Adam Charney and Mike Braden know each other well. Not only did the two Nashvillians become friends when they were seven, but they later churned out apps in adjoining cubicles for eighteen years. That is, until their true passions won out. Adam, a gifted jazz guitarist who honed his skills under Rudy Wooten, and Mike, a natural born chef with a flair for the fare of New Orleans, had a common epiphany: Why not open a jazz club? You know, the kind of place where improv beats meet great eats?
To make it happen, Adam kept his eyes on viable venues. It finally came along on Gleaves Avenue, just around the corner from Jackelope Brewing Company. At the time, it was a place called "The Cave," a hole in the wall that was more like a ditch in a basement. It would need a lot of work. But Adam was on it. He snapped it up and, fast-forward through five years of renovation, -- poof! -- there it was: Rudy's Jazz Room had entered the building! A star is born!
Rudy's Jazz Room is everything you would want in a jazz club: it's cozy and dark with great acoustics for serious listeners. (And great Cajun food for serious eaters!)
Chef Mike Braden's Crescent City cuisine consists of many favorites: gumbo, red beans and rice, (which also comes in a vegan version!) and beignets. The showpiece is a dish that Mike's dad used to make called Doc Braden's Creole Seafood Pies. Chunks of shrimp and crab are immersed in a creole gravy and baked in a flaky crust. Yum!
For our liquid dessert, we finished with Rudy's Jazz Room's version of an Old-Fashioned which closed the night. on. just. the. right. note.
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