Auf Wiedersehen: Gerst Haus Closing Feb. 10

NASHVILLE, TN -- Gerst Haus, one of Nashville's oldest and long beloved restaurants, is saying auf Wiedersehn to the city its served for more than 60 years.

The restaurant confirmed to The Tennessean it will close its doors Feb. 10.

In 1955, the restaurant opened in a cinderblock building, serving hearty German fare to Middle Tennessee. When the Tennessee Titans relocated from Houston in the late 1990s, the restaurant had to relocate too as much of Woodland Street was flattened to make way for what is now Nissan Stadium. Since then, it's been positioned at the corner of Woodland and Interstate Drive, remaining a popular spot before football games, as on Sundays it offered a Bavarian-inspired brunch.

Carrying the name of the once-famous Gerst Brewery in Nashville, which closed its massive operation at Sixth Avenue and Lafayette in 1954, for decades the Gerst Haus was the only place to get Gerst Amber Ale, until Yazoo Brewery took up brewing the beer from the original recipe in 2011.

Brothers Jim and Jerry Chandler, who were already running the Sportsman's Grill, bought Gerst Haus from a scion of the Gerst family in 1988, leading it through its relocation, serving zillions of massive fishbowls of its namesake beer, tons of sausages and silos-worth of delicious potato salad in a Bavarian beerhouse-styled space, which includes a large portrait of Donau, the 1910 Kentucky Derby winner, which was owned by William Gerst, who once described his prize horse as having "the speed of a sprinter, the courage of a bulldog, and the gameness of a fighting cock." The "track demon" retired to Gerst's farm for retraining as a steeplechaser, but died in a mysterious disease epidemic at the farm that killed Donau and two others and sickened 18 more.

Presumably, Yazoo will continue brewing the beer, maintaining a link between Nashville and the Gersts that dates back to 1890.

Image via Google Maps