🍽️ Restaurant Run of the Week: Bare Bonus Butcher

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Bare Bones Butcher is one of those places that’s a little bit of everything. It’s a whole animal butcher shop, a grocery store, and a sandwich bar all under one roof in The Nations. They sell responsibly raised beef, pork, chicken, and lamb from local and regional farmers, plus house-made sausages, bacon, deli meats, and meatballs. Then they turn around and use those same meats to make sandwiches. That’s the whole idea, and it works.

Here’s the thing to know before you go: the kitchen is only open for lunch, 11 AM to 3 PM, Monday through Saturday. The butcher shop stays open until 6 PM, so you can always swing by after work to grab a steak or some sausage for dinner, but if you want a sandwich, plan for lunch. It’s also cash-free, so bring a card.

The sandwich list is the real draw. Six mainstays are always in rotation, all $14, plus weekly specials posted on their Instagram. There’s a cheeseburger, a Who Dat Po’Boy with braised beef, a meatball sub, a pastrami melt with house made pastrami on marbled rye, a hot ham with seasonal jam, and a fried bologna. I want to try every single one of them, which is not something I say often about a menu. The sides were just as good. The greens and potatoes were addictive, and everything tastes like it was made with real ingredients and a lot of care, with no shortcuts.

Bare Bones is the kind of spot Nashville needs more of. It’s independent, it’s community-focused, and it takes its food seriously without taking itself too seriously. Go for lunch, grab some meat to cook at home on your way out, and get friendly with the butchers. They clearly love talking about what they do.

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• 📍Location: Nations

• 🍴Recommendation: Any sandwich

• ⭐️ Highlight: quality, taste

🔎 Last Eaten Review: El Cubano

The Cuban is a great place to start. It’s roasted mojo pork, braised ham hock, garlic mojo sauce, yellow mustard, house pickles, and swiss on a hoagie roll for $14. The pork is the star, and you can tell it comes from a place that actually knows its way around a whole hog. The mojo and mustard bring the tang, the pickles bring the bite, and the swiss ties it all together. It’s a classic done by people who clearly care about the meat. Pair it with the greens and potatoes and you’ve got a lunch worth driving across town for.

🥩 Check them out: https://www.barebonesbutcher.com/

Have a great day!

Hueston Nelson | Publisher | The Nashville Grapevine