A veteran Chattanooga restaurateur is joining with his brother to open a new downtown eatery, and its name is a nod to the city's historic Southside.
Rob Gentry and brother Clay have bought a parcel at Main and Cowart streets where they're renovating and remaking the site into a 185-seat restaurant called Hello Monty.
Rob Gentry said Montgomery Avenue was an early name of Main Street. Former Chattanooga attorney B. Rush Montgomery was a supporter of the city "and bragged about it," Gentry said.
"We're very bullish on Chattanooga and the Southside," said Gentry, a resident of the area who for many years operated The Blue Plate restaurant and the ROBAR cocktail bar on downtown's waterfront before closing them early this year.
Plans are to open the 6,300-square-foot Hello Monty eatery and bar in mid-October, he said. Initially, the restaurant will serve dinner six days a week and later move into lunch, Gentry said.
The cooking will be done over live fire, he said.
"We'll grill everything," the restaurant owner said. "All the products will be touched by fire."
The food will have a Mediterranean influence, but one "touched by two Southern boys," he said. "It will be primarily Southern."
Half of the seating at the restaurant will be outdoors, Gentry said. It will have a 1,300-square-foot outdoor dining porch and yard that runs along Cowart Street.
The new venture expects to employ from 40 to 55 people in the long term, Gentry said.
While he admitted it's a challenging time for the restaurant industry, two key management team members are already on board.
Food operations and the kitchen will be run by Rebecca Barron. She earned a James Beard Foundation award nomination recognizing culinary professionals while at St. John's Restaurant where she was executive chef.
Also, the restaurant manager is Mary Halford, who oversaw operations for The Blue Plate from 2013 until it closed, according to Gentry.
"We want to create a neighborhood place," he said. "We hope that concept, food, beverages, and environment attracts folks who want to come work for us."
The Blue Plate had opened in 2006 at 191 Chestnut St. across from the Tennessee Aquarium and ROBAR debuted in adjacent space in 2015. RAG Hospitality, of which Rob Gentry was president, decided not to renew the lease for the riverfront locations.
"The fact that our lease was up for renewal in the current economic climate made us think about the future in new ways," Gentry said early this year.
Last month, the nonprofit downtown redevelopment group River City Co. unveiled a new plan that includes the biggest proposed remake to the riverfront in nearly two decades. Planners unveiled an array of proposals aimed at drawing more locals and daily use to the waterfront, which officials said had lost some energy in recent years.
Emily Mack, River City's president and chief executive officer, termed the plan "an evolution of the riverfront district."
Gentry wouldn't say how much they're investing into the new restaurant, but he called it "a significant commitment to the neighborhood."
Both he and his brother grew up in Chattanooga, went away to college and then returned, he said. Rob Gentry is a co-founder of Big River Grille & Brewing Works, which he said offered the first post-Prohibition commercial brewery in Chattanooga.
Clay Gentry has been managing brewing operations and designing breweries for Big River restaurants across the country since the 1990s.
"We're tickled with the opportunity to get back together," Rob Gentry said.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.