Bill's Sandwich Palace

Chef Aaron Clemins of Bill's Sandwich Palace

By Jill Melton / Photography By Christen Clemins | July 02, 2021

Chef Aaron Clemins with "The Evansville Special"

The Instagram description for Bill’s Sandwich Palace reads: Sandwiches, Snacks, and Shenanigans. Truth. With 10 years as the sous chef at City House and a short stint with his own restaurant, chef Aaron Clemins is making sandwiches now and couldn’t be happier.

In 2018, Aaron and wife, Christen, were at a crossroads. They had opened the ambitious Kuchnia & Keller in Germantown in a 25,000-foot space. “I worked every day for 13 months and barely saw my wife. We were roommates and that was about it.” Time for a reset. The couple closed the restaurant and headed to San Diego for a 9-month sabbatical. They returned to Nashville in 2019 without a plan. Aaron reached out to friends and found himself at TKO with Ryan Bernhardt. After a year, he went to work at Rosie Food & Wine in Hendersonville, and just 3 weeks later found himself without a job like so many other chefs in town.

Back at TKO, Bernhardt had closed his doors but was busier than he had ever been. Aaron went back to TKO to help, and once April came and went, they decided they needed a longer-term plan. Ryan had a full kitchen and lots of unused space just sitting there. So, Aaron decided to do a sandwich shop on the weekends. It suited the set-up (a tiny little walk-in fridge) and his schedule—he would do sandwiches just on the weekends at lunch. And TKO doesn’t serve lunch. “Basically, Bill’s Sandwich Palace fits in the cracks.”

Why Sandwiches? Chefs love sandwiches. And fellow chefs Ryan and Aaron Distler (of Mr. Aarons Goods) are both from Evansville, Indiana, which has a strong sandwich culture (who knew). One of the most popular is Stromboli, not the Italian Stromboli, but like a “pizza on a sandwich. It consists of ground meat and cheese. It’s like if you took garlic bread, put some meat fillings in between, wrapped it in foil and baked it,” says Aaron. It’s huge in Evansville and the chefs found themselves talking about sandwiches all the time.

Photo 1: Christen Clemins works alongside husband, Aaron at Bills Sandwich Palace

Photo 2: Ma! The Meatloaf! Sandwich

Photo 3: The Evansville Special

Photo 4: Aaron's Japanese Milk Bread Buns

So of course, Aaron’s first sandwich was the “Evansville Special.” Meatball, Szechuan pork ragu, pepperoni, tomato sauce, basil pesto, and mozzarella on a garlic butter toasted Bolillo roll. BSP serves a number of sandwiches, all of which are well beyond roast beef on rye. They offer 5 types of sandwiches each weekend, one of which is a “mystery sandwich,” which regularly sells out. 90% of their sandwiches are hot. They use 3 kinds of bread: Japanese Milk Bread, Bolillo rolls, and sandwich bread. Aaron was extra thoughtful about the bread “as it’s the most overlooked part of most sandwiches.”

Being just carry out, they do miss the camaraderie and conversation with customers. “I’ve worked in an open kitchen all my life and I need that interaction,” he says. To bridge that gap, Bills “started talking to people on the bags.” They started writing notes on their orders and asking for comments. They found that folks would write back via orders and social media, and they developed a new rapport with customers that way.

Recently, they decided to add chips to their sandwiches - literally ON the sandwich. Their preferred chip is Ruffles Sour Cream & Cheddar. “It goes with everything. It’s kind of like putting crunchy cheese on things. It works on everything, even Asian food,” chefs Aaron and Ryan laugh.

But why the name, Bill’s Sandwich Palace? “Any dumbass idea that we come up with gets the green light. Is this fun for us? Does it make us laugh at ourselves? If this makes us not take ourselves too seriously, then we’re probably going to do it.” In Aaron’s old kitchens there was always a joke where they would always call each other Bill. Aaron even calls his wife and mom Bill at times. So, Bill’s was the obvious choice, and then Palace just seemed dumb in their tiny space, so there it was: Bill’s Sandwich Palace.

What’s next for BSP? They wouldn’t divulge, but we’ll be watching. It’ll definitely be something that they can do in a nice, sustainable way that makes their quality of life good while they’re doing it.

You can order online at billssandwichpalace.com. Follow them on Instagram @billssandwichpalace to see what’s on the menu this week. Their menu goes live at 10pm Friday night for pick-up on Saturday and Sunday from 10-3 at TKO in East Nashville.