Franklin resident, Nick Pellegrino, brought the pop-up restaurant concept to Williamson County with his Italian restaurant Mangia. He utilized Cool Cafe’s space, during their non-operating hours.
Creating an atmosphere that Pellegrino refers to as a “big Italian wedding,” complete with multiple courses and dancing to round out the dinner. 
Before opening Mangia, Pellegrino was a music veteran, combining both his passion for music, entertaining and food, making Mangia an instant success.
Now, seven years later Mangia has opened a brick and mortar location in August at 701 Craighead Street in Nashville where they offer not only dinner but lunch daily.
“Our new location is great! Lunch and dinner are going very well for us,” said Pellegrino, “we still do our big feasts every Friday and Saturday nights at 7:00 pm.”
The next big feast will take place on Friday, December 23, Mangia will be offering the Christmas Italian tradition of The Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner. Pellegrino shared with us the origin of The Feast of Seven Fishes.
“The Feast of the Seven Fishes is a Southern Italian tradition that was brought to America by Italian-American immigrants. I was always told we were to fast on Christmas Eve in anticipation of the birth of Jesus. Of course, the Italian version of fasting just means no meat! Since meat was not allowed Italians would eat seafood that night.”
“The number of fishes comes from the 7 sacraments of the Roman Catholic church. The fast would end at midnight on Christmas eve at mass when you received Holy Communion. It doesn’t matter which seven fish you choose as long as there are seven. Every family has their own traditional recipes and when we do our Seven Fishes here at Mangia Nashville I try to stick to the 7 fish my family would enjoy every Christmas eve. Octopus, calamari, shrimp, crab, bacala (salt cod), scallops and usually some kind of whole fish, we serve red snapper here.”
There are just a few spots remaining for The Feast of the Seven Fishes. Make your reservation by emailing [email protected] or by calling 615 538-7456.
Or stop by and visit Mangia Nashville for lunch and dinner. Hours of operation are Monday-Saturday 11am-1opm with reservations required for the Friday and Saturday night feast. Be sure to follow Mangia Nashville on Facebook for the latest updates and offerings.
[scroller style=”sc1″ title=”More Food & Wine ” title_size=”17″ display=”cats” cats=”31″ number_of_posts=”8″ speed=”5000″]
Please join our FREE Newsletter
