About a month ago, “Nature Boy” Brandon Vick, who loves Groupon, came to me and said he had just bought a Groupon for a little place called Casa de Montecristo over around The Gulch in Nashville, Tennessee. Since we decided at our last quarterly business summit that we wanted to get out and about more in town and start shining a light on some our city’s finest establishments, I said, “hell yeah, let’s do this.”
So, we phoned up Poppa Bear and made arrangements to visit after a hard day’s work on Friday night, the 10th of November, 2017. Good thing, too, because your boy had one hell of a week, and I couldn’t have thought of a more relaxing way to unwind than a slow-burning cigar and an Old Fashioned.
Case de Montecristo is located off of 9th Avenue around Party Fowl and the Yazoo Brewery – that part of town. It’s one of the trendiest areas in the Music City these days, but Casa de Montecristo is tucked away, hidden in plain sight almost. It felt incredibly low-key.
We walked in and were all three immediately impressed with the layout of the establishment. You could walk straight into the actual cigar shop. Take a left and you’re in the lounge, or a right to head to the conference table.
Now, all of us enjoy a cigar pretty regularly, but it’s fair to say that none of us are aficionados. That’s where Hutch came in handy. He was working the shop, and approached us as soon as he could see us looking around like, “where do we start?” We didn’t get salesman treatment, either. No, there was simply no need. The shop sold itself – everything was presented easily, digestibly, and all we needed was a point in the right direction.
Poppa Bear told Hutch, “I like ’em mild,” and within a few steps and seconds, Poppa Bear had his choice in hand. Forgive me, I can’t remember what he chose. That’s journalism for you, folks.
Anyway, Brandon elected the Montecristo No. 2 – a cigar that is regularly $18, but was included in his Groupon because he’s a Groupon king. We came away with what should have been close to $150 in cigars for about $60. It was amazing.
As for me, the shop had an extensive selection of Macanudo and Camacho, two of my go-to favorites. But, I was itching to try something new. So, I went with the Quesada Oktoberfest. Something about the smell just lured me in. I didn’t regret it.
We made our purchases, Hutch clipped our cigars, and we decided to scope out the lounge. It was classy, snazzy, and the type of place to immediately take you out of all the usual neon lights and honky tonks that is Nashville today. Patrick took care of us at the bar, a seasoned vet who knew what we needed before we did: a smoke-infused Old-Fashioned. Torch lighters and ash trays sat at the bar, so we were good. to. go.
In fact, we were good for a couple of hours – just sitting at the bar, catching up, watching the football and basketball games, forgetting that we were even there for real journalism. It was the quintessential ‘guys being dudes’ night. Eventually, growling stomachs forced us from our comfort, and we hit up Night Train Pizza, located just across the parking lot.
We all left that night saying, “this is the new spot.”
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick’s Review
Classy.
That’s the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Casa de Montecristo. It’s not a huge place, which makes it that much more enjoyable. They have a small shop inside where Hutch is a top-notch tour guide. For every question, he had the answer. Personally, he showed me one hell of a deal that I simply could not pass up.
Once we made our way to the bar, our bartender Patrick was front and center with a great recommendation of a smokey old fashioned. He didn’t even know that was our jam, he could just peek into our souls and instantly know what we needed. Personally, I haven’t seen mine in years.
With a smooth drink and a delicious cigar (Montecristo No. 2 for me and I can still smell it in my hair), I could’ve stayed all night. But when we found out we could walk just 30 seconds to get pizza instead of ordering it—-we had to get our asses moving.
This place was all about discovery and I’m glad we found you, Casa de Montecristo.
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter@SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
Check out Case de Montecristo’s sit here. Check out our review of the Corsair Brewstillery here – if you have an establishment you’d like us to come check out, shoot us an e-mail at thesobrosnetwork@gmail.com.
Buy our shirt. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork. Listen on SoundCloud. Watch on YouTube. Shop our store on Redbubble.
