Nashville has embraced Centennial Park as a beloved public haven since its opening in 1903. It offers 132 acres of green space replete with mature trees and lush gardens, sculptures and statuary, walkways and picnic grounds, a lake, an art center, a music venue, an events site, and its crown jewel, the Parthenon. A key element missing all these years has been the park’s own café — a place where visitors can gather for coffee, snacks, a leisurely lunch, an ice cream treat.
Missing, no more.
Welcome to Croquet Cafe. Housed on the revitalized north end of the park in a repurposed building, the full-service restaurant offers fresh, picnic-inspired food and drinks. Grilled citrus chicken wraps. Pressed paninis. All-beef hot dogs. Lattes. Smoothies. Soft serve. Sundaes.
How this desirable amenity came into being is a testament to the vision and partnership of the Centennial Park Conservancy and Metro Parks.
The Backstory
In the 1950s, people used a large lawn near the Sunken Gardens for playing croquet. The game had become so popular that, in 1963, park stewards built a clubhouse on site for the players to use. But by the mid-’70s, croquet’s popularity had all but vanished. The lawn became a concrete pad for an event shelter, and the midcentury Space Age-style clubhouse shuttered.
“For 40 years, it was basically a storage closet,” says John Tumminello, Centennial Park Conservancy president. Having a café in the park had long been on the agenda — even appearing in the park’s 2010 master plan. And after the Great Lawn’s completion in 2021, the Conservancy decided it was finally time to build an event pavilion and a café.
That’s when John learned about the abandoned clubhouse from Tim Netsch, assistant director of the Metro Parks Division of Planning and Facilities Development. Like many other park structures, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Distinguished by its steep, sharp-angled roof and its triangular bay of windows, the exceptional and near-forgotten midcentury brick building could easily become a cool café space. Paired with plans for a neighboring grand event pavilion overlooking Lake Watauga, it was a natural fit.
With generous funding from the Frist Foundation, the Dettwiller Foundation, the Sandra Schatten Foundation and others — and bolstered by a strong partnership with Metro Parks — John was able to make the concept a reality.
A Team Effort
The mission was clear from the onset: Centennial Park Conservancy would manage the café, and its profits would go toward the park’s preservation and revitalization projects.
But achieving this was no solo endeavor. Importantly, Metro Parks was aligned. “This project would never have come to life without the leadership of Parks Director Monique Odom Horton,” John says. “It’s a perfect example of how private and public entities can collaborate for the greater good.”
The Conservancy and Metro Parks enlisted Nick Dryden of Dryden Studio to reconfigure the clubhouse into an appealing, serviceable café that both honored its architecture and highlighted its history. Chris Barkley of Hodgson Douglas Landscape Architects came on board to integrate it into the park’s setting, in concert with the new northside entrance and event pavilion. Other key players, Colliers Engineering and R.C. Mathews Contractor, rounded out the team.
But the critical piece was the café fare itself. After speaking with a number of local restaurateurs, John tapped Joseph Bogan and Crystal de Luna-Bogan of The Grilled Cheeserie as consultants to create a modern, approachable, picnic-inspired menu.
Something for Everyone
It was no small task for Crystal and Joseph to design a menu based on the park’s criteria. They needed food that could be freshly prepared in a small commercial kitchen and accommodate both adults and kids, while covering a range of dietary needs — vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free — at an affordable price point. The pair ably met that challenge, and now chef Kristian Morgan, the cafe’s general manager, is its guiding light.
Croquet Cafe offers a roster of flavor-packed handhelds and salad bowls, picnic boards, snacks and sweets — plus an array of beverages. When you enter the café, you’ll even see a cold case filled with grab-and-go items.
If you choose A Midsummer’s Cobb Salad, you’ll be pleased with the beautifully arranged grilled chicken breast strips and perfectly crunchy crumbled bacon. You don’t have to be vegan to enjoy the Sunken Garden Veggie Wrap, which boasts grilled vegetables and baby kale in a luscious elote crema. And don’t pass up the hot panini sandwiches — best enjoyed under the shade of a nearby mighty willow oak tree. The Pimento Park, the house pimento cheese sandwich, is layered with bacon jam and pickled green tomatoes and griddle-pressed into melty goodness. For a small upcharge, you can add a cup of tomato-basil soup.
Little ones will relish Kidsville Combos, like the Little Owl Chicken Bites, Silly Goose Grilled Cheese or Park Pup Hot Dog. Each comes with fresh fruit and a juice box.
While John readily admits he knows little about menu creation, he’s pretty clever at naming the dishes. Many, you’ll notice, take their cues from Centennial Park itself. Some are obvious: Parthenon Grain Bowl or the Great Lawn Veggie Dog. Others, perhaps less so. Park Bench Picnic Board and Invisible String Cheese Panini are Taylor Swift references. Yellow Rose smoothie? The Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument. Identifying the different allusions could become a game in itself.
In sourcing ingredients, the café team works with many local producers: 8th & Roast supplies beans for the coffee and espresso bar, Dozen Bakery offers goods for the pastry case, and Bobby John Henry Bakery provides breads and buns for sandwiches and hot dogs.
And we’d be remiss not to mention the café’s soft serve. Available in vanilla, chocolate or a twist of the two, it’s dreamy on its own — or as the foundation for one of the sundaes. (The Banana Pudding Sundae is especially delightful.)
A Homegrown Treasure
It’s been remarkable — this little-known clubhouse brought back from obscurity, transformed into a delightful café. While shining the light on a piece of Nashville history, it fills the long-held desire for a dedicated park eatery. As our city continues attracting hospitality groups from around the country, it’s heartening to see homegrown change, by and for Nashvillians.
John says Croquet Cafe, the first of its kind in a Metro Nashville park, will eventually offer breakfast. They’re also working on a liquor license. The lawn is a lovely spot for gatherings. Picnics. Bocce ball. Tai chi. Yoga. Oh, and croquet.
“This is an evolving vision, not stagnant,” John says. “People love Musicians Corner. Shakespeare in the Park has come back to the Bandshell. Families value our Kidsville programs and fall festival. Now, we have the northside revitalization.”
He notes that the new café and event pavilion will raise funds for the park’s next phase. “Centennial Park is a gift to the city — a place to treasure nature, the arts and community,” he says.
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