Miro, Miro on the wall

Miro District's seafood sampler platter

Miro District will celebrate its first birthday on Aug. 1.

But don’t expect the classy restaurant and bar to mimic a hyperactive child in her “terrible twos,” as this next 12-month period promises to be significant for what has quickly become a Midtown staple.

Miro District owner Jerry Brown primed his baby well during its first 12 months, taking cues from his current Gulch favorite Watermark, now in its fifth year.

With a revised menu, new chef and once-a-week live music, Miro District Food & Drink (lowercase “miro district” to be as precise as the restaurant’s fastidiously presented chicken salad) is weathering the current economic malaise while building on its already established strong points.

“The past year has been full of challenges and trying economic conditions for the restaurant industry — as has been the case for most industries,” Brown said. “We have made changes to our offerings that reflect a positive response to the current environment and are confident we are positioned for continued success.”

Of note, Brown is now calling Miro District a “barstro” — that is, a restaurant that combines a neighborhood bar with quality bistro-style food. Given its prime space in the handsome and cosmopolitan Adelicia condo tower and its proximity to numerous other residential and commercial buildings, that “neighborhood” theme makes sense.

“‘Bistro’ is generally used to describe a fairly casual style, with high quality,” Brown said. “It’s familiar, ‘comfort’ food. ‘Neighborhood’ is just that. We envisioned Miro District as part of the Midtown neighborhood from the outset. We want to be a go-to place for the neighborhood, whether as a regular lunch spot, for drinks, dinner or late night.”

A Nashville native and veteran entrepreneur who also develops medical buildings, Brown understands the art of “go-to,” the importance of creating a draw. For example, on July 9, Miro will start a music series to run through the remainder of the summer and to feature local artists. The series will take place on Thursday evenings and be promoted in conjunction with Lightning 100, Yazoo Brewing Co. and Lipman Brothers.

The live music will be discretely played in Miro’s first-floor lower dining area and not in the elegantly casual circular space highlighted by a stylish black ceiling and three-color tiled flooring with its centered starburst pattern.

Once-weekly summer music is part of various changes that, combined, have given Miro District a renewed vigor as it moves into Year 2.

Sean Norton will now serve as head chef while retaining that title at Watermark. He replaces original chef Dean Robb, who has started a restaurant consulting business.

“Sean spends time equally divided between the restaurants,” Brown said. “We have two excellent sous chefs (one at each restaurant) to support him. Sean has shown constant growth as a chef and as an executive chef (manager) since being named the exec chef at Watermark two years ago.”

In addition to Norton’s arrival, Miro District recently unveiled a raw bar, a late-night menu, an updated lunch menu and a Sunday brunch.

“We had started offering some raw bar items previously at Watermark to very positive response,” Brown said. “When we moved to our new menu at Miro, a full raw bar offering seemed to be a perfect fit. It has been very well received thus far.”

Brown said the changes, many of which have been driven by dedicated diners living in Adelicia, should prove exciting.

“We are very fortunate to have a ‘built-in’ clientele, which provides us with unique access to our loyal customers to gauge preferences,” he said. “Also, like most other restaurants, we have modified our menu to provide more cost-conscious options in response to the economy — again, a consumer-driven response.”

Brown’s moves are smart, as the Miro District menu items are not inexpensive — understandable as this is quality fare. For example, six of eight lunch menu appetizers are priced between $8 and $14. Entrees start at $9. Of note, however, the dinner menu features only four items priced in the $20 to $29 range.

During a recent visit, this writer enjoyed — with much delight — Miro’s green salad (field greens tossed with mustard and shallot), herb gnocchi (with Jonah crab, sherry and asparagus) and pommes frites.

Miro offers “daily features,” including bouillabaisse, grilled pork tenderloin and shrimp provencal. The wine options are substantial, as Brown and his team have assembled a list of approximately 90 champagnes, whites and reds.

One characteristic that differentiates Miro District from many similar independently owned and operated upscale Nashville restaurants is its variety of spaces, each distinctive of the other. In addition to the previously mentioned secondary entrance/dining and circular main dining spaces, Miro District offers a spacious bar (with its own eating area), an upstairs dining room (for private use) and a wrap-around patio that nicely frames a significant portion of Adelicia’s southwest base. Miro District also has two entrances, another distinctive quality. In some respects, Brown’s inviting creation looks and functions as multiple places.

Such an arrangement is ideal for, say, Wednesday nights, when Miro’s bar area pops.

“We have a standing Wednesday crowd,” Brown said, adding that a patron had dubbed the mid-week, after-work bar gathering ‘Drinking in The District’ — a play on both MD’s moniker and Nashville’s long-missed Dancin’ in the District event.

As to his hope for “Miro District, Year 2,” Brown gave a straightforward response:

“A continued refinement and definition.”

Miro District
122 Adelicia St.
320-1119
11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 11 a.m. to midnight Thursday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday