Food Scene...REALLY (Louisville: 2015, rent, neighborhood)

[nicshoe18]

I'm going to guess there's some confusion on how "seasons" run here. I'm simply going off weather, as I've only been in the south for a relatively short amount of time, where in NC nearly everything shuts down between November and March. It had nothing to do with schedule, had everything to do with temperature. So when we arrived in October and weather was still VERY nice, we were surprised at the farmers market attendance as well as the active food trucks, which averaged about 3 a day, even on the weekends. Additionally, it's the general layout of this city which got me speculating as to why we saw so few food trucks. My expectation would be to see at least 3-4 trucks at the market on the weekends, I've never even seen one, but it's understandable with the indoor stalls, so maybe those businesses would have a reason to keep trucks out. Music venues would also be a popular choice. I've never seen one down by the High Watt which arguably has the most active schedule in the city. Parks are another one. When we were mid 60s the other day, Shelby was PACKED, another perfect time and place and there was nothing. The only other place I could see it happening would be downtown and with the bar and restaurant district as active as it is, I can see nothing but red tape, so I'd be skeptical about running into them during season DT.

As an outsiders perspective, this city is VERY compact. A lot of people say it's the biggest smallest city, but I often disagree. Nashville most definitely has a big city feel to it. While the people might be a different story, the amount of people crammed into such a small space lends to more of a scaled version of Chicago than say the Triangle where everything is laid out like a giant suburb and it easily takes you on average half an hour to get to anywhere of any importance. Your city is walkable and easily accessible, regardless of how many complaints there are about traffic, it's not bad by a long shot. I've spent a great deal of time driving through neighborhoods, and I'm just not seeing the "congregation" anywhere that would lend to food trucks even being popular. So it still comes back to what others are referring to as "foodie row". There are town squares scattered throughout the city, but from what I've seen they consist of 1 block, and it's something I've not seen in any other city. Royal Oak or Hammtramck of Detroit, Chapel Hill, Columbus OH, Lincolnwood or Evanston of Chicago, all have concetrated areas of food and business. I've not found a part of town as of yet that's truly walkable for business hopping beyond a couple blocks outside EN that's not an overly corporate or blatant attempt at gentrification. The neighborhoods are highly concentrated, but business is seemingly spread out all over the place, which is making things harder to navigate. Does that make sense to anyone or am I still far from the mark?

[BirdieBelle]

Originally Posted by nicshoe18

... that's not an overly corporate or blatant attempt at gentrification.

Local examples, please?

I mean, you're saying something doesn't exist, yet when someone does attempt to create it, it's not acceptable because it didn't organically spring up there.

Royal Oak went through the exact same thing 15 years ago. Corporations built the condos and lofts that brought the people there to live. "Mixed use" the way people talk about it today is very hard to maintain in the economy we've had during the last 10 years. It's not easy to find a self-sustaining neighborhood with true locally, individually owned restaurants that exists as it did in the 70s, let alone earlier than that.

Even The Great Downtown Franklin does not have the same business mix it had when it started. There's a Starbucks and an Anthropologie there, for Pete's sake! And while there are local restaurants, they have replaced other local places (RIP Choices and now Dotson's) that couldn't keep up.

So I'm not sure what you REALLY want or if it's possible to find it.

[N.Cal]

There are a number of food trucks once a month downtown on Deaderick St. You missed them yesterday. Then when the weather gets nicer though be there once a week from about 11 to 2.

There are a number of trucks every Sunday at Ellington Park during the spring summer fall. Oh I understand that there were a number of them there last weekend when I was nice. Various bars and breweries have trucks all the time.

You haven't been here long enough to figure out how they work. Start following the ones you like on Twitter and you'll see where they go.

[MTFan]

There are probably over 50 food trucks operating in Nashville. I wouldn't call that a nonexistent food ruck scene.

[CountryGirl2b=]

Here's the website for the Nashville Food Truck Association, which has 37 members. You don't HAVE to join to run a food truck so there are probably others as well:

NFTA - About NFTA

Another website about Nashville food trucks:

The Best Food Trucks and Street Food Spots in Nashville | Roaming Hunger

And here is a book about them:

http://www.amazon.com/Nashville-Food.../dp/1626195404

[nicshoe18]

Germantown is a good example. There's about a 2-3 block stretch of business spread out over 6-7 square blocks. Edgehill Village is basically all on one block. Five Points is on one block. Aside from midtown, you have to do a fair amount of hoofing, up 3-4 blocks, then over two, then down one, then it's about 5-6 blocks back to your car, all with no business in between, just to explore the hood. When I say it's walkable, meaning you have sidewalks, crosswalks, you're not having to cross major highways, so there should be no excuse to have to drive everywhere. It's a very accessible city by foot, but that doesn't mean you should have to walk through a bunch of residential just to get to the next menu to decide if you want dinner. My question is not of argument or that I'm looking for something that doesn't exist, it's a question of why. What has driven the decision in this city to spread out it's business like this instead of congregate? Nor am I making contradictions about gentrification. Sprinklings of corporate I think are necessary. Areas around Green Hills though is overload. I just wanted to make a distinction. I define gentrification as a replacement of wealth. Even The Gulch is debatable, as I'm told there was nothing there to begin with? But a place like Royal Oak often brings in condos and new money, but it wasn't a complete takeover that pushed the original residents out. Even they have two concentrated sections of food and business, and people have been busing into Royal Oak from the city for decades. Most cities seem to have a version of that area (to scale of course) but I just haven't seen it here.

I've actually been following NFTA since we've been here. I have not been following individual twitter feeds though, I've been waiting for them to check in with NTFA, plus I just never see them around. But I'm definitely going to keep a better eye out!

[artemis]

Originally Posted by nicshoe18

Ya, I realize that. I wanted to leave it broad to get as many options from different angles as possible. The east side is where I see much of the boutique food scene happening, currently. Though it can be debated if Pharmacy is even boutique, it does offer a different spin on an American classic and is not your typical Grill Shack or Fat Mos burger. The food trucks, which also haven't taken off yet, [B]never come to the east side[/b] (also a venture we're considering). Fine dining I see around much of The Gulch, and The Sutler isn't on the east side either. It just so happens that that part of town is where the gourmet and urban renewal trend are colliding riding now. It's not the part of town I particularly want to focus on as there's a lot of revitalization happening all over the city.

What are the thoughts on why there isn't a "foodie" row? Is that what this city needs or are people willing to drive all over to get the experience they want? Is this also the reason why Nashville is slow on getting on the food truck wagon?

The food trucks used to come to the East Side, but some of the local restauranteurs ran them off.

I'm not sure who you are talking to in EN, you might want to talk to someone who has been around more than 5 yrs.

[BirdieBelle]

Originally Posted by nicshoe18

What has driven the decision in this city to spread out it's business like this instead of congregate?

Nashville has a "wheel and spokes" pattern of roadways that has the city center in the middle and old "pikes," or what used to be toll roads, to the outlying areas that now are just considered neighborhoods or parts of Nashville. Many of those pikes have become busy highways that don't, as you pointed out, feel so walkable.

So the city center was the place where you conducted business and the outlying areas (Belle Meade, Madison, Donelson, Forest Hills, etc) were where you lived.

It set the stage for car-oriented development rather than pedestrian-oriented development. The infill that has taken place since gov't consolidation has left us with the shopping centers that exist today. Even the old HG Hill grocery chain, which was the predecessor of HG Hill Realty, has a business model based on this development pattern: Mr. Hill wanted to buy the right-hand corners of major intersections to place his stores so people could stop there on the way home "out of town," away from Nashville, to buy groceries. It's one reason that company ended up owning so much prime property in Nashville.

There are other contributing factors: food deserts, public transit options (or lack thereof), lack of acceptable residential options near commercial.

Planners and developers are trying to deal with what was set up decades ago.

[BirdieBelle]

Originally Posted by artemis

The food trucks used to come to the East Side, but some of the local restauranteurs ran them off.

Brick-and-mortar restaurants do have to pay a lot in taxes that the food trucks don't have to pay.

[N.Cal]

When I say it's walkable, meaning you have sidewalks, crosswalks, you're not
having to cross major highways, so there should be no excuse to have to drive
everywhere.

Believe me, moving here from San Francisco, this is a major peeve of mine!