I have worked in the food and beverage industry for 17 years in every capacity from bussing tables to consulting. I have dined at countless restaurants in France, Italy, Denmark, Canada, Mexico, and all over the United States from dive bars to 3 Michelin Stars. Yet, the single greatest bite of food I have ever had came from Midtown Nashville at a restaurant called The Catbird Seat.
The Catbird Seat is a tiny place with presence. Once greeted outside the discreet looking wooden door, guests are led into an elevator and up to the second floor where you step through the looking glass and into the world beyond.
Enter, Chef Ryan Poli and Beverage Director Matthew Poli, brothers who found Nashville and The Catbird a perfect fit after looking in Chicago and Denver. While many in town “think it’s hoity-toity and it’s pretentious and it’s impossible to get into and it’s expensive,” the brothers are just trying to serve good food and drinks. “We’re conscious that a lot of people have been saving up and that this is expensive for [some]…we don’t want people to pay out the nose for things but there’s a cost that comes into what we’re doing.”
And what they’re doing is turning out top notch, creative, modern, and innovative food in an atmosphere that takes hospitality back to its roots—where the food delivered to you comes from the hands of those who prepared it. Ryan’s entire philosophy is based around this concept. “I think, in the restaurant industry, we’re really getting away from being hospitable to people and serving people food and welcoming them into a place where they can feel comfortable and they can forget about their problems for a while.” Indeed, The Catbird Seat brings an experience usually reserved for television or hibachi establishments to a fine dining atmosphere and outfits it with honest to goodness kindness and frivolity. “We want to wrap our arms around the u-shaped bar and make everyone a part of what is going on…It’s like going to a Broadway theater of Top Chef. It’s live. It’s right there.” Curious about what they’re doing and what exactly is in front of you? Ask away! Ryan and team are eager and willing to engage you in conversation.
So what motivates Ryan to run a restaurant such as Catbird? “I don’t think I love cooking. I think I love entertaining. What I really wanted to get back to…is a place where people can walk in and they feel like they’re walking into mom’s house for Thanksgiving.” Like mom’s, the entire staff greets you as you walk to the table, speaks to you individually, and bids you a friendly goodbye. For Ryan, “it goes back to my mom. The older I get, I get more nostalgic about my mom. [The way she entertained] stuck with me my whole cooking career. And then when I met someone like Thomas Keller, whose uber detail orientated, those two worlds collided. This foundation that I had from my mom of entertaining and cleaning and being organized—she would have a prep list before I even knew what a prep list was—and then you meet Thomas Keller who shows you how to label and date something and shows you how to put something away and condense something and keep your station organized.. putting those things together. That’s what I love to do.” Ryan refers to each and every cook in the kitchen as “Chef” – showing they are all on the same level.
“And it’s an open dialog for creativity amongst the chefs. Nobody’s idea is ever squashed. Everybody comes to the table with ideas. When we’re tasting the dishes everybody in the whole restaurant is involved. Matthew, myself, all the cooks, the dishwasher, Andrea the server assistant…. Everybody’s opinion matters because everyone in the restaurant represents the cliental that we get—the world traveler, the cook, someone that’s eaten in a lot of restaurants, someone that doesn’t eat anything at all, someone that’s very picky, someone that’s from Nashville… it’s our clientele. It’s not ‘here’s a new dish; this is what we’re doing’. It’s ‘what do you think’? [when there’s a new menu item], the staff gets excited, we give the dish to Matthew and he tastes it and pairs wine with it, and then we all taste the wine and it’s like, Kumbaya, let’s do this! Here we are, you know? This is Catbird.”
A meal at The Catbird Seat will run you $125 in advance, plus tax and an automatic 20% gratuity. Beverage pairings- both with alcohol and without- are available for purchase once seated for your reservation. Reservations are released 30 days prior on their website, and I, for one, have never had a problem securing one.