At 9 p.m. at 930 McFerrin Avenue, the dinner service ends. The lights drop, a disco ball takes over above a Zellige-tiled bar, and a pair of vintage Klipschorn speakers starts playing anything from Italian disco to city pop to house. Out front, a giant clamshell sits waiting for photos. Bar Cala Cala soft-opened this way on Friday, October 2, and Saturday, October 3. It serves dinner from 5 to 9, and after that it becomes a listening bar.
The partners are Ryan Costanza of Present Tense and Joshua Walker of Xiao Bao. Nashville Guru reports that they describe the place as an Italian restaurant and a hi-fi listening bar. The order of those two phrases matters. Of all the places that have opened in East Nashville this year, Cala Cala is the clearest example of the pattern. Each one puts the kitchen inside a room that's built to stay open long after the last entrée goes out.
The Year's Closures Were All Dinner Rooms
The pattern shows up when you put the 2026 closures and openings side by side.
Pelican & Pig on Gallatin Avenue went first. WSMV reported that owners Nick and Audra Guidry announced that Saturday, March 14, would be their final service, and pointed to the cost of operating in Nashville.
Margot Café and Bar followed on June 5. Margot McCormack opened it at 1017 Woodland Street in 2001. When she announced the closure the previous November, she timed the last service to land on the restaurant's 25th anniversary. When she made the announcement, McCormack told Edible Nashville she wasn't sure what her next chapter would be.
Audrey served its last night at 809 Meridian Street on August 16. The Tennessean reported that Southall Farm and Inn had taken over operational oversight in 2025. By the end, Paul Mishkin was majority owner, Sam Jett was executive chef, and Sean Brock no longer held a financial interest. In its final months, Audrey's website listed a bar upstairs with a $5 menu and promoted a nine-course tasting room for June. Even at the end, the building still led with a long, plated dinner.
As of this week, there's no announced successor at either 1017 Woodland or 809 Meridian. Both are dark, and nobody has publicly named what comes next.
Veselka Arrived Without a Dining Room of Its Own
Veselka, the Ukrainian restaurant from New York, shows the pattern most plainly. It doesn't have its own storefront. It operates inside Lakeside Lounge at 921 Woodland Street, and it's open every day from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. City Cast Nashville put it on its August 2026 openings list, and the menu covers pierogi, kielbasa and latkes.
The bigger news came from the Nashville Business Journal, which reported that Nashville is Veselka's first expansion market in 72 years. For a restaurant that waited seven decades to open anywhere new, its first location is a kitchen inside an existing bar.
The host bar already had history on that corner. Lakeside Lounge opened in November 2019 in the former Edgefield Sports Bar & Grill space. Its owners are Michael McIlroy, Brandon Bramhall and Sam Ross. So a Woodland Street bar that's been around for nearly seven years now serves Ukrainian food for 15 hours a day.
Girlcrush Builds the Night Around the Room
A few blocks east, Girlcrush Social House opened at 1112 Woodland Street. Twin sisters Emily and Jamie Dryburgh created it, and it offers food, drinks, live music and a backyard. The sisters also run the RNBW Queer Music Collective, and City Cast reports that the bar will host local queer musicians along with other community events. Happy hour runs Tuesday through Friday.
The name says "social house," and food is one of four things listed. Here the kitchen supports a music and community calendar, the same way Veselka supports Lakeside and Cala Cala's dinner leads into its record-bar hours.
How the New Rooms Keep Time
The hours make the shift easy to see. These are the published schedules for the places that opened or announced openings this season:
| Spot | Address | What's in the room | Published hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bar Cala Cala | 930 McFerrin Ave. | Dinner 5–9 p.m., then hi-fi listening bar | Wed, Thu, Sun 4 p.m.–midnight; Fri, Sat 4 p.m.–2 a.m.; closed Mon, Tue |
| Veselka at Lakeside Lounge | 921 Woodland St. | Ukrainian kitchen inside an existing bar | Daily 11 a.m.–2 a.m. |
| Girlcrush Social House | 1112 Woodland St. | Food, drinks, live music, backyard | Happy hour Tuesday–Friday; full hours not published in our sources |
Cala Cala's dinner window is four hours. On Fridays and Saturdays the room is open for ten. Most of the night, the music is the main event.
The menu still shows real ambition. The opening list includes Sicilian crudo, a spicy tuna carta de musica, arancini with Wagyu beef and Fontina, spaghetti vongole, swordfish Milanese, patatine fritte cooked in beef tallow, Sicilian granita and soft-serve gelato. Spritzes, Negronis and zero-proof cocktails cover the bar. Dinner reservations open on OpenTable this Wednesday, October 7. Until then, the soft-open nights are the only way to try it.
The Next Announcements Follow the Same Pattern
The next opening on the calendar fits the same pattern. The Greenwood is a cocktail-and-dining concept with a rooftop from Icon Entertainment & Hospitality, planned for 2105 Greenwood Avenue. Its listing says only "Expected to Open: 2026," with no month or day. Cocktails come first in that description.
51st Deli, headed for 730 Main Street, isn't expected until 2027. Until then, the fall additions on the neighborhood's own calendar are the three rooms on McFerrin and Woodland.
What's on the Calendar Before Year's End
Two dates connect the new places to the regular neighborhood routine.
- East Nashville Farmers' Market, 511 Woodland Street. It runs Tuesdays from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. through October 27. From November 3 through December 22, it closes at 6. There's free parking in the lot at 6th and Main and across the street at First Church of the Nazarene, and dogs are welcome. The market is about six blocks west of Lakeside on the same street, and it closes hours before Veselka's kitchen does.
- All Hallows East, Saturday, October 31, 4 to 10 p.m., 110 S. 11th Street in Five Points. The listing includes costume contests, live music and food, and advance registration is free. On a Saturday, the event wraps up four hours before Cala Cala and Veselka close.
Margot's old address at 1017 Woodland sits between Veselka at 921 and Girlcrush at 1112. As of October 4, 2026, it's still the one storefront on that stretch with no announced next tenant.
At Tammi Weed, we keep track of who's opening on McFerrin and Woodland because our clients ask us about it, whether they already live a few blocks away or are thinking about East Nashville for a short-term rental. If you'd like a local's read on which of these rooms are worth a reservation this fall, or what's coming to the empty spaces on your street, Schedule a White‑Glove Consultation and we'll pass along what we're hearing.
