Chappy’s finds a Middle Tennessee mooring

   Some people like to go where the wind blows them, but for John “Chappy” Chapman, it wasn’t mere whim that brought him to Nashville. The owner of Chappy’s, the splendid and sprawling seafood-friendly restaurant on Church Street, was uprooted from his home by Hurricane Katrina, which leveled both his house and his Mississippi Gulf Coast restaurant in August 2005. But if his domicile and his livelihood were gone with the wind, tomorrow was another day for Chappy and his dream.

   In Katrina’s aftermath, a friend in Nashville opened his door to Chappy and his wife Star and their two children. They stayed two months, while Chappy got his bearings, took stock and decided to carry on with what he knew best. The former shipping broker had owned and operated Chappy’s Seafood Restaurant on the Gulf Coast since 1984, and he found a building here ideal for not only returning to his past glory, but redoubling it. The 18,000-square foot edifice on Church is almost twice the size of the former Chappy’s.

   Chappy’s on Church specializes in Gulf Coast cuisine, which encompasses both Creole- and Cajun-style, and it also serves steaks, veal, duck, quail and chicken. Another specialty is “old-world charm,” as Chappy himself puts it, represented by, among other things, indoor Parisian street lamps, a hundred-year-old stained-glass wall, a hand-carved bar from Belgium, and European works of art everywhere, including the restrooms. His homage to New Orleans is half a dozen alcoves named for Mardi Gras Krewes (the organizations that put on the parades and other festivities for what Chappy calls “the biggest free show on earth.”)

   The ebullient Chappy does much of the cooking (“I have my finger in the pot every day,” he says), and his rule of thumb (or finger) is simply this: “If I don’t like it, we don’t do it. But I like a lot of things.”  Seafood is his favorite, especially crab, followed closely by shrimp and oysters. The fresh fish at Chappy’s comes from all over, principally from the Gulf Coast but also from the East and West coasts.

   Chappy is an easygoing fellow, but he is seriously distressed by many Nashvillians’ penchant for a diet of “chicken fingers, fried cheese and pulled pork.” And he’s out to liberate them.

   “Here, people eat to live,” he says. “Where I come from, we lived to eat. At breakfast, we’d talk about what we were going to have for lunch. At lunch, we’d talk about what we were going to have for dinner. And at dinner, we’d talk about what we had for breakfast and lunch.”  

   Building the business has been a gradual process, but Chappy’s on Church has attracted a loyal following by offering a taste of something different in elegant surroundings. There’s live music Friday and Saturday nights, and a Champagne brunch every Sunday. The restaurant seats 575, and can book parties in one of three private rooms, the Napoleon Room (seats 250), the Fats Domino Room (seats 60), or the Pete Fountain Room (seat 25). Chappy’s also offers catering, both in-house and on-site.         

  

   Restaurateur John Chapman is a descendant of the peripatetic John Chapman who became Johnny Appleseed. At the risk of comparing apples to seafood, you could say that, like his namesake, “Chappy” Chapman left his home to plant a seed elsewhere.

   Chappy’s on Church is at 1721 Church St. in Nashville. The restaurant is open seven days a week; call 615.322.9932 for hours and to make reservations, or visit www.chappy’s.com.