The pigs are flying off of Broadway.
When you walk down Broadway in downtown Nashville, one of the most iconic signs you’ll see is the flying pigs on the sign for Jack’s Bar-B-Que.
The restaurant sits right beside the legendary honky tonk Robert’s Western World. But today, it was announced they would be moving off Broadway after the honky tonk bought the building for a reported $15 million as part of their expansion plans.
The historic properties were previously connected before Jack’s opened 31 years ago. But Jack Cawthon, owner of the barbeque spot, says that the move allows the company to focus on catering and their other two locations:
“I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to own an iconic Broadway institution for more than three decades. Broadway is a wonderful place and a world-renowned destination. I’ve loved helping to build and be a part of that story, but now is the time to give others a chance to be successful and continue that story.
I look forward to working with my team and focusing on our other restaurants (Charlotte Avenue and West Trinity Lane) and our catering business. Catering is how I began Jack’s. In a way, I’m coming full circle. I’m excited to take our beloved pits on the road to serve the Nashville area.”
Jack’s will continue to serve as the preferred caterer for Robert’s Western World, and the honky tonk will also soon debut a new menu item featuring Jack’s brisket.
Earlier this year, Robert’s announced plans to expand their second floor to allow for more performance space, including an additional stage and creating a separate, independent space with an entrance from the back alley that wouldn’t be accessible from the main floor.
There’s no word yet on how the acquisition of the building next door will affect those plans, or whether the buildings will be combined into one bar. But the expansion of Robert’s is great news for downtown Nashville, which in recent years has lost most of the “honky tonks” and instead has become a sea of massive, artist-branded bars.
Robert’s is really the last bastion of traditional country music on Broadway these days, the only place you’ll hear hits from Hank Williams, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens instead of “Wagon Wheel” and Guns ‘N Roses. And their Recession Special, a $6 meal deal consisting of a fried bologna sandwich, chips, a Moon Pie and a PBR is the stuff of legends, the best deal on Broadway and one of the last remaining signs of days long since past.
But unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), as traditional country music fans have found themselves with fewer and fewer options on Broadway, Robert’s has become even more popular and has outgrown its current space.
We’ll have to see what the purchase of the building next door means for the honky tonk, but the good news is that it’s in great hands with owners JesseLee and Emily Jones and won’t be turned into just another cookie-cutter artist owned bar.
Oh, and like they promised when they announced their initial expansion, there won’t be a rooftop bar there either…thank God.
