Some of the most anticipated new food in East Nashville this year came without a new sign out front. A Ukrainian kitchen that has been in New York since 1954 now serves its pierogi from inside a Woodland Street bar. A pizza pop-up with a citywide following opened its first permanent kitchen in a Gallatin Pike courtyard it shares with an ice cream shop, a wine bar and a rotating set of food trucks. And all through October, three of the neighborhood's existing bars and breweries have been hosting themed pop-ups.
Nashville Guru's 2026 openings tracker lists 27 East Nashville openings so far this year. That's more than Germantown, Sylvan Park, Midtown or 12 South. A good share of the ones residents talk about most opened at addresses they already knew.
A Bar Kitchen With a 1954 Pedigree
Veselka took over the kitchen inside Lakeside Lounge at 921 Woodland St. in August. Nashville Guru dates the opening to Aug. 19, 2026. According to the Nashville Scene, East Nashville is Veselka's first location outside New York, and the deal came together because the two businesses share some people on their leadership teams.
Veselka built its name in New York over seven decades. The restaurant has published a cookbook and was a James Beard Award semifinalist in 2023. In East Nashville, the menu has been adapted to the room it's in. Justin Birchard, Veselka's COO, told the Scene that diners should think of the Lakeside pierogi like boneless chicken wings, as bar food. The menu has bestsellers like potato and cheese, seasonal flavors, and dipping sauces that include a borscht barbecue sauce. Chicken schnitzel and borscht are on it too.
The practical upside of sharing a room is the schedule. Lakeside lists the bar open daily from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. and the kitchen from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., and Veselka's own site gives the same kitchen hours. That makes a James Beard semifinalist's pierogi one of the latest kitchen orders in the neighborhood.
Lost & Found Was Built to House Other People's Businesses
Veselka moved into an existing bar. Lost & Found, at 3104 Gallatin Pike, was built from the start as a place for several businesses to share. The Nashville Scene reported that the property at Gallatin and McGavock pikes belongs to Steve Mabee, Nathan Weinberg, Davey Rowe-Mabee and Kelly Boutwell, best known for Retrograde Coffee and Ugly Mugs Coffee & Tea, along with Jamie White of Pearl Diver and Tiger Bar. The group had owned it for about four years before it opened. By early April, What Now Nashville was describing the development as recently opened.
The Scene described it as part food truck park, part wine shop, part retail area, part food court and part neighborhood hang. The plans also called for covered patio seating, a rooftop deck and room for pop-up markets. Lost & Found's own site calls itself "part neighborhood hangout, part small-business incubator." Here's who's there now, according to the site:
| Concept | What it is | What's new about it |
|---|---|---|
| Pizza Lolo | Pizza from chef Steven Anthony | First brick-and-mortar home for a former pop-up, with an expanded menu |
| Sarabha's Creamery | Indian ice cream and kulfi | Second location after its Vanderbilt Square shop |
| Birdie's | Small wine bar from Kelly Boutwell | Exists only at Lost & Found, pouring organic, biodynamic and minimal-intervention wines |
| Fortunate Sun | Outdoor cocktail bar from Jamie White | Exists only at Lost & Found, inspired by White's travels |
| Chivanada | Colombian empanada truck | Signed a longer lease than some of the other trucks |
| The Pepper Pott | Family-run Guyanese and Caribbean truck | Part of the rotating truck lineup |
| Katrin Taqueria | LA-style tacos from Chef Dave and KJ Gutierrez | Part of the rotating truck lineup |
The site also lists a Retrograde Coffee truck and rotating retail pop-ups in the spaces facing Gallatin Pike.
Sarabha's took the slow route in. Nashville Guru lists the shop's opening as July 22, 2026, two months after the late-May target co-owner Gursharan Singh had given What Now in April. The Scene reported that the Lost & Found team had posted on social media looking for an ice cream vendor, and that customers walked into the 21st Avenue South shop with the post in hand, suggesting Sarabha's head east. Singh explained why it fit:
"We liked all the different foods from different regions that they are going to have, and we thought it would be a good fit for us."
According to What Now, the ice cream counter is set up so people can carry a cup anywhere on the property. That's the reason to share a courtyard. A family can split up between Pizza Lolo, an empanada truck and a wine bar, then sit back down together.
Why Sharing a Roof Makes Sense Right Now
The Scene's Lost & Found coverage spells out the economics. Running a brick-and-mortar restaurant is expensive, the paper wrote, and a permanent spot in a food truck or a micro-location gives chefs options they might not otherwise have. It named Lost & Found and fellow East Nashville hub The Wash as examples. Laurie Holloway, co-owner of The PickUp Food Truck Park on Brick Church Pike, told the Scene that "people are really responsive to these hustling business owners."
Chivanada co-owner Daniel Yarzagaray told the Scene he had worked with White for years at Pearl Diver and had been part of several food truck parks, so he knew what works. He called the project "an immediate yes." Both the Veselka deal and Lost & Found started with people who already worked together, which is a big part of why these setups got off the ground so fast.
The summer also closed a chapter for one of East Nashville's best-known standalone dining rooms. The Tennessean reported that Audrey served its final dinner on Aug. 16, ending five years in the neighborhood. Chef Sam Jett had led the Appalachian-focused kitchen since taking over from founding chef Sean Brock in 2025, after Southall Farm & Inn assumed operations. Thirteen current and former staff worked that last service, and the kitchen broke into applause when the final plate went out. The same Tennessean story covered Veselka's arrival.
October Turned Bars Into Haunted Houses
The same idea runs through the Halloween season. This month's themed pop-ups are inside bars and breweries that are open the rest of the year.
- Black Flame Beer Works is a Hocus Pocus-themed takeover of East Nashville Beer Works at 320 East Trinity Lane. It runs through Sunday, Nov. 1.
- Moonlight & Mischief is at TailGate Brewery East Nashville, 811 Gallatin Avenue, and also runs through Nov. 1.
- Hulaween is at Chopper, 1100 B Stratton Avenue, and opened in late September.
With this post going up on a Thursday, the two brewery pop-ups have one weekend left.
The Standalone Openings, and Where They Cluster
Not every 2026 opening is sharing space, and the ones that aren't tend to cluster too.
Bar Cala Cala opened Oct. 1 at 930 McFerrin Avenue. It comes from Ryan Costanza of Present Tense and Joshua Walker of Xiao Bao, and pairs Italian island cooking with natural wine and a hi-fi listening-bar format. The Scene reported that an upstairs space is planned by the end of the year.
Just east in Donelson, Maminette opened Sept. 28 at 104 Graylynn Drive. The French café comes from the team behind The Authentique, the East Nashville wine bar and crêperie, and serves sweet and savory crêpes, quiche and specialty coffee Tuesday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
River North's Bowline Avenue has become its own small cluster of new openings. Thai Samurai River North, an Asian-fusion restaurant at 2315 Bowline Avenue, opened Aug. 21. Amorino Gelato opened Oct. 16 at 2200 Bowline Avenue, Suite 105, with gelati, sorbetti, sundaes and milkshakes. Back Nine Golf, a Utah-based indoor golf club, opened Aug. 22 at 604 Gallatin Avenue, Suite 210. Best Friends, the vintage consignment shop the Scene listed among Lost & Found's planned businesses, opened in early October.
So this year's openings fall into two groups. Chefs with a track record and national brands are signing their own leases on McFerrin, Graylynn and Bowline. The pop-up pizza makers, the second ice cream shop and the New York pierogi kitchen came in through someone else's door.
A Week of Eating Under Someone Else's Roof
- Thursday night: Pierogi and borscht at Veselka inside Lakeside Lounge, 921 Woodland St. The kitchen is open until 2 a.m. daily.
- Friday evening: Pizza Lolo and a glass from Birdie's at Lost & Found, 3104 Gallatin Pike. Finish with kulfi from Sarabha's Creamery.
- Saturday: Black Flame Beer Works at East Nashville Beer Works on Trinity Lane, or Moonlight & Mischief at TailGate on Gallatin Avenue, before both end Nov. 1.
- Sunday afternoon: Gelato at Amorino on Bowline Avenue. Save the crêpes at Maminette on Graylynn Drive for a Tuesday-through-Saturday morning.
- Any night after: Bar Cala Cala on McFerrin Avenue, before the upstairs space opens.
Part of Donna Walsh eXp Realty TN's work is keeping up with how East Nashville is changing week to week, from which courtyard just got a pizza oven to which bar now has a famous kitchen in the back. If you'd like to talk through any part of Nashville, Donna answers personally. Let's Connect.
