Sean Brock is returning to his first passion, music, after three decades of honing his culinary career in some of the South’s most celebrated kitchens, including his own.
Brock opened hi-fidelity record bar and lounge Bar Continental on Oct. 1, located in the former space of his fine-dining restaurant The Continental, at 1000 Broadway Suite 101.
On Brock’s annual visits to Japan, he would visit tea lounges, or listening bars, and always wonder why there wasn’t something like it in Nashville. He knew it was a project he wanted to do in his lifetime.
During his most recent trip at the end of May, he got lucky and sat in the seat perfectly positioned between the speakers and found that the listening experience was almost three-dimensional.
“I could hear music all around me, the separation of the instruments in a way that I haven’t heard since I’ve been a musician in a studio and it made me feel really amazing. … That’s what music is all about. That’s why we need music, we need that burst of serotonin and when you hear something beautiful it touches you physically,” Brock told the Business Journal.
He started to study the speakers and amps used to replicate that experience, shared plans and with friends in town and starting putting together the concept to pitch to investors.
He was sitting at The Continental one day and noticed the shelves above the bar.
“I thought, ‘Well, I wonder if I already have a listening bar.’ I said to myself, ‘If I bring a stack of records in and it fits perfectly on that shelf where the booze is, I’m just going to do it here. And it did,” Brock said.
From there, Brock began to study music just as he had food for the past 30 years.
“I want to look at this from an educational standpoint, the way I did food. I’m trying to learn about music the way I learned about food, geographically, studying each region, understanding what the climate is, also all the cultural influences that are involved in each place,” Brock said. “I know why the food tastes the way it tastes in Louisiana and it’s the same reason why the music sounds like it does. … It’s really trying to understand the link between music and food because it comes from the same soul.”
Sean Brock, the Broadway bar owner
Ever since Brock moved to Nashville, he’s been obsessed with Robert’s Western World and thinks of it as a place you can’t miss when visiting.
His dream is to work Bar Continental into that tradition of Broadway must-sees and fabric of music culture in Nashville.
“When I was in Japan, I was trying to describe The Continental to someone and how it was on Broadway, and I realized that I own a bar on Broadway,” Brock said. “I’m very interested in that now, being an owner of a bar on Broadway is a great privilege and it’s such a cool way to be a part of the history of Nashville. I want to create a quiet, calm place where people can relax, enjoy music from a comfortable place where we are providing the highest level of food and beverage that we can and same with the music.”
He’s already noticed many residents and tourists alike using Bar Continental as a place to come before a show or after attending one.
Beyond that, Brock hopes it is utilized as a type of green room by musicians playing venues like Ryman Auditorium, Bridgestone Arena and forthcoming AEG venue at Nashville Yards.
“I want this to be a place where music does what it supposed to do and makes us feel great and. … work my way into a tradition of maybe you start here before you make it to Broadway, and it’s just a little bit more peaceful, but still rooted in music and high quality,” Brock said.
Bar Continental’s over 5,000 records remind guests that Nashville is home to every genre of music, exploring under-the-radar names across jazz, Mississippi blues, northern and southern soul, classic rock, ’70s fuzz, classic honky-tonk and more. Guests can expect to hear the variety of tunes streaming out of the highest quality audiophile equipment, including vintage McIntosh and Tannoy speakers.
Weekly programming features a night for everyone’s tastes, and Mondays are vinyl community night where guests can get 50% off beer and burgers and spin their own records.
From The Continental to Bar Continental
Brock learned a lot about fine dining and what its future could look like when transitioning The Continental to Bar Continental.
Steering away from traditional service at fine-dining restaurants, Brock has created a system where diners can mark what they want on cards, similar to what one would expect at a sushi bar, put it in a box and stick it on the gold stand, present at each table. Bar Continental accommodates 21 guests at The Onken Bar, 24 at the Wolf Bar and 46 in the main dining room.
When the server sees a box on the stand, they know to go over to the table and get them as fast as possible.
“What I’m trying to create is something that doesn’t exist. A way to provide the highest level of service and excellence, but not interrupt them. That taught me a lot about fine dining and how much people truly want to converse with the restaurant. A lot of people are coming to dinner to speak with the person they came with,” Brock said. “For us, I wanted people to be as taken care of as they were at The Continental, in a more relaxed way and what it’s teaching me and showing me is maybe this is the future, maybe what restaurateurs and business owners need to be looking at.”
The daily, rotating menu focuses on classic bar cuisine and fresh seafood. Highlights include heirloom tomatoes with mango, hamachi & ikura with yuzu, bluefin tuna Caesar and steak au poivre. The beverage menu features classic cocktails, non-alcoholic offerings, wines and beer.
In partnership with Nashville-based Now and Then, Bar Continental also serves coffee, tea and pastries Tuesday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Bar Continental is open from 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. Sunday to Thursday and 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
“We are all feeling the ripple effects of what we’ve gone through in the past few years and I’m just interested in removing stress and creating more peace through playing wonderful music, through a wonderful space where we care about the memory that you’re trying to make,” Brock said.