Inspiring Conversations with Mikey Corona of The Mockingbird Nashville

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mikey Corona.

Hi Mikey, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
We (Brian and Mikey) met in 2004 in Chicago through mutual friends at a house party. We both moved there from Texas to attend art school and supported ourselves by working in some of the city’s best restaurants. Art was our passion, but it doesn’t always pay the bills, hence our jobs in the hospitality world.

As most industry people, Sundays were our day off the schedule and we filled them with friends, food, and way too much frivolity. Brian would create a menu and execute the cooking he learned during his time living in Europe and I (Mikey) would be in charge of the theme and curating the invite list of restaurant comrades. Preparing our apartment for these shindigs was always a lesson in dexterity, as we would have to move all furniture to make room for a sit-down meal and musical performance (or drag show depending on the menu motif) for 20-30 people in our small city apartment.

These gatherings began to grow pretty rapidly and after a year or so we had friends-of-friends reaching out to us wanting to find out about when our next Sunday supper party was and how they can be looped in. Unplanned (but welcomed), we turned into a secret dinner that people wanted in on. We started an “art and food’ blog to document these soirees and art-inspired themes and began to host the meals in unique spaces around the city after we grew out of our modest apartment in Lakeview. The underground feasts we started had grown into a full-fledged business and our goal shifted from roaming events to opening our first brick and mortar restaurant.

We began to plan for the next steps and planted a few seeds to help us get to the following stage of this endeavor. We reached out and told our story to any and all food shows, podcasts (LGBT and food-centered), local television networks, and put feelers out to see if there were any potential investors in our arsenal of regular guests. We had a few sparks of interest, but it wasn’t until Brian was able to compete on “Chopped” on the Food Network that those seeds we planted began to sprout.

We had a wild time preparing him for this opportunity and when he came out victorious in that episode, we felt such excitement since now the entire nation could witness his self-taught cultivated talent and passion firsthand. With that favorable television moment, we were able to secure someone who was willing to take a chance on us and invest in our dream. The bonus part is that it was one of the judges (Maneet Chauhan) from the episode who was moved enough to put her money where her mouth was and become business partners with us in our first restaurant.

The Mockingbird was born out of those funky art-themed, wine-induced, world travel influenced meals held in our apartment. You’ll sense the soul of those parties when you walk into our restaurant- the global menu, the unique playlist, mismatched plates, and overall artistic feel live in these four walls.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Our path from where we started to where we are now was nowhere near a smooth one. The field of work we have chosen is just as amazing as it is very difficult for various reasons. Turning your passion into your everyday job can make you question your love for your art. You put yourself out there each day to be critiqued by the public and you have to grow some pretty thick skin very quickly to be able to accept that your work will not always be for everyone.

It took a few years to be “OK” with that. One of the other struggles that we have come across is trying to find that balance between keeping our married life separate from our work life. Working side by side can be very rewarding when the going is good, but difficult when you hit tough times since it is hard for you to pull each other up when you are both in those trenches together.

Reminding ourselves that we are more than our restaurant to each other is an everyday task. When you add some of these stressors to the pandemic restrictions, closures, safety precautions over the past one and a half years, it can make you question your sanity at times.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are a modern diner with global takes on comfort food located in the lively Gulch area of Nashville.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk-taking?
Taking risk is so damn scary, however, you never know where it will lead you and that’s the most exciting part! Whether we realize it or not, we take small risks each day, you never know which door you will open that will lead to fantastic life-changing outcomes.

Do it! Open those doors, if you find there is something unsavory behind one of those doors, close it and open the next. The goal in life is to leave behind as many open doors as possible- to me that is indicative of an exciting life well lived.

Contact Info:

• Email: brian@mockingbirdnashville.com
• Website: mockingbirdnashville.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themocknash/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mockingbirdnashville/