Nashville Favorites: In Memoriam II

Granite Falls

Jamye and I had our first date there. Six years later, my parents hosted our rehearsal dinner in the room pictured on the left. Obviously, Granite Falls was a special place for us. Now, according to their website, they are closed for business after 19 years.

We should have known that trouble was afoot weeks ago when we caught wind that the restaurant was only going to be open during the dinner hours for private events. The place put a positive spin on the change by trumpeting previously non-existent breakfast hours on a large banner hanging from the side of the building. Lunch would still be served too, but the scene had been set for eventual failure. The Midtown breakfast crowd had already been cornered by the likes of Pancake Pantry, Noshville, Le Peep, Provence and Jackson's, and even with the staggering amount of gentrification in Nashville, I guess the management of Granite Falls began to see the writing on the wall very soon after their last ditch effort to keep the venerable restaurant alive.

It's funny. With more and more urban living projects in the pipeline, the Nashville restaurant scene should be booming, and perhaps it is for some, but from our vantage point, the locally owned places seem to be disappearing. From what little I've experienced of it through our friends Tracy and Jody, the restaurant industry is a fickle business that can turn on a dime, and sentimental spots of our past are easily ground to rubble by the wheels of corporate expansion.

Granite Falls wasn't a place we visited often, but it was a special treat when we did. As with Blue Moon, we'll always have our memories of Herb Lemon Chicken, Rattlesnake Pasta and Maryland Crabcakes, but more importantly, Jamye and I will remember the place we met for lunch that sunny April day in 1996. Ten years later, we're still going strong. We wish we could say the same for Granite Falls.