Hospitality Design - July 2012 - 117

Left: Culinary director Robbie Wilson and founder Chris Hyndman of M Street development group, who have helped put the South’s first LEED certified neighborhood on the map. Above, from top: Skyline views of Nashville from the rooftop of swank sushi spot, Virago; contemporary steakhouse Kayne Prime overlooks the historic train yard. Below: A view from the street of casual Whiskey Kitchen.

Robbie Wilson and Chris Hyndman
Culinary Director and Founder, M Street, Nashville
Between Midtown and Downtown Nashville sits the Gulch, the South’s first LEED certified neighborhood, teeming with posh lofts, creative office spaces, and boutiques. It is also the home of McGavock Street, where loyal diners head to eat at Virago, Whiskey Kitchen, and Kayne Prime, the brainchild of restaurateur Chris Hyndman. Certainly, the unveiling of these destination restaurants had something to do with this mixed-use development’s constant buzz. When Virago, the popular high-end sushi restaurant Hyndman opened in Midtown outgrew its original location, he turned to the Gulch in 2009, what was then “a no man’s land with old warehouses,” as he describes it. Today, Hyndman and culinary director Robbie Wilson run M Street development group, a growing empire of once underutilized spaces. A dozen years ago, when Hyndman first started out, he couldn’t afford to hire a designer, so he took it upon himself to conceptualize Virago. Turns out he had a knack for design, and remains the driving force behind his spaces’ looks. “In all my restaurants, I try to marry two sides; every space has those conversation nooks where you feel comfortable, but I also like to push everything to the middle so it’s a social bar scene,” he explains. “When I lay out a restaurant I start with the bar—there’s a certain energy there. People are starting off, waiting for a table, meeting friends.” For warm, modern Virago, Hyndman used rich tigerwood, stacked stonewalls, and introduced a lush rooftop offering skyline views. The private club, Citizen, has its own separate entrance, leading to a room of colored chandeliers and wraparound booths. At the more casual Whiskey Kitchen, reclaimed wood from a bourbon distillery and Edison bulbs establish a classic masculine vibe. The historic Kayne Avenue train yard informed contemporary steakhouse Kayne Prime, where the “power players and celebrities” come to feast on prime rib. “A convertible window faces out onto the tracks where back in the day passengers used to get dropped off at the Union Station Hotel. We staggered railroad ties facing the hotel to create shadow play and tie the history into the motif,” Hyndman explains. Between a Mexican restaurant, enoteca, and an event space, this year Hyndman and Wilson will tackle 27,000 more square feet of opportunity. “It’s a unique situation. The beauty of it is we control the street,” points out Hyndman. “One you have the majority, you have to protect it.” hd

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