It’s 9:30 on a Thursday night — too early to start fist pumping at a frat and way too early to head downtown — but you’re itching to leave Stevenson Library. Problem? “Of course not,” Scott Crane, owner of Crescent Caf?© & Oyster Bar, would say. “Come on over!” Oyster Bar has been enticing Vanderbilt students with its famous (read: strong) Long Island Iced Teas since 2004 when Crane opened his New Orleans-style caf?© right here in Nashville. Next to San Antonio Taco Company on 21st Avenue, Oyster Bar is a hole-in-the-wall establishment that offers fresh Cajun seafood and a hefty serving of live music.
Opening the door unleashes the thick perfume of grease and cigarette smoke hovering in the air, staining the ceiling with splotches of mahogany. The crowd is an eclectic mix of preppy Vanderbilt students, local hipsters wearing square eyeglasses and stringy-haired regulars parked on pleather bar stools. Red Solo cups in hand, they flirt with the waitress as she empties their overflowing ashtrays. Oyster Bar is the definition of a dive bar, and fans revel in its dim, slightly seedy ambiance. The walls are tattooed with band posters, flyers promoting open-mic nights and typical neon bar signs. If you dig run-down smoky bars, this is the place for you.
Downstairs finds you in the “Voodoo Room,” complete with a stage and recording system. It is here where Oyster Bar makes its mark on Music City. Featuring local bands such as Monte Carlo, Oyster Bar records live showcases and also offers an open jam/jazz fusion night each Sunday. “The main problem with the sound output is the drum volume, but the mic quality is pretty decent,” said Owen Canavan, Versus music aficionado. As Monte Carlo opens with their first song, Crane explains their plans to give the Voodoo Room a facelift with a larger stage surrounded by new booths.
The rest of the night is nothing short of entertaining — the crowd grew a little bigger, and the employees ambled downstairs, nodding their heads along with the customers. Oyster Bar radiates congeniality; it is obvious the employees enjoy one another’s company, and the dynamics between customer and employee are favorable as well. Whether frequenting dive bars is your thing or hitting up Fuel and BarCar on Thursday nights is becoming tiresome, every Vandy student should check out Oyster Bar — it’s even on the card.
