Look inside 1 Kitchen Nashville, now open in new downtown hotel 1 Hotel Nashville

Former Top Chef contestant Chris Crary is cooking in Nashville, overseeing all three restaurants at a new “sustainable luxury” hotel downtown. The hotel hopes to draw in the SoBro crowds with restaurant 1 Kitchen Nashville, Neighbors, an all-day cafe, and Harriet’s, a forthcoming rooftop bar.

1 Kitchen Nashville opens as part of 1 Hotel Nashville, a luxury hotel brand that claims to be “consciously cultivated.” As such, the restaurant aims to differentiate itself with things like an onsite garden, currently a bee garden for honey that will soon add vegetables and herbs, a glass pulverizer, and zero waste menu items. As for the commonly vague commitments to “sustainability” and “locally-sourced,” a representative clarifies that 1 Kitchen Nashville pledges to source 75 percent of ingredients within a 200-mile radius, and gets proteins from places like Bucksnort Trout Ranch, Pig & Leaf Farm, and Bear Creek Farm. The restaurant says it’s composting all green waste and has partnered with a company to recycle all the restaurant’s used oil. The hotel has an onsite glass pulverizer, apparently, to turn its glass into sand, and is currently seeking partners that could use free sand in housing or environmental projects.

The menu is outfitted with carnivore-friendly options like a country ham starter, fried chicken pot pie, and pork Milanese, but also shines a light on expertly-prepared vegetables with a beet Wellington, beautiful grilled baby carrot dish, and charred cauliflower with sundried tomato, walnuts, capers, and golden raisins. The restaurant says a number of menu items use all parts of an ingredient, like beet tops in the beet salad, and on the cocktail menu, all parts of the orange in a drink and espresso martinis made with spent espresso grounds. The “sustainable cocktails” part of the drinks menu also utilizes sustainable liquors, like Diplomatico, and falernum made with avocado pits instead of almonds.

Look inside 1 Kitchen Nashville below, now open for dinner Wednesday through Sunday, with brunch to follow.

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