Whitfield's bounces back from flood
In the early evening, with temperatures dallying in the triple digits, a neighborhood found refuge in the cool of Whitfield's Restaurant and Bar.
Young women in pastel sundresses sipped matching cocktails and shared crab cakes. Businessmen in blue button-downs, ties loosened, unwound with foamy brews. A couple, casual in golf shirts and walking shorts, beamed over plates of wedged iceberg, chilled under a cascade of blue cheese. A grande dame, hidden by wide-brimmed hat and gold-framed glasses, ordered a white wine and crostini while she awaited her family. Jazzy tinkling of the ivories played over pleasant din the as the piano bar came to life. All the while, owner Nathaniel Beaver moved from table to booth welcoming diners as the clubby Belle Meade eatery filled.
It's hard to imagine now, but just weeks ago the restaurant was filled with five feet of water, inundated by the May floods. After a six-week hiatus, its interior gutted, cleaned, replaced and renewed, Whitfield's has returned to form.
- Nancy Vienneau
