A First Look at Fancypants | Listen

When the team behind Nashville’s Butcher & Bee and Redheaded Stranger first looked at the property that now houses their third restaurant, Fancypants, they saw a lot of potential—that area of Dickerson Pike is primed for a few good dining options, so partners Bryan Lee Weaver, Jake Mogelson, and Michael Shemtov got to work on a new concept. 

Where Butcher & Bee provides a casual, vegetable-friendly experience and Redheaded Stranger is open all week serving low-key tacos and margaritas, Fancypants will be that slightly more elevated “fine-ish” dining space. “It has the same gist as Redheaded Stranger—it’s fun, it’s playful, it’s comfortable—just a little more dressed up,” Shemtov says. 

The main dining room and bar areas feel like an upscale clubhouse—the colors are rich and warming with bold pops of florals; the banquettes are lined with velvet cushions; and antique cabinets and armoires make the space feel comfortable and lived in. “We’re going for timeless,” Mogelson says. There are two bar areas, one focused on wine, the other on cocktails, but the full menu is available at both. The best seats in the house will be at the two banquettes set directly in front of the open expo line, where a custom-made indoor grill, crafted by Grills by Demant, sits center stage. 

But this time of year, you might want to make your way outside. In a space that’s way too chic to be called a “patio,” the team has carved out a greenhouse-like setting wrapped in green thatched fencing and festooned with faux florals—a concept Mogelson, once a creative director for a restaurant group in San Francisco, had seen in New York and worked with a local vendor to execute here. The florals might change with the season. “We like to think of it more as a veranda, to really bring the dining room outdoors,” he says.  

Chef Joshua Homacki joins the team for this new venture; a native of Pennsylvania who cooked for years at a bed-and-breakfast and event space in Bucks County, Homacki had been thinking of opening his own veg-forward restaurant. But a move to Nashville and a well-timed job posting landed him with this group. 

Homacki was tasked with taking the soul of a red sauce Italian joint and translating that with a more modern approach—and a very vegetable-focused mission. The result is a menu that, at first glance, recalls those red sauce dishes—shells, lasagna, grilled eggplant, sweetbreads—but in reality incorporates turnip noodles, lion’s mane mushrooms grilled to mimic sweetbreads, and malfadine tangled with miso butter. There are echoes of the Bee here, too, including a variation on avocado crispy rice. 

What’s better is that the menu is prix fixe: There’s a selection of nine items and each guest chooses three courses, all for $70 per person. A bonus menu includes add ons like focaccia, watermelon crudo, steak tartare, and more. And for dessert, a menu called Katie’s Kudos, named for executive pastry chef Kathleen Fair, adds to the fun with a sundae bar and birthday cheesecake. All in all, a refreshing change of pace from the spate of “casual, shareable” types of restaurants that seem to have proliferated in post-pandemic times. 

When you arrive at Fancypants, you’ll be offered a “booze amuse,” or a welcome cocktail, making you feel like you just landed at your aunt and uncle’s for dinner. Other cocktails on the list are riffs on classics, like the Bell Bottoms, inspired by a Corpse Reviver #2, with gin, Cocchi Americano, orange, Herbsaint, cucumber, and lemon. Meanwhile, the wine list is all West Coast, with the exception of the Champagne, of course. 

With Fancypants, Mogelson, Shemtov, and Weaver are rounding out their trio of concepts, bringing elevated dining to the mix—but just like the name implies, the mission here is fun, not fussy. (Just try calling your friend “fancypants” without sounding a little flip but still loving.) For this evolving neighborhood and for the restaurant group as a whole, Fancypants is going to feel like the party you want to be a part of, a place to go on your third date, but not your first. “You can get dressed up here but it’s not going to be a quiet space,” says Shemtov. “And you’re not going to take yourself too seriously.”

Keep Reading

Dining Out

Where to Eat and Drink in WeHo

Excuse the construction and find Nashville’s hot new dining scene in WeHo, with favorites: Iggy’s market, Bastion, and Present Tense.

First Look

A First Look at Brodeto | Listen

As Brodeto prepares to open, Scott Crawford hopes a feeling of weightless abundance and Adriatic sea breeze translates throughout every dish.

At the Table

A Locals’ Guide to Nashville Restaurants

Chad Newton and Gracie Nguyen of East Side Banh Mi share their ultimate guide to Nashville, with a special consideration for anyone with their dogs in tow.