A first look at East Nashville's new circus-themed bar, plus the scoop on two more spots

There are hints that you're on the right path. And then there are improbable coincidences.

That's the case with the tiger painting that hangs in the soon-to-open Tiger Bar, a new project from Jamie White and his partners in Pearl Diver: Ben Clemmons, Corey Ladd and Matt Spicher.

White, a Nashville native, has also partnered with Micah Copeland and Shaun Folad in Lucky's 3 Star bar, GoodTimes Full Service bar and the forthcoming Roy's Royal Room. White said he also has another unnamed project coming for East Nashville.

Tiger Bar, which could open as early as this month, has revived the former Hop Stop and Walden at 2909B Gallatin Pike in East Nashville. Along with nearby Mickey's Tavern, the Fox Bar & Cocktail Club and Nicoletto's Italian Kitchen, the bar adds to a cluster of locally loved businesses.

Tiger Bar's interior is moody but fun, befitting its circus sideshow theme — lively, dark and appropriately weird. The booths, which will be tufted velvet in gold and red, are fashioned to look like sideshow rail cars. There will be a Zoltar fortune-telling machine that will occasionally spit out coupons for free drinks. A sword swallower might sometimes roam the bar.

More: Tiki or Tini? Check out this new nightlife spot from Nashville-based restaurateurs

About that tiger painting. White's great-aunt Carol gave it to him when he opened Pearl Diver in 2018. At that point, Tiger Bar had a name and a concept but no home. Aunt Carol once hung the painting in her Coney Island ice cream shop, which was also sideshow-themed. It was pure coincidence; neither family member knew of the other's ventures.

"It blew all of our minds," White said.

It was an auspicious start for a bar that leans into the mystery of the sideshow, a place of exotic animals and outcasts who could perform seemingly supernatural feats.

Steak, biscuits and beer: Check out these recent changes in Nashville's dining scene

As for drinks, the menu is still being fleshed out, White said. But it's coming together in an elevated way, with a menu focusing on classic gin drinks from the dawn of the cocktail era to the '30s.

"Maybe a bit more science than they had then," White said. "It will be a smaller list, but an intense, fun list."

Some will have circus-themed twists, such as a negroni crowned with a sugary tuft of cotton candy that quickly dissolves — disappearing right before your eyes, as it were.

There will be food, with a menu composed mostly of small and sharable plates, including shrimp cocktail, chicken liver pate, clams, marinated vegetable plates, tomato pie and a chickpea fritter with caviar and creme fraiche. Elevated doesn't mean stuffy though, and the kitchen will turn out what is essentially a fancy hot pocket stuffed with ham and cheese.

More: What to know about the whiskey bar gearing toward a fall opening in Germantown

But at its heart, White hopes an element of weird hangs in the air at Tiger Bar. He wants to evoke the spirit of a Coney Island burlesque show, and perhaps the spirit of East Nashville, when it was still weird not too long ago, he said.

"I just think to do such an elevated concept but also have that weirdness kind of takes the pretentiousness out of fancy cocktail (culture) a little bit," he said. "You can see in here now that it looks great, but it's about to be even sexier, a lot more drapes, and to have all that and have a bit of the weird side to it I think is going to be a lot of fun."

This will not be the last project that White has coming for East Nashville.

Also in the works: Roy's Royal Room, a neighborhood bar coming to what's now the Henry James Bar at 3807 Gallatin Pike. Henry James will close in early September. White said Copeland and Folad, his partners in Lucky's and GoodTimes, are purchasing the property. White will help them run the bar.

As was the case with Lucky's and GoodTimes, White said it's likely the Henry James building would have been lost to new construction had the partners not taken it over.

"I hope a lot of people see the good in what we're doing," White said. "I know people do love that space, but our goal is not to change it too much."

White and his partners plan to add a few TVs for broadcasting sports and a patio to the front of the building, which will also get new signage and a fresh coat of paint. Once open, as early as later this year, Roy's menu will lean mostly on house-made pizza.

White has more plans in the works for East Nashville. He and other unnamed partners have secured a parcel in front of the American Legion and next to the Goodwill Express Donation Center at 3200 Gallatin Pike with plans to build what White described as an "open-air concept."

White couldn't reveal what's in store, but city permits show potential plans for a 3,000-square-foot restaurant on that property. The parcel was purchased in 2021 by Lost and Found LLC, which is registered to 1305 Dickerson Pike, also the site of Retrograde Coffee.

"I think everyone's going to be excited when it does come," White said.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: New East Nashville bars, plus first look at circus-themed Tiger Bar