A Generous Pour

The story of Jimmy Kelly's Steak House, Nashville's oldest fine restaurant and the family who started it-of stills, saloons, and speakeasies, and of a family who was tough and resourceful, who lost everything, and picked themselves up and started again.

Jimmy Kelly's Steak House, Nashville's oldest fine restaurant, remains an institution in the city and a meeting place for all manner of personalities. It's current owner, Mike Kelly, grew up in the kitchens and backrooms of the family's saloons and restaurants, learning the tricks of the trade, playing hide and seek in the meat locker, and busing tables.

He remembers his grandfather saying, "We make our guests feel like we're welcoming them into our home. We give them a great steak and a generous pour of whiskey, and they keep coming back over and over."

The Kelly family history is colorful, to say the least. It's a story of saloons and speakeasies, of running liquor across borders during Prohibition, of interesting offers from Al Capone, of learning how to make the perfect steak and serve the finest whiskey, and so much more. But it's also a story of endurance and resourcefulness, of a family who refused to give up, who experienced failures and success, and who chased the American dream and made their mark in the restaurant world.