Two years ago, Belcourt Taps and Tapas opened in a renovated bungalow at 2117 Belcourt Ave. in Hillsboro Village, with a menu of beer-friendly small plates and live music of the mostly acoustic variety.

Recently, the restaurant’s owners, Rose Melillo and Chris Lynch, decided it was time to beef up the concept with a new specialty: stuffed burgers. They have teamed with two new partners, nightclub veteran Terry Hudson and avid cook and branding expert Shaun Bertrand, who relaunched the joint last week as simply Taps.

Bertrand says he uses local beef in his signature burgers. I haven’t gotten my hands on a menu, but burger names include The Sunday Brunch, The Balboa (I hear that one’s Italian), Hell’s Kitchen and Juicy Lucy. There’ a complementary lineup of six different fresh-cut fries, including truffle fries and jerk sweet potato fries. Bertrand also does daily smoked barbecue, tacos and starters like smoked chicken thighs.

The music and mood have also changed, Bertrand said. Instead of mellow acoustic, it’s “upbeat and crowd-pleasing live bands” and DJs, and a neighborhood-party vibe. The team completely renovated the
interior and roofed the patio out front.

The new Taps will offer lunch, happy hour and dinner, and stay open late, operating 11 a.m. to midnight or later seven days a week.

 

Roast Inc., the family-owned coffee roasting company on Trousdale Lane in the Crieve Hall neighborhood, has closed the retail coffeehouse side of the operation to concentrate on catering and wholesale. At the same time, the company is introducing a unique new local product: cold-brewed coffee in a bottle, which will be sold at Whole Foods and three local farmers’ markets.

Lesa and Brad Wood opened the cafe in 2010 to showcase their beans, which Brad purchases from “microlots” produced by single small estates in Central and South America, Indonesia and Africa. Lesa handles the craft of roasting, and she’s the one who ran the coffeehouse, specializing in brewing by the cup using artisan methods.

But the success of the wholesale and catering side of the business far outpaced the retail, Lesa said. In late 2011, Roast Inc. secured a deal to supply coffee beans to both local Whole Foods stores, and in February she opened a separate roasting facility a few doors down from the cafe.

A couple weeks ago, Wood shut down the coffeehouse so she could concentrate on the other aspects of the business. The lease was up, she said, and the neighborhood is a bit too isolated to generate the retail traffic to support a coffeehouse.

“But we didn’t want to leave the Crieve Hall customers high and dry,” she said. So every Friday from noon to 5 p.m. she and a barista open up the roasting facility to customers so people can sip free samples of the different coffees and buy beans.

And now, customers can also pick up chilled bottles of Roast Inc. Cold-Filtered Coffee. It comes in two varieties: black coffee and a Vietnamese-style version made with sweetened milk. The bottled coffee will soon be sold at Whole Foods, too.

The roastery is at 4825 Trousdale Drive, suite 218. Roast Inc. also sells at the 12South Farmers Market (3:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesdays), the East Nashville Farmers’ Market (3:30-6:30 p.m. Wednesdays) and the Franklin Farmers Market (8 to 1 p.m. Saturdays).

For updates, follow Roast Inc. on Facebook or Twitter, or email lesa@roastinc.com to sign up for the weekly newsletter.

 

One door (in this case, coffeehouse door) closes, and another one opens. The long-awaited Barista Parlor has opened in East Nashville, on Gallatin Road behind Porter Road Butcher.

The coffeehouse, which takes a cutting-edge approach to coffee with single-cup brewing and the majestically named Slayer espresso machine, opened May 11.

I haven’t made it over there yet, but here’s what the Nashville Scene’s Jack Silverman said after his visit: “Proprietor Andy Mumma has pulled out all the stops, from fabulous decor, artwork and most importantly, some of the finest coffee products (and chocolates) money can buy.”

In addition to coffee, Mumma sells a carefully curated selection of single-origin chocolate bars and snacks supplied by chefs James Peisker and Chris Carter of neighboring Porter Road Butcher.

Barista Parlor is at 519B Gallatin; hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.