Sam Fox, the restaurateur behind such growing concepts as Blanco Tacos & Tequila, Flower Child, True Food Kitchen and North, is scheduled to launch on April 14 the first stage of a 30,000-square-foot personal project in Nashville, Tenn., that includes a refined honky-tonk with live music and a third-floor 400-seat Supper Club that will open in late summer.
Fox, who sold his Phoenix, Ariz.-based Fox Restaurant Concepts to The Cheesecake Factory in 2019, said the Twelve Thirty project is being built as a personal project that was a carve-out from that deal. Investors include Justin Timberlake, the “Can’t Stop the Feeling” musician, actor and Tennessee native.
The first two floors of Twelve Thirty, which include The First Level refined honky-tonk and mezzanine lounges, will open in April. The project shares a wall with a 90-seat Blanco unit that Fox Restaurant Concepts opened March 4 at the new Fifth + Broadway development in Nashville.
The Twelve Thirty project has been in the works since 2017. “It’s been about four years in the making,” Fox said in an interview Thursday. “it's finally nice to see it come to fruition.”
An early First Level menu features shared appetizers such as pork belly dumplings and smoked trout dip for between $11 and $16, salads from $8 to $16, entrees from burgers to shrimp and grits for between $13 and $26 and desserts such as strawberry-rhubarb hand pies and peanut butter Goo Goo Cluster for $8. The bar features a selection of cocktails, punches, wines and beers.
Fox said he expects the dinner check average at the honky tonk and mezzanine club levels to be about $40 per person and the dining room, when it opens, to be closer to $120 per person.
A project spokesperson said the First Level covers 6,091 square feet, and the mezzanine level (with the 50-person sit-down-only Honorary Member cocktail lounge) is 3,454-square feet. The Supper Club level, which will be expected to seat 400, is 16,972-square feet with an additional 5,057 square feet on the rooftop terrace.
The Fox team worked with New York-based AVRO|KO, a design firm that has worked on many international hotel and restaurant projects.
The Twelve Thirty club is loosely based on Prohibition Era supper clubs, Fox said in explaining the name.
“During Prohibition,” he said, “the restaurant had to close and then they would go to speakeasies or supper club and most of those would open up at about 12:30.”
Read more: Restaurateur Sam Fox is set to open 3-level Nashville club with investor Justin Timberlake
