The Closing of a Nashville Legend: Rotier’s
Open since 1945, Rotier’s often offered context to those near and far about the ever-evolving city Nashville has become. The family-owned icon located at 2413 Elliston Place bid its final adieu last week after its building’s new owners said they would not renew the Rotier family’s lease.
“My mom and dad loved this restaurant. The world has changed a lot over the years. I thought with COVID it would just be closed for a little while, but...it is what it is.”
The Closing of a Nashville Legend: Rotier’s
Pandemically speaking, though, progress is but a mere provocation for institutions like Rotier’s.
The family’s 72-year-old current matriarch, Margaret Ann Rotier Crouse, told The Tennessean that she’s heartbroken, “My mom and dad loved this restaurant. The world has changed a lot over the years. I thought with COVID it would just be closed for a little while, but...it is what it is.”
Garnering celebrity status over the years, Rotier’s experienced its decline pre-pandemic, limiting its hours to lunch-only over two years ago. So, when it shut down last March due to COVID-19 restrictions, the restaurant could no longer financially sustain itself. “With COVID, we just couldn’t make enough money,” Crouse told reporters.
Best known for their old-school cheeseburger served on French bread, legend has it that its seasoning came from the restaurant’s original griddle, needing nary a shake of salt and pepper. That classic cost a whopping 25 cents back in the day.
As the tastes of this fair city deepen, the questions remain, “How will its history repeat? Or, will it?”
