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Varallo's is the oldest restaurant in
Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, founded as a chili parlor by Frank Varallo Sr. in 1907. From 1994 to 1998, there were two locations. Frank Varallo Jr. took over from his father in 1929, and a second Varallo's was opened by his two grandsons, Todd and Tony Varallo, near the entrance to the Nashville Arcade on Fourth Avenue. Frank Varallo Jr. closed his Church Street location upon his retirement in 1998, at the age of 85.


History

Frank Varallo Sr. immigrated to the US from
Viggiano Viggiano is a ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is bounded by the comuni of Calvello, Corleto Perticara, Grumento Nova, Laurenzana, Marsicovetere, and Montemurro. Viggiano is known for mi ...
, Italy. After several years as an interpreter at
Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mi ...
, Varallo moved to
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
to pursue a career in music as a violinist. A hunting accident ended his music career, so Varallo set up a chili cart inside a Fourth Avenue saloon. With the success of his chili recipe, Varallo opened his restaurant in 1907 at 708 Broadway, now the location of
Hume-Fogg High School Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet High School is a public magnet high school serving grades 9–12 and located in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. History Hume School, serving the first through 12th grades, opened in 1855 on Eighth Avenue ( ...
. He was immediately in competition with Melfi's, which had been operating since 1896, and Vietti's, which opened in 1898. Other chili parlors opened in later years, but today only Varallo's Restaurant remains, although Vietti chili continues in production in cans. Varallo's moved to Church Street in 1919, and remained on Church Street for almost 80 years. Frank Varallo Sr. died in 1929, and his 15-year-old son Frank Varallo Jr. began co-managing the restaurant with brother Nick. Nick left in 1938 to open another restaurant. The Church Street restaurant was closed when Varallo Jr. retired on December 31, 1998. The current location on Fourth Avenue was opened in 1994 by Todd Varallo with his brother, Tony. Todd is a grandson of Frank Varallo Jr., who continued after his retirement to help at the Fourth Avenue restaurant until his death in 2007. In December 2019, Todd sold the business to local businessman Bob Peabody, the first person outside the Varallo family to own Varallo's.


Menu

Varallo's claims to still use the original 1907 chili recipe. The restaurant is particularly known for "three-way" chili, which is a layered combination of
spaghetti Spaghetti () is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta.spaghetti
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridg ...
,
tamale A tamale, in Spanish tamal, is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa, a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf. The wrapping can either be discarded prior to eating or used as a plate. Tamale ...
s and chili. However, Varallo's is open for breakfast, with typical breakfast fare including pancakes, French toast, and sausage gravy on biscuits. Aside from chili, the lunch menu includes "
meat and three In the cuisine of the Southern United States, a meat and three restaurant is one where the customer picks one meat from a daily selection of three to six choices (such as fried chicken, country ham, beef, country-fried steak, meatloaf, or pork ch ...
" options such as meatloaf, fried chicken, catfish, turkey with dressing, turnip greens and meatballs.


References

{{Reflist Restaurants in Nashville, Tennessee Chili con carne restaurants Restaurants established in 1907 American companies established in 1907 1907 establishments in Tennessee