with skin contact, and wild in style—they’re not always comparable to traditional varietals. It’s a roll of the dice, but one diners have embraced, Zygmont says.
Determined to remain independent, Zygmont still searches for a permanent space.
“From the reception we’ve had these first few months, I’m very optimistic,” he says. “That we’ve had the chance to do what we want to do has been great. I’m hopeful about the next step.”
Setsun at Sky Blue Café, 700 Fatherland St. For reservations, email setsun.east@gmail.com