Nashville has finally gotten the food court it had been waiting for after years of watching other cities get a head start on the trend of innovative small dining concepts that share communal seating. No longer will Nashvillians have to make the trek to Atlanta to visit Ponce City Market or Krog Street Market to choose from a selection of varied restaurants that rise above food court status now that Hunters Station has finally opened in East Nashville at 975 Main Street in the former home of a custom auto shop.
Most visitors probably won’t even realize that the ground floor of Hunters is occupied by an important new addition to the local culinary scene, Citizen Kitchens that operates as an incubator kitchen and co-working space for smaller food businesses looking to grow their empires thanks to access to the kinds of kitchen amenities that are usually only available to traditional bricks-and-mortar restaurants. Members of the Citizen Kitchens community share all sorts of cooking equipment and storage facilities along with the ability to rent out workspaces and meeting rooms by the day or by the hour.
Upstairs in Hunters Station, some of those Citizen Kitchens entrepreneurs vend their wares in a shared store called Citizen Market. Patrons can pick from grab-and-go items ranging from sandwiches and salads to side dishes to make dinner prep much easier.
All of Hunters Station is operated by Fresh Capital, and arm of Fresh Hospitality, the real estate and restaurant investors behind regional favorites like Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint, GReKo Greek Street Food, Taziki’s and Biscuit Love. The five restaurants besides Citizen Market upstairs at the attractive food hall are all affiliated with Fresh, but each operates as an individual entity.
Diners have difficult choices among all the options, but the beauty of a food hall is that each member of your “lunch bunch” can pick what they want, and all of you can join up at communal tables. Local favorites in Hunters Station include stalwarts like The Grilled Cheeserie and their gooey cheesy sandwiches plus decadent milkshakes, Hugh Baby’s with their old school burgers and hot dogs, the fresh Vietnamese fare of Vui’s Kitchen and local craft beer purveyor The Picnic Tap who will add a more extensive menu of casual bites to their more limited selection of food compared to their original location the Nashville Farmers’ Market.
The newest addition to the Fresh Hospitality family is another standout at Hunters Station. Tacos Aurora is a new taqueria that is the project of a pair of California brothers that previously operated out of a food truck. Their new restaurant specializes in traditional tacos and burritos cooked on a plancha grill in their open kitchen. In a town full of upscale taco joints, their emphasis on fresh ingredients and novel tacos and burritos still manages to stand out.
So the next time you have a group of friends that just can’t agree on where to catch a quick lunch, take advantage of the multiple options (and free parking!) at Hunters Station. We’re guessing that there’s something to satisfy just about everyone!
