Sunday night Nashville lost not only a talented chef, but an overall great guy. Jay Luther, co-owner of Germantown Cafe East and
Germantown Cafe (1200 5th Avenue North) went to check on the food inside the cooler at the new Germantown Cafe East after power had been restored after an outage over the weekend and while inside the cooler the door shut and locked behind him. Not only was their dry ice inside the cooler to help preserve the food during the outage, but the door release button inside the cooler was broken. He pulled the burglar alarm inside the freezer, but when the cops came 5 minutes later they checked the outside and just thought it was a false alarm. His cell phone was at home. One tragic thing after another. It's just heart breaking.
When I moved in with the Mister our first apartment was above the
Germantown Cafe on 5th Avenue. It was still under construction and since I'm chatty I got to know the owners and staff. They'd let me come in, see the progress and talk food with them. Everyone was so nice to us especially Jay. I fell in
love with his Pumpkin Cheesecake to the point when he'd finally have one (October...only time its in season) he'd stop me if he saw me or call me and sneak me some out the back door, he even gave me his recipe for the cappuccino whip cream. I can't count how many slices of cheesecake that I have eaten from Germantown Cafe. He'd also (if he was working) let me order his warm molten chocolate cake with Cabernet sauce even if it wasn't on the menu that night. To this day they are the two of the best desserts I've ever eaten. When they opened Allium he was into trying new bacon and he'd bring me out some to taste from time to time because he knew I was a big bacon lover. Don't even get me started on his Plum Pork and mashed potatoes or the chicken strudels. OMG the bread!!! YUM! I didn't know him well outside the restaurant world, but the fact that he always remembered what I loved to eat always meant so much to me.
I've written several blogs about the food in Nashville and that said you know that me and the Mister have always been big supporters of the
Germantown Cafe crew. Over the last 9 years we have had our wedding rehearsal dinner there, countless dinners, drinks, family get together's, birthday celebrations, brunch with friends, and we always do our best to stop in when we are in town visiting. It will not be the same going to visit knowing that Jay is gone. He will be missed. He was always so nice to everyone. I never saw him without a smile on his face, I'm assuming that's not easy to do in the restaurant business.
If you are in Nashville and looking for a place to eat this weekend head over to Germantown Cafe at 1200 5th Avenue North and eat all my favorites for me! They are open for business.
Germantown Cafe East, however, is closed and not sure when they will reopen.
Click here for the complete story.
Stop #2: Waffle House!! I got my usual... coffee, bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on wheat bread, and a plain waffle. All were delicious!
