Just a stone’s throw from Nashville’s Cumberland River, Liberty Common is an inspired brasserie with channel-tufted leather booths, sapphire velvet armchairs, glossy white subway tile and a mural by Nashville artist Tarabella Behar. The dining room is punctuated by bentwood chairs, boxwood balls in rectilinear planters, and industrial pendants reclaimed from a French factory. The patio’s turquoise cafe chairs are perfect perches from which to observe passersby while sampling steak frites and duck cassoulet.
PHOTO: MAYTER SCOTT PHOTOGRAPHY
The latest restaurant from Atlanta designer Smith Hanes, Halsa is a health-forward, Swedish-style communal-dining concept in Mado, the newest neighborhood at Serenbe, the earthy but affluent “community in the trees,” 35 miles southwest of the city. The eatery’s calling card is a 1970s-mod mural in camel, teal and mauve, done in tinted plaster by local artist Tommy Taylor of Southern Plaster. The result is a powdery-soft backdrop for sleek bentwood chairs and frosted globe fixtures that preside over the scene like celestial bodies.
PHOTO: JESSICA ASHLEY COURTESY SERENBE
With B-Liner, James Beard Foundation Award-winning consulting chef Mike Lata aims to redefine the concept of private club dining. While not open to the public (only to Kiawah Island Club residents and their guests), the new eatery is as elite as any on the peninsula. Charleston architect David Thompson updated the Robert A.M. Stern-designed clubhouse with whitewashed cypress paneling, basket-style Palecek pendants and Cle tilework cladding its crudo bar.
