Rooted in our nation’s fine-dining traditions, the great American steakhouse has become an icon, beloved for premier cuts of beef, pristine seafood, reserve wines, ostentatious desserts, and attentive service. In Nashville alone, choices now number in the dozens. Is there room for another? Detroit-based Heirloom Hospitality, the force behind Prime + Proper, says a confident yes.
Founded by Jeremy Sasson, this restaurant group launched the Motor City original in 2017 with a mission to hone every aspect that defines a superior steakhouse. That dedication landed the restaurant on several national and global best steakhouse lists. Now, they are introducing that blueprint for success here.
The new Prime + Proper occupies the transformed space that was once The Continental at the Grand Hyatt Nashville. Here, dining is more than a meal — it's an experience.
That the restaurant offers responsibly sourced USDA Prime and certified Japanese Wagyu beef is a given. Add to that their skilled in-house butchery and comprehensive dry-aging program. You become aware of that when you are escorted from the reception to the dining room. You walk down a veritable P+P hall of fame. On display: numerous cuts of beef in stages of aging. (Our hostess explained that 28 days is the sweet spot.) Olive-fed Japanese beef. Wines, representing a fraction of 10,000 bottles in the cellar. Handsome, custom-forged steak knives, some with patrons’ names, indicating their exclusive, benefit-driven membership in The Knife Society.
The lead-up prepares you for the swanky bar and dining room, all marble, glitz, and gold — intimate high-backed, curved dining booths, showy displays of orchids, Art-Deco-inspired lighting, views that take in the open kitchen and enticing raw bar, or out windows onto Broadway’s Frist Art Museum and Union Station. Personnel dressed in black jackets and black bow ties stand ready to serve you. If this sounds a little high-falutin’ — it is. But it’s never snooty. Servers are polished, knowledgeable, and have an upbeat, joyful attitude. Their mantra, “We’re here for you,” is put into action.
Relax, sip a cocktail while you peruse the menu. An icy Hendrick’s gin martini with a blue cheese-stuffed olive will do the trick. You’ll also be provided with some warm sweet potato rolls and sorghum butter to nosh on. Beware of filling up. There are abundant, enticing appetizer choices. From the raw bar: East Coast oysters with champagne mignonette impart briny, buttery tastes. Big-eye tuna crudo gets a spicy, citrus kick from yuzu kosho, complemented by rice cracker crunch. T heir motto for seafood: from sea to Tennessee in 24 hours.
Their motto for seafood: from sea to Tennessee in 24 hours.
From executive chef Steven Agosto: “We bring the same philosophy of aging to our seafood program, which concentrates flavor and firms the texture of the fish. We dry-age whole Ora King salmon for up to 14 days, branzino for four to seven days, and the tuna achieves pure, heightened flavors in about five.”
If you feel flush and celebratory, indulge in the Alaskan king crab legs, perfectly cooked and chilled, served with drawn butter and mustard sauces. Other swoon-worthy apps include crab beignets (special for the Nashville location), which juxtapose warm pastry and chilled jumbo lump blue crabmeat, beurre blanc on the side for dipping; and chicken-fried lobster tail — tender and sweet in a crackling crust, served with buttermilk green chili sauce — how could that be anything but delicious?
Before diving into the main event, you might like to order one of their creative salads — all are big enough to share. We were tempted by the savvy take on the wedge served at one table, a cap of iceberg covered with chunks of blue cheese, tomato, pearl onions, and bacon, drenched in buttermilk dressing. However, we were delighted with our choice of the P+P Louie, a platter of butter lettuce strewn with grape tomatoes, diced avocado, roasted asparagus spears, and that delectable blue crabmeat in creamy poppyseed dressing.
Of course, you’ll want a steak, grilled to your liking over Tennessee oak — but which one? Tomahawk, porterhouse, strip, ribeye, filet … not to forget the “unicorn cuts,” offerings which include Black Hawk Farm American Wagyu, Japanese A5, super-aged (45 – 90 days) beef, and the special collaboration with Leiper’s Fork Distillery for the Nashville whiskey-aged ribeye.
“Our Nashville whiskey-aged cowboy ribeye is a dish that really connects our steak program to Tennessee’s distillery heritage,” says chef Agosto. “During the dry-aging process, we mist the steak twice daily with Leiper’s Fork Distillery’s whiskey for a 30-day period. This develops deep umami and subtle notes of oak and caramel, without overpowering the beef’s natural richness.” While we’ll save that luxury for another visit, we did savor two others.
Properly cooked to medium rare, the New York strip was succulent; a mere melt of the house garlic ash butter over the meat magnified the flavor. Boasting big, beefy taste, the bone-in cowboy ribeye, dusted with Maldon salt, needed no other embellishments.
That said, whenever we see Dover sole on a menu, we say yes, please. This f ish is prized for its firm yet flaky texture and sweet, delicate taste, often presented and expertly deboned tableside, as it is here. After removing all bones, the staff finishes the fillet with fried capers, a squeeze of charred lemon, and a generous pour of brown butter.
You’ll find many of the usual suspects listed under à la carte sides, but with unusual flavor accents (carrots in pistachio and chermoula, Brussels sprouts in gremolata and Choron sauce). Their version of mac and cheese is an uber-creamy concoction of aged Parmesan and white cheddar enveloping twists of torchio pasta. There’s also a menu section devoted to potatoes alone. While the Proper Hash Brown or Robuchon-style butter-puréed spuds are tempting, opt for the potato pavé. Micro-thin slices of russets are layered with butter and cream, baked, cut into cubes, and fried to a compelling crunch. Before service, they are topped with a thick sauce of Comté and raclette cheeses and folds of Spanish serrano ham. Utterly delicious.
A commitment to local is demonstrated in several desserts. Tennessee honey is the star of the baklava sundae, churned into the ice cream, as well as drizzled over pecans, phyllo shreds, and bits of baklava. Agosto is especially proud of Baked on Broadway: “Served tableside, it pays homage to a Music City treasure: the Goo-Goo Cluster.” Indeed. House-made ice cream, peanuts, marshmallow, and caramel get an additional element: Dierks Bentley’s Row 94 whiskey, flambéed. That tableside showmanship makes a fitting finale to an evening devoted to basking in prime and proper treatment.