Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli, the owners of Frankies 457 Spuntino in Brooklyn, plan to open a location in Nashville, their first outside New York City.
Mr. Castronovo and Mr. Falcinelli, who became childhood friends in Queens, opened Frankies 457 Spuntino in Carroll Gardens in 2004. In the years since, the owners have capitalized on simple Southern Italian food, expanding that operation with Franks Wine Bar and a slice shop called F&F Pizzeria, and dabbling for a time with Germanic fare at Prime Meats, which is now closed. They also closed their Greenwich Village restaurant, Frankies 570 Spuntino, to open Anton’s with chef Nick Anderer in the same location.
Their Tennessee location is scheduled to open next January as Frankies Spuntino Nashville. It will be the anchor restaurant in the Laurel & Pine development in East Nashville, which will have shops, restaurants, office spaces and hundreds of residential units. Plans for Frankies Spuntino Nashville include an event space, an outdoor patio and a retail space with wines, Italian cured meats and the restaurant’s packaged products, like olive oil.
“We always tried to make the greatest neighborhood restaurant in America, and we hope to bring that vibe to East Nashville,” Mr. Falcinelli said.
The expansion was precipitated by John Burns Paterson, a partner in the restaurant group. Originally born in Montgomery, Ala., in 1987, Mr. Paterson said he always wanted to move back to the South and be closer to family. The partners had long kicked around the idea of opening a restaurant in Nashville, and Mr. Paterson’s move earlier this year made it official.
“It won’t be a copy-and-paste of Brooklyn,” Mr. Paterson said. “But we want to take that spirit and bring it here.”
Frankies Spuntino Nashville, frankiesspuntino.com.
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